Award, a Hot Flash and a Pet Peeve

Thank you to Pooba for giving me this award! Although I totally do not deserve it, being a terrible blogger, but I appreciate it nonetheless.



Today at work was mostly uneventful. Except for the HUGE hot flash I had that lasted, oh about 6 hours. Guinness Book of World Records? I wish!

No, it wasn't even that exciting. Yesterday, maintenance for our building was working on the heat in our president's office (apparently it wasn't working, imagine that!) and today I was melting at my desk. I think I shed 5 pounds. When I finally complained, about 3:30pm, maintenance came right up and discovered the thermostat by my desk was set to 78F. We can't change it, so I have no idea how it got set to 78. The only thing I can think of is that if the president's heat wasn't working, the zone that my desk was in was trying to compensate for it, and we had to have maintenance put the heat up to 78 to keep us from freezing. And now that his heat works, ours doesn't need to be that high. I was threatening (and grossing everyone out) to strip down to my bra and underwear. Good thing we don't have customers come into our office, we'd have no customers left.

Winter has returned with a vengeance, snow yesterday and today, and single digit temps. I am SO ready for spring!


You all know what this is, right? It's a paper cutter. Under that handle is a very sharp blade that slices paper and fingers if you put them in the wrong place. No, I didn't cut any off. But one of my biggest pet peeves is people who use them and leave the handle UP with the blade exposed for anyone to come along and cut themselves on it. I am always putting ours down, and I haven't been able to figure out who keeps leaving it up so I can show them what to do with it when finished. This is just one of many pet peeves I have.

What are some of yours?

I Give Up Trying to Think of a Title For This

While I'm thinking of a title, I'll get you caught up on things around here.

Sunday I went to see Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey, Jr. It was good, had a lot of action, some funny moments...but I just don't know if it was all that. London was portrayed as a very dirty city (which I'm sure it was in the late 1800's), and Sherlock Holmes himself was dirty, unkempt, even slovenly. It's so opposite of the portrayal I remember as a kid by Basil Rathbone. I know directors like to take liberties when they re-do movies, but I am usually disappointed when they remake older movies, updating them to today. I have a similar issue with music. Whichever version of a song I hear first, to me is the "original", even if it's a remake, and therefore any other version, even the true original just doesn't sound right to me. I wish I could give you an example, but according to a memory test I took last night, I'm sleep deprived, lol.

Tonight is American Idol; more auditions in Orlando, Florida. Last night was an embarassing showcase of the lack of talent here in Chicago. Out of about 12,000 contestants, only 13 got golden tickets to Hollywood. 13! And some of those aren't even FROM Chicago! No wonder they only come here every 4-5 years, there isn't enough talent to support more frequent visits.

Work is going ok, keeping busy enough to fill my days and still have lots to do the next day. My big garage door customer in PA is looking more and more like a lost account. We found out today that they bought some material for Jan and Feb deliveries from someone else (which we'd suspected, just didn't know who). Not sure why my contact feels it's necessary to lie to me, but whatever. It will sort of be a relief, as this customer is very demanding, and we have never really been able to properly handle this type of business. Management won't let it go easily, though, since we are a Japanese company, and the customer is owned by a Japanese company. They must save face at all costs. Even if it means my sanity.

Well, my pizza's ready and Idol's about to start, so better go slice it up before it gets cold.

Nothing To See, Move Along

It's been a quiet week here. Work, of course. And I'm not lucky enough to have Monday off for Martin Luther King Day, so a regular weekend. Idol started this week, which I watched with Styxie. The temperatures finally went above freezing this week, so yesterday I got my car washed after work. It's all clean and pretty again. Hopefully soon I'll get out and take a picture of it for you.

Update on the second batch of PB fudge. It never fully set. I cut it but it just never firmed up enough to actually cut pieces and pick them up. I even put it in the fridge for a day and a half. Next batch we try we'll beat it more, see if that helps. Not sure if it's because it wasn't beaten enough, but when I did try to "scoop" out a piece, it felt very grainy. So I think the beating serves another purpose, to make sure the powdered sugar gets completely blended in to smooth out the mixture. I'll let you know how the next batch turns out.

Mmmmmm, Peanut Butter Fudge!!!!

Yummy!

That's all I can say about it. Yummy! Just like I remembered it. Since my mom's recipe was very vague, after my ant boiled and beat the mix, she poured it in a dish and tossed it in the fridge. Well, she didn't toss it literally! She gently set it on a shelf in the fridge. Is that better?

Although it tasted perfect, the consistency was off just a bit. It was more crumbly than I remember. It's not supposed to be very gooey, but it was...I don't know, too dry? My ant says the cold air in the fridge would have helped cause that.

So my ant made another batch. This one she left on the counter, which I brought home with me. A second batch just for me!!!! However, after work tonight, I came home and checked it, and it's still not set as much as it should. I'll probably 'gently set it on the shelf in the fridge' tomorrow night for an hour or two, to see if that helps. But I don't remember my mom ever refrigerating it. Some I'm kind of stumped.

Just did a quick search for "peanut butter fudge" and found several recipes, but all used either butter and/or marshmallow. Mine doesn't. I'm thinking we either need to use a bit more peanut butter or beat it longer before pouring in a pan/dish for cooling. As I said, my mother's recipe is very vague. We'll keep playing with it, but at least it tastes good!

Football Saturday!

Starting shortly will the Dallas v. Philly game. You KNOW I'll be planted in front of the tv, not moving until it's over. Please, please, please...Dallas...WIN this thing!

Was a quiet Saturday today. Slept until about 11am. Got dressed, ran a couple errands, got my hair cut. Wanted to get my car washed because it's F-I-L-T-H-Y, but there were a lot of cars lined up at the car wash, so I'll wait for another day.

Tomorrow I'm going to my aunt's house for lunch and to do her floors. She made peanut butter fudge for me today. And not just ANY peanut butter fudge. I gave her my mom's recipe to see if she could figure out why I wasn't able to get it to set. She told me it set just fine for her; I can't wait to have some tomorrow and see if it's as good as I remember it. It's one of the few things I have from my mom that will bring back good memories.

Off to watch football. GO COWBOYS!!!!!

Quick Post

Just a quick update before I head to bed, since I fell asleep in front of the tv earlier.

Been busy at work, but got all my 2009 stuff done Tuesday by the deadline. Whew! I talked to my garage door customer for about 1-1/2 hours on Monday, and by the bits and pieces I got her to tell me, we haven't lost the business yet, they are still working on it, due to a merger with another company and analysis of purchasing patterns. They are going to put their steel requirements out again for bid and we should be one of the vendors it's sent to. So, we haven't for sure lost the business, and there's a possibility we could get MORE business in 2010. That would make me busier than I was in 2009, and I think I would need to be cloned a couple times at least to handle it all and stay sane.

Ran errands Monday night: stopped at Target to pick up a new humidifier for my living room. I went to start up my old one Saturday night and it didn't work.

Ran more errands tonight: Stopped at the IPASS Customer whatever building it is to get new velcro tabs to stick my transponder on my windshield. Then I went into downtown Naperville to this wine store where the salesman I work with (on the garage door acct) signed me up for a wine of the month club. I parked, went in, and they didn't have my name on the list. They have two other stores in town, so she called the next closest one and sure enough, my name was on that one. Got back in my car and drove the mile down the road to the other one. It's not that much further out of my way, but it's not the store he said it would be at, so I'll give him some shit about it tomorrow. Had a glass tonight, it's good. A white wine blend of four different grapes.

Winter storm heading our way tonight, supposed to snow all day tomorrow and into Friday, could get 6-10 inches of the white sh*t. Knowing my luck, it will take me 2 hours to get home tomorrow night, and I'll be exhausted. Plus the temps are supposed to drop, lows around -1F over the weekend. Brrrrrrrrr.

Enough of my "quick post". Off to bed. (After I play on FB for 30 minutes or so, lol)

Congratulations, Iowa Hawkeyes!

Congratulations on your convincing FedEx Orange Bowl victory over Georgia Tech.

Elmer Fudd and Geico Insurance

Quiet Day Before Going Back To Work

Today was a quiet day for me. I spent most of it watching tv or reading. The Bears won, but the game was kind of boring. The Steelers game was good, but despite winning they didn't get into the playoffs. Naturally the one game I really really wanted to see, Dallas vs Philly, wasn't showing here. Instead they had the Green Bay game on. I really don't like GB.

I also did a couple loads of laundry.

However, I never even bothered to get dressed today. Why should I? I had no plans or need to go anywhere. It's too freakin' cold to go anywhere anyway. So now I will go fix a little something for a late supper, then start thinking about what I'm going to wear to work tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

I'm going to try to start off the new year on the right foot, and get back to some semblance of blogging. I hope all my friends haven't forgotten about me already. I will promise to try not to let crackbook, I mean facebook, pull me in and keep me away from my friends.

Here is what I've been up to:

I had a very nice Christmas. I got a new digital camera; have not really looked at it yet to see what all it can do, but I know the zoom is better than my old camera. I also received two cd's (Kris Allen and Adam Lambert) and some money from an aunt and a sister, to spend on something.

That something was a new car. I got a letter from my Mitsubishi dealership that was offering to pay off the balance of my loan, give me a good trade in value for the car, plus I could take advantage of a tax break for buying a new car in 2009. My current (old) car, which isn't old, is/was a 2005 Mitsubishi Galant, with 88,400 miles on it. Yes, not even five years old and already had 88,000 miles on it. I drive it a lot LOL! Like any good procrastinator, I went to the dealership on Thursday afternoon about 3pm (they closed at 5pm). I was there until 7, but I got a new car, it's nicer than the base model I got last time, and it only costs me an extra $12 per month than what I was paying before. And that's only because I added the gap insurance, otherwise it would have been the exact same monthly payment. It's a 2010 Mitsubishi Galant, black, and I love it! When it actually gets anywhere close to freezing, I'll take a picture of it for you. It's so cold now, I think by the time I walked to my car the camera batteries would be frozen and I wouldn't even get a picture taken.

Today I ran some errands. I was too late to go to the Tollway office to get new velcro thingies for my IPASS, so I'll stop and get those Monday evening on my way home from work. The velcro thingies are to attach to the inside of my windshield to attach the transponder to, which is how I pay for my tolls every day to and from work. With the IPASS I pay $1.60 every day in tolls; without it my tolls would be double. So instead, I went to Kmart and bought some Christmas stuff for a discount: two boxes of Christmas cards, two Christmas turtlenecks (one with snowmen and the other with trees, snowflakes and ornameents), some sweats outfits (blue and black), and a Christmas sweatshirt for my aunt for her birthday in July. It's purple (her favorite color) and it has two polar bears on it with boughs of holly around their necks. I think she'll love it!

Yesterday I went to my aunt's house to return a Christmas present I got for her that didn't fit. It was a new computer chair. She's picked out a different one that will fit her better, so once the credit is back on my card, I'll order the other one for her. We also went out to lunch and to a movie; we saw Blind Side with Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw. It was an excellent movie!

Tomorrow will be a stayathomeinside kinda day. Another bitterly cold day here in Chicago, best to stay inside under a blankie. I'll probaby watch some football, maybe read for a bit, just relax for one more day before I go back to work on Monday.

Speaking of work, all that overtime that I got this past year, from what...June to December? No more of that. The customer that was needing so much extra time from me, I'm pretty sure, has decided to use a new supplier for their steel for 2010. I'm sort of torn between how I feel. On the one hand, management of both companies won't let us handle the account as it needs to be handled, which leaves more room for opportunities to run them out of steel and shut their production line down, making life stressful. But then again, it is a customer, and I don't like to see us losing customers right now. I feel like I did something wrong, even though I know I didn't.

Some of you that I've known for years may recall how cold I get at the computer in the winter due to the draft from the window in this room. Well, I finally did something about it. Last year I had bought a box of the plastic that you put up over windows to keep out the cold air, but then couldn't find a blowdryer in my closet to save my life. Guess what magically showed up in my closet a few weeks ago? A blowdryer! I don't know where it was hiding but I'm glad it showed up. I put up the plastic and while I'm not toasty warm, partly due to the fact that I keep this room between 66-68F, it is much less drafty.

And with these bitter cold temps, I've got my portable heater going in the bathroom non-stop to try to keep the pipes from freezing. Or maybe I should let them freeze so I can get more new bathroom stuff? Like a new toilet? LOL That bathroom is the one really toasty warm spot in my apartment. I wish I could leave the heater going during the day when I'm at work, but I'm too afraid of a fire starting. First thing when I come home though, is to turn that heater back on and close both doors to the bathroom to keep as much heat inside it as possible.

Well, I think I'm pretty caught up on most things. And you're probably all bored to tears now anyway. Remember what I said at the beginning: I'm really going to try to blog more regularly in 2010 and not ignore my friends the way I did most of this year. For that I apologize. I love you all so much!

Catching Up

I was taking a picture of something for Iggy, and remembered I had all these pictures still on my camera. I don't remember exactly when I went for this walk. I know it was late summer, before the leaves started changing, and during one of our wet periods. It was a Saturday afternoon, the weather was beautiful, so I drove to the Morton Arboretum and took a nice relaxing walk in the forest.

One part of the section I was in was a Spruce Forest, it was so peaceful, there was no noise, no cars, no people, just me and the trees.

Here's a rock bench to sit and relax during the walk. There were a few inclines, not too steep, but I just took my time enjoying being outside in the fresh air.

What's a walk without seeing OCHA's? They were guarding the crosswalk to make sure the hikers didn't get hit by stray cars.

Back by where I parked my car, there was this suspicious alien looking thing guarding the port-o-pottie. I dared not get too close, not knowing exactly what it might do to me. I'll have to check with Iggy, but I think it might be a very rare sighting of an OSHGA (Orange Square-Headed Garbage Alien).

Because of all the rain, there was lots of fungus growing everywhere. These are some of the more interesting ones. And no, I didn't eat any of them!

This was part of the first section I walked through, regular deciduous forest. I heard lots of birds and Charlies scampering about. I'm sure they were happy for the break in the rain, too.

Before I exited the forest, I wanted to take this picture of the canopy. As you can see, not much light was coming through, which kept the path from getting too hot in the sun. I was wearing long sleeves, which helped fight off the mosquitos, but I was still too warm.

R.I.P.

Patrick Swayze

b. August 18, 1952 - d. September 14, 2009

Dirty Dancing will always be one of my favorite movies ever!

Little John the Baptist

"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me."
Matt. 18:4-5


Johnny's mother looked out the window and notice him "playing church" with their cat.
He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it.
She smiled and went about her work.
A while later, she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back to the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water.
She called out, "Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!"
Johnny looked up at her and said, "He should have thought of that before he joined my church."

Zero to 200 in Six Seconds

Bob was in trouble.

He forgot his wedding anniversary.

His wife was really mad!

She told him, "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from zero to 200 in six seconds. AND IT BETTER BE THERE!"

The next morning, he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough, there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway. She brought the box back in to the house. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Bob has been missing since Friday.

Reasons the English language is so hard to learn

We've all probably seen this one passed around via email, but I still think it's fascinating to see all the variations and stupid rules we have in the English language.

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?


Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?

One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why don't preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.



PS: Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick?"

Written by a Pastor's Wife

And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land called America, having lost their morals, their initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as "The One". He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you. My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evildoers are of no consequence. For I shall save you with Hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who preceded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed." And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what "The One" would do, he had promised that it was good; and they believed. And "The One" said "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!" And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Change is good!"

Then He said, "We are going to tax the rich fat-cats." And the people said "Sock it to them!" "And redistribute their wealth." And the people said, "Show us the money!"

And then He said, "Redistribution of wealth is good for everybody" And Joe the plumber asked, "Are you kidding me? You're going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats??" And "The One" ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked and publicized. One lone reporter asked, "Isn't that Marxist policy?" And she was banished from the kingdom!

Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?" And "The One" said, "Simple. I shall sit with them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!" And the people said, "Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!"

Then "The One" said, "I shall give 95% of you lower taxes." And one, lone voice said, "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes." So "The One" said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!" And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Show us the money!"

Then "The One" said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!" And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed.

And He said, "I shall mandate employer-funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every person unlimited healthcare and medicine and transportation to the clinics." And the people said, "Give me some of that!"

Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas." And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"

Then "The One" said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!" And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates." So "The One" said, "Not to worry. If your rebate isn't enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!"

Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing..." And the people said, "Hallelujah!!" And they made him King!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff. The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.

Then "The One" said, "I am the "The One" - The Messiah - and I'm here to save you! We shall just print more money so everyone will have enough!" But our foreign trading partners said unto Him, "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more..." And the people said, "Wait a minute. That is unfair!!" And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!"

And the people cried out, "Alas, alas!! What have we done?" But yea verily, it was too late. The people set upon "The One" and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung. And the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope. And the Change "The One" had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built. And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, "Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!" But it was too late, and their homeland was no more.

You may think this is a fairy tale, but it's not. It's happening RIGHT NOW !!!

Uncle Jay Explains

Still Aching

My back is still bothering me. I'm almost done with the pain pills, still have a few more days of the muscle relaxers, but the pain is down to a constant dull ache. It's still uncomfortable to sit in a chair for more than 10 minutes or so, but I'm doing it as often as I can.

Thank you for all your good thoughts and well-wishes. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Back Update

I went to the doctor today. She gave me more muscle relaxers and a prescription for pain pills (analgesic + acetominophen). She also suggested I got to physical therapy for 12 sessions to start strengthening my back muscles.

Back to the couch I go.

I'm A Dork

I strained my back again yesterday. The only comfortable place is lying on the couch. Not sure if I'm going to work tomorrow. I started taking some Ibuprofen last night, so far it doesn't seem to be helping. I may have to call the doctor if it's not any better tomorrow. As soon as I can sit at the computer for more than five minutes at a time, I'll be back.