Questions That Will Make Your Dad Cringe

How hard is it to move a heating duct to a new spot??

Can't you just cut the old metal door jamb out and put in a new wood one??

The heating ducts are in the middle of the walls in my bedroom and the spare bedroom and it makes it hard to put furniture in the room without covering it up.

He hemmed and hawed a bit and said no. Darn.

I am finally getting the floors in the house refinished in the next couple of weeks. That means that I have to rip up carpeting in the spare bedroom and get the furniture moved around enough for them to do the floors. Anyone want to help??

The sucky thing is that I can't walk on it for like 3 days and can't put furniture on it for 10 days. Not so bad for the bedrooms but the living room will be hard. Not sure what I will do with the tv and stuff. I just can't wait until it is done. I am going to put new baseboards on and paint the walls.

I would like to put new solid 6 panel doors in. The current doors are set into metal door frames. Why?? Who knows... usually you see metal in commercial buildings not homes. Which means that you have to paint them. First you actually have to sand them and then paint them. That sucks and they look crappy.

Ahhh... the joys of home ownership.

Still Winter

It started late yesterday afternoon.

I went by my cousin's home for my great-aunt's 85th birthday. We have always been pretty close and she has been more like my grandma since my aunt lives down here and my grandma died when I was 17. My aunt was surprised to see me there. It made her day she said.

We spent the afternoon looking thru a bunch of old pictures. Most of them did say who the people were so we went and label alot of them. A few I will be using for blackmail (not really) on Facebook. It was really neat to see pictures of my great-great grandparents.

By about 5:00 pm or so it started to rain. By time I left at 8:30 pm it had turned to sleet/snow mess. I had to scrap a half in of inch of my windshield before I could drive. Thanks goodness for 4-wheel drive on the truck.

When I got up this morning I had about 3-4 inches of wet heavy snow. I shoveled a bit, just enough to take the dogs out. My plan is to do just enough shoveling so that the sidewalk is clear and the mail lady/paper guy can deliver my stuff in the driveway. I am hoping that the rest will just melt in the next day or so.

Isn't March supposed to come in like a lion and out like a lamb?? Some days I really wonder why I live here, especially during the winter. There is nothing good about winter in Wisconsin.

When I took the dogs out last night I had to reign them in and keep them in the back yard as the coyotes were back running around. I have not seen them in a couple of months and was not happy to see them now. The mom coyote should be just about ready to give birth in the next few weeks as it is that time of year. She will be hunting and looking for food for the pups.

Welcome to winter in Wisconsin. Have a good week all.

Back in The Saddle Again

It has been a few weeks since my last post. I can attribute some of it to being on vacation. the rest.... being lazy.

I was in Orlando on vacation a week ago. Had a great time. Even with the quasi-tralier trash I had to room with. I went with hubby's brother (BIL), his wife (SIL), their son and his girlfriend and the wife's sister and her husband (now known as TT Wife (TTW) and TT Husband (TTH)).

I got into town on Sunday late afternoon. Got to see the space shuttle taking off. It was very cool even from 90 miles away. BIL, SIL and kids picked me up. We went to Downtown Disney and ate at Planet Hollywood.

Monday was spent relaxing. Since we had two condos we had a kitchen and we went shopping for some food. Things were a bit pricey compared to Wisconsin. A 12 pack of Miller Lite was 13.59. Hung out at the pool in the afternoon and went to downtown Disney for dinner. Ate a a nice Italian place. Here is the pool at the condo.


On Tuesday, SIL, TTW, TTH and I went to Sea World. TTH kept referring to Shamu as Orca. The Shamu furry did not think this was funny. Here is a pic of SIL and I with Shamu.


TTW and TTH are basically drunks. Most of the time they were drinking or talking about drinking. TTH had his first drink at 7:14 am on Tues. He was mad that Sea World did not sell beer until 11:00 am. He wanted a drink about 8:30 or so. They were so exhausting to be around. I have never met more negative people in my life.

Here is a cute pic of a sea lion sleeping.


Wednesday was spent at Universal Studios. We left TTW and TTH as they went to Animal Kingdom. I would have liked to go there but not with them.

Here I am with Shrek and Fiona (with SIL) and also with Marge and Homer. The Simpson's ride was awesome.





Thursday was the highlight of the trip. SIL, TTW, TTH and I went to Discovery Cove. This is a park where there only allow 1000 people in the park each day. You never feel crowded. We got to swim with the dolphins. Our dolphin was Natalie. She was great. I got to give her a kiss, a hug and the finale was where we got to hold on to her fins and she pulled us thru the water. It was SO FREAKIN' COOL. If you ever get the chance to do it, do it. It was well worth the cost. Here are pics of me and Natalie.








Friday had BIL, SIL, the kids and I at Islands of Adventure. We left the TTW and TTH back at the condo as they were out of money. Had a great time riding the Dueling Dragons and the Hulk roller coasters. I was there about 10 minutes when the kids went to go fill up there soda cups. I sat down under a tree in the shade. I left what I thought was a leaf drop on me. Turns out it was a bird pooping. I had bird poo in my hair and on the front of my shirt. Oh well....

All in all it was a great time. I am hoping to convince BIL and SIL that they want to take their next vacation in Hawaii in Dec. The Badgers are playing a football game there and a few days later the men play in basket ball tourney. They are thinking about it.

See ya'll soon.

A Milestone

Today is my birthday.

I'm 40. I certainly do not feel that old. Ok, maybe tomorrow morning after a few cocktails this evening....

I am sure not where I thought I would be in my life by this time. Life sure has a way of throwing you curveballs when you least expect them.

Massage Envy

I went for a day of pampering this afternoon. My neighbor works at a salon and invited me to try them out.

So today, I went for a massage and a pedicure. Talk about heaven. I have never had a massage before so I splurged and went for the full hour. Well worth the money. Adrianna was fabulous. She started at the top of my head and worked her way down to my feet. Then I flipped over and she worked her way back up. She ended it with a hot towel on my back. WOW!! I layed there for a bit and so could have fallen asleep.

I may have to get a second job so I can get a massage every week. That felt so good.

I think I will sleep very well tonight.

The Ax Has Fallen

Today was the day I knew was coming last week. It is always nice to have a heads up for these kinds of days. It is never nice to know that people you have worked with for the past nine years no longer have a job.

We lost one guy from our team. That was no surprise. If you have read previous posts, you will see my crabbing about him. He wasn't happy with the job and we were not happy with his work. Sucky thing is that I spent Friday doing the on-call schedule for next quarter. I now have to re-do it and take him out.

Overall, I think about 150 people were let go across the country. There were several people who I really like that were let go. Three of them from my building had more than 25 years each with the bank. That is a hard thing to take. One woman who I was close to, kept asking "why, why her?" I talked to her manager after work and she said that was the hardest thing she has ever done. How do you tell someone who has been there for 28 years (and this was her only job, ever) that they no longer have a job?!?

Our team gets the terminations when they come out. Tomorrow I should get a more comprehensive list of who was let go. I'm afraid to see it.

I'm glad that I did not buy bagels on my way in this morning to celebrate my birthday (which is Friday!). Not a day to celebrate.

Playing Catch Up

Not a bad weekend if you don't count the weather. It started out being a really nice Friday. Warm, in the mid-50's, sunny. The kind of day that just puts you in a good mood. I went to lunch with a friend and had a good time. It had been several months since we talked and it was nice to catch up.

Hit happy hour. Once again spent the evening talking with a friend who I have not seen in quite awhile. It was a good time. I miss sitting around with friends and just shooting the shit, laughing and drinking beer. I need to do that more often.

Saturday, the weather turned cooler. I spent the afternoon trying to get caught up on my dvr watching. I swear it does not take long for it to fill up. I want to make sure that it is empty before I leave for Florida next week. I only have a few shows left to watch.

Went to another friend's for dinner on Sat nite. She grilled a pork tenderloin and it was yummy. We sat around drinking wine and once again just shooting the shit.

Today, it was rainy, snowy, cold and windy outside. Went and ran a few errands in the morning but spent the day playing poker. Ended up only down about 3 bucks so not too bad. I just could not get cards. When I would have big starting hands the flop would totally miss me. I would try to bluff and get called on it. It seemed like the crappy hands were hitting the flop. I swear I'm going to start playing the 3 9 o. Have to review my strategy and figure out what I need to tweak.

The house next to me finally has an accepted offer. It has been on the market since before I moved in over a year ago. They started out trying to sell on their own but went with a realtor last summer. I am curious to see what it went for. My guess is about mid 150's. It started off at 200. I will now have to remember to close the drapes on that side of the house as the office window and my bedroom window is directly across from windows on their house. Also can't blow my snow on their yard anymore. I would blow all the snow from my driveway on to theirs. Didn't matter as no one ever shoveled it. Except the realtor. If I were him, I'd be pissed as he had to pretty much shovel the walk and driveway before every open house.

Only have two days this week for work. You know darn well they will go by very slowly. Hopefully, people will leave me alone so I can get my work done and not pile more crap on my plate.

Have a good week. Peace Out!

Got That One Wrong

It is a good thing that I don't dress according to John Malan.

Wait, I did.

When I watched the news last nite at 10:18 pm, they said that a light dusting of snow by the lake. Maybe an inch or so. When I got up at 5:50 am, I seen something different. Like 7 inches of snow. I was pissed. I now had to change the clothes that I was wearing as I had to wear shoes that I could wear socks with. Going sockless not a good option when you have to trudge thru snow to get to the garage. (damn, I wish my garage was attached. I really miss that).

I turned on the tv to see what traffic was like. It didn't look too bad once I got on the other side of downtown. So off to work I left. Going over the Hoan was slow but not bad. Once I got to the other side of downtown the roads were wet. By time I got to the Zoo interchange. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I took the truck out of 4 wheel drive. The sun was shining when I got to work.

I kept an eye on the weather from work. I didn't want to get caught in a mess driving home. So I left at noon and went home. The roads were fine until I got to my street which was not yet plowed. I worked most of the afternoon and after the plows went thru snowblowed. Went quick. I had thought of using the leaf blower. The snow was light, and the leaf blower would be easier to direct the snow with. If I could have gotten to the 100 ft. extension cord I just may have done that.

Let's see what happens tomorrow night. They called for a chance of snow showers Tuesday nite/Wednesday morning.

The Good Mail

These are the kinds of things you like to get in the mail.

Dear Ms. W,

We are pleased to inform you that the results of your recent mammography examination are benign (not cancer).