Ok, here's my story about my car and tires. It's not much of a story, might leave you kind of flat when it's done, but here goes:

Monday morning I was driving to work. I sort of sensed that something was not quite right, as most drivers do when they are in their cars a lot. You just know when it's not handling right. So I was thinking to myself, I should really check my tires when I get home tonight to make sure one isn't low on pressure. (Can ya see where I'm headed with this?)

After work, I walk out to my car, climb in, and begin my drive home. Once again, I notice that something just isn't right with the car, it feels weird when I go over a bump. Still thinking I have a low tire pressure somewhere, I figure I'll look when I get home and if I need air in the tires, I'll run over to the gas station and fill it.

I'm about two blocks from my apartment, and as I'm slowing down to stop at an intersection, I hear "thump thump thump." Uh oh, that don't sound good! It was coming from the back of my car, but my car wasn't handling badly, so I still wasn't sure what was going on. But I figured it just HAD to be a tire problem. So with the noise continuing, "thump thump thump" I nursed my car at 5mph for the two blocks to my parking lot.

I pulled in very very slowly, got out, sure enough my right rear tire was flat as a pancake. I mean, there was NO air left in it at all. Who knows how long I was driving on it like that! So dejected and disgusted, I get my mail and go inside. Obviously, I needed to do something about it that night, since I had to go to work the next day, and I had very few options without my car. I called my aunt to moan to her about my bad luck, she offered to call her son who works sort of nearby and drives almost right by my place to go home. He could stop and put the spare on so I could go either fix the tire or get a new one.

While I waited for Michael to come, I went outside, got the spare out, got the jack out, got the directions out (women are good with directions). I jacked the car up, it's actually quite easy, and had it all ready for Michael to change tires when he got there. At 6pm, he finally shows up. Traffic was lousy, and I certainly understand what he was saying. He's there no more than 15 minutes, he has the tire off, the spare on, the lugnuts tightened, car unjacked (is that a word?) and tightens the lugnuts once more.

He goes on his merry way, and I head to the tire store. Since my car is only a year old, and I bought it new, I called them right away too, after getting off the phone with my aunt. The referred me to a place called Just Tires. Now, I was there once before a few years ago, when I had a previous flat, and I wasn't too impressed with the place. All they do is tires, but they didn't have any good tire brands for my car (when I was there before). I ended up going to NTB (National Tire & Battery). But the dealer said they refer all their customers to Just Tires, so I figure they'll have a matching tire for my other three in stock. I arrive, go inside tell the guy what happened, he goes outside, looks at the flat tire, gets the specifics on my tires, comes back in, and proceeds to tell me the sidewall is damaged, the chords are showing, so I have to buy a new tire.

I'm cool with that. New tire is better than a plugged tire anyday. He checks his inventory, no tire to match mine. He could offer me a tire by a different mfr. but then I'd have a mismatched tire. Ain't no way in hell I'm gonna do that! He then offers to check other Just Tires locations to see if another local store has that tire. He tries one, he tries two, he tries one that's not local...nope, nothing, nada, zip, no one has this tire! It's a freaking Goodyear Eagle! How hard can it be to stock a Goodyear tire? He says it will be Thursday before he can get one in. Like I can wait that long? My only other choice is to see if another tire place has my tire in stock. So he writes down the info on my tire, and away I go, once again disappointed with my experience at Just Tires.

Now, this location of Just Tires, is on the outside of a mall. Not even half way around the mall is the NTB I mentioned above. So I drive my car over to NTB, go in ask about my tire, he looks and says, "Yes, I have one in stock." Be still my heart! It will be 45 minutes, they're busy with some other orders at the time (it's now 7pm), and they close at 8. Boy did I get there just in time! Instead of sitting there for 45 minutes bored to tears, I wander over to the mall and walk around half of the main floor, window shopping. And btw Kerry, what I didn't tell you was that I went into The Build-A-Bear Workshop! It's right next to the Disney Store. They have a lot of cute bears and other animals that you can build. I bet kids LOVE that place! Anyway, about 7:35 or so I start heading back over to NTB. There are a couple people being helped, so I wait for them to finish, then the man behind the counter says they're just starting to work on my car (it's now 7:50).

My car finally is finished about 8:10pm, and $219 later (Ugh) I head home with one new tire, and three one year old tires, that all match! I put everything back where it belongs in my trunk, come inside, sit down at the computer and tell Kerry what happened. My credit card bill did NOT like the new addition, but what can you do? I kind of needed four tires on my car, right? I still hadn't even eaten any dinner, and fortunately I had enough for lunch to tide me over. I think I ended up eating a slice of canteloupe before I went to bed.

Anyway, that was my tire story. Glad you waited? Glad I told you? LMAO

Awww heck, it's too late to post what I wanted to post. Don't let me forget I have to tell you all about my adventure on Monday with my car and one of it's tires.

This is my great-nephew Sam. The picture was taken last summer when I was visiting over the Independence Day holiday. He was just over a year old then. I really miss him, and his big sister, and his mommy and daddy. Maybe I'll get back out to Colorado this fall.

This is, I believe, a young Cooper's Hawk, that was being treated in the veterinary care area at The Raptor Center. Since I can't see the legs, I had to guess based on the other markings and coloring. Either way, it's beautiful!

Here is a beautiful female bald eagle I saw when I visited The Raptor Center the day before the wedding. I never knew it, but female bald eagles are larger than the males! My tour guide, Sharon, gave me the best tour ever! She even opened up LOCKED cage doors so I could get clear pictures of the magnificent raptors.

This is the bride, Jacki, and her new husband, Zack, dancing the first dance at the reception. They were flying to Mexico two days later for their honeymoon. I hope they got back before the terror alert.

This is my first picture ever posted in my blog! It's my 2nd cousin and her dad dancing at the reception. I chose this pictures first, because it gives you the best view of her dress. It was hard to get good pictures at the reception, because there were about 200 people all crammed into this little room. There was barely room to move between tables. I'll slowly post other pictures from my weekend in Minnesota. There are some pictures still in my camera, and I need to use up the film so I can get them developed. I just haven't figured out what to take pictures of, lol.

I'm not competing with Ladystyx for who writes a longer blog, I'm not I'm not I'm not! LMAO

I don't normally post on the weekends, mostly because my weekends are so boring. But tonight I had the most interesting experience. And those of you that read this will all understand (AK you heard this yourself, so you already know what I'm talking about.)

After NTT was done at the chat site I stream at, another streamer volunteered to take over (and no it wasn't me.) Without naming names, this is a relatively new streamer to this site, and I'm not sure how much streaming he's done at other sites. I had never heard him stream before, but had heard good things about him, so thought I'd tune in and hear for myself. To back up a minute, during NTT, the host was getting some encouragement from the room to sing. After singing along with a couple songs, basically soft enough that we couldn't hear him very well anyway, I determined that I still didn't know whether he was a good singer or not. So now it's after NTT, and we have this other streamer going, and he decides that he too will share his singing abilities with the listeners. After all, he boasts, he did karaoke for 8 yrs. Correct me if I'm wrong AK, but he was flat out awful. I actually tortured myself by listening to him sing 4 songs. Then before my brain completely oozed out through my ears, I turned the stream off.

He was also singing along to the songs, but he was either very, very off key, or he was trying to harmonize and failing. I'm not one to normally make fun of streamers, I know how hard and nerve-wracking it can be, and it's not polite, but this was really bad. Most people that I've heard sing along, like Kerry, sing in tune, and you enjoying hearing them. Not this guy. Even the site owner agreed with me that he was bad. Of course neither of us said a WORD to him. And to top it all off, when he was singing, he was not enunciating very well, so the words were slurred and very hard to understand. It sort of ruined the rest of my evening in chat, when I didn't listen to the current streamer. So after listening to my own music for awhile, and reading some emails and blogs, I'm here posting this before heading off to read for a bit before sleeping.

Has anyone else had a situation like this? If so, what, if anything, was done about it?

I'm finally home from my vacation! I got home Tuesday night about 7pm. It took me an hour to delete all my spam emails, and sort through all the valid ones and read some of them. Yesterday I was busier than heck at work. I only had one day to get all my July stuff done. Fortunately, my boss was helping me out, and I was able to get everything done, but just barely. Today was more normal, not as busy, and I easily got everything done. I even had time around lunch to talk to Kerry, who needed a good ear, and I got caught up on making file folders for orders that I entered right before my vacation.

The wedding was beautiful! I didn't have the best seat in the house. I was in the third row, waaaaayyyyyy over on the left side, so some of my view was blocked by her five bridesmaids/maid-of-honor. But it was a beautiful ceremony, and thankfully only about 30 minutes long. Minnesota was just as hot and humid, if not more so, than here in Chicago. I think Sunday it got up to 99.5F, before the heat index.

I'm really glad I went, I got to visit with my cousins for a bit, and I now have a new and happy memory for July 29. You see, it's the date my mother died, and I was feeling a little melancholy about it all day. I didn't want to mention it to anyone, especially my aunt, since it was a special day to them. But at the reception, my persistant cousin and mother of the bride, got me to tell her why I wasn't up dancing and having a good time. She is the one that pointed out that now I have a new, happy memory for that day, gave me a big hug, and moved onto another table, lol.

One reason I love visiting my aunt and uncle is that my aunt loves to talk, and she loves to tell stories about family history. She took courses on geneaology, and did a complete family history, discovering that we are related to William the Conqueror. She put together a whole three-ring binder, which I have somewhere in my apartment. She also has been working on typing up family history, regarding more informal references regarding who was married to whom, and who raised other people's kids, which parents died in car crashes, etc. Stories that if aren't put in writing will be lost forever. I will get a copy of it once she's done typing it all up. And she still types on her electric typewriter. My aunt will be 79 in December, and still gets around quite well.

My uncle suffers from alzheimers, as I mentioned in a previous post. I was able to notice the progression while I was there. He is very quiet, even more so than he was before. He doesn't do much, he reads the paper each morning, and then he basically sits in his chair or on the couch much of the day doing not much. He sort of follows my aunt around like a lost puppy. One day while I was there, he and I were sitting in the living room quietly, my aunt was downstairs taking laundry out of the dryer, and after being gone only a few minutes, my uncle got up and went downstairs to see what she was doing; as if he knew she was downstairs, but didn't remember why.

They have their three meals each day at pretty regular times. My aunt makes quilts in the winter, she has a book club at church that she participates in monthly, and she works to keep the garden watered and weeded (sort of). She's not the best housekeeper, but who would be at 78? She had someone coming every other week to clean, but I think there were problems with her reliability, so that arrangement ended. My second oldest cousin, Don, is the most attentive of the four children. He stops by a couple times a week, and calls her almost every day (and he lives the furthest away.) He was the one that convinced my aunt to get a new stove top when one of them wasn't working anymore, and since they don't make stovetops that size anymore, she needed new countertops, and since they'd have to pull out the sink to put the countertops in, they might as well replace the sink she never liked in the first place. Don was also able to finally convince my aunt to replace her old worn out couch and loveseat, and the new ones are very nice. They are a dark green with these flower sort of patterns on them. Now if he could just convince her to get rid of the shag carpeting, lmao.

I was able to take pictures at the reception, which I'll post once I receive them back from Target next week. I also took pictures at The Raptor Center, on Friday July 28. My tour was guided by Sharon, who is an avid birdwatcher. (Scroll down at her blog, there's a picture of me holding a dried bird head.) I am a faithful reader of her blog, and was anxious to see some of the birds up close that she mentions frequently. I received the special treatment while there. I received a tour unlike most other tours. Sharon took my down to the veterinary area, where they were working on a rough-necked hawk, and a couple of cooper's hawks. I was able to take pictures which I'll post next week also. Then I went outside to the cages where the education birds are kept. I saw bald eagles, golden eagles, hawks, owls...plus a couple others I can't remember. I should have taken notes of what I was seeing, or taken pictures of the little signs on the outside of the cages identifying the birds. Of course, that was all hindsight! And since The Raptor Center, which is part of the University of Minnesota relies on donations from visitors, and the volunteers who work so hard, they request a donation. I was happy to oblige, and after the tour I received, I willingly doubled my intended donation! Sharon was a great guide, and is SO knowledgeable about all the birds of prey at the raptor center.

Wow, I don't blog in a week, and look how I've gone on and on! And now it's past my bedtime! I better hurry to bed or I might turn into a pumpkin.

Thought I'd do a quick post since I won't have a chance to post tomorrow night before I leave. For those that don't know, I'm going out of town for 6 days. I'm driving, yes driving, up to Minnesota for my 2nd cousin's wedding. I haven't seen my aunt, uncle and cousins for about three years, since the last wedding, so it will be nice seeing them again. I'm leaving early Thursday morning, hopefully about 8 or 9 am, which will put me at my aunt's house mid-late afternoon. I will be returning probably late Tuesday evening.

Since it's supposed to be warm all week and weekend, I'm taking mostly shorts to wear. I'm also taking some snacks and stuff to eat inbetween meals. I learned three years ago that my aunt doesn't fix a lot of food for meals. So I was hungry all the time while I was there. I am taking some granola bars, some dried fruit, and some fig newtons.

On Friday (I think) I am going to a place called The Raptor Center. It's associated with the University of Minnesota, and they have all different kinds of raptors and birds prey there, mostly for rehab. I was told to bring my camera, unfortunately I still use the old film kind lol. If I go, once I get the film developed, I'll try to scan them so you can see what I saw. The reason I'm not sure if I'll go, is because I just read on the lady's blog that I'm planning to see there, that she is thinking about making a 5 hour drive north Friday to Saturday to see some bird that's rare in Minnesota. So maybe sometime on Thursday I'll call her to see if she's going up north or maybe it's after I stop in to see her Friday morning. Sorry, just kind of rambling here, lol.

This will probably be the last time I will actually stay at my aunt and uncle's house. My uncle has alzheimers and it's getting slowly worse. I was very clear with my aunt, I didn't want to be a bother or burden to them, that I was more than happy to stay at the hotel. She told me she thought it would be ok for me to stay there, and she did sound like she was looking forward to it last night on the phone.

For those that I won't talk to again before Thursday, have a great weekend, and talk to you when I get back!

Final comment about this asshole at work, I think when I go into work tomorrow, he should be moved to another cubicle. The phone guy was there this afternoon and switched his phone extension over, so he'll have to be moved tomorrow so he can get his phone calls. I actually think he'll be in a good spot. He's closer to the boss (who can keep an eye on him and his antics), he can annoy Cathy and not me (lmao), and he's closer to Mary, who talks on the phone to her kids almost every day and you just wouldn't believe some of the stuff we hear!

On to bigger and better topics! Every Tuesday, I try to go to Target and pick up any new cd's that have been released, since that's the day the new ones come out. This week, my plan was to pick up four cd's: Billy Ray Cyrus' new cd, Los Lonely Boys' new cd, Eric Church's cd, and Rodney Atkins' new cd. I found the Billy Ray cd, I found the Los Lonely cd, I even found the Eric Church cd, but no Rodney Atkins cd. There were two places for it, both places were empty. So I figured I'd run to a different Target by where I work on Wednesday to see if they had any. They didn't even have a place for the cd! Like they weren't even expecting it! This is the first time I've not been able to buy a cd when it's released. And this isn't even a big name, like Tim McGraw, or Kenny Chesney, or Toby Keith. This is Rodney Atkins, this is maybe his third cd total? So I figure...I still have to go try to buy another present or two for my Aunt's birthday celebration on Saturday, I'm going to Borders, which is right by ANOTHER Target, I'll stop in there Thursday after work, and see if THEY have one. Nope. Strike Three. Then at Borders I couldn't find the dvd I was looking for, nor did they have another cd I was looking to see if it was even a real cd.

Saturday before heading out to my Aunt's for the movie and lunch and presents, I'll run over to the first Target I went to. If they still don't have any copies, I'll get a raincheck and hopefully soon they'll get more in and I can still get it at the sale price of $9.99. Oh and Borders had two copies of it, but they were $13.99, and I won't pay that much for a cd unless it's Def Leppard or Pella! lmao So as I'm writing this I'm ripping the three cd's I did buy, and they are being added to the ever growing stack of music to send to Kerry. One of these days, I'm just going to send them by email and she'll get a surprise in the morning before work, lmao.

With so many thoughtful and kind comments and support from my friends, I have managed to look beyond my faults and see the good things I offer the world. You'll never know how much your love and support means to me, during this past emotional day.

I may not be posting in my blog for a long long time. I found out today that I have SO many faults that there are too many to list. So all my free waking hours will be spent working on them, leaving no time to blog about my boring life. And of course, working on all my faults will mean my life won't be quite so boring, and I might have something to blog about. What a dilemma!

I'm going to try to blog tonight, before I fall asleep. I got busy with an unexpected, but interesting, conversation on msn, and so now it's almost 2 hours later than I wanted to do this, lol.

Where to start....

BATS!

My bats are back! Boy are they back! Jeepers creepers, are they back! I have more bat droppings outside my sliding door than I think I've ever seen at one time. There just may be more of them there now than ever before. I'm still glad they're there, just not so sure about the possible numbers of them, lol. With the air conditioner going, I haven't had a chance to listen for them. I was thinking about shutting my a/c off tomorrow since the high will only by 83F, but then it's climbing right back up into the 90's, so I think I'll just keep it on. Lucky me. I would really rather have it off. Saves me money when I don't run the a/c.

It's getting closer and closer to my vacation days! Wooooo hooooo! I'm heading up to the twin cities (MN) on July 27, returning sometime on Aug 1. I'm looking forward to taking these few days away from work and everything. The traffic here has been running me ragged (I was gonna say bats, but I wondered if you'd think it was the bats instead.) Not only do I have to deal with all the commuting traffic 5 days a week, but I got an extra dose of bumper-to-bumper traffic Sunday night. I was visiting a friend for her daughter's 5th birthday party...bbq, pinata, presents, cake & ice cream, the whole bit. By the time I left there it was after 8:15pm, and the trip which should have taken me about an hour 15 minutes, took an hour 45. I was not happy walking in the door at 10pm, with laundry still to do, plus being all wired up from the traffic. The particular tollway I was on has THREE toll booths under construction AT THE SAME TIME. I was only going through two of them, but the first one I went through, had an 8 mile backup. Yes, you read that correctly, 8 mile backup (almost 13 km). Two lanes, no exits, nowhere to go, just me and all the other cars crawling. This is one of the major tollways people use coming from Wisconsin, so I'm sure there were some weekend travellers trying to get home. And poor me, just sitting there, complaining to my aunt on the phone that I deal with this 5 days a week, I don't want it on the weekend too. Turns out, there were only 4 lanes to pay the toll, one for I-PASS users (transponder and automatic deduction of toll from your acct), and three manual lanes. Well, our I-PASS lane was posted to be a 5 mph lanes, that's the suggested speed to go through it. We had to slow down so much for that, plus for all the people paying manual tolls, that we were backed up for what seemed forever.

Then to top it all off, the toll has been doubled at this particular booth. They are re-configuring the toll booths in each direction, so once it's done, the westbound side pays two tolls instead of the original three, and the eastbound pays two instead of the original three, with one in each direction doubling in cost. This is supposedly to help keep traffic moving. Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. Same opinion I have about all the other work on every other tollway in the area. I have yet to see an improvement from any of the toll booths they've redone. I'm expecting my commute will never drop below an hour, even once everything is done and construction is done in 6 years. OMG, in 6 years, I hope to be the hell out of here, someplace where they don't DO road construction! Does such a place exist? Either that, or I'll have grown wings so I can just fly to work and not worry about traffic.

On July 13, 1932 Clifford and Alma welcomed a baby girl they would name Elaine Carole. She was born at St. Luke's Methodist Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the very same hospital she would deliver a girl of her own some 37 years later. She got married in Las Vegas in 1964. The man that would be her husband was rumored to have been her boss. She was a typical housewife, always there when her two girls returned home from school or a day at the pool. She never got to see the oldest get married, or have three girls of her own. She would have been a wonderful grandmother!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

So I finally have something worthy of blogging about!

This past weekend, a co-worker (Annette) got married. Congratulations to her. She's nice enough, but she isn't very dedicated to her job. She doesn't really do much, she doesn't even handle that many accounts, and some outside salesmen don't even want her handling any of their accounts. So she was off on Thursday and Friday right before her wedding, and I believe the wedding was on Saturday.

She was due back to work on Wednesday with the rest of us, only she didn't show up. Now, our boss took that day off, so she could have left a message on his voice mail, and we wouldn't know it. When I arrive at work today, my boss is already there, a couple other people in my department are there, but no Annette. When someone calls in sick, or will be late, or out for whatever reason, we have a big dry erase board so other people in the office know who will not be in that day. There was nothing posted about Annette not being in today.

About 9am, I was walking past the fax machine that sits behind my cubicle. I saw some faxes on it, so I pulled them off and started looking through them to distribute accordingly. The first few were for one person, and the last two were for my boss. One was a typed letter from Annette, stating that she is officially resigning from her position at the company effective yesterday July 5. Who would FAX in their resignation? No phone call, nothing in person, just the fax. And she knew she was doing it; She took all her personal stuff home with her last Wednesday. Either none of us realized it, or we refused to acknowledge the possibility of her quitting. We all knew it was coming eventually, she's going back to school, after all. I guess she's going to be a Napra Path, but to quit over the fax?

I show it to one person, to see if she knew anything about it, she didnt. Then I quietly put it in my boss's in tray. About 9:30 or so I see him get up and go talk to his boss. I, of course, know what they're talking about. Then we all get an email, stating they'd like to have a short meeting about 10:30. I know what this meeting is about too. At 10:30, we all assemble in one of the conference rooms, and it is revealed to the rest of the department that Annette has chosen to burn her bridges and her friendships, and resign with no notice or instructions to anyone regarding her accounts.

My boss then proceeds to begin discussing the few accounts she handles, comparative to the rest of us, and offers his suggestions as to who would be able to handle some extra work. The two obvious people are myself and Mike, who sits next to me. We are the lucky ones. Everyone else gets to go back to work, Mike and I are kept to go over which accounts we'd get, and what mill's we buy from for those accounts. Like I mentioned, Annette didn't do much, so the accounts that Mike and I got aren't HUGE, but it will be extra work. Coincidentally, just this morning, Mike mentioned to me how slow he is right now. Perfect timing!

I will be handling two service centers/processors that are owned by the same parent company as us. They are like a sister company to us. They have several locations in the U.S., I will be handling the one in Alabama, plus one specific end user that is supplied by both the Alabama location and the Illinois location. Not a lot of work, but enough to make me busier than I have been. And I don't mind the extra work. Unfortunately, I would have liked to have gotten the opportunity to get caught up on my filing that's been piling up since last year. I've gotten some done, but there is still a lot left to be done, and as I file more, I pile up more, lol. So really, I'm not getting anywhere at all with it!

At 11:30, my boss and I went over to Annette's desk and started going through everything to sort through what is now mine, and what is now Mike's. I walked back to my desk with a stack of orders, faxes, invoices, product certifications, etc. Where to put it? Not on my desk! No room, lol. Onto the empty desk it went, the one Linda used to sit at. Once I could get a little more caught up on my own stuff, THEN I'd look at it. But it had to be today. If there was stuff in there from June, today was the last day to do it.

Finally about 2pm, I started going through it. I found some duplicate faxes, pitched all but one, sent the answer back to the mill. I also had to send them some shipping notices that we never got invoices for, dated 6/1. Who would wait a freaking month for invoices? We normally get them within a week! Got that all sorted out. I filed some stuff in my drawers that I don't really need to do anything with. I also put away some recent status reports that have been sent to the customer. That's one of the services we provide...once a week we print out status reports from the mill and send them to our customers so they know what's on order, what stage it's at, when it will be due, etc.

Glad tomorrow is Friday, it should be interesting!

Sorry, just not feeling very inspired lately. If something compels me to write about it, I'll let ya'll know.

Nothing new to post tonight. Worked all day, came home, talked with Kerry a little bit, finished a book I started the night before, did a couple loads of laundry, and went to bed. My life has hit the summer doldrums where I don't do much and the few things I do aren't very interesting.

I'm sitting here pondering what to type. I must be having a Kerry moment, lol. Not much went on today. Work was slow, but I did have enough to do to keep me busy for most of the day. I stopped at Target on the way home. I made a list last night so I wouldn't forget what I needed. I got everything on the list, but there was one thing I forgot to put ON the list. The envelope so I can mail the book to Kerry!! Grrrrrr. Now I'll have to start my list for next week already. No cd's that looked interesting, but that's a good thing because Kerry and I haven't been online long enough at the same time having enough time to send her the five cd's I have sitting behind me, lol.

We had a sporadic rain shower this afternoon, not sure if we're still going to get any rain tonight. The birds sure are singing up a storm though. Supposed to be really nice for the next week or so, will enjoy it before Mother Nature turns the thermostat up.

Well, an hour in the car didn't help. Watching the rain-shortened NASCAR race from yesterday didn't help. Reading emails didn't help. So, since I didn't sleep so well last night, I'm going to try to get to bed early, or should I say earlier, tonight. lol Making what will hopefully be a quick list of things I need from Target tomorrow, which shouldn't include any cd's.

Dang, it's Monday already. I'm posting part of this from work, will post the rest at home, if I can remember everything I wanted to say when I thought about it this morning.

I didn't sleep well last night, went to bed at 11pm, tossed and turned for an hour, got up and moved to the couch. I slept there till about 4:45, when I got up and went back to bed until the alarm went off at 5, lol. I hit off, and went back to sleep until the second alarm went off at 5:30, then hit snooze every 9 minutes until just after 6am. Then I got up and dragged my butt into the bathroom. I woke up quite quickly, when I pulled the bath mat off the tub to lay on the floor and this HUGE spider fell out from it. I screamed, then composed myself enough to walk to the kitchen, grab the fly swatter (also good at spider swatting) and the raid (just in case). I went back to the bathroom, entered carefully making sure of where the spider was, and smacked the hell out of it, lol. Boy was I awake by then!

Well, now I have an hour to try to remember what else I wanted to say. LOL

Pretty boring day today, not very busy at work, so I started some filing. I'm watching an episode of Supernatural that I missed earlier in the season, it's about the legend of Bloody Mary. Can't say I ever tried that one as a kid, lol.

I've kind of gotten back into a reading kick. I finished a book last night that I had started Tuesday night. And tonight, I'll probably start another one, and finish it Saturday sometime. I have a birthday party to go to on Saturday afternoon for two of my friend's kids. It starts at about 3, but shouldn't last too long. The Weather Channel says we could get some rain on Saturday, hope it doesn't rain during the party.

Got the four cd's I had sitting here ripped, so they're in MM and available to be played on a stream. Well, Supernatural is almost over, so I'm going to pick out a book to start once it's finished.

June 14, 1777, the date The Stars And Stripes was adopted as our national flag. 108 years later, a teacher in Wisconsin suggested his students celebrate the "Flag Birthday" or "Flag Day." In 1894, The American Flag Day Association, located in Illinois, held a children's public school celebration of Flag Day, with 300,000 children present. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day, and in 1949, President Harry S. Truman made it official with an Act of Congress, designating June 14 as National Flag Day. Americans are requested to pause at 7pm EDT on June 14 to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ragged Old Flag by Johnny Cash

I walked through a county courthouse square,

On a park bench an old man was sitting there.

I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."

He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."

I said, "Your old flagpole has leaned a little bit,

And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it."

He said, "Have a seat," and I sat down."

Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"

I said, "I think it is." He said, "I don't like to brag,

But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there

When Washington took it across the Delaware.

And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key

Sat watching it writing Say Can You See.

And it got a bad rip in New Orleans

With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams.

"And it almost fell at the Alamo

Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.

She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville

And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.

There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,

And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

"On Flanders Field in World War I

She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.

She turned blood red in World War II.

She hung limp and low by the time it was through.

She was in Korea and Vietnam.

She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,

And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.

In her own good land here she's been abused --

She's been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused.

"And the government for which she stands

Is scandalized throughout the land.

And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin,

But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.

'Cause she's been through the fire before

And I believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning, take her down every night.

We don't let her touch the ground and we fold her up right.

On second thought, I do like to brag,

'Cause I'm mighty proud of the Ragged Old Flag."

I'm posting early tonight, since Kerry's in bed already, maybe I'll go read or something after this. Beautiful day today, too bad I was cooped up inside at work. Tomorrow we have a chance of some storms, not sure whether we'll actually get any rain or not.

Not too busy at work today, I had enough to keep me busy for most of the day. We had some email problems this morning. We could send emails out, but anything coming in from outside our office wasn't coming through. It finally started working around lunchtime. I have some shipping documents that I have emailed to me, so I held off on some of my invoicing, waiting to see if they came through. Of course, as soon as I gave in and finished it, they came through. I'll invoice them tomorrow, so no real problems. I also completed my monthly inventory reconciliation. It went MUCH smoother this month, only took me parts of two days to do it, as opposed to several days last month. We usually get them around the 10th of the month, and they're due on the 15th, so I finished mine with plenty of time to spare.

I stopped at Target on the way home, as I mentioned last night in my post. The cd's I ended up getting are The Goo Goo Dolls, Dizzy Up The Girl (older cd from a few years ago, it has Iris & Slide on it); Blaine Larson, Rockin' You Tonight (new cd); Three Days Grace, One X. I remembered most of the things I wanted to get while I was at Target, but one thing I did forget, the envelope to mail Kerry the Bill & Susan Hayes book. Guess that will have to wait till next week, if I don't forget again, lol. Oh, and I did see one copy of Oakdale Confidential at Target, it was only $13.86! I didn't buy it, because it would mean nothing to me since I don't watch ATWT.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is Flag Day in the U.S., don't forget to show your patriotism and fly the flag, or if you can't do that, wear a flag pin. I, of course, was off one day with my outfit, and today I wore navy slacks with a light blue top that has U.S. flags, and stars, and fireworks all over it. I didn't even think about tomorrow being Flag Day and that I should have worn this tomorrow, lol. So, I'll wear my little flag pin tomorrow instead.

Short post tonight, I HAVE to get to bed. I could have fallen asleep on the couch about 7:30 tonight, and almost did. I watched Sunday's race that I taped, almost didn't make it through the whole thing, but with the aid of the fast-forward button, it was completed. Besides, I already knew who won, I accidentally heard on the radio this morning.

Work was busy today, had a few minor problems to deal with, but nothing too bad. I stopped on the way home from work to get my oil changed, and thought "Chinese sounds good tonight, and it's just across the street." Forgot they're closed on Monday. So much for that idea.

Tomorrow night I will be stopping at Target for my weekly cd purchase, there are two cd's to get this week, although I can't remember at the moment which ones, lol. And I'm sure there are a couple other things I need to pick up, which I'll have to try to remember tomorrow. Off to bed I go!

It's Sunday night, the weekend is almost over. Another quiet weekend here. I was supposed to be out of town, but the schedule got changed due to the person I was going to be staying with having a sister that messed it all up. Now I haven't been able to reschedule, because none of the weekends through the end of July work for everyone.

I still have two cd's to send to Kerry, we haven't been able to hook up online this weekend at the right time to do the transfers. Tomorrow night Kerry has class, so maybe Tuesday night we can do it. Plus I have a book to send to Kerry, I have to remember to buy an envelope for it on Tuesday night, then I can go mail it.

As for the book I was reading, it was an Amanda Quick book, the pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz. I don't remember the title of the book, but it was a romance novel set in the early 1800's. Woman is intrigued with man, man decides to marry woman, woman gets into trouble, man rescues woman, man and woman profess their undying love for each other, the end. I started reading it Wednesday night after Kerry went to bed, got through just less than half the book. Thursday night I decided I wanted to finish it since I was enjoying the storyline. So I came home, and while I was eating dinner, I started reading, and was done about 10pm. I'm not sure what book I will read next, but I can almost guarantee you it will be another romance novel, lol.

Was too involved reading a book last night to post. Today I was in a strange mood, didn't want to be at work, didn't feel motivated, and when I got home, I had no desire to get on the computer. So I finished the book I started last night. Once that was complete, I figured I'd better come and get my emails, and do my nightly blog rundowns before heading to bed. About all I can say right now is, Thank God Tomorrow Is Friday!

Today seemed to wizz right by. Despite not having a lot to do, I sure kept busy. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime, then all of a sudden it was 4pm, and time to go home. I did my invoicing for the day, and worked on a couple spreadsheets that were requested. And that's about it. I wonder what tomorrow has in store for me?

Tonight I helped Kerry polish up her case study for her marketing class. She had the rough draft all done, with all the information, I just helped her put the information in easier to read and understand sentences. She gets all the credit for working so hard on it. Reading through it initially, it was very well thought out, she had great ideas and ways to implement those ideas. And knowing her teacher already thought she had done a good job on it, even at the rough draft stage, really helped boost her confidence. Add to that the 86% she got on her mid-term, and I would say Kerry is flying high, lol. Congratulations, Kerry! I've always said you are smarter than you give yourself credit for!

Well, time to go take the laundry that has been sitting in the washing machine for 4 hours (/eye kerry), hang it up to dry, and go to bed. I have to try to leave by 6:45 tomorrow, because it's now taking me 1 hour and 15 minutes or so to get to work if I leave at 7. So if I leave 15 minutes earlier, I should be able to get there by 8.

I used to be hooked on The Animal Planet channel. Some of my favorite shows were The Crocodile Hunter and Animal Precinct. Animal Precinct was interesting since it was a show about Animal Control officers in New York rescuing animals. But they didn't have new episodes very often, so I stopped watching it for awhile. Then Animal Planet came out with another show, Animal Cops. I started watching that show too, enjoying seeing the different officers rescuing needy animals. But then that show started showing a lot of repeats, so I stopped watching that too. Soon after, another Animal Cops show came out that took place in Houston. Then Animal Police: Miami, Animal Cops: San Francisco, and the latest is Animal Planet Heroes: Phoenix. Some are better than others, but being busy doing other things most nights, I never really went back much to try to catch any of these shows.

With Kerry in school tonight, I was channel surfing, and happened upon Animal Planet, and Monday seems to be the night when they show a bunch of these. Tonight was Animal Precinct, Animal Police: Miami , then Animal Planet Heroes: Phoenix (which I've never seen.) First on Animal Precinct was a lady who had 77 dogs & puppies. Yes, that's two sevens, 77. They allowed her to keep 4 of them, they took the other 73. What really got me was a story about a dog that had a rubber band put around it's muzzle to keep it from barking. OMG, I actually had tears in my eyes as they were explaining the damage done. Fortunately, they fixed him up and he was given back to his owner. It wasn't her that had put the rubber band around his muzzle, it was her boyfriend, whom she had kicked out by the time they rescued the dog. But why she didn't just take the rubber band off, I'll never understand.

Then on Animal Police: Miami there was a lady and her mother, and they had over 60 cats in their house. But not just any house. This house was filthy! It was stacked 4 feet high with papers and boxes and cat piss, and STUFF! Before they could even begin to find the cats, they had to have the house cleaned out. They had a whole group of people come out with masks and gloves, and they just started bagging stuff up and carting it outside into a huge dumpster. Eventually, the cats had no place to hide, and they were able to round them all up. They left two of them to the two ladies. Some of the cats were too feral and had to be put down. The rest were treated for some minor ailments and I were all adopted out.

Definitely a happy ending for all three stories, but it made for an interesting night.

Oh, and an update on the bats. I have not seen them back again since that first sighting, so I don't know where they went or when they'll be back, if they come back.

It's interesting the curve balls that get thrown at you when are least expecting it. Friday evening while listening to Kerry's stream, I went into the kitchen to get something cool to eat. When I walked in there, the phone rang. I immediately thought it was the first ring, but then my answering machine picked it up. So the first two rings happened while I was in the other room and couldn't hear them because of the music. Anyway, it was a friend of mine, she started leaving me a message; since I was there, I figured I should answer the call. I could tell from the sound of her voice something wasn't right. That morning her mother's boyfriend (they've been together 21 years, just never made it official) died of a heart attack. I didn't know him very well, and at the time didn't know they'd been together for 21 years, but I knew this was a shock for everyone in that family. Today was the wake and brief ceremony at the funeral home, and tomorrow he will be cremated. I feel bad for my friend's mother, and for all her kids who consider him a second father to them.

My own personal issues cropped up, as they always do when I'm at a wake or funeral. I start thinking about the ones I've lost, and how I hope they are in heaven. Made for a very somber lonely drive home tonight.

Also on Friday I had some weekend plans (next weekend that is) change. I was supposed to be going with my aunt to Michigan to visit a couple friends. The one we will be staying with has a nephew who is graduating or something, and it was supposed to be scheduled for this weekend, so we planned next weekend. Well, our friend's sister sent the notice and she scheduled it for next weekend, when we are supposed to be there. Fortunately, I'll be able to reschedule my vacation, so that won't be a problem. We picked out dates a couple weeks from now, so the plan now is to leave on Wednesday June 21 and return on Sunday the 25th. And now I have to make sure the other friend we're going to see while we're there will be available one of those days. I'll try to do that before I schedule the new days, just in case.

Supposed to be another beautiful day tomorrow, sunny and mid 80's. Anyone wanna play hooky with me? Ok, going to go try to finish watching the race from today. I watched most of it, but taped the last hour or so since I had to shower and leave for the wake. Have a wonderful week!

Late post tonight. I was in bed at 10:30, tried to go to sleep. 20 minutes later, I was wide awake. To the computer I came. I read some blogs I didn't have a chance to read earlier, and am now getting closer to being able to go back to bed and actually falling asleep.

Not really busy at work today, despite being end of month. Working on some claims information for a couple of my accounts, figuring out which ones we have paperwork for, or pictures of, or samples of; then determining which ones we don't have anything for, and trying to get that from the processor. Not difficult work, just tedious, but it's something I'm good at, lol.

I talked to my aunt in California tonight. She either hasn't been getting my emails, or she's been accidentally deleting them with all her spam she's getting. So tomorrow I'm going to send her an email as a test to see if she gets it. She's going to specifically look for one from me. I really don't want to battle with AT&T about an email not going through to an Earthlink acct.

Ok, time to head back to bed, hopefully I can fall asleep this time.

It cooled down again from this afternoon, so I took a chance and turned off my a/c again. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed tonight that I don't wake up to 84F in my apartment again. Tonight I went out with my friend Wendy. She called me at lunch today, and we made plans to go play miniature golf if the weather held. It turned out to be a beautiful night! I got THREE holes in one, which is something I very rarely do once, let alone three times in one game. I think my final score was three under par, normally I'm over par for all 18 holes, so I had a good night, lol.

Hopefully the office won't be so hot tomorrow. I was sweating profusely this afternoon while finishing some filing. Normally I'm the last person to get hot, or the first person to get cold, but in this case, I was the only person hot. I even threatened my boss that I would come in wearing shorts and a tank top if it didn't cool down tomorrow. Everyone else in my department was either just fine or cold. I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me, lol. I suggested to Kerry that she take a small fan to keep at her desk for when it gets warm for her, and I should take the same advice. The only small fan I have at home I need here for this second bedroom when I'm on the computer and it's hot in here. So I'd have to go buy one. But it's not like it's ALWAYS warm, just every once in awhile. Some days it's hot, some days it's cold, some days it goes back and forth. What is so hard about having proper ventilation in an office and having it be just fine????

Back to the grind, I suppose. Today was a bit cooler than yesterday, 87F vs 90F. With this latest round of storms that came through tonight, the temps dropped to a very manageable 70F. Off again with the a/c, and throw open the windows for some fresh air. Now I just hope that if it rains again tonight, I'll wake up and get the windows closed before the rain comes inside.

Update on the bats. Before the storm hit tonight, I went outside to sweep away the bat droppings, and while I was out there, using my flashlight, I checked to see if they were still there. To my surprise, they were no where to be found. With bats being nocturnal mammals, they should have been sleeping, since the sun wasn't going to set for another 90 minutes. I also learned that bats usually have colonies that can be in the hundreds or thousands. So that got me wondering if there were more bats around that I didn't know about. I checked all along the balcony above me, from one end to the other, no bats tonight. I'll keep any eye out for them. I know they've been regular residents based on the bat droppings.

Tomorrow is hump day already, nice to have short weeks, eh!

What a beautiful but HOT weekend! Yesterday it got up to about 91F, before the humidity; today it got up to about 92F before the humidity. A little warm for the end of May, but it's nice to get a preview of summer, and to have nice weather for the holiday weekend.

My day was pretty boring. I got about 8 hours of sleep last night. I didn't want to sleep too long and cause me to not sleep tonight. I still had the air conditioner on from yesterday, but was finally able to turn it off about 6:30pm or so after some storms came through. The air cooled down enough, and I'd rather have the windows open than have the air conditioner going. Outside air is much cheaper, lol. Once I had the sliding glass door open to my balcony, I was hearing this noise that sort of sounded like a bird. I would hear it, then it would go away, then I'd hear it again. It went on like this for a couple of hours. I didn't hear it while the a/c was on, it wasn't until the balcony door was open that I heard it. I kept thinking it must be some juvenile bird in one of the trees just off my balcony, since I could never see what was making the noise. And it seemed every time I got up to go to the door to look for it, it shut up, lol.

Finally I went to the door, and I continued to hear the noise. It sounded like it was coming from my balcony itself, so again I'm thinking maybe it's a young bird stuck in a corner and is scared. Perhaps it was separated from it's mommy or daddy. The strange thing is, it was making a weird noise that is unlike any bird noise I have ever heard. It wasn't a chirp, but it's so hard to try to duplicate myself, I can't explain it. As it continued to make this noise, I zeroed in on the source of the noise. It wasn't coming from the floor of my balcony, it was coming from above my head. Now, I live on the 2nd floor, and there is an apartment above me, with a balcony just like mine. My thinking was that a bird was up on their balcony making this noise. I looked and looked and didn't see anything, although I didn't expect to. But then I discovered the noise wasn't coming from on top of the balcony above me, it was coming from between the wood of the balcony and the actual building.

There is this one inch (2-3 cm) gap between the wood of the balcony and the brick on the building. There was something up in that gap! But what? I couldn't see how a bird could get jammed up in there, and I was still curious as to what was making that noise. I closed the screen door, went and got a flashlight, turned it on and shined it up into the gap above my head. I could not believe what I saw! (Is the suspense killing you yet? LMAO) There I saw about five or six little BATS who were sleeping until it was time to go out and feed! I HAVE BATS! I'M GOING BATTY! I HAVE BATS IN MY BELFRY! Omg, I was so excited, I called my aunt to tell her what I found, her first comment was...you better call someone to come get rid of them. I was like, why?? They eat the bugs! She was concerned maybe they'd get into my apt somehow, and I suppose they could, but they seemed pretty content crammed into that gap. I don't think they ever opened their eyes when I was looking at them.

I've never seen bats up close and personal. Omg, I was so excited I couldn't believe my luck! I know right now they are out feeding on bugs, I say go for it, gorge yourselves! The other interesting part is, I think they've been there for awhile. Right below where they are at, I've had these droppings on the cement part of the ledge where the sliding glass door is. I always assumed it was from a bird. I would see it accumulate, I would take a broom and sweep them away, and soon there would be more. Now I know it's not bird droppings, it's bat guano! Ya'll are probably thinking I'm really weird to be this excited about bats. But around here, any sign of nature is fabulous.

Yes I have birds, common ones that will feed if you put a bird feeder out. Every once in awhile, I'll hear a bluejay. I've seen a couple possums, a family of skunks. I see a few tree squirrels now and again (none of those black ones they have in Toronto), and even a ground squirrel on occasion. And I've heard an owl several times at night, but never seen it. For me to find bats, here on a golf course, concluding that they may have been here for a couple years and I didn't know it, is too exciting. It's important that people and animals can find a way to co-exist in peace. Having these bats here, shows me that at least for now, it's working. I don't know anything about bats, so I have no idea what kind of bats these are. It would be interesting to know, and I may do some research on it this week.

Anyway, enough of my excitement for the night, time for bed.

Tomorrow is Friday, a long weekend for most here in the U.S. Memorial Day is celebrated on Monday, a lot of people have barbecues, most swimming pools open, sort of the unofficial beginning of summer. I'll enjoy having the extra day to sleep in. Well, sorta. Can't sleep in too late, or I'll never get to sleep Monday night, and I'll be a zombie Tuesday morning.

One nice thing about holiday weekends, is that the couple days before and the day after are usually lighter traffic days. I say usually, because it doesn't always happen. This morning, one highway was backed way up, because of a disabled car in the center lane about a mile past where I get off the highway. If your car is that bad, why would you be driving in the middle lane?? Then tonight on the way home, the other highway I drive on was backed up a LOT worse than it usually is, with no sign of why. I'm hoping traffic tomorrow morning on both roads rocks!

Since I had some time to think in my car this evening, I thought more about streaming, and the fact that I'm not doing it. I thought about all the music I have that is not being used. I thought about all my summer nights with nothing on tv this summer. And I came to the conclusion that I'd like to stream again. While I was on the computer tonight, the owner of the site I have decided I would like to stream at came online. I mentioned it to Kerry first, can't do this without telling her first, she'd KILL me, lmao. She got all excited. Then I brought it up to the owner of the site, and she was excited too. They both have been wanting me to stream, but have not wanted to pressure me, which I appreciate.

Alice, I know you were hoping I'd come back to C2C to stream, but I don't feel at home there like I did before. I'm not sure if it's the new owner, or the fact that so many people that made it home have left for other sites. I feel the place I need to be right now is The Wolven. I hope you tune in when you can.

Kerry immediately started working with Andrew on a banner for me. They're pretty close to getting it done, I just had to offer some ideas on different lettering on the banner. We'll see what they come up with this weekend. Not too worried about it, mid-term exam studying is WAY more important that my banner. Right now, it looks like I will be doing the Friday night 9pm-12am slot, after Kerry. It's the slot I had after her at the site where she and I met, we had a lot of fun during those 6 hours each week. For now, I think I will just stick with one night.

Well, time to get ready for bed, I do love casual Friday! LOL

Right as I'm starting this, my tv in the other room goes quiet. I get up to go check it out, and sure enough, my cable lost it's satellite feed. We have some strong storms coming through the area, just starting up, about 15 minutes later than the National Weather Service said they would come through. So I was thinking it missed me. Guess not, it's getting windy, and I can sense the rain is going to come.

I watched the American Idol finale, thank goodness that was over with before the storm came through. Reminds me of when Kerry and I watched Idol together a couple years ago, we were actually on the phone with each other as we watched, then I voted for the two of us, based on our opinions. One week, during Idol, while on the phone, the tornado siren for my town went off as some strong storms skirted the area. Did I get off the phone? Did I take cover? No way! I kept watching, kept talking, but still kept one eye on the sky. (I think the rain has started now).

The week is almost over, so glad for a long weekend! Guess I should just turn the tv off, since I don't know when the cable will come back on.

What a weird night. I stop at Target on Tuesday afternoons on the way home from work, to buy any new cd's that have been just released, because they're cheaper then. Well this week, there were two notable cd's being released, one by Def Leppard, and one by The Dixie Chicks. Since Kerry LOVES the chicks, and she really really wanted to buy the cd herself, we agreed she'd buy that one, and I'd buy the Def Leppard cd. While I was there I picked up a couple others I saw that weren't too expensive.

I came home and got on the computer to tell Kerry about the cd's I bought. First she wanted to tell me about the cd's she bought. Along with the chicks cd, she bought the Walk the Line soundtrack, and a Canadian artist named David Wilcox and an older Judds cd we'd been wanting. Then it was my turn to tell her what I bought. In addition to the new Def Leppard cd, I bought the American Idol 5 cd, and that was when Kerry said "OMFG I HAD IT IN MY HAND!" I chuckled, and proceeded to tell her about the next cd I bought, Michael Bolton, Bolton Swings Sinatra The Second Time Around. At that I thought Kerry was going to faint dead on the floor. She said, "I HAD IT IN MY HAND F**K OFF!!!" Good thing she didn't buy either one of them, lmao.

I watched American Idol tonight, the first two songs by each performer were songs they'd previously sung, so I listened from in front of the computer while I ripped my cd's to the computer. The third song by each performer are the single they will release should they win. I didn't really care for Katharine's song, Taylor's was much better. And at the end, Simon said if after the first two songs the singers were tied, Taylor would win the competition! Wooooo! Soul Patrol! Soul Patrol! Tomorrow is the two hour season finale, then I am done with all regularly scheduled shows until September. And I read in next week's tv guide that two shows I really liked on Friday nights are not being renewed next year. Very disappointing.

As soon as Kerry finishes sending me music tonight, since it's now after 10pm EDT, I'll finish watching the ACM's and go to bed, with my alarm set correctly! I figured out my problem, I had the 5:30 alarm still set on Sat/Sun not M-F. Also have to set the timer to tape Jay Leno tonight, cause Def Lep will be on it. Woooo Hoooo

Ever have one of those days? My alarm was set to go off at 5am, then again at 5:30. I remember the 5am alarm, but not the 5:30. So, when I woke up at 7:23am, I said fuck it, pardon my french, called in to work, left a message for my boss, told him I would be in this afternoon, I had some stuff to do this morning. That "stuff" ended up being watching parts of Oprah, part of a tv show from a few years back called Seven Days, and then finally going into work at 12:15.

Of course, as soon as I got there, I was busy busy busy. Most of the stuff I do first thing when I come in on Monday mornings I didn't get to until about 2pm. A customer rejected some material, so I had to sort through how many coils we had sent her that "could" be rejected, and send that to the technical rep from the mill. I also worked with the warehouse to cancel a couple loads that were due to deliver Tuesday. These two loads had coils on it that I am concerned could also be rejected, and since the customer doesn't have acres of space for a bunch of rejected coils, the last thing I want to do is send her more for her to reject. My only concern is that one of the coils she rejected should have been ok, if the problems at the mill from last August/September were truly fixed.

It's always something. So by the time I got everything sorted out and the emails sent that I needed to send, my afternoon was half over, lol. I got some invoicing done, just before 4pm, so I left the invoices sitting on my desk to be put in envelopes tomorrow when I get in.

I did get a good chuckle about 3:30...an outside salesman called me asking if I had a customer PO for a specific order, I looked in the folder and said, "Nope, don't have it." He called the customer and asked them to fax to him. But for some reason, he wasn't receiving it, so he requested they send it to our office, to my attention. Well, they faxed it, but they left my name off it. So one of our coordinators saw it on the fax machine and faxed it to the salesman. The salesman saw it come over the fax, figured it came from the customer, and faxed it to me, back to the same office it just came from! It even had this little fax sticky address thingy on it, saying it was from Todd to Kevin. Kevin didn't even see it, lol. So I walked over to Todd, and asked for a copy of the original fax that he had, so I didn't have a fax of a fax of a fax. Then I called Kevin, and told him what he did, chuckling all the while. He thought Todd had the PO the whole time, so I explained that it had just come over the fax 20 minutes earlier. That got Kevin laffing too. Killed a tree with all that, lmao.

The drive to work was great today (only because I was doing it at 11:30am). Tomorrow, I HAVE to get up at 5:30, so I can leave at 6:30. They are doing construction on this one section of one of the roads I take, and traffic gets backed up. Well, Sunday they moved traffic over to the new section they just built, because they need to erect the new toll booths. See, they're taking the toll booths that are at one road, and moving the eastbound booths further west. They will be widening more of the road next year, and the governor is finishing up this "open road tolling" plan which is supposed to ease congestion. Yeah, right! I haven't noticed it yet. Will be a few more years before I see a change in my commute time. Typically it takes at least an hour to get to work, that hasn't changed in a year and a half, and I don't see it changing in the next two years. So anyway, with this new lane configuration, I'm expecting that everyone will come to a complete stop there, because they have to stop and say "Wow! New lanes! I hope they aren't charging me a toll here!" Stupid idiots, all of them. There's a freaking sign that says no tolls will be collected there! Duh! So to compensate for this, I have to allow 90 minutes for commute time, just in case. I know if I don't, I'll show up at work at 8:30, which means I either cut my lunch short, or I stay late, which I don't like doing, seeing as how I have an hour drive home too.

So, it's off to bed for me, gotta try to get some sleep so I can actually get up at 5:30, lol.

I don't really have much to talk about tonight. It was a pretty quiet weekend. I got caught up on stuff I taped last week. Now that most season finales are done, there won't be much on tv. Of course, I always say that, but invariably find something to watch.

I went to see The DaVinci Code today. I think it was well done, followed the book quite well. A lot of people are opposed to the book and the movie. I think it just gives you something to think about. Does anyone REALLY know what happened back then?

It's back to work again tomorrow. Wow, the weekends fly by so quickly. Next weekend is a long one, gives me something to look forward to. And Tuesday I get to buy the new Def Leppard cd! It's titled Yeah!, a compilation of remakes from David Bowie, T-Rex, The Kinks, and David Essex. The songs can be listened to for free at the VH1 website, here.

Tired anyone? I was tired enough to try to nap at lunch today, but now that it's time for bed, I'm wide awake. *Sigh*

I kept pretty busy at work today. My boss sent an email out to all of us, reminding us that if we don't have anything to do, there's a lot of filing (mostly mine) piling up on a spare desk. I work on it whenever I can, but unfortunately, right now, that's not more than maybe once a week. Last year this time, I was bored, bored, bored. Not this year. I'm not sure why the difference, but I won't complain too loudly.

I watched Idol tonight, I hope that it's Elliot and Taylor in the finals. Katherine has never been a favorite of mine, although I will admit she has a good voice, she'd just never been one of my favorites. And I think, overall, Elliot and Taylor did a much better job tonight on their songs. Tonight was one song each picked by Clive Davis, one song each picked by the judges, and one song each of their own choice. Next week should be one original song sung by both of them, and one other original song for each of them which would be their first release if they win. I tried voting for Taylor tonight, off and on for the two hours. Even with three numbers, I never could get through. Can only keep my fingers crossed that the Soul Patrol was doing it's job. Woooo!

Today is my friend Wendy's birthday, she's 43. Wow is she old! LMAO. So tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm taking her out to dinner. I bought her a couple of hand towels for her first floor bathroom which in my honest opinion was in desperate need of a couple of new towels. I also got her an inflatable reclining chair thingy for their pool...assuming they put it out this year. Since she's taking the summer off from school, she should have plenty of time to relax out in the sun, thought this would be a nice way for her to do that. Of course, I forgot to pick up a card while I was at Target, so I have to go at lunch tomorrow and get one. Sheesh!

While at Target tonight, I picked up two more cd's. The new Hoobastank cd, which I'm sure AliceKay will download from limewire or get from Ladystyx. I also got a Nickelback cd, not the newest one, I already have that one, this is the one before that one, released in 2003. It has Someday on it, and Feelin' Way Too Damn Good on it. Going to check MM to make sure I don't have it, but I'm about 99 percent sure.

Supposed to have sun in the morning and storms in the afternoon, high of 71F tomorrow (21.5C), our warmest day for the next week. Still have to figure out what to wear tomorrow too. Guess I best do that now before I get too tired to care, lol.

Quick post because I need to get to bed. Today was kind of boring at work. I was able to finish up my monthly inventory reconciliation that was giving me problems. It was all because the warehouse/processor was shipping material to the customer and not faxing me paperwork, so I had no idea they had shipped anything. Then they were rejecting material but not telling us why. I think I got it all squared away, and next month should be easier.

I watched the President's speech tonight, it only lasted about 20 minutes. He said some good things, talked entirely about immigration reform and border security. I already knew he was going to announce the deployment of National Guard troops to the border with Mexico to help out with building fences and/or walls, monitoring security equipment, installing different forms of detection of people trying to cross the border illegally from Mexico. He didn't say whether the National Guard troops would only be from the border states, or whether they would be supplied by other states too.

He also didn't say how long it would take to increase the Border Patrol by the 6,000 agents he said he wanted. Last time he asked for 2,000 and he got 200. Every day another 3,200 immigrants enter our country illegally along our southern border. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if anything he proposed really comes to fruition, and whether it helps the situation. One interesting piece of information I read today, our border with Canada is 5,500 miles long, the worlds largest un-protected border. Imagine if we had immigrants trying to cross that border like they do down south?

Mother's Day is almost over with, thank goodness! I picked up a couple of very nice bouquets for my adopted aunt and mom. They loved them and cried, like they always do, lol. We went to brunch at a local restaurant that has a buffet. I love it because I get to have breakfast, while they're eating lunch/dinner. Breakfast is my favorite meal, I can eat it anytime of day or night.

After that we went to see Mission Impossible 3. It was very good! I wasn't sure how it was going to end, leaving it open for another sequel, or killing off Ethan. I won't spoil it for anyone, in case they have plans to see it. I thought it was just as good as the first two movies.

After that was over, I hustled home so I could watch the very first episode of West Wing, aired before the final episode. Wow, that show has changed over the years. They've had a different writer the last couple of years, which I know had a lot to do with it. That was one of my all time favorite shows, one of the only ones I would even consider buying on dvd.

Well, while I'm waiting for this load of wash to finish, I'm going to go start watching the race from Saturday night. Have a great week everyone!

Another one bites the dust. Tom wants kids, has always wanted kids, and wants to be with someone who feels the same way. Unfortunately, I'm still undecided about kids, and now that I'm 37, I'm not sure I want to. I know, I know. Lot's of women are having kids into their 40's these days. But I don't want to be 60 when my kid would be graduating high school. So that's the end of Tom.

I'm resolved to the fact that my experiment was just that, an experiment. And I learned some valuable things from it. One, that I'm too honest sometimes. Two, I'm unsure of what I'm looking for in a man. Three, I'm probably just better off on my own, I better get used to it, and learn to enjoy the rest of my life. No sense being a miserable bitch for however much longer I'm on this earth.

On a more sour note, tomorrow is Mother's Day, actually it's today, since it's now after midnight. I really really don't like Mother's Day. If it weren't for my adopted family, I'd stay in bed on Mother's Day. Everywhere I went today, I saw signs and advertisements for Mother's Day. You'd think someone out there would have compassion for those who aren't a mother, and/or no longer have a mother. All I do on Mother's Day is miss my own mom. No matter how good my adopted mom has been, she's still not my mom. I missed out on so much with my mom, and this day just brings me down.

Tonight was the graduation party for my cousin's girlfriend. She had a LOT of family come from out of town for this. They were all really enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, I just wasn't in much of a celebratory mood tonight. If gas prices weren't so high, I'd take some vacation days and just drive. I don't know where I'd drive, but I'd get away and spend some time thinking about my life, and where I'm going with it.

Anyway, I guess I should go to bed now. I want to be up in time for Alice's and Kerry's streams. And damn, I don't think I'll hear much of Kerry's stream. I have to be in Sycamore at 11:30, and I have to buy flowers and get cash and get gas before heading out there. So that means I have to leave about 10, which means I have to take my shower at about 9, which is when Kerry starts her stream. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Alice was complaining that no one was posting this week. Well, here's a post for you to read Alice. Not sure how interesting it is. I'm listening to Cubby stream right now. I've had about four glasses of wine, I'm feeling pretty good, I guess.

This week has been long, been staying up too late, getting up too early, working too hard. Well, maybe not too hard, but working nonetheless. A little stressful, but nothing I can't get through.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I am meeting Tom for lunch. He's the man I was matched with who was about to take his final exams and graduate with his nursing degree. He said he'd call me after he was done, and he did. I had no doubt he would. So we're meeting for lunch at a restaurant chain called Chili's, that's sort of between our two towns, a lot closer to me than him, but not much we can do about that now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Tomorrow night (Saturday night) I have a graduation party to go to, my cousin's girlfriend is graduation college finally, so she invited us to her party. Will be out most the night. Haven't decided if I'm going to get her something, or just give her money.

I got home about an hour ago, after being out most of the day with Deb. It's been so nice visiting with her. Since it's been almost a week since I posted, I'll update everyone on what I've been doing and what I got done, lol.

Every night this last week, I was cleaning, sorting, straightening, all the stuff that I normally would have taken my time with and done over several weekends. I got the "disaster" of a second bedroom all cleaned up. It looks much better now, lol. I'm going to try real hard to keep it looking nice.

I got the living room all vacuumed, got any cobwebs removed, I even pulled out the couch and loveseat and vacuumed underneath and behind those. It hadn't been done since I moved in 7-1/2 years ago. So needless to say it was quite dusty and dirty back there. Feels good to get all this done.

I got my bedroom done, just barely. That was finished this morning before picking Deb up to take to my aunt's for brunch. I never really got to the kitchen, unfortunately. But it's not like Deb was staying overnight here, or that I'd actually have to cook for her, lmao. I wish I'd had one more day to get the last few things done, but oh well.

Friday evening my aunt came and picked me up, and we met Deb at the first church the bell choir was performing at, right here in my town, just 5 minutes away from my apartment. It's a small Presbyterian church, but it wasn't even half full for the performance. I was expecting the pews to be packed, so was disappointed that they weren't. The concert itself was fantastic! It's so fascinating watching a bell choir perform, I don't think I'll ever understand exactly HOW everyone knows when to ring their bells, lol.

This morning, I quickly did some last minute vacuuming and bagging of stuff in my room that needed to be removed, then picked Deb up for the day. Her husband had already gone out with others from the choir, I believe they spent part of the day at the mall. The two of us headed out to my aunt's, we went to brunch at a place called Egg Haven. They make 5 egg omelets, that are so huge, you can't eat it all. I had a full stack of chocolate chip pancakes, Deb had a short stack of pecan pancakes, and my aunt had a steak ceasar salad. We were all stuffed! Then we went to Wal Mart, lol.

Deb has never been to a Super Wal Mart, and she doesn't know anyone in Michigan that will go with her to Wal Mart, so we went there and did a little shopping. I didn't see any cd's on sale (Kerry), but I got my USB Cable that I need for my scanner! After that, we went back to my aunt's condo, sat and chatted a while before she needed to get ready for a show she was going to see tonight, Colin Mochrie. Deb and I returned back to my place, I showed her pictures that I had hanging on my walls of friends and family members, then we left to go to tonight's performace of the bell choir at a church in Aurora, about 20 minutes from my apartment.

The concert was again excellent. They changed a few things from last night to be different, they had a different crowd tonight, more older folks tonight than last night. But still not a very big crowd. This performance was at a Methodist church, beautiful sanctuary, lots of stained glass windows. I was still surprised at how few people were there. Once the performance was over with, I purchased a Christmas cd for $15. Deb and I went outside to move her bags from my car to her husband's car, and she realized she left one bag at my apartment. So we hopped in the car to race back here to get it, figuring we'd have enough time, since they needed to pack all the bells, tear down the tables, and load everything up. She left a message for Rick, telling him what we were doing. We were almost back to the church when he called her asking where she was. When we pulled into the parking lot, they were waiting in the car for her. Oh well, we tried. I hope they weren't too upset with her. Tonight the group was driving up to Waukegan, north of Chicago, staying in a hotel there, and performing at a church service tomorrow morning. After that, they were heading straight back to Michigan.

Such a nice weekend! And tomorrow (Sunday) I get to stay home and relax!

Not much too exciting going on around here. Today was day one of backdating at work. Didn't have much to do. I sorta wasted part of the afternoon following the nascar race that got rained out yesterday. Wish I'd known about it last night, I would have gladly taped the race instead of DooL, lol. My favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was doing really well, but then blew his engine just after half way, glad I didn't have him on my fantasy team this week. Not really sure why I didn't trade for him, I think I was just too out of it Saturday night at midnight when I was going through my drivers, lol.

Tonight I came home, and did some cleaning, straightening, tossing, organizing, etc. My second bedroom is, well to put it nicely, a disaster area, lol. It's much better now though. I hung two shot glass cases, and filled both. Tomorrow I will run to the hardware store to get 4 more screws and anchors so I can hang the other two cases I have. Now what I need is a case for all the tall shotglasses I have. Five of the six cases I have only have spaces for small shot glasses. Will have to keep an eye on that. Once I have these two cases hung, I can eventually start to catalog all my shot glasses. I had a list at one point, but it got so outdated so quickly, lol.

I have a stereo from the 70's I would guess. It has an 8 track tape deck, a turntable, a cassette deck, and a radio, and two detached speakers. It was manufactured by Montgomery Ward. It was my roommates, and when she passed away her mom let me keep it. Well, eventually I got a table top 5 cd stereo with a turntable, and two cassette decks, so I put the old MW stereo, where else? The second bedroom. I called my aunt (actually my friend's aunt) to see if she thought my friend's mom would mind or ever notice if I just tossed this old MW stereo. She didn't think so, but she remembered she has a friend who collects old stereos. So she is going to call him and next time I go out to her house, I will take it with so he can pick it up there.

I also have a storage bin filled with collectible teddy bears that my roommate's mom wanted her nephew to have. Most of the collection is already at her house being stored in the basement. But somehow this one bin stayed with me and I just never took it there. So Saturday when I head out to my aunt's I'll take not only the stereo but the bin too, get both out of here.

I got four loads of laundry done tonight, and started on one bathroom. About the only thing I didn't do tonight was eat. Have to go fix something small to get me through the night, lol. Oh yeah, almost forgot, there was one other thing I am getting for my birthday. My aunt got me a year's subscription to a Civil War magazine, I'll get one every other month! I thought that was a really neat idea for her to do that!

Short post tonight, since I need to get to bed soon. I celebrated my birthday with family today, or should I say part of my family. I went out to lunch with my adopted mom and adopted aunt, then we went to see The Sentinel. My cousin and his girlfriend were supposed to join us, but they never showed, and neither one of them answered their phones when we called to see where they were. I was very disappointed that they flaked on us, but what do you expect from 23 yr olds.

I got a bunch of shot glasses. In case you didn't know it, I collect them. I have several cases on my walls here, to display some of them. One of these days I need to update my list of what I have and don't have. I also got a lounging outfit for home, and a couple of holiday tops to wear for Christmas. My big present from my aunt was my printer/scanner/copier that she and I have been talking about for months. We've been waiting to see them go on sale, and she kept putting me off when I'd tell her where I saw one cheap. Turns out she bought this one a while ago, and didn't tell me, lol. I'm going to try to get it set up this week, but not sure itf I'll have time.

Deb is coming to town this weekend. Woooooooooo Hoooooooooooooo I'll be busy in the evenings after work making sure this place is spotless for her, cause I know how much of a neat freak she is, and let's just say I'm not so much of a neat freak, lol.

Oh what a night! Late April back in 2006! LOL, my own version of the KC & the Sunshine hit!

I never even got a chance to get on the computer tonight until after Kerry was in bed! Oh my goodness, I was busy! It started out at maybe 5:15-5:30, when the phone rang. It was our long lost friend Deb. Her husband (I love saying that) Rick and his bell ringers are coming to Chicago for three performances next weekend, Deb is coming with, and would like to get together while she is here! We talked for awhile. She hasn't posted in forever for a couple reasons.

First, her back hurts when she sits down at the computer, so she hasn't really been on the computer much at all lately. Second, she hasn't posted in her blog for the first reason, but also because she FORGOT HER PASSWORD! And then she didn't have the energy to send Kerry or I an email to get her password. I will be emailing it to her tonight before I go to bed, lol. Other than all that, she's doing ok.

After I was off the phone with her, I called Darlene real quick to let her know Deb was alive and still coming to Chicago. While on the phone with her, my other line rings. I switch over, and it's the most recent match I received this week from The Right One! I switch back to Darlene, tell her I gotta go, then switch back to Tom.

Tom lives about 90 minutes away in a small town called Marseilles. He doesn't like the big city area at all. He's a truck driver, but didn't want to do it all his life, so he's back in school to be a nurse. He graduates next weekend, and already has a job waiting for him. He seems really nice, so we agreed once his exams are over with and he's finished with school, we'll figure out a time and place to meet to get better acquainted.

So while talking to him, I was taping TAR, cause I couldn't miss that. There's no repeats of it to watch later, lol. Since I was taping TAR, I missed Bones. I'll keep an eye out for possible repeats during the summer so I can catch this episode, it looked REALLY good!! By the time I got off the phone with Tom, it was almost 8pm CDT, time for Idol results show. I called Darlene back real quick to make sure she was going to watch. Andrea Boccelli was performing, so I told her she only needed to watch the first 15 minutes or so, then could watch whatever else she wanted. Andrea was great! And Kellie Pickler is FINALLY GONE! Wooooooooo hooooooooo

After Idol is Unan1mous, the show ended tonight waiting for the results of another vote to see if they can unanimously pick one of the remaining three to get the remaining $490,000 or so. What a waste...1.5 million dollars has dwindled to less than 1/3. One guy had the audacity to boast in secret to one of the others about how he just purchased a mercedes! And he claims he "needs" this money?? Once that information became public knowledge, there was no way anyone was going to vote for him to get the money!

Supposed to be another beautiful day tomorrow (it better be! I ordered one, lol) before cooling back down and getting rain for the weekend. Well, time to check the weather, take the clothes out of the washer, hang them up to dry, and start getting ready for bed. With traffic being so bad in the mornings lately, I'm having to leave by 6:45 to get to work by 8am.

Now that Blogger is back up from the upgrade or whatever it was tonight, I can post.

An update on my attempt at a lovelife: The third match I was given never called me. So after two weeks, I sent in my follow up thingy, telling them I'm not comfortable being the first person to make contact all the time. He never called me, so obviously he's not interested in finding a match. Well, a week ago, while I was still waiting for that guy to call, I got another match in the mail. After a week, he hasn't called me either. Well, guess what I got in the mail today? Another match, my fifth. I'm hoping he calls, but I'm not holding my breath. That would be a waste of some good oxygen and carbon dioxide, LOL

I have not made any decision about streaming again. I am excited for Kerry, because I know she was missing it something terrible. I just have reservations, because we're coming on the warmer weather, and the same thing happens every year when it gets warm. The chat rooms empty out, because everyone is spending time outdoors, going on vacations, etc. So why would I want to go back to streaming right before summer? I just don't know what to do. I enjoy sharing my music, I really do! I'm just really torn.

The year was 1924. Easter Sunday, April 20th in Wheatland, Wyoming. A nurse and a master sergeant, both veterans of World War I, welcomed a baby boy named Orion Ernest into the world. He was blessed to have a beautiful little sister, a second chance at love, one son, five daughters, and seven grandchildren (more came later that he never saw). He worked at his fathers car dealership, installed television antennas, repaired televisions, flew airplanes in World War II, and was the most handsome man I've ever known.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I've been meaning to do a post to let Kerry know about the show Unan1mous. It airs on Wednesday nights, after the Idol results show on Fox. So here it is in a nutshell...

Nine people agree to go down into a bunker (underground), with no contact with the outside world, and have to come to a unanimous decsion for one and only one person of the 9 to win 1.5 million dollars. That's the basic plot. However, as any reality show viewer knows, there's always more to it.

It's weird, these people are being controlled. They are told when to eat, when to sleep, when to vote, etc. Everyone comes from different backgrounds. One is a minister, one is a poker player, another is a truck driver, another is a real estate salesman, etc. They don't have much time to get to know each other before they have to make their first vote. It's all done anonymously. There are these metallic looking balls that open up, and inside is this scrolling wheel with everyone's names on it. Each person has to choose which person he or she thinks should get the money. And you can't vote for yourself.

The first vote was not unanimous. Everyone is told to leave the room where the voting takes place. They go and explain why they think they deserve the money. Everyone starts agreeing that the truck driver is the most deserving of the money. When it's time to vote again, they are all supposed to vote for him. BUT, one person lies, says he will, then changes his vote at the last second. No one wins the money.

The game isn't over though. At this point, three folders are raised up out of the table, each folder has a secret that belongs to one of the players. They don't know who it belongs to. They have to read all three secrets, decide which one is the worst, and that person become an outcast. They are no longer in the running for the money, but they still vote for the others. Boy does the shit start to hit the fan! By this time, the minister says she's had enough of it, she wants out, and if she leaves they are told the money will be cut in half! She leaves anyway. It's now down to750,000 dollars. With her departure, the first outcast is brought back to the group. But they are still not able to unanimously decide who should get the money.

So now the money starts decreasing by one dollar every second...tick, tick, tick...money going down the drain. With people being outcasted, everyone starts turning on each other. They are making alliances, fake alliances, lying, all in the name of somehow trying to make the strong players outcasts and hoping to convince the rest to vote for them. All of this makes another of the players physically ill. She gets a horrendous migraine, is sick to the stomach, she cannot take the conditions down there. She leaves due to her health (which causes no additional decrease of the money), so there is one less person in the mix.

All I can say is this show is very weird! It's unlike anything I have watched before. I don't know if I would watch it if they do another one. But it is interesting to see what lengths people will go to, for 1.5 million dollars. The real estate salesman told everyone he has testicular cancer so they'd feel sorry for him and give him the money. He even went so far as to do a little limping so they'd think he was in pain! Everyone is lying to everyone else, there are no loyalties, the show is down to seven people, three are outcasts, and it's up to the outcasts to pick one of the four others to be another outcast. It's almost like a last man standing game, lol.

Anyway, that's Unan1mous! LOL (click on the word for show info)

Watched American Idol tonight, everyone was truly good tonight! Will be difficult to see anyone leaving tomorrow night. This week's theme was The Great American Songbook by Rod Stewart, and the contestants got to meet with and sing for Rod Stewart. He will be performing one of his songs tomorrow night. I think this is cool, because Kerry and I have two of his Songbook cd's, and we want the other two. She and I are starting to expand our music collections even further than before, branching out into more Jazz and old classics. I am enjoying this!

After that, I watched some strange British mystery I think, it takes place at some nursing school Very weird, but I had to keep watching, lmao. Then of course, I realized the Cubs game was on so started watching that. Then during a commercial, I changed to an Independant station that shows a lot of inspirational shows, like It's A Miracle. This episode had a story about a woman visiting Hong Kong and was in a motorcycle accident right before heading home to England. She appeared fine, but once on the plane started complaining about chest pain. Turns out she had a collapsed lung, and while ON THE PLANE, a doctor made a makeshift chest tube and INSERTED IT, actual surgery, so she could breathe until they landed at Heathrow! What an amazing story!

Once that story was complete, I continued on my channel surfing way, lo and behold, I came to USA channel and Nashville Star! I completely forgot it was on tonight! I saw the last performer, and who was voted off, that's the really important part, but I would like to see Chris Young's performance. So I'll check out usanetwork.com before going to bed, because the show will be re-aired about midnight or 1am. Never fear!

It will be just like last night, when I had to tape a re-airing of Days of our Lives. A former Governor of Illinois, George Ryan, was on trial for 22 separate counts, ranging from fraud, to racketeering, to who knows what else. Well, he was found guilty on all charges and faces up to 20 years in prison. The man is 70 years old. I can just picture him spending 20 years in jail, and coming out at 90, lmao. So anyway, all this came down, of course, right when Days would have been on yesterday afternoon. NBC was nice enough to re-air the broadcast of Days in the wee hours when nothing else is on, so viewers/fans could tape it and not miss that episode. NOT that anything exciting happened, lol. Nothing exciting EVER happens in Salem anymore!

Well, I think that's enough chatter, time to check the weather, check when NS will be re-aired, and head to bed.

Now that I've scanned the requisite blogs in my favorites, I can post in my own blog.

Ok.


Umm...


Went to work today. Whoopee. Boring, I did filing all afternoon.

Came home, watched Celebrity Cooking Showdown, or whatever it's called. I only watched because Ali Sweeney from Days of our Lives was on it. Of course she didn't win, even though she fixed the HARDEST dishes of the three competing. So now I don't need to watch on Thursday or Friday, lol.

Umm...

I guess I'll go to work tomorrow. That would probably be a good thing.

Umm...

I did a couple loads of laundry tonight. And I sent Kerry one last cd, Chris Botti. She's lovin' his music!

Umm...

Guess that's about it. My life is so exciting huh?? Oh yeah!

Yesterday was Easter (Resurrection Sunday for those that choose that reference, since the word Easter is never mentioned in the Bible), and I got together with family and we went out for brunch. I call it brunch, because we go to a local restaurant that serves a buffet on the big holidays like "Easter" and Mother's Day. Breakfast is at one end, then changing to lunch/dinner at the other end. I always have the breakfast, of course! It's my favorite meal of the day!

Boy did we have some fierce storms go through yesterday afternoon and last night. Not a lot of lightning and thunder, but heavy heavy rain. I was trying to drive home in part of it, and I could hardly see the road at times. We needed the rain, but not that much all at once, lol. Was beautiful today, lots of sunshine, if not a little chilly. But I can handle having to put a Spring jacket on again, lol.

Lake and Michelle are gone from The Amazing Race!!! Wooo Hooo! I think Ray and Yolanda have a good shot at winning, but it looks like next week they start to fall apart. I'm posting now because I'm taping the Idol results show. They decided to start it during TAR, and I can't watch both. So I'm taping Idol and Unan1mous, then will watch them at 9. Shouldn't take too long, lol In the meantime I can finish converting all this music Kerry sent me!

Tomorrow is the last work day of the week for me. It feels weird only being three days long, but that's as far my complaining will go, lol. I just wish I wasn't having such a hard time falling asleep. Once I'm asleep I'm fine, it's just getting there that's a problem. So today at lunch, I went out to my car, closed my eyes for about 45 minutes, thinking that I might doze, just to keep me going until I went to bed tonight. I actually fell asleep, deep enough to start dreaming in those 45 minutes! It was a very strange dream, and it had to do with work...of course!

I dreamed that I was going on vacation or something like that, so I wouldn't be around. One of my customers had a load of steel that they were waiting for, and we were expecting the truck driver to need directions. So I had a map out and I was writing down the directions to the customer, to give to my boss, because the driver was somehow going to be calling him! The call was going to be forwarded from his phone at work to his cell phone or something, lmao. When I told him about this dream at lunch, he told me I need to stop thinking about work so much. I tried to tell him work was the LAST thing on my mind! (At least I didn't dream about dirty toilete stalls again! That's a story you DON'T want to hear about.)