Reflections of the Past Year

The past year has seen many changes in my life. At this point I am not sure if they are good or bad but they are changes none the less.

The biggest one has been my marriage falling apart. I always thought that if we had made it 10 years or so that it would last forever. We would grow old together. Little did I know that I would be traded in for a 23 year old. I had to put up with alot of stuff for over a year before I told any one that there were problems. All I have to say on that is that I hope you are happy with the decisions you made.

My divorce will be final on April 8th. This will be one of the most difficult things that I will ever have to do. But this as well, will be a good thing, in the long run. I will learn how to be myself again and not have to rely on another person for my happiness. I will make my own happiness. it will be scary at times but I will get thru it (can you say thank god for therapists!)

Work has been a struggle as well. I have taken on more responsibility and become more of a leader on my team. I can say with pride that I have accomplished alot and grown along the way. I have learned things and done things that I did not know I could do. That is a good thing. The sad part of the work thing was that earlier in December, the person that I considered my mentor left. That was extremely difficult. I am hoping that once she gets established in her position that she thinks of me and asks me to join her there. She is heading up a new department at a local hospital. This area will be implementing a Change Mgmt process for the entire organization. Meaning that whenever, the IT dept does something in the bank it is documented and done in a control manner. This would be something that I would like to do and sorta do now.

The world has lost many good people as well. My cousin, who at the age of 43 succumbed to cancer. E's mom, who I did not know, but she did a good job of raising E. (except for teaching him how to fart, hehe). Pat, who lead a good life and had a kind word for everyone. We will miss you all.Tonight, I will head over to P&K's home. They are hosting the annual New Year's Eve celebration. I have the polish sausage in the oven now. It smells yummy. There will be the white elephant gift exchange. Be scared people, I am moving soon and am cleaning out closets. That is always a hoot. I will spend the evening with great friends and have a good time. I also have to clear out the fridge in the basement so I will have a mix of various alcoholic drinks in my cooler.

As I look forward to the new year, I will be soon moving to a new home. Not sure where yet, but for the first time in 20 years, I will be living on my own. It will be the place where I can put down some roots and begin my new life.

Goodbye 2007. No offense but you have been a crappy year for me. Hello 2008. I hope that you bring me and my friends and family all that we hope for.

House Hunting - Day 1

Today, I took my dad and we went out looking for a new house for me. We seen 5 houses. 2 with some possibilities and the other three were no way in hells.

House 1 - Started out in a nice neighborhood on 21st and Plainfield. Not too far from St. Roman's and E's house. It was an estate sale. The sellers were the original owners and had done nothing to the house in the lst 30 years. It needed to have some foundation work done but the seller was paying for that. It had good structure and a nice layout but was very dated. Green sculpted carpet in the living room. Kitchen counter was off white subway tile that was 40 years old. I could live there but would spend quite a bit bringing it back into the modern era.

House 2 - was a foreclosure on Waterford. Just around the corner from Big Momma's. I walked in and basically said no way. We were not there more than 5 min tops. It would take ALOT of work and money. Too bad as it looked cute from the outside.

House 3 - was on Burrell just north of the airport. Cute from outside as well. Walked in and noticed that the crown molding was about 1/2 inch from the ceiling. Also had a odd layout upstairs. Tiny bathroom. Needed more work than I wanted to do. Did have nice built in china cabinet and hard wood floors

House 4 - In Cudahy. That right there is strike 1. It was a couple blocks from Ladish east of Packard. This was a foreclosure. Walked in and thought not bad. Nice living room. Had a fireplace. Kitchen was large and sunny and had lots of counter and cabinet space. Then we went upstairs. YUCK. There is no way in hell that my bedroom furniture would fit up there. Basement was odd as well. It was like they divided it off into a bunch of tiny rooms. I think that they were bedrooms. Did have a nice fenced backyard and 3 car garage... it was on a alley. Strike 2.

By this time, I was a bit discouraged. Was I not going to be able to find something in decent shape in my price range? I don't want to have to put alot of money in to in just to make it livable.

Then came house 5 - In St. Francis. Looked cute from the outside. A plus was that someone had shoveled the walk. This was also an estate sale. Only one owner. When we walked in, I liked it already. The carpet was nice enough that we took our shoes off. Living rooms was nice size. Had old people drapes in it but was painted a sunny yellow and had lots of natural light. Kitchen was smaller but in decent shape. It was pink in color but that can change easily enough. Continued on thru the rest of the bedrooms. They were smaller but could easily knock the wall out between two of them and make a nice master suite. Bathroom was ok. Has yellow sink, toilet and tub but the shower area was in good repair and not moldy or gross looking. Went downstairs to the basement. Here is where we sold dad. He was already planning on how to finish it off. It was a nice 10 course basement. Very clean. I really liked this house. Under the carpeting was oak hardwood floors. I think that would be the first thing to do. With three dogs carpet does not make a good fit. Here is the link to the realtor's website... you can look at the pictures from here. They show the house pretty well. This house would be move in ready condition. Even better is that they have already come down in price about 17,000. Wonder if I can get them down another 10 or so.... my realtor seemed to think so as this house has been on the market for more than 60 days already and it appears that it was on the market earlier this summer as well.

Well, enough about that for now.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Date someone who talks to loudly

----OR----

someone who looks like they are constantly staring?

I have to go with the talking loudly. The staring thing would be too creepy.

Being Homeless

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Mine was fine. Went to the parents. The nieces had a good time. Ate too much food. Parents and sis got soon to be ex hubby new bath towels and housewares for his new place. A bit odd but he needed the stuff. I told my parents to hold off on getting me anything cuz I will probably need stuff in the new house. They can buy me stuff then. So I got a Shih Tzu calendar for now.

So, it looks like I will be homeless by Feb 15th. We accepted an offer last week and the inspection went well today. It was only on the market 5 days before we had an offer, 8 before we agreed on a price. If all goes well with the guy's financing, we will close by the 15th. Which means that I have to find a new place to live.... and quick. My financing is all in order so I'm not worried about that. Have to get some final settlement documents back from the attorney before it can go to underwriting, but that is no big thing.

I have a list of like 15 homes to look at. All over town. Some in South Milwaukee, Cudahy, Bay View and Greenfield. I have a list of things that I know I want/don't want. Don't want to live on an alley, don't really want a bungalow style house, prefer a 1 story home, need a garage, would like a fenced in back yard, would like central air, has to have a bedroom big enough to fit my king bed and dresser. I know I am picky but hey, it's my money and I want to spend it wisely. As I look at places, I will try to post pictures and updates online for all to see. Maybe I'll set up voting.

My dad got a GPS a few weeks ago. It is the Mio DigiWalker 320. Very cool. I have been 'borrowing' it for a few days. Ok, more like he needed me to print out the manuals from the dvd and I told him I would if I could use it. The one thing that it does not have that he really wanted is the text to speech option. So that instead of it saying turn left at next intersection it says turn left at Main St. Dad thinks he may take it back and get the other model that has this feature. Depending on how big my bonus is in Feb, I may get one. I was amazed and how accurate the thing was. It show where the openings to do U-turns were on streets and could even tell which lane I was in on the three lanes on the freeway. It is very cool and could see it being used when we camp. No more letting A or K pick the routes.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be a 12-year old still in third grade who's liked by classmates and teachers

----OR----

a 12-year old in college who's considered a total freak?

I have to go with the college freak. Better to be smart than dumb. Besides, by time they are 25 or so, it will even out.

Men, Don't Try This At Home

How not to open your car door in the winter.....

Better than Weight Watchers

I was in Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina for my dogs and was in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog........


Duh!


I was feeling a bit crabby so on impulse, I told her no, I was starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care unit with tubes coming out of most of
my orifices and IV's in both arms.

Her eyes about bugged out of her head. I went on and on with the bogus diet story and she was totally buying it. I told her that it was an easy, inexpensive diet and that the way it works is to load your pockets or purse with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry.


The package said the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again. I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her. Horrified, she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me and was that why I ended up in the hospital.


I said no..... I'd been sitting in the street licking my butt when a car hit me.

I thought the tall guy was going to have to be carried out the door.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather...

Get stood up at the altar

----OR----

have someone stand up during your wedding and reveal that your spouse-to-be has been cheating?

I have to go with someone standing up and revealing. Then everyone who is there will know what kind of person the spouse-to-be is.

Movin' on Up (to the East Side. OK, Maybe Just to the OC)

Things are just moving right along. We put the house on the market yesterday morning. We had one showing yesterday and another two scheduled for tomorrow evening. YIKES!! I'm not sure if I'm ready for this or not. I guess I have to be.

The realtor said that he will not do any open houses until after the Packer season is done. Hopefully that is in early Feb. He said that he can spend 2 grand on print ads and not have a single person show up. That is fine with me. I would just as soon not have all the nosy neighbors traipsing thru the house.

The thing that scares me now is that I have to find a new place to live. What I would like and what I can afford are not the same (are they ever??). With the boys and Ollie, I would have to get a house. Apartment living is not very conducive to barking dogs and a parrot who likes to be loud (when he gets going he can be louder than the dogs are). I did think about getting a roommate but that is not very appealing at this point in time.

If you know of any houses for sale in the 120-140,000 range let me know.
ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

As a man, be stinking drunk at the birth of your first child

----OR----

Have the worst hangover of your life on your wedding day??

Hmmm..... as I think about this, I figured that half the men are hungover on their wedding day and the kid was probably conceived when he was stinking drunk, so what does it matter??

Well, if anything develops, I'll keep you updated.

Happy Birthday, Riley

Today is Riley's birthday. He is 5. It is hard to believe that it has been 5 years since we got him. I remember when we adopted him. He was so cute. His tail moving a mile a minute. It looked like a clock pendulum.

On our way home, we took him and Rufus to the bar to show him off. Riley proceeded to whiz on the floor (hey, he was only 8 weeks old).

I can't imagine my like without Riley. He is the happiest little guy. He will always play or give you kisses when you are sad.

This is one of the first picture we took of him. Doesn't he look like he is mad?? or giving you the evil eye??



Here he is from last week.


What a handsome boy.

Ice, Ice, Baby

I awoke this morning, to find the driveway covered in about an inch of snow. I took the dogs out and made the decision.

I am staying home today. We are supposed to get more snow and ice.

I have the option to work from home. Today it came in handy. Co-worker, J, called me about 6 am and said she had been driving for almost 40 minutes and was on 794. She was at a dead stop. She said she was getting off at the next exit and going back home. I then called, L and told him to stay home. He said he was thinking the same thing. It may not have been bad getting into work today for him but it would have been a cluster fuck getting home.

My 'office assistants' have been hard at work this morning. Making sure that I get no work done. I was on a conference call and they decide that they are going to bark at every car and person going by the house. Now it is every 30 minutes or so, someone has to go outside. They go when they are out there but then they putz around and looks stupid standing in the driveway in the rain. They can hold it all day except for today. Now they are relaxing.

Yes, K, I still have my fall leaf sheets and comforter on the bed. I will be changing it over to my winter theme later today.

Can't believe that Rufus actually lifted his head up to look at me.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Sit naked on a pedestal in the middle of a crowded park

----OR----

sit naked on a platter with an apple in your mouth at a gala dinner party?

I have to go with in the park. No real reason why. Hopefully the weather is better when I'm doing that than it is now.

The Gathering

Tonight was the neighborhood Christmas party hosted by A & R. As always the food rocks. We had crab cakes, stuffed mushrooms, some cheese pastry stuff puffy thing (they rocked!). The new item was the shrimp bloody Mary shooters. The were shot glasses filled with shrimp, celery, scallions, and topped off with bloody Mary stuff (nice technical term, eh?) All you had to do was add a little bit more tomato juice and down they went. Had to remember to chew before you swallowed. They were soooo good. I'll have to get the recipe.

Some phrases that were overheard were:

• Dude, you're stirring your shot.
• Your baby looks creepy.
• Just lick the toothpick, it won't hurt.
• Here, pull my finger.
• The Hog SUCKS!

They were said by:

• The guy who was making fun of the guy who was trying something new and was drinking a German apple schnapps with a cinnamon stick in it. This was still in the shot glass.
• 5-year old Emily, who told the hostess that the doll in the nursery was creepy and scary. The hostess is due in 3 weeks.
• The host who dipped a wooden skewer into the jar of Cajohns King Cobra sauce and gave it to the guy who was doing the apple cinnamon shot. I smelled the sauce and burnt my nose.
• The guy who had to fart. And it wasn't E.
• The guy who won the Van Halen concert & trip to Seattle from the HOG. Between the snow here and the deluge in Seattle. It took 11 hours on a plane. The seats at the concert sucked. The hotel gave him a dirty room, which they moved him to a new room when he complained but not before he cleaned out the mini bar in the old, dirty room.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Have five bottles stuck on the fingers of one hand for a year

----OR----

a bucket stuck on your foot for a year?

I have to go with the bottles. I am hoping that I get to empty those bottles before they go on my fingers.

Can you Read This??

You would think by now that I would know better. I know that my will power is nil when it come to this. So why do I do it.

'CUZ I CAN!!

I had reserved a book (Clive Cussler's The Chase) at the library earlier this week. They called yesterday to say it was ready for me to pick up. I really only meant to stop in and pick up just that one book. 4 books later I walked out of the library. Damn!! I already have like 10-12 books more to read that I bought that are waiting to be read. I had to pay my 1.60 fine in order to get my new books. A small price to pay, tho'. The scary thing is that I was only in the library less than 5 minutes. I reserved another book yesterday, so will have to hurry up and get reading. I certainly think that my tax money is well spent on the library system.

Books for me are like crack. I can't go into a bookstore and not buy anything. This week at work we have our charity book/movie sale. I ended up buying like 4 more books. At a buck a book, it was a deal. I'll donate them back next year.

I could easily drop 100 bucks in a bookstore in no time flat. And that is even shopping the bargain book area. Harry W. Schwartz's is one of my favorites.

My favorite is when they have book signings and you can meet the author and have them sign your book. I probably have a couple of dozen books signed by various authors.

Some of my favorite are Jodi Picoult. She has a new book out on March 4, 2008. My friend, Natalie and I are going to her book signing in mid-March.

Janet Evanovich write the Stephanie Plum series. If you ever want to read a series that will have you laughing out loud start with "One for the Money" and work your way up. Between all the cars that she has that get 'destroyed' and Grandma Mazur, who likes to go to funerals as a social event she will have you rolling on the floor laughing.

Philip Gulley writes Harmony series. They detail the life of Sam Gardner, a small town Indiana Quaker minister. They are sweet books and detail a simpler kind of life. If you have ever lived in a small town, you can relate to some of the people.

I think that reading for enjoyment is not emphasized enough. I read everything I can get my hands on. I read the newspaper every day (Gambino, I'm trying to keep you in a job). Pretty much the whole thing. Sometimes, I skip the Sports section if there is nothing interesting. How else can you learn about what is going on it the world?? I started reading at an early age. I was reading Nancy Drew books before I started kindergarten. I remember spending most of my allowance on books at Drew's or if it was a big day and we got to go to the mall, Walden Books. To this day, you will still find me with my nose in a book quite often.

In taking a lead from Scott, who is starting his own book club (screw Oprah, hehehe), I will try to post reviews of the books I read. I am starting Nicholas Sparks - The Choice. (It is only a 7 dayer at the library)

So, my faithful readers, what books have you read recently? Who are your favorite authors? Talk back, guys!

Mexican Food Commercial

Can you tell I have nothing else to post other than finally clearing out old emails and posting funny videos.

I am pretty sure this could also be taken from a camping trip with the gang!

Chicken Chili Verde

It's recipe time. About once a quarter our work has a charity lunch. People make food and other people buy tickets to eat the food. Proceeds go to charity. The theme this past time was chili's and stews.

Someone made this fantastic Chicken Chili Verde recipe. I would called it more of a Mexican chicken soup. Whatever it is good!!

6 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
3 cans green diced chilis
1-2 large diced onions - this depends on your taste. I find that one large onion is plenty
2 tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 very large can of chicken broth - I think is is 6 cups or so.
1 tsp chipotle pepper
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic
4 roasted tomatillos, pureed (or just mushed up)
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Mix all items and cook for about an hour.

I also added a small bag of ditilini pasta.

I hope you enjoy it!

Let it Snow.. Let it Snow.. Let it Snow

Welcome to winter in Wisconsin. It is snowing/sleeting/raining out. Yuck. It started several hours ago and I have had to shovel a path from the front door to the middle of the yard so the dogs could go to the bathroom. Poor Riley was not happy when he thought he was still walking on the porch and fell off into a snow bank.

I took advantage of the time to go through a bunch of my old Partylite stuff that I no longer use and stuck it out on eBay. If you are interested in any of it, click here to check it out. There is some Christmas stuff and some regular stuff out there. I have a couple more things I want to stick out there but am too lazy for now.

Things are moving along with the divorce. We put the house up for sale. All that is left to do is get the carpets cleaned and we are good to go. I am still undecided on what to do. Do I buy a condo? no outside maintenance but no yard to call my own and nowhere for the dogs to romp. Buy a fixer-upper? Cheaper but will spend money to fix up. Will keep my dad busy tho. Buy a place that is move in ready? more expensive but shouldn't have to do much work to it. I guess I will have to get looking at places and then weigh my options.

Went out for the Packer/Dallas game on Thursday. It was a good time. Packers lost but I expected that. I just had more fun gabbing it up with everyone. It was good to see a few people who I have not seen in a long time. OMW, that means you.

At work this year we have to solicit peer review from three of our co-workers. I thought about it for awhile and picked three people who are from wildly different areas of the bank and that are not in my department. I am hoping that my boss recognizes that the people are very different and that I touch many areas with the stuff that I do. I do think it is odd that we have to solicit this feedback. Normally, it is the manager who does that. My MN co-worker sent to it L and I. Bad mistake on his part. I will be brutally honest and he probably won't like it. He is not up to snuff and should be re-deployed somewhere else. But the boss likes him so he stays. L and I still spend an hour or two each week cleaning up his mistakes. Now we document them in an email to him and copy the boss on it. Eventually, she has to figure out that we are spending alot of time and energy on coaching him. I hope she does anyway.

Speaking of Coach, if anyone feels especially generous this year, I would like this Coach bag. I can use a new one. I still love my plain black one I got several years ago but hey, a girl can use a new purse now and then. This one is also cute. I got a similar one this spring that was the summer pastel patchwork one. I should really hit up the Coach outlet in Kenosha. That could be dangerous tho.

Well, I'm going to go and catch up on my DVR stuff now. I started watching this new documentary on Sundance called Nimrod Nation. It takes place in Watersmeet, MI. It is the upper peninsula of Michigan. Watersmeet is on the border between MI and WI. It is interesting. People all talk like they were in the movie Fargo. Except that had more of a western twang to it. Check it out. Sundance also had a series called Live from Abbey Road. They take three artists and let them perform at the Abbey Road studios made famous by the Beatles. Paul Simon was one of my favorite.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be a woman with a mustache

----OR----

a man with large breasts?

I'll have to go with the mustache. I can cover that up easier. Man boobs are not an attractive site.

See ya'll later.

And You Thought That You Like To Party??

I found this link to a story about some of the best supposedly true drinking stories.

I like the drunk elephant story.

The one where the largest drink was made back in 1694 with 250 gallons of brandy, 125 gallons of Malaga wine, 1,400 pounds of sugar, 2,500 lemons, 20 gallons of lime juice, and 5 pounds of nutmeg. The fact that the bartenders paddled around in a small canoe to get the drinks for people is hilarious. You don't see that around here.

Can you top those??

For the Lazy Beer Drinker in Your Life

Thought this was funny...

Why do I think that A, K and StB would do this?? Of course, E would help it the design and manufacturing part. Could be useful when camping. Just think about it guys. I have the fridge in the basement....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Hope you had an enjoyable day.

My day turned out better than I expected. After telling my mom and sister again yesterday that I was not going to eat any food at my sister's house, my mom relented and had dinner at her house. My dad decided to come home on Wednesday evening from up north so that made the decision a bit easier for my mom. The nice thing was that my sister was still pissed at me and did not talk to me all afternoon. That was a good thing for me.

Dad did not get a deer. Nor did my uncles or cousins. All the deer they were feeding at my uncle's land suddenly disappeared last weekend. I told my dad he should just drive down Puetz or 15th Ave by my house. I see deer almost everyday. Granted you cannot shoot a rifle in Milwaukee county (legally) but he could try to hit it with the truck. He didn't see that as humorous as I did.

Both the Packers and Cowboys won today. It will make next week's game between the two very important for both teams. It could mean home field advantage for the winner throughout the playoffs. I am glad that I did not go out for last week's game as some wagers were made. Should be interesting to see who get the new tat. StB or A... I do plan on being at Big Momma's for the game, so watching the game should be fun.

We have a realtor coming out tomorrow to look at the house and we will be putting it on the market soon. I am hoping that my half of the house will afford me to buy a nice place somewhere else. I started looking in the paper an online a bit. I am torn between a house or a condo. No yard work would be nice especially in the winter but with the dogs a yard would be nice as well. I promised my dad that I would try to find a place that did not need too much work for him to do. He laughed and said that if it did need work he would help me do it.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Wet the bed when you're with your partner for the first time

----OR----

wet your pants in a college class?

I so have to go with in college. I can always pass it off as spilling a drink on myself.

Have a good weekend :)

Dinner Anyone??

So, my sister calls me today at work. My dad is up north hunting and is planning on staying up there over Thanksgiving. So, sis, thinking she is being nice, offers to have Thanksgiving at her house. It will just be my sister, her kids, my mom and me.

I declined.

Am I wrong??

I called my mom and told her I would not be there and she said it wasn't that bad. Ohhh yes it is. I asked if we could go out to eat. No dice. Can't hurt sister's feelings. I can and will. That does not bother me in the least.

If anyone knows or has been in my sister's house, you will know why I declined eating there. Her house is DISGUSTING!! When I picked up me niece for a movie on Sat afternoon, sis told me she has a family of mice living upstairs. She has killed at least 5 of them so far and has seen a few more running around upstairs. But, the good news is that the mice live upstairs and do not come downstairs. Huh?? I am sure they are downstairs. She had to bags of garbage sitting on the kitchen floor on Sat. Can't tell me the mice aren't eating out of there. That is the the Old Country Buffet to them.

I refuse to eat in a place that first of all, is so dirty that just looking at her refrigerator door (can't even bear to look inside the fridge) makes me want to puke and now has mice running all over the place.

Did my sister ever wonder why I don't come over for birthday dinner unless they are at my parents?? That is why. I will not eat off of her plates or use her silverware, unless it is plastic and I just opened it out of the little bag it comes in.

In her living room, in the corner is a toy pile. Literally a pile of toys. It has to be about 6 foot wide, 6 foot long and about 5 foot high. I have told her that the kids will not get any toys from me for Christmas until that mess is gone. They don't play with the crap they have now. Why should I add to it?

My sister says that it is not her fault that the house is a mess. WTF?!?! She is the parent. The kids are 12, 6 and 5. They should not be made responsible to keep the house clean. Half the time my sister does even cook dinner, just opens a can of Spaghettio's for the kids to eat.

So.... I will have to call them both again tomorrow and tell them I will not be there. Will probably have to do the same on Thursday morning. Oh well. Anyone up for dinner somewhere on Thursday?? Preferably after the Packer game.

Wedding of the Year

Introducing the wedding party: First, the handsome groomsmen and the fine looking groom (in red)










Red ties, black ties, no tie. Mass confusion. "Alright, everyone . let's line up for the picture. Let's see .... hmmm, where shall we .... oh, yes! Perfect! Everyone, please move quickly! Right over there, in front of the garage. Yes, that will be just smashing!" I guess a jacket at a wedding would just be too citified, so let's just pin these boutonniere's right on the white shirts. Bubba, put down that cigarette! And no smoking during the ceremony! I told him it's tacky to light up during the sermon. If we could have put the wedding off for two more months, the groom would have saved enough money for a pair of black shoes. I told him his tennis shoes have black trim....that's good enough.

Next, the lovely bridesmaids and the blushing bride.









Not everyone can pull off such a vibrant red, but I think this group does it. Sassy, I tell you, just sassy.


Last, the cute couple.














Those Wal-Mart slides really enhance her cankles. Too bad they didn't come in white. Note how their "outdoor backdrop" is a clearing probably behind the 7-11 where the weeds actually got mowed just for this occasion.














At least his head is somewhat proportionate. To her left boob.













What's she showing us here? A severe case of knee gout?? Apparently, whatever it is has her husband in more of a stupor than usual - How bout those teeth?














"You SO crazy, honey."













"Here baby, let me help you up here ....."














You can almost hear the banjo music.

Paying the Bills

Occasionally, I use my cell phone for work related calls. In the past, you log into the reimbursement system, and fill out a form that takes about 3 minutes. If the cost is under 25.00 you do not need to provide a receipt. A week later the money is deposited in your account.

Until now.

Last week, the bank implemented a new system. You now have to itemize each call that you make, no matter if it is personal or work related. You then have to print out the bill and fax, yes fax, it to them. So, I printed put the page that had the work related calls on it circled the calls that were work related and blocked out the remainder of the numbers. I was asking for $7.20 to be reimbursed. Not a huge amount but why should I pay for work related calls. We only get reimbursed .06 a minute.

Three days later I get an email saying that I now need to provide my entire bill. All 18 pages of it. So, once again, I print out all the pages and proceed to highlight the work related calls and black out everything else that is not work related or contains and personal information. I pay for my parent's cell phone on my plan and the bank does not need to know who they are calling.

Yesterday, I get an email from them stating that they need to see the entire bill with the charges that I am seeking reimbursement for highlighted and nothing else blacked out. WTF?!?! I replied to them, copying my useless boss, stating that I considered this an invasion of my privacy. They do not need to know the numbers for the calls that were made or received that I am not seeking reimbursement for. Am I wrong in thinking this??

If I remember I will bring home the bill I faxed them and put it on here. For your amusement.

I just received my bill for October and need to get reimbursed for about 11 bucks. I already dread completing this request. From now on, I will use my home phone and use a calling card.

What scares me is that one of the things that I do is manage pagers for the bank. We have been moving people off of their pagers and over to their cell phones little by little. If we begin to move large amount of people over to their pagers and this is the pain in the ass that it is to get reimbursed, we are going to hear shit about it. We are a few months away from rolling out corporate owned cell phones. The users are personally liable for them but the bank owns them. I can see this being a cluster fuck if they have to go thru all this shit to get paid back for them.

To top it off, when I submitted my expenses for my trip to MN last week, my bosses boss did not approve my expenses promptly enough in the old system. Now I have to figure out how to submit them in the new system considering that I already sent in my receipts. Since they require the only the original receipts, I cannot send them the photocopies, of which I did not make anyway. My credit card bill is due next week and I know that I will not have the money for it back from the bank.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

While drunk, go rock climbing

----OR----

learn to surf?

I have to go with surfing. I can swim. Not really good at being Spiderman (or girl)

Am I the Only One....

...who is already sick of the Christmas commercials on TV? All I see tonight is ads for Kohl's and Target. At least they are not blasting you with some obnoxious Christmas music.

No wonder people dread the holidays.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather...

Get stood up for your high school prom

----OR----

take the date you dreamt of to the prom and have him or her leave with someone else??

I'm going with taking the date and having him leave with someone else. Better to have gone and had a bad time than to never have gone at all.

Work Still Sucks

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Last week, I was in MN for ITIL training. In geek speak, it was training for learning how to manage your IT infrastructure within a company. Basically, how to run your IT department like a business. Boring to most but it provides me with a nice certification out of it on the bank's dime.

I went there with three other people from my building. 2 girls and a guy. They are all nice enough people but a bit boring. I, like StB, like to try something different when out of town. My travel mates however had different ideas. We ate at a Maggiano's, P.F. Chang's, Cheesecake Factory and Applebees. All great places but I felt like I was at Mayfair Mall. I really wanted to try a interesting brew pub in the Mall of America but since I was not driving, I did not get much of a say. I wish now that I could remember the name of it but.....

I was a bit scared when we got to the hotel and seen that there was a bowel disease convention there. Yeah, you read that right.... bowel disease. Now, that, folks, is some interesting stuff. NOT!!! The only saving grace was that the hotel offered a happy hour from 5-7 each evening. Yeah, free drinks. Bad thing, the only beer they carried was Bud products. YUCK!! I stuck with Bloody Mary's.

Work has been a bitch lately. My boss, who you may remember is in OR. We are in WI. She has no idea what goes on here. One other guy is in MN. All by himself. Well, last week, when I was in training, MN guy was getting on my co-worker, L's last nerve. MN guy has been on our team for the last 8 months. He is still making mistakes that we have "coached" him on for the the last 6 months. These are careless mistakes that have an impact on our company's paging system. It is a pain in the ass when we have to go back and fix his mistakes. There are times that L and I are tag-teaming MN guy. L calls him to coach him on stuff, then I call him and at times L calls him again on yet another mistake. All within an hour. He says he doe not know why he he keep making the mistakes but it is just being sloppy.

A perfect example is a few weeks ago, MN guy and I were in some training for setting up our team's web pages. I know how to code in HTML. Not well but enough to get by. We were tasked with putting some information together. Which is fine but I told him that he would have to do the brunt of the work as I am working on a major server upgrade and will not have the time to devote to it. Three days later, he asks me if I can put everything that needs to go on the website in a Word doc so that he can put it on the website. WTF?!?! If I have to type everything out in Word, I might as well do it myself. I told him that he should ask our boss what needs to go on there and she (being the uninvolved person that she is) asked me if I could get it together for him. I told her no, not until my server project is done in mid December. Add another fucking task to my ever growing pile of stuff to do.

Anyway, I come back to work on Monday to find out that MN guy is moving from one building to another one about 15 miles apart in St. Paul. That is fine but when they told him that they were going to move his PC, he unplugged everything and went home. He was told it would take up to a week to get everything hooked up in his new location. So home he went. When he works from home, he VPN's into his work PC and uses his work PCs resources. Since he unplugged everything before he left on Tuesday, it was very hard for him to connect to it on Wed or the rest of the freakin' week. He did not say anything until Monday when he asked me how to connect to his work PC. WTF?!?! What have you been doing for the last 3 fucking days?? And why is he waiting until now to ask me when he should have said something to our boss on ohhh.. how about 10 minutes after he couldn't get to his work PC on Wed??

I told my boss today that I think it is time to cut our losses with him. It has been 8 months. He is not getting it. He is up there by himself, with no one else from our area to support him or train him. He is too busy with home school to travel down here for a week to train with us. What we are asking him to do is not difficult but there is an order to it that needs to be followed. You need to do A,B, C and then D. If you do it A, C,D and then B things get messed up. I hope that she takes my advice and starts to find him a new home. Otherwise the boss will hate it as every time we have to coach him, she will get a followup email with what was done and why. That should change her mind.

You may ask why I don't get a new job. I like my job. Hate my boss (I like my boss as a person, as a manager she sucks), like my job. I like what I do and am good at it. I am the person that people go to to get stuff done. I get it done and it is right the first time. All I know is that all the extra time and work I have been putting in this past year had better pay off come review/raise and bonus time. Or she will hear about it.

Now on to happier stuff.....


ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Go to junior high wearing only your tight white underwear

----OR----

after being sprayed by a skunk?

I am going with the skunk spraying. No one wants to see me in tight white underwear.

Goodbye, My Friend

Last nite, I get the call from A that a friend from the bar has died. Pat was one of those good ol' guys.

Pat always was the guy who would give you a big, wet, sloppy kiss (sometimes missing your cheek) and a hug. Every time I saw him, which sadly hasn't been much lately, he always asked how the dogs were doing and how were things coming along with the house, had we done anything new. I certainly wasn't very close to him but he always had a kind word.

It seemed like every time I seen him he had a story about how he hit it big on the slot machine or won something at the latest bar giveaway. The guy was luckier than shit. He was thinking about moving to Arizona to be closer to his son.

He had quite a few health problems lately but I think that he went out on his terms. Living life to the fullest till the end.

I'm getting tired of people dying. I guess it is just the whole circle of life thing, but it still sucks.

Pat, I'll miss you. Take care sweetie.

Who Woulda Thunk It?!?!

Breaking News.... Online Poker may be rigged. Or at least Absolute Poker. You can read all the details at the New York Times site. Turns out that someone on the inside may have been feeding hole cards to someone playing in a $1,000 buy-in tourney. There was a person who was an observer at a table where the cheater was playing. It sounds like this observer was at telling the cheater the hole cards of every player at the table. The observer may have been a part owner in Absolute Poker.

You want to throw a company down the drain in a heartbeat, start cheating. I'll bet that lots of people start pulling their money out of that site.

Should be an interesting storyline to follow.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Sweat green liquid from your pores

----OR----

fart blue smoke?

Have to go with fating blue smoke when I go camping, no wait.... maybe we should hope that Connie farts blue smoke when camping.... Otherwise when I'm not camping, I'll go with the green liquid.

No Big Surprise Here

Once again, hubby failed to come home last nite. This time I pretty much figured that he wouldn't since it was Sweetest Day and all. Why would he not spend it with his girlfriend?? I hope she is worth it.

I just don't get why you can't even tell me that you are not coming home. You are not even nice to me any longer. You may not have any respect for me any longer but try respecting yourself. I just can't wait until this is all over.

The Passing of a Legend

As I am watching the news a few minutes ago, I am saddened to hear that Max McGee, former Green Bay Packer legend has died. He was 75. Apparently, he fell off the roof of his home.

Max was never a great player but he was a large contributor in the Green Bay Packers winning the first Super Bowl. He scored two touchdowns.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet him and spend the afternoon with him just about a year ago.

Our next door neighbors won a promotion from their bank. It was the ultimate tailgate party at their home. The highlight of the day was that Max and Jim Irwin spent the afternoon with us watching the game. It was a wonderful time. It was great to hear their stories from their days in the broadcast booth. Sounds like they had quite the time. It was a really fun when they pretended that they were back in the booth calling the game. By this time they both had a few cocktails in them and Max's color commentary was a bit off. Since he was out of the booth for a year, he did not really know who some of the players were. It was a riot.... a memory I will not soon forget. I doubt we made much of an impression on him but he certainly made a good impression on me.

Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

The first one was of him signing a football for us. The second is of hubby and I with Max.

Men in Thongs

Ladies, for Half Naked Thursday..... scroll down at your own risk.

Enjoy!!

It Pays to Complain

Over the last few weeks, I have shopped places or used services that I have been unhappy with. So, I complained to the management or customer service rep.

First was Victoria's Secret. They discontinued my bras. That is bad enough, so when they were clearing the old style out, I bought 10 of them. They were half price. You can't go wrong at that price. About a month later the underwire of one of them pops out while I am camping. I sent it back and followed up with an email to their customer service about how disappointed I was that they discontinued the style and that the wire popped out. They credited my account for the bra. Earlier this week, I got a 25$ gift card from the for my trouble.

Back in late Sept. our land line phone was all messed up. I figured that it had something to do with all the rain we had the previous couple of weeks. When I called to get service out here, the first time they said it would be a few days. I checked online a couple of days later and now it was a week to 10 days later. I called them and talked to someone. They said they would have someone out the next day. They did and it was fixed. When I got my phone bill this month, they credited my account 79.14 for being without service for almost a week. That is over 2 months worth of service.

About 2 weeks ago, I went grocery shopping. I buy bagged salad mix for a salad lunch each day. I bought the salad mix on 10/5. By 10/8, when I went to go make my lunch I open up the crisper drawer and pull out the salad mix and it is gross. It was guaranteed to be fresh until 10/10. All soggy, rusty looking and nasty. I called the maker and they sent me coupons for 2 free salad mixes and a handful of 55 cent off coupons. I then also take it back to the store and they replace it for me. Double winner.

These acts of treating the customer well has earned these companies my loyalty. It nice and refreshing to see people go out of their way to do something nice. None of the places had any obligation to do anything.... well, the phone company may have a service level agreement, but who knows.

In each case I was never rude or obnoxious. I was always polite and stuck to the facts. Kindness pays.

Mark Your Calendar

Slap Your Co-Worker Day is here! ( I really have no idea when the day actually is so, pick a day that suits you best. Work has been really crappy the last few days, so my day is Wednesday, Oct 17th). I know at least a handful of people who deserve to be slapped even if I don't work with them :)


This is the official Slap Your Irritating Co-workers Holiday: Do you have a co-worker who talks nonstop about nothing, working your last nerve with tedious and boring details that you don't give a damn about? Do you have a co-worker who ALWAYS screws up stuff creating MORE work for you? Do you have a co-worker who kisses so much booty, you can look in their mouth and see what your boss had for lunch? Do you have a co-worker who is SOOO obnoxious, when he/she enters a room, everyone else clears it? Well, on behalf of Ike Turner, I am so very, very glad to officially announce tomorrow as SLAP YOUR IRRITATING CO-WORKER DAY! There are rules you must follow:


* You can only slap one person per hour - no more.

* You can slap the same person again if they irritate you again in the same day.

* You are allowed to hold someone down as other co-workers take their turns slapping the irritant.

* No weapons are allowed...other than going upside somebody's head with a stapler or a hole-puncher.

* CURSING IS MANDATORY! After you have slapped the recipient, your "assault" must be followed with something like "cause I'm sick of your stupid-a$$ always messing up stuff!"

* If questioned by a supervisor or police, if the supervisor is the irritant, you are allowed to LIE, LIE, LIE!



Now, study the rules, break out your list of folks that you want to slap the living daylights out of and get to slapping.....and have a great day!

The past few days have been spent doing stuff for and with the girls.

On Thursday, I took the afternoon off and went to Harry W Schwartz bookstore. Deanna Favre, wife of Green Bay Packer, Brett Favre was there promoting her book, Don't Bet Against Me! It details her journey in her battle with breast cancer. She was very sweet and has the cutest southern accent.

Here are a couple of pictures I took while she was signing the book I gave to Ms. Gambino.











After I was done at the bookstore, I headed up to Big Momma's to meet A and Gambino for a cocktail or two. I gave Gambino the book. She was tickled. When she looked inside to see that it was autographed by Deanna and addressed to my survivor sister, J was touched. We almost started bawling right there in the bar. We had a few more cocktails and by 7:30 I headed home

Friday came the call that I was dreading. The TV repair guy said the big screen was no longer fixable. Damn!! So I spent a hour or so looking online for a new tv. Made a stop at Circuit City to do some comparison shopping and headed home. I ended up at my sister's house to set her computer back up and give her some pointers on what to avoid so she stops getting viruses. Good thing from that was she picked up some fish fries and bought me dinner. Note to self Dead End Saloon has good fish fries.

Saturday morning was spent looking for the new tv. Did more research online and found that Samsungs are about the best value for the money and were in my price range. Hubby stepped up and offered to pay for half of whatever I bought so I was able to upgrade a bit. I ended up getting a 50" plasma. It is really nice.

Saturday afternoon, A, J and I did something that none of us had ever done before. No, not that... so get your minds outta the gutter. We went to a rugby game for the Westside Harlequins. It was very interesting. Thanks for Byron telling us some of the rules. Fun watching hot, sweaty guys walking around with no shirt on. The guy that A knew, ended up getting hurt during the game. He took a cleat to the eyebrow. He had a nice lump and will need a few stitches to close the gash. This was the last game of the season so will have to wait until next year to watch them play again.

I have to work tonight so heading off to take a nap. We are upgrading a database. Hopefully it will go as planned and I can be done by 11:30 or so.


ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

If you had to come up with 50,000 in five days to get a sibling out of jail, try to steal it

----OR----

go to Vegas?

First off, I would let my sibling stay in jail. It would be good for her. Second, I'd go to Vegas. Doesn't say I have to win any money while there...

Thoughts I am Pondering

Over the past few days, I have pondered several things.

1. The shooting in Crandon. I find it interesting that one local news station has labeled the tragedy "Deputy Slaughters Six". Sounds like a book title to me. I think that slaughter is a strong word. You slaughter livestock. What he did was not kill them in a cruel manner. Jeffrey Dahmer slaughtered people. This was a shooting. Why is no one asking themselves, what is a 14 year old doing out at 3 am?? When I was 14 I had to be home by 10 at the latest. Since we lived in the country, someone's parents had to drop us off and pick us up from our destination.

2. How good is the hot dog business on 9th and Oklahoma?? I was driving on Monday and seen a street vendor selling hot dogs there. Is business that good on the corner? I did not see any customers.

3. When your Internet provider actually calls you up and tells you to fix your computer, that is a bad thing. My sister's pc was so screwed up. Road Runner actually called her and told her that her PC is the host of a denial of service attack and is sending out lots of spam. When I started working on it, my virus scan uncovered 562 virus', Trojans or worms on her pc. And that is with over year old dat files. I re-formatted it and got it back up and running. I have to go over to her house and hook it back up tomorrow.

4. At work they moved some people into the empty cubes next to me. The guy across from me is HOT!!. Found out he ran in the Lakefront Marathon on Sunday and had a respectable time of about 4 hours. Too bad he is married. The guy who sites two seats down, not hot... sleeps at his desk. We could hear him snoring this morning. Last week, he was sleeping every morning for about an hour or so. I wish I had a job that I could sleep at my desk.

5. Boomer may not be the smartest dog. Cute but not so smart sometimes. Right now is is sitting on the bed, barking at his reflection in the window.

6. I'm not ready for winter. I hate the cold weather. Ok, maybe it's not so bad but I hate driving to work in the snow even more. I want to re-live most of the summer over again. I want to go camping more. I miss it being 80 like it was yesterday. Right now it is 53 out.

7. Why do people insist on tailgating in rush hour traffic. Everyone is doing 30 mph. I cannot go any faster than the guy in front of me. Passing me (in the emergency lane of the freeway) will not get you anywhere any faster. Where is the sheriff's dept when you need them. Back off, dude.

8. OMW - it is what it appears to be. You were not reading too much into it. At this point there is not much anyone can do, except for me. I know what I need to do and must do so soon.

I think that's all the stuff I have for today.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Be incapable of love

----OR----

honesty??

This is an interesting one. I have been sitting here for like 5 minutes now debating this in my head. It makes me sad to be incapable of either one. With things the way they are now... I am not going to answer this one for right now.

Have a good one.

Funny Commercials

Gotta love the advertising folks who came up with these. Notice they are not US brands.

More updates on other stuff later.... still trying to process things.

Am I Wrong??

Am I wrong to ask for a little respect? To treat me with at least some resemblance of common courtesy?? You treat a stranger on the street better than you treat me. So you don't bother to come home at nite and then get mad when I ask where you were and could you have at least called or texted me to let me know. So that when I get up at 4:30 am this morning and see that the light is still on in the kitchen, I don't worry. I'm sorry that I still fucking care.

This relationship may be over but the least you could do is don't keep treating me like a pile of shit. I deserve so much better than you.

Did Anyone Catch the Plate Number.....

.... of the truck that ran me over.

Holy crap!! I feel like poop. I am all achy and my body feels like i spent the last month wrestling with a bear. My head and sinuses are blocked up and it feels like I am breathing thru water... barely.

I just got up now to take the dogs out and take more drugs. Thank goodness I stopped on my way home and got stuff. No way, I'm going anywhere now.

I don't need this now. I have the Beer ride on Sat and I even got this very cool new jersey to wear. I am so looking forward to that. Damn. I have to be able to breathe (other than coughing and gasping) to ride.

Back to bed for now.... See ya later.

And You Wonder Why I Don't Have Kids

Since I have now figured out how to post videos on my site, you will get to see some of the funnier ones I have.

Another reason as to why I will never have kids. This is just too funny.

End of the Season

Last weekend was the last camping trip of the year. It was a good time. I was so proud that I was able to get the camper backed into the site. Ok, so maybe it wasn't exactly where it was supposed to be parked but it was there. I ended up in the bushed a bit but did not pull a "Connie" and end up with a tree between the truck and camper. Thank god for the camp host who seen my misfortune and helped me out by parking it back on the gravel for me. I was able to get the camper put up and even closed it up and got it hooked back up to the truck all by myself when it was time to leave.

I am sad that this is the last trip of the year. I really like camping even if I end up conking out by 10:30pm. Too much fresh air I guess. It is just nice to relax around the fire and chat it up with good friends. I wish I could remember the song we made up about K starting himself on fire. It was pretty funny.

We went to the dog track on Saturday afternoon. I did ok. Won like 5 races and ended up about 35 bucks down for the day. There was one race that I quinella boxed and should have trifecta boxed it. That would have netted me about 1100 bucks vs the 49 I ended up winning. Guess I picked the wrong races to quinella... oh well...

The weather held out and only really needed the heat on in the camper a little on Friday nite. More so to take the dampness out of the air than keep it warm.

Now just have to wait for a couple of months when we have a camping planning party for next year. sigh......

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Get everywhere by crawling

----OR----

have to stand on your hands when you are stationary?

I will go with standing on your hands. It would be hard to go camping, pulling a camper down the freeway while crawling.

Have a good week all.

How They Became X-Stinked

Now I know how the Dinosaurs died... or is this a camping trip?? Can you match up the farts with the camper?? hmmmm.....

Do You Remember When...?

(aka... I have nothing else to post about today so this is what you get)

• It took five minutes for the TV warm up? This was my grandparents tv for the longest time
• All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?
• Nearly every one's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?
• Nobody owned a purebred dog?
• When a quarter was a decent allowance?
• You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?
• Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?
• All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels?
• You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?
• Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box? Once again, I remember my grandma have this
• It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?
• They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . . and they did? Not me... I skippde a grade. My 3rd grade was 6 weeks in summer school
• No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked? Have you been up north??... go to any bar and the keys will be in the ignition
• Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a ..." I still like to do this.
• and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game? don't forget about having ghost runners. They could run really fast and score a run from no matter what base they were on.
• Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?
• When being sent to the Principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home? Hell yeah!! Dad and his belt. I was a goody-two shoes tho' so didn't spend much time there... my sister did tho'
• Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.
• Candy cigarettes
• Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside
• Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
• Coffee shops with table side jukeboxes
• Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum - don't forget sen-sen
• Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
• P.F. Fliers
• Telephone numbers with a word prefix...(HEmstead 7-1538).
• Party lines
• Peashooters
• 45 RPM records - I think my first 45 was a Shaun Cassidy record
• Green Stamps
• Hi-Fi's
• Metal ice cubes trays with levers
• Mimeograph paper
• Beanie and Cecil
• Roller-skate keys
• Cork pop guns
• Drive ins - now it is NML
• Washtub wringers - once again , I vaguely remember my grandma washing clothes on a washboard and wringer
• The Fuller Brush Man
• Reel-To-Reel tape recorders
• Tinkertoys
• Erector Sets
• The Fort Apache Play Set
• Lincoln Logs
• 15 cent McDonald hamburgers
• 5 cent packs of baseball cards - with that awful pink slab of bubble gum - why, oh, why did we ever eat that gum???
• Penny candy - I liked it when we were finally old enough to ride our bikes to the penny candy store. My favorite... the communion wafer tasting spaceships with little dot thingys in them.
• 35 cent a gallon gasoline
• Jiffy Pop popcorn - I burned the stuff every time
• Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?
• Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"?
• "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?
• Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?
• It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"?
• The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"?
• Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?
• A foot of snow was a dream come true? - snow days even better. I loved it when the snow would drift really high against the back of the chicken coop and we would climb on the roof and do back flips off the roof into the snow.
• Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures? do they still show Bugs Bunny, Wil E Coyote and such??
• "Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?
• Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
• The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?
• War was a card game?
• Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?
• Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin?
• Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?
  

A Great Day, with Great Friends

Today we walked for Gambino's boobs. If you want to donate, click on her site and go to the Race for the Cure link.

It was a wonderful day. The four of us (A, J, K and I) along with 12,000+ other people walked the lakefront of Milwaukee in the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure in support of breast cancer research. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Not too warm but not too cool. The backdrop of Lake Michigan was gorgeous. The cause a good one that hopefully we don't have to walk for for much longer. Let's try to eradicate this disease in my life time.

A woman had a shirt on that I found so neat. Here is a picture of the shirt and a link to her website that has more details on it. It looks like the store is not yet up and running. I like how she makes the flower look like a boob.

I hope to have walk pictures in the next day or so as soon as K sends them to us.

Next year we are going to be more organized and get a team together. Guys, this mean you as well. Watch for details in the coming year.

After the walk, we went back to P & K's house for a cook out. The beer was cold and food fantastic. Now, I am home tired, full and happy. Trying to stay awake long enough so that I can go to bed and not be up at some ungodly hour.

Have a good week everyone.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather

Stutter badly

----OR----

drool noticeably?

I would have to go with stuttering. I notice that I stutter now sometimes. I know that I did it more when I was a kid. Not sure why...

What a Wasted Day

First off. Thanks for putting up with my disclaimer. It had been brought to my attention that certain things offended others. I use this site as my sounding board. That's all. So back to your semi-regularly scheduled blog.....

I get to work this morning and fire up the ol' PC. I go get my water and oatmeal and head back to my desk. When I open applications up I have an order that I open them.. Email, tool, 3 Internet Explorer windows, another tool, excel. I use these apps all day so it just makes sense.

Well, today, I go to open up Excel and get an error. It is a visual basic error. CRAP!! I had this error about 3 weeks ago and it took the IT folks three days to get it fixed. I tried doing some of the same things I tried last time to fix it. Re-installed Office, delete my profile on my workstation, reboot several time. No luck.

I call the help(less) desk and get a ticket open. I then call my boss (who calls me back 3 hrs later) and tell her I am going home. I have things to get done today and can't sit here waiting for them to fix my pc.

Last update from my co-worker was that the guy was there to look at it and started to re-image it. So, that means most of Monday will be spent installing everything that they missed and configuring what was added back. I can't wait to get to work on Monday :(

On Sunday, the girls are walking for Gambino's boobs. If you want to help save her boobs, click here and donate. If you have ever seen her boobs, you know they are worth saving. I'll post pictures next week.

Have a good weekend all.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Go to your high school reunion a multimillionaire but 200 pounds overweight

----OR----

poor but in perfect shape?

This is a tough one but I will have to go poor but in perfect shape. No one has to know that I am poor. Unless I tell them.

Disclaimer

I would just like to state that the words on this site are my opinions on the world as I see it. If something I write here offends you.... get over it.

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was spent camping. We went to Lake Kegonsa state park. It is one of my favorite. I now like it even more because they put in electricity this year. It really came in handy when the temperature got down to the 30's on Friday night. That goodness for a furnace in the camper.

I went by myself this time and it was fun. I drove the camper out there by myself and when we got to the park, A and K stood behind the camper and directed me into the site. I only had to pull forward a couple of times. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I didn't pull a Connie and end up with a tree between the camper and truck either so that was a good thing.

Like I said before Friday nite was COLD!! We had a nice roaring fire and even tho' StB wasn't there to keep it stoked, J did a good job. It was a long day and I was sacked out by 10:30pm. I must have been tired as I slept until almost 9 am on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, P and K drove up for the day. We spent most of the day down by the lake. Played some bocce ball, cooked hot dogs on the grill and had fun trying to kill the bees by drowning them in wine or beer bottles.

K, A and I sat down on the pier for a couple of hours and just talked. That was nice. It really helped to get some things off my chest and they made great sounding boards. Thanks guys :) and when A asks if the boats are going by, just nod your head and smile.

K, P and I also took a walk along the lake to the doggy beach. We met up with Roxy, the pit bull. She was a beautiful brown and tan brindle. Such a nice dog and owner.

On the way home we stopped to sign up for the Komen Milwaukee Race for the Cure. As many of you may know, our friend, Ms. Gambino is a breast cancer survivor. Please go to her page and donate. We have to save her boobs :) We are walking next Sunday. I will try to take some pictures and post them next week.

It's back to reality next week. I was a bit bummed when a job that I had sent my resume in to was turned down. They hired someone with more experience. Oh well. I knew it was a bit above me but hoped that they would give me a chance. Just have to keep looking.

ZOBMONDO??

Would you rather.....

Never look healthy

----OR----

Never feel healthy?

I have to go with never look healthy. Feeling icky sucks.

Have a good week folks.

R.I.P. Scott

Today, we buried my cousin, Scott. He was 43 years old. He left behind a wife of 14 years and a12 year old daughter. This was way too early for him to die. No wife should have to bury her husband when she is only 45.

You have probably read some of my other posts about his journey. He was diagnosed back in early December with cancer in his esophagus. He was undergoing some pretty heavy duty chemo and radiation treatments. On August 30th he lost that fight. The memorial service was yesterday and the burial was this morning. His daughter and niece made up some really nice picture boards that I wish I would have taken pictures of. It was funny to look at some of the pictures from when he was a teen and see how dorky everyone looked.

It was nice to see some of my relatives that I have not seen in a couple of years but this is not the circumstances that I want to see them. I much more prefer seeing them at weddings and family reunions. It really makes you step back and realize how fragile life is and to not waste the good times. They may not always bee there.

One of the things I found interesting that I did not know was that my cousin had been to Vegas more than 30 times in his short life. I always knew he liked to go but I was surprised at how often he went. They told the story of how a group of them had been at Potawatomi Casino only 4 days before he died. He had been play poker for a couple of hours and wasn't doing so well. He got up from the table and told his friends that he was going to go and play some video poker for awhile. About 30 minutes later he came back with a big smile on his face. He had won a couple hundred dollars on a machine when it hit. He left this life as a winner.

So, next year I am riding the Trek 100 ride in memory of my cousin Scott.

That's all for now folks, have a good weekend.

It Was A Crazy Game of Poker.... Part 2

{Editor's Note - I originally wrote this post about three weeks ago but never published it. I am finishing the story and posting it now. }

A few weeks ago, hubby and I went by a co-worker of his to play poker. There were 9 people and a good time was had by all. It was 3:30am by time we left. By time we got home and went to bed it was after 4:30 am. My ass was dragging on Sunday as my dad called about 9:30 and wanted to stop over. I did get a bit of a nap in but still tired.

I am always interested when we go to people's home and see how they live. Now most of our friends have (and maintain) homes like ours. They keep the place clean and organized and at times it is a bit messy but never what I would call dirty.


I know if we are going to have people over that I will clean the bathroom (among other things). Scrub the toilet, wash the sink, put out fresh towels and make sure there is enough tp and hand soap. I assume that this is how most people are.

Except for the place where we were on Sat. J&M are very nice people... a bit kooky but nice. I was almost afraid to sit on the toilet. The seat had 'splashes' on it (as if someone (male) missed). (They make Lysol bathrooms wipes for this purpose. People show up unexpectedly, you duck into the bathroom, pull one out and wipe down the toilet seat and handle. Another one to wipe the sink and vanity down and drop into the toilet and flush..... ready for guests.) The sink had toothpaste in it and splatters on the mirror. The sink also did not drain very well and there was no hand soap. It was a bit disgusting to me. The rest of the house was kinda the same way. Dirty dishes on the counter, cleaning supplies sitting out on an end table in the living room.


Now I understand that the place is very small and they have alot of stuff that makes it very cluttered but it can still be organized and neat looking. My sister's house is alot like this. Too much stuff and with three kids she doesn't keep it very clean. Although I have to say with the toys recalls of the last couple of weeks she got rid of a TON of stuff. Her garbage people will hate her.


I guess I am wayyyy to anal about things and like to make sure that when I have people over, that the place is clean. If you stopped over at any time the place would be messy, but not to the point that you would be disgusted. I hate having clutter and regularly go thru the house and throw stuff out that we don't use or I no longer like. If it is something decent, I will try to sell on eBay or donate to charity.


What about your house?? What kind of a housekeeper are you??

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Wake up nude and unharmed on a park bench and have no idea how you got there

----OR----

expecting a costume party, dress as a giant banana for a black tie affair and have to stay the whole night?

I would go dressed as the banana. It wouldn't be the first time I am under dressed for a party. It is scary to wake up and not know what happened from the night before. Just ask this guy. At least someone was honest enough to give him his money back.

Have a good weekend folks and I promise that I will catch you up on all that has been going on the last few weeks.

I've Got Friends Who Love Me

Ok, points to who knows what artist and song the title of today's blog is from. Kudos to Kris to who knew the song and artist from my last post.

Today, I had to do one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.... Not hard physically but emotionally.

Right now I am not ready to share the details with my blogger friends but as I work things out I will keep you updated.

All I have to say right now is a big THANK YOU to my friends. A, J and K.... without you, I don't know where I'd be. You have no idea how much your support means to me. I love you guys and knowing I have your support will help get me thru this rough time in my life.

That's all for now gang.... take care..... Jo

It Was A Crazy Game of Poker

Ok first off.... points to the person who can tell me what song and the artist the title of this blog is from.

It has been a crazy busy couple of weeks. It started out last weekend when we had our 3rd annual Hidden Ponds block party. It is basically a group of neighbors who use the money in our homeowners association fund to have a party. It ends up being just a core group of neighbors who show up each year. Our neighborhood has two 'ponds'. One turned out to never hold water and the other gets the rainwater that runs off from everyone's lots and before we got all the rain in the last couple of weeks was nothing more that a slick of dried algae that was beginning to stink. Because of the pond that has water in it, we have a homeowners association to pay the taxes and have insurance on this lot. Our dues are not expensive... only 25 bucks a year. The crazy thing is there is one house that has refused to pay it and now owes almost 1200 bucks, when you add in lawyer fees and interest. That house is on the market so we will get our money when the house is sold. So we take any money that is left over, rent a tent, order a bunch of pizzas and have a party.

It is held across the street where all the backyard feed into the other 'pond'. Which is now nothing more that a nice large grassy area with a couple of big hills. We get to the party about 1:30 or so and set up our chairs. We get caught up on all the local gossip. Why Judy planted trees between her pool and Nate's. what home are for sale and what they are asking, and why have the trailers not moved yet.

We played some horseshoes (my team lost), drank some beer and played in the 2nd annual HP poker tourney. We played two rounds and I finished first in the first game and took second in the second game. One of the highlights was the giant water slide. The one side of pond has a rather large and steep hill on it. So someone has a huge sheet of plastic sheeting (it has to be about 150 feet long) and we stake it down and BAM! instant water slide. Now I am took much of a chicken to go down it as I don't want to get wet and have to change my clothes and it would be my luck that I slide down and break a arm or something crazy. It was about 1:30 am by time I gathered up my stuff and stumbled home. That is the nice thing... it was only a 2 minute walk home.

On Sunday, I was tired and hungover. Didn't do much except lay around in a big pile, surf the Internet and post my resume out on Milwaukeejobs.com. So on Tuesday, I get home from work and get this phone call from a recruiter who seen my resume. I called her on Wednesday and we set up a time to meet and chat on Thursday. Friday I get an email with an offer of a job. Holy crap!! I was so totally not prepared for things to move this quick. I have to provide her with some more details on my current job and what I support and she want to present me to a client on Monday (that's tomorrow, 8/20!!). I need to really think about this. The job she has in mind for me would be downtown and about 30 miles a day closer to home. I really want to make sure that I move into a new job that I would like. The truth is that I really like my current job but dislike my boss and how she runs things (also I hate the commute). I would only get 3 weeks of vacation a year instead of the 4 I get now but it is for a bit more money. I would also loose out on the bonuses that I get now. Which if things keep going as they are could be rather hefty next year.

Damn... I really don't know what to do. The recruiter wanted to see if I could get an interview with the client by mid week. I guess I will have to wait and see how that goes. There is the possibility that if the client is happy with my work that they would hire me on full time. Which could be good. They are a very stable utility company and WE could be happy there... hint, hint.

So, enough for now....

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Do a mini cheer whenever someone compliments you

----OR----

have to jump up and touch the door frame every time you go through a door?

I will say the mini cheer. I was a cheerleader back in my high school days and can still remembers some of them.

Have a good week everyone!!