OH ISSUES...

This may be the last post from this site, yet to be determined.
Hubby, in his infinite, lazy wisdom, instead of pushing a simple button on his own computer to turn it on, used mine when setting up a gmail account for his brother. Sounds innocent enough, EXCEPT it piggy backed my account to his... and after much clicking and before I realized it, I had reset the password for my brother in laws email account. Now, from what I understand, he rarely checks his email unless his girlfriend does it for him. If she should check it, and not be able to access it, they may reset the password again, and I may lose the ability to come back on here, and will have to set up a different one, which I really don't want to do.

I hate change, and I hate when change is wrongly forced on me, so with that, if I can't reach him to let him know what's up and I can't get in here anymore, I bit you adeu for now, only hoping this mess will get cleared up and I can remain ME...

signing off for now, possibly forever from this particular one,
Sandy

So much to be thankful for...

This is the time of year when we think of all we have,
those we love,
things that really matter beyond the day to day grind.
Some of the things we are thankful for are 'the usual' -
family
friends
etc.
That's so generic, really. What is at the heart of what and why we are truly thankful?

I am thankful for wonderful in-laws that aren't perfect, and have shown me that all families can be dysfunctional to some degree but they're still good.
I'm thankful for my mother in law, who has always been a warm, loving and unconditionally caring person, a huge part of why I stuck around when Rob was in his own world. Yes, dear, I hung around for your mother :)
I'm thankful for my father in law, who was a very scary man for the 1st year we dated,
but after that was the best father figure I've ever had.
He made me feel loved, safe, accepted, even if he didn't always 'get' me.
I miss him so much.
I'm thankful for my brother and sisters in law, the only brothers I have.
It's a nice extended family, who isn't perfect but still cares about each other.
and oh my gosh, Sherry is the absolute best sister in law in the world, she is almost like a mini-me of my mother in law, a rare and amazing thing to be cherished.

I'm thankful for my family, even if we drive each other crazy :)
My mom... that's a loaded one LOL!
She can make us crazy but it's something I aspire to be to my own kids, so it's all good.
Any time you can start a sentence with "MY mom...", and to be able to get your own kids to start sentences out that way, good stuff!!!
Mom has a way to push Rob in a way I can't and he handles her better than I would expect.
I think she's really helped him mature in ways others couldn't.
My sisters, we have had alot of fun together now that's we're all grown, the age difference growing up made it more difficult, as they were 11 months apart and I was 7 and 8 years older.
It's nice having sisters that you can relate to, encourage and laugh with over and over.

I'm strangely thankful to my 1st boyfriend for showing me it can be safe to trust and care about someone and let them care about you. He bridged the gaping hole my father left, where I felt I could never trust anyone or allow myself to open up and love and be loved. Without that bridge, I'm fairly sure I wouldn't be married today,
he showed me there really ARE good guys still out there.

I'm oddly thankful for even the horrible things that have happened in life that have helped mold me and make me who I am. Sure, I still have hurts but out of hurts come strengths we didn't know we had or could have. Convictions that we have strong and valid reasons for, even if other people don't understand.

Life is complicated, full to overflowing with the good, the bad and the ugly.
Without the bad and the ugly, could we really appreciate the truly good as much?

What are you thankful for?
What has helped shape who you are?

Thanksgiving

Wow, this seems to be a twice a year thing, oh dear diary,
do you even remember me???

I saw this and it was perfect. I was actually browsing pretty, elegant or just close renditions of what our dinner table for Thanksgiving would look like and I find this. Sure says it all , doesn't it??

Oh the memories of family gatherings, should give you the warm fuzzies,
until family...
for years, I had to make actual seating charts to keep those that didn't like each other apart, usually due to the fact one likes the other while that other one can't stand the 1st.. oh the drama...
and 'so-in-so' makes 'what's-her-name' angry,
this one offended that one, and on and on and on it goes...
my great aunt adored my grandma and for a reason nobody has ever known,
grandma despised the great aunt, so they couldn't even sit so one could see the other or grandmas blood would curdle... really people??
There are valid reasons sometimes, but it's a holiday, put it aside for the day and fake it like everybody else, seriously!!!

For years I thought my in-laws were the ideal functional family.
Then over the years the subtleties are noticeable... geez, is ANYBODY function in ANY family?? somebody give me some hope here!
This one doesn't like that one, this one irritates the other one,
years ago this one did something to that one, and it's not a forgiving bunch! Decades can pass between the offense and when they can be in the same room and one not still be seething, wow, I think all families are a mess.
Can anybody convince me otherwise??

This is the holiday to kick off the big couple month holiday season.
I 'DO' love Thanksgiving.
I 'do' it every other year now.
I work the other 'other' Thanksgivings and
cook for my side of the family the other years,
when my sister from Indiana comes to town.
I look forward to it, love cooking for it, and just hanging out and
just being together.
Even on bad years, we enjoy being together.
On rough years, we at least can fake it and appear like normal people :)

Then after Thanksgiving, the 'fun' begins, but that's for the next blog,
which will be soon, I promise, so much more to get out of my system

wow, missing in action since November??

Wow, I can hardly believe it's been since November since I last updated this.
So much has gone on, I don't know where to start...
Aging can be fun but at times just sucks rocks.
Hormones are evil. Just when things are going really well, the hormones get all wacked out and make me in such a funk I have no motivation and just feel down and I am NOT a down person :(
At least realizing it's a hormone thing helps but it still bites.
Just a couple weeks ago they started re-doing our subdivision. This was taken by Shanna, as the guy was having way too much fun popping wheelies while working. They have one more layer to put on before it's all done, no idea when that will be.
Work is going ok. Mostly good but Wednesday was a rotten, awful, terrible, very bad day.
I started it out by opening, which is fine but when we opened at 5,within 5 minutes I became COVERED in milk/shake mix from neck to toes... yes and with an audience... I was sticky, wet, gross and limited... it took forever to get that mess AND me cleaned up, we were kinda busy to boot...I had to call and wake up Shanna to come bring me a new set of clothes. I felt like I was walking in paste...
then the phone rings and it's a guy complaining and talking down to me like I'm an idiot.
All this over a single piece of cheese. A single piece of cheese set this guy off and ruined his day?
Really??? a piece of cheese?? I'm COVERED in shake mix and a piece of cheese turns this guy nuts. WOW... at 1st I felt completely beat on and defeated, then it was pretty funny. I stood there all wet, sticky and gross and I'm hearing an end-of-the-world recount over how a piece of cheese made this guy so angry... sad, yet funny. I've never been so happy to have a 3 day weekend. Yesterday I took it insanely easy. I did wash all our bedding/blankets/etc and cleaned our room. I read a bit and watched a couple movies with Rob. A very nice, relaxing day.
Today I got up kinda early, for a day off, started out VERY Slowly. washed by hair by 11am... played on the computer a while, then started getting slightly productive. I guess it's time to get back to that before the urge subsides and I veg instead.

Oh diary, forgive me for all my neglect, I will try to come back more often, if the hormones don't invade again and get me back in a funk....

When I'm super woman...

wow, what a couple weeks it's been!
I was sick for 2 weeks, then went to prompt care
and got NO care...
had to call the dr the next morning after deciding against
the ER, was fixed over the phone, put on
antibiotics and super steroids.
3 days later I felt human again.
Over a week later I finish the wicked coughing
the crud out of my lungs.
This week the steroids in the system hit their peak,
and WOW, I've been super woman!
The energy, the amount of stuff I have gotten done,
the people I have shocked and made laugh at work
when I couldn't stand still and was
running around like a total nut,
this will continue at least another week!
Next week is the last week on the stuff,
then I will be coming down from this 'high'
I hope I stay healthy and still motivated.

Time will tell!

Dear Diary, it's me, remember me?? It's been a long time...

Dear Diary,
do you even remember me?
I'm so terrible at keeping you in the loop :(

Wow, the last time I came to you was back in May.
Since then, Anna graduated, and now I have
2, yes
2 kids in college!
The year is just whizzing by.
Rob has only worked about 1/3 of this year.
My house, oh my poor house...
he gutted the bathroom and decided that
trying to 'clean' his office would be a
great project to start too..
my living room has been totally invaded...
my bathroom is a huge mess,
his office is still a disaster and
daily I fight for keeping the out of control
mess monster at bay, and I'm getting
very territorial.

I just finished 3 days of schooling for work.
Basic Shift Management, or BSM for short.
The class was pretty good but one of the 3 other girls at
my table was IMPOSSIBLE!
Miss Millie Mouth, yikes!!
I will be hearing "I have a question"
in rapid succession for years to come!
She's probably a really nice person but
I wanted to tape her compulsive
hand-raising arm to her side!

ah yes, life goes on. Christmas is coming fast!
In theory, I will be working Thanksgiving,
as I did not last year and did tell Mel I would
this year if we're open. We'll see!

This weekend I am going to catch up on much needed sleep
before resuming my normal life and work
schedules Monday.
I have a 4 day work week and couldn't be happier!!

Til next time dear diary,
I'll try not to let the dust build up on you again!!

"Dear Diary"...

In this installment of this blog
(that I don't' know if anybody even reads or cares)
I will catch you up on the latest stuff that I have
so been neglecting you for.

At the end of April, I fell in the basement at work.
(the floor was very wet and the lights were off)
OK, I'm proof that work is VERY BAD FOR YOU!!

I fell very hard on my left knee. It swelled up instantly, and
was HUGE, with a giant water blob on my kneecap.
I couldn't bend my knee by the time I got home, and went to
the DR that afternoon.
Nothing broken or dislocated - yeah!
I bruised the kneecap pretty bad, and was told
it would be about 2 months to heal... yeah me....

The following day I had the most incredible bruising EVERYWHERE,
my knee and a good part of my leg too.
I am pretty well healed from that incident tho I
can't kneel down on it yet even on super cushy stuff.

Shanna is on her way home from Florida with Jenny and
her family, they tried to have a good time,
but it rained on them pretty much non-stop.
They're pretty water-logged.

Anna is at my moms until tomorrow night after the cookout.
She went to a murder mystery dinner last night,
all dressed up nice, she cleans up just AWESOME!
My baby girl is graduating this coming Friday,
can that be possible???

Rob will be heading home from Doug's place up north,
sometime tomorrow, it's been so quiet here!
I love it, wish it would happen more often :)

I just got a call from my neighbor. His granddaughter
just had a heart attack at the age of 26.
She is doing ok but is still in intensive care til tomorrow
for sure. Pretty scary stuff!!!
Hard to believe that it's possible at that age.
I hope she is doing much better tomorrow and
that her long term prognosis is a good one.

I work tomorrow then head to my moms
if I'm feeling up to it.
I'm fighting a cold, and had a terrible
night last night, was up ALOT :(

Here's to a good week ahead!! (I can hope!)

Rainy days and Monday's always get my down...

Oh happy Monday.....

This is a day that being cheery will take LOTS of caffeine,
and alot of effort.

Monday's are rough enough.
Today I start with lack of sleep,
my leg in pain and still not near 100%,
and rain/snow/whatever to come...
I need the sun to come out on Mondays,
just like everybody else!!
I hope the day goes quick and that the sun makes a surprise appearance!

I have much to do, as I've gotten way behind
due to my leg and my limitations :(
Gloomy days are not great inspiration!

I think I'm done whining, now time to get ready for work...

Update on my leg :(

Getting old sucks.
Getting old and a little off balance sucks.
Getting old, being a little off balance and falling down REALLY sucks.

Last Thursday, I fell getting out of the car at work.
It was black ice.
It had rained and froze over night.
When I got out of the car, my right leg shot out from under
me and I proceeded down very fast into a horrible rendition of the splits.
OWWWW!!!
I just stayed on the ground, unable to see straight from the pain.
This was 3:30am....
nobody in sight,
just me, on the cold, hard, unkind ground.
After a few minutes I managed to somehow get up but it wasn't easy.
I was in such pain I didn't know if I would be able to make it all the way to the building or not, but had to try.
That was a very bad day.
The next day was a little better.
I figured it was just a pulled muscle and it would get a little better every day.
NOT.........
Friday (the following day) , my foot slipped on a stupid ice cube.
I didn't' fall but my foot swung out in front of me by about a foot,
straining the already painful muscle.
I made a horrible sound and my grill lady, Bertha
came running to see what happened and to help.
There was nothing she could do and I felt horrible for scaring her so.

I just had to stay still and wait for the incredibly overpowering pain to
let up enough for me to try standing without the aid of the
ice machine I was holding on to for dear life.

Saturday wasn't too bad but then yesterday, Sunday was really bad.
I called and was able to get into my DR this morning at 11:15,
with the aid of a dear and wonderful friend and fellow blogger, Donna.

It hurts to sit, really really bad.
It hurts to do just about anything but stand.
I found out I tore the muscle, not completely, just enough to be
in a lot of pain for 4-6 more weeks...

I have good drugs on the way, and I am to take it as easy as I can.
Ya, right... that's way easier said than done.
I will try to be good, but I can't promise, but I do want it to heal quickly.
I am not a fun person when I'm in pain!!

OK, let's see if this helps get me going...

Ok, I'll try anything to keep on task.
I have an ambitious to-do list.
If I put this out there and know somebody, anybody
will see it, then I feel more pressure to actually stick to it.
Today, I work til 11.
My tasks planned are -
make American Potatoes
(baked potatoes topped with chicken and cheese)
This one is easy and yummy, not a problem.
I am to deliver them for lunch tomorrow to Rob's mom,
lunch at the nursing home is not pretty tomorrow....

Now the daunting task of the day -
going thru the girls' pictures and getting them figured out
as to who I need to send what to, starting letters, notes, etc.
I hope it won't be as bad as it feels it will be.
One thing about procrastination is that there is dread in starting
something you've put off so long. It will feel good to knock this
one off the list. Wish me luck!

Ah, the fun of being at work...

This is SO true!!
The very people that make you crazy are the same ones that
tell you to calm down and relax.
Well, if it weren't for THEM, I would be!!
Geez!!

This past week, and today especially I was reminded of a girl
that used to work with us.
She had the midas touch with the personality of an angry dragon.
She was good at anything she did.
(Latrice, Latrice, Latrice, I just don' t miss you :( )
She had so much potential but only on 'her' terms.
She only wanted to do what she wanted to do, when she wanted to do it.
I'm so glad she isn't with us anymore.

We have another one similar to her.
This is a guy. He has insane potential.
He's great at anything he does.
He now has the same attitude of only wanting to do what he wants,
when he wants to do it, where he wants to do it.
GRRRR

Some days he's awesome, and it's so great to have him working
with us. Then there are days like today when it could have been
a mob setting. He made the comment to a regular drive thru gal
that he's not going 'in there, it's cold out'.
OK, girls are the weaker sex? Chivalry is dying a painful death.
This guy acts like he's there to save the day, as long as it's not 'there'.

His day will come.
Christy is going to be talking to him today, she told me.
I will be talking to him.
I will have a hand in breaking his attitude.
I will not be his favorite person until he corrects this insanity.

He will either sink or swim.
He's welcome to swim to his hearts delight, but
if he keeps this up, I will have a hand in helping him SINK.

ah yes, the fun of work...

Facebook - not just for kids anymore!

Hmm. This Facebook thing is interesting.
I didn't know what to think of it, or what to expect of it.

I have been very surprised that it's not just a teen thing.
I have found friends from school, relatives, many people I know on there.

It is kinda fun to keep in touch better. I was very skeptical but
think I have figured out the draw to it.
I am not addicted the way many of the teens are.
When it comes to chatting,
I still prefer yahoo messenger.

It is a good way to keep up on what is going on in the lives of people you know.
It's nice to stay in touch better especially if it's long distance.

How did we ever live without the internet???

Oh to just have ambition!

I have been trying to get a list for myself of things to go every day.
This hasn't been going too bad, but there are a couple things...

Short term things that were on the list -
scrub tub and tile
(most dreaded job on earth)
(finished before 8am Sunday morning)

clean out the vaporizer from when I was sick
(fairly easy)
(also finished before 8am Sunday morning)

Make eclairs
(easy, yummy and done)
(finished this afternoon)

OK, those were easy.
Here are the long, tedious, dreaded ones...

Pull out all photo albums.
Reorganize, downsize, and completely take on and FINISH
putting away all pictures that are piled up or tucked in MANY boxes.

I have my basement counter top clear and a banquet table ready to go,
but the task is still looming and seems too daunting to begin.
Maybe I'll attempt that one later in the week. I have to start it sometime!

Another big, dreaded project - cleaning out the far back frightening
area of the basement. It's cluttered. It's dirty. It's claustrophobic.
It's a disaster.
It's scary.

Another one to be done, related to the photo project -
going thru the girls' senior pictures and figuring out who
got them, who needs them and how many letters or notes need to
be written and sent with the pictures.
The task itself isn't so bad but it's time consuming and mind numbing.
This is actually the 1st task I will attempt, possibly as early as tomorrow!

I do not have any other tasks after that.
Those alone will take me a LONG time.

I think I need a nap...

Oh that hormone crazed loverboy...

This is Max.
Max goes thru mating season every fall.
This is NOT fall.
Max thinks it is mating season and is glowing orange again.
Who is the lucky girl that Max is desperately seeking the affection of??
Oh yes, you guessed it, that would be lucky me...

Oh my stud-muffin.
All he does, every waking minute, is scratch on the glass,
trying to get to his mommy.
I hope this ends soon, the boy is going to lose his mind!

One good thing to come out of it is a new home remedy to stop
a bleed - pepper!
Max shows his undying affection by trying to bite.
He nipped my finger Friday morning, and it would not stop
bleeding! I was online with a friend from England, who
told me to sprinkle pepper on it.
Of course, I thought he was strange but did try it,
and by jove, it worked!
Who woulda thunk it...

I know I should be flattered but I'm more concerned about
his fragile ego and his impending insanity, poor boy!

Some days you're the bug, some days you're the wind shield...

Some people have all the luck, hey?

Things that make you go WOW...

Today was insane, well, not really, just ONE person,
with ALOT of ANGER issues and a probable
blood pressure ready to burst.

This got me thinking.

How many times have people come into places, not just ours,
and been completely furious and gotten their undies into
an insanely painful bundle over something very small
in the grand plan of the universe, I mean REALLY!

Simple fact, we serve breakfast in the morning (7:30am...)
This put this lady into nothing short of a terroristic fury.
The wrath rained down on anyone who was in close proximity to her.
The world was going to end and she was going
down and taking us with her over - get this...
A SALAD WITHOUT CHICKEN....
(as she snarled at me, I can get a salad in the field...)
Couldn't she have found a chicken there too??

Yes, the egg came before the chicken, proof positive -
We serve EGGS for breakfast and CHICKEN for lunch.
END OF STORY!!
GEEZ, if she was on her way to a DR apt, they probably
admitted her to the hospital with tripled blood pressure numbers.

We don't get paid enough to take such abuse!
Man, I feel very under appreciated!!!

OK, I'm putting my soap box away and going to curl up
in a ball and hide!!!!!

If my kids ever drag something like this home...

If EVER my kids come home with anything like this,
then we've clearly done something wrong!

Can you imagine what their mothers must feel when they see
their once cute child do this to themselves, ewwww!

Rob WOULD get himself a real gun if it came to this!
Metal bars would probably be installed on their windows,
and deprogramming would have to take place, or
something, yikes!!!!!!!

Possible caption -
Picture top left - "Kiss me baby!!"
Picture top right - "Dude, look what my buddies did to me after I passed out last night!"
Picture bottom right - "Man, NEVER go to a tattoo guy when he's ticked at somebody!"

Good idea or a bust??

OK, here is my plan.

This will be one of hopefully many cleaning accountability blogs.
My plan is this.
I put a list up of tings I need to get done.

The up side to this is that I will feel the need to actually GET it done.
The down side is that I don't know if anybody will even see it for me to
report back to, thus taking the pressure off that I need on!
Is anybody out there that will help keep the pressure on?
Well, I'm going to give it a go regardless.

Here is my list...

Clean out Rob's closet
Clean out MY closet - the worst with TOO much to do in it!
Clean the windows inside and out - may or may not happen
Thoroughly clean out both boys enclosures
And last but not least, and actually tomorrows target -
Cleaning all the ceiling fans (6) , blades and all light shades.

OK, now the pressure is on, we'll see if it works!!

Is it Monday already???

Wow, this past weekend went WAY too fast, I even had a 3 day weekend that I really enjoyed,
Rob was gone for the weekend, the kids were barely home, and it all came to an end way too fast!

Granted, I did get alot done this weekend, I could still use another couple days of sleeping in, lounging around, then getting that burst of energy and getting stuff done. Why does Monday have to come so fast and ruin everything?

So what is on the list of things to do this week? Cleaning out both boys' enclosures, cleaning out both bedroom closets in our room, if the weather holds out - cleaning the windows, taking all the light shades off all the ceiling fans (6) and cleaning them, as well as all the furry fan blades...
I'd rather crawl back into bed than get ready and get to work :(

For theraputic reasons only! I just need to RANT!!

disclaimer - today was very trying, very frustrating, not a great day. I am better now but think a good rant will rid me of any residual effects from today, so this is only to get this out of my system, don't freak out thinking I'm going off the deep end

Today was not a stellar day at all at work. I felt like I was under serious assault. We were very busy, somewhat short handed, things were not very organized, leading to more problems than were really needed, not that problems are ever really needed.

From 6:30-10am we rifled thru over 400 cars, which isn't always that bad but today , it was BAD.
Contributing factors to my level of bad...

1. full moon = a bunch of stupid, rude, and insane people, alot more than the norm. Basically chaos of the uncontrollable kind.

2. I'm PMS-ing to beat the band. Just look at me crooked and I may come flying out this window and choke you!

3. I'm pre-menopausal and my hormones are way out of whack and the very little pill that keeps them in line ran out last week - luckily for me, my refill arrived in the mail today - whoo hoo!! Pretty funny, I'm listening to a doctor show and they're talking about what I'm going thru and how hormones right now make me insane!! Honest, that's what they said!

4. CELL PHONES - they should be BANNED in drive thru!! Look at it this way, when you pull up to my speaker, you are basically calling me and when I answer, you should be expecting to talk to me, that's what you pulled up for, right?? NO, These self absorbed sorts tell ME to hold on while they continue their phone conversation, thus making the people in line behind them mad, and understandably so, but then the people that get angered with the phone people, then come to ME and they're very unhappy. I can relate!

5. Public school late start days. For some odd reason, these days are the absolute worst days of the year. It feels like all of Case High School converged upon us today all at once. The 'little darlings' storm drive thru and act like a bunch of ADHD kindergartners on speed, or they come in like unruly lions in desperate need of a tamer, or tazer, hmmm, I think I prefer the tazer idea!! ANIMALS!!

6. Grown ups that are into origami or just crumpling for fun. I'm talking about their money.These are adults I'm talking about here. They hand me money, all individually either wadded up, or creatively folded and tangled, or somehow mutilated so I can't even tell what they've handed me. COMMON SENSE PEOPLE - do you think I have a barrel under my cash drawer in which I just drop in handfuls of wadded money, that in turn we take to the bank in garbage bags where the ever patient bank people use their magic steam roller and POOF - out comes nice, neat, flattened and presentable money to go back into the hands of these disorganized people hands again. I mean really, what do you honestly think I'm going to do with a wad of money?? Should I just drop it in my drawer and pawn it off on somebody who may enjoy it down the line?? I thought I was on some good drugs, not sure what some of these people are smoking!!

7. The simple 'pleasures' - It took 2 HOURS to get to the bathroom, nobody could cover me, we were getting hit everywhere and nobody could come up for air, and when they did, they were gasping for air!

8. MY FOOT. Yikes, I can't wait until I can stop wearing this boot. It's heavy, and clunky and as of yesterday, is causing my calf muscle to be VERY ticked off. I have been in a constant state of 'killer cramp coming on', but it hasn't yet, but it's ready at any given and inopportune time.

9. I was due to take another pain pill at 8am. I was not planning on it but needed it. I couldn't get away to get a drink to even down the pill til 10........ I opened today and was on my foot fairly non-stop for
3 1/2 hours, I thought I was up to it but my foot and calf sure didn't agree. Then to wait 2 extra hours for relief, NOT a good thing.

Numbers 1 thru 9 = NO PATIENCE, and the frustration meter shooting thru the roof and into outer space. And I open again tomorrow. Tomorrow tho, I have alot better staffing barring any more call in's. We had one call in before 5am... then another got a call while there only a little bit and had to leave. So my equation for the day is this -
Adequate staffing minus 2 crew plus early release day minus the pain meds I needed equal one miserable, horrible, awful, rotten bad day!!

Whew! I do feel better now!