Getting Settled

The last couple of days have been hectic and tiring.

On Thursday, hubby moved out of our house. All went well and the weather held out and snowed later in the day after the movers were done and gone.

Friday, dawned sunny and cold. We closed on our old house. It is just a 23 year old kid who bought it. Mom and dad are forking over quite a bit of cash to him. Must be nice to be 23 and own a 225,000 home. oh well.... We ended up waiting about an hour for the funds to be disbursed so that I could take the money and go and close on my new house. Meanwhile, mom is at the old house supervising the movers. Dad is at the new house ripping up the carpet in master bedroom. The floors underneath are red oak and look ok. They need some cleaning and all but for the most part are ok.

The movers I think were really wondering how I was going to fit all this stuff into this little house. I know I am.

By the end of the day I was tired and cranky. At one point I had 25 boxes in the kitchen and no idea where to put the shit. Most of it went down in the basement for now. I will go thru it little by little and get it sorted out.

Today, A and K came over to help me unpack some stuff and organize. The jury is still out on how to arrange the furniture in the living room. With one wall having two windows and the other wall broken up by a closet it make my options limited. A and K did a good job of helping me stay on track and finding new homes for things. I really appreciate your help, guys. THANKS!!!

I finally got my internet and tv hooked up this morning as well. I am lost without internet and tv....Now I have to get my dvr all set up and I am ready to go..

It is really nice to be in a place that is all my own. I look forward to my new life.

My ass is dead tired and I am heading off to bed in a few minutes. I will try to get some pictures posted in the next few days. Just have to remember which bucket my camera is in.

Have a good weekend all... Talk to ya later.

A Reason Not to Work Out

Just say Ouch!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

The weather in Wisconsin has been crazy this year. We get snow, then cold, then it warms up and we get rain and the snow melts, then it gets cold again and then it snows... or it just freakin' keeps snowing. I am getting tired of shoveling almost every day. Luckily, it was warm enough out earlier today to melt some of the driveway off. I was able to get the end of it cleaned up so it is not a skating rink. Then we got another 1-2 inches that had to be shoveled off tonight so that I did not have to shovel when it was 0 out tomorrow. It was light enough that it only took like 15 minutes.

I drove by my new house today and seen that roof is not finished and the driveway is a mess. The old shingles and crap is now buried under a foot of snow. The people who are doing the snow removal, could only do a path to the front door and back to the garage. All I can say is that it had better be cleaned up by Friday when I move. I am not shoveling or snow blowing that so I can move in. I'm pissed that the roofer did not have a dumpster (like his quote said) to get rid of the mess. At least then it would be contained.

Packing is going well. All I have left is really food, some dishes that I am still using, clothes and a few knick knacks. We made another run to the dump to get rid of more stuff. The fire pit had a rust hole in the bottom of it so that went.

I had an old love seat that I gave to my sister. Hubby and I take it over there this morning and when we get there, her landlord is there. My guess is that he was kicking her out. When we walked in the place it was a disaster. It turned my stomach. Food and crap like a dirty diapers on the floor. There were like 7 razor blades laying in the living room alone. Thanks goodness, the youngest two kids have no idea that the razors are used for her crack habit. Now I know why my oldest niece lives with my parents. I would be embarrassed as hell to bring anyone over into that house. If I were her landlord, I would have told her that she has three days to get the place clean or get out. She still has her Christmas tree up. She said that until the kids put away the presents that are under it she can't take it down. Not sure why she can't take the clothes and games and put them away. She is the parent. You can't expect a 5 and 6 year old to keep a house up when she can't. Oh well.... someday it will all come crashing down around here. I just hope that the kids don't have to pay the price.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Eat a newly born baby rodent

----OR----

a small sack of crawling caterpillars?

They both are really nasty but I have to go with the baby rodent. It is one thing and then you are done.

Stay warm!!

Good Guesses

You all had good guesses but all wrong. The answer was...... use a snow blower. We got a bunch of snow on Friday and soon to be ex-hubby wasn't going to be home until late so if I wanted to leave the driveway I had to get the snow off the driveway.

I had to call hubby to tell me how to start it and once I got it started it went well. It was moving a bit fast and did not know that the self propelling feature was controllable. My arms, chest and back were soooo sore the next morning from trying to slow the damn thing down. Oh well... I now know.

We got another blast (ok, more like a dumping) of snow today. I am very lucky that I can work from home if the weather is bad. The drive in would not have been too bad but the drive home would have been miserable. Today was kind of a wasted work day. Had a few meetings and got some packing done. But not a whole lot of real productive work.

I am getting tired of the snow. It seems like it is snowing every few days. Just enough to be a pain in the butt. Does Mother Nature not realize that I am moving in 9 short days and would like to not have to trudge thru snow to do so. I just keep thinking that I only have 4 more days of work and then am off for a week... just wish it was some place nice and warm.

Co-worker, L, just came back from a cruise. He is all nice and tan. He and his partner went on a gay cruise. I love hearing the stories. They guys are crazy. And the pictures.... all I can say is that is is a good thing that the boat has a photo shop on board. Not sure if some of the pics would have not been printed at a regular place.

Well, not much else to say for now.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Clip a homeless stranger's disgusting toenails

----OR----

clip your own toenails and eat the clippings?

Both options turn my tummy but would have to go with doing my own. At least I know where my funk came from.

Trying Something New

What did I do today that I have never done before??

A beer to the first person who guesses correctly.

Hint.... I will probably do it again in the future although hopefully not often....

Things That Make You Go Uhhh... Yeah....

I was reading a blog of my next door neighbor earlier this evening. She is a very nice person but not the sharpest pencil in the box. Here is the first line from yesterday's post.

"It is 35 below wind shield factor and -4 degrees outside today"

My first thought was what the hell is the wind shield factor?? and what is 35 below that factor?? Is that the factor of when your wind shield will break?? something else??

Now me, being the anal person that I am, would have written the sentence this way "It is -4 degrees outside today with a wind chill of -35 degrees".

I may not be a good writer but I know proper grammar. I try to always read thru my posts before publishing them to make sure that they make sense.

The last week has been busy. I am getting things packed up and tossing things out. Nothing like moving to get you to go thru stuff. I hope to get alot of the stuff packed up this weekend.

The roof is almost finished on my new house. I stopped over on Tuesday to check it out. It looks nice. I hope that they got all the debris cleaned up before the wind kicked in or the neighbors will not be very happy with the shingles and crap all over the place. Other than that things are progressing right along with the selling of our old house, my new house and the divorce.

ZOBMONDO

Would you rather....

Run over your daughter's new puppy

----OR----

forget her birthday for two consecutive years??

I'm going with forgetting the birthday. I'm too much of a dog lover to run over the dog.

Let's Blow the Roof Off of This Joint

I got me a new roof, folks. The sellers are going to pay for a new roof as well as fixing the radon issue. I go tomorrow to pick out the shingles and gutters. What fun!! I am just glad that this is all over. The last couple of weeks have been very stressful for me and I am normally a person who handles stress pretty well, or so I think anyway. It is a relief to know that I have a place to live and to call my own. The dogs, bird and I will settle into our new life in our new home in less than a month.

I will find out in the next few days if we can get into the new place a bit early so my dad can rip the carpet up in a couple of the bedrooms before I move in. That will be easier to do if we are not moving stuff in at the same time.

Sunday is the big game. What game you may ask?? If you are listening to the local media, there is nothing else going on in the world except this game. The only good thing with the Packer coverage is that we don't have to listen to the political coverage. Not sure which is worse right now. I think it is important that people get to know who they will vote for but it is crazy. I wish that the candidates would have mandatory campaign spending limits. It would even the playing field.

American Idol has started. I love to dvr it and watch later. I can get thru a 2 hour show in about an hour once you knock out all the commercials. There were a couple of people who were really good. Should be another fun season.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Have to walk on five-foot stilts for the rest of your life

----OR----

always have to ride a unicycle to get around?

Have to go with the unicycle. Just think of all the great exercise you would get.

A Roof Over My Head

The inspection on my new house was last Saturday. All went well except for one big thing. The roof. It probably should have been replaced at least a year ago. There were shingles that had no gravel on them anymore.

So, we are going back to the seller to have them pay for a new roof. We are talking a complete tear off on both the house and garage. They are balking at it a bit. It will probably cost 5 grand to replace. That is coin that I can't really afford at this time. We are now at the point of getting a few estimates to see what the cost will be and try to negotiate. To top it off the radon test came back at 6.9. EPA guidelines say that anything over 4.0 needs to be fixed. It will cost the seller another grand to remediate that. My realtor talked to the other realtor and learned that the sellers are frustrated. Don't blame them. The house has been on the market for over 8 months and they now have to shell out some cash to get more stuff done.

I think that it was not a good sign when my realtor sent me link to a few new houses to look at. Bad thing is that none of them appealed to me.

At this point I am back to waiting again. This sucks. I can't sleep, which for me is very unusual. It doesn't help when hubby's work calls at 11:45 pm and wakes me up cuz he doesn't answer his cell phone. I tossed and turned the rest of the night. My ass is draggin but I want to stay up until about 10 or so, so that I can hopefully be tired enough to sleep.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Not eat for three days

----OR----

not sleep for three days?

I have to go with the eating. I can stand to lose a few pounds. I'm already not sleeping very well.

Go, Pack, Go

By now, most everyone knows that the Packers beat Seattle and are now heading for the NFC Championship game. Since the Giants beat Dallas, the game will be played at Lambeau Field.

The Dallas/Giants game was a good one. I wanted the Giants to win because I think that the Packers will have an easier time them. The Packers never play well against the Cowboys, especially in Dallas.

The game was a fun time. Everyone was at Big Momma's. The bar was crowded but not too crazy. It was fun seeing everyone. We don't get together enough during the winter months. Afterwards, went to K&J's for Pizza and Eddie Murphy's Delirious. The best part is the Goonie Goo Goo bit...

Eddie Murphy: [as his drunk father] Your wife's a Bigfoot, isn't she, Gus? Your wife is a Bigfoot, isn't she? That's why the bitch's moustache is so motherfuckin' thick... 'cause you shaved the bitch down and taught her to speak. I know a motherfuckin' Bigfoot when I see one! Don't bring a Bigfoot into my home, Gus! With my children? The bitch can't talk! She can't walk a flight of steps! She's not trained well, Gus! She can *not* walk steps! I'll bet she climbs the fuck outta trees, though, don't she, Gus? Doesn't she? DOESN'T SHE? But you got to not bring her around here - fuck her! And your motherfuckin' children? They're Bigfeet, too. They're half-Bigfoot, Gus, 'cause the motherfuckers is 6 years old and have Afros 17 inches long. They're little hairy motherfuckers, just like their mother. Look at the motherfuckers! You know how I found out they was Bigfoot - when I realized your wife was a Bigfoot when I took your kids fishing last week. I put the motherfuckers in the boat, Gus, and I took the worm and I put it on the hooks. And they both sat there, and they put their poles down in the motherfuckin' boat, and slammed their faces in the water for 2 minutes! And I think, "What the fuck are these kids doin'?" Then they start moving their heads like this

[quickly shakes head back and forth]

and the motherfuckers come up with fish! I jumped back and said, "Can you believe this motherfuckin' shit?" Then the kid took the fish out his mouth and looked at his brother and said, "Goonie-Goo-Goo." What the fuck is going on here? Normal kids don't do shit like that, Gus. But I'm gonna tell you something, motherfucker. You can take your motherfuckin' hairy fat-ass wife moustache bitch out the fuck, you can go upstairs and get the motherfuckin' dog and scoop up the shit and take Eddie and get these mothafuckin' long Angela Davis afro-wearin' motherfuckin' kids of yours and put them in the motherfucking "Goonie-Goo-Goo"-mobile and get the fuck out! And if my wife don't like that, she can get the fuck out, too!

[Eddie mimes his shoe-throwing noise] You missed me, bitch!

Good Night Detroit!

I Don't Get It

I went out to the USPS website to change my address and found that to do it online costs me $1.00. WHY??? I can fill out the info online, print it and stick it in the mailbox tomorrow and it will cost me nothing.

Does this seem a bit odd to any one else???

It's Official

I got the call about 30 minutes ago. I got the house. I am now the proud almost owner of a cute 3 bedroom, 1 bath brick ranch in St. Francis.

Here is a pic of the front of the house. If you want to see more go to the post from the other day. The link is on there.

Things went smooth. They countered this morning at 142,000. We came back and said ok, we will take that but pay most of the closing costs. That is about 2500 so, it works out well. Now more of my money can go towards the down payment.

I close on both houses on Feb 15th. We will be moving that day as well. Now, I have to call and line up the movers. We are going to try to work it out so that they can pack all the stuff up and then drop hubby's off at his new place and then send the rest on to my house. All I know is that it is worth it to have them haul my elliptical up and down stairs. That thing weighs a ton!!

Not alot that I want to do right away. 1. Rip the carpet out of the bedrooms. There are hardwood floors under the carpet. Hopefully, they are in good shape. 2. Paint the kitchen. I like pink (remember, I ride a pink bike) but not really my thing in the kitchen. When we painted here this summer, we have a bunch of paint left over and I can use that. It is an off white color which is fine for now.

Dad was all excited. He now has a project to work on for the rest of winter. I should just put a bed in one of the rooms and have him move in. Save him money on gas.

Have to meet with the attorney on Thursday. We have to draw up papers that releases hubby from any legal or financial responsibility for my new home. Lots of stuff to do. It will be a busy month. I can see me burning alot of vacation time up in the next month.

Well, time for bed. I have not slept well the past few nights. I think I will sleep much better knowing I now have a place to live.

Good Night everyone!!

The Wait Begins

So, the offer was submitted this morning. Now comes the waiting.... The seller's have until end of day on 1/8 to either accept, reject or counter offer.

Think good thoughts!

House Hunting - Day 3

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Back at the house hunting. Today's trip only consisted of two locations. Both is St. Francis.

House 1 - nice location on a dead end cul-de-sac. The house was well maintained and had been owned by some dead old people. The kitchen and bath were recently updated and had nice fixtures. Windows were fairly new. Living room was small. Entire house had hard wood floors. It had only been on the market like 10 days and my realtor must have known the other realtor and said that he did not think that they would some down much if any in price. It was at the very top limit of my budget.

House 2 - nice location across from a park. As we drove up, I knew that this would not work. There was no driveway or garage. You parked on the street. YUCK!! The property was on an alley but there was a 20-25 foot drop from the edge of the lawn to the alley. That's not working for me. We did not even go in.

My realtor is a great guy. He is friends with my co-worker L. So after we looked at the houses, we stopped at a little bakery for lunch. We bought some hot ham and rolls and ate and chatted. He does alot of real estate for the Bucks. We are eating lunch and he gets a call from a rookie player who shall remain nameless at this time. He cut the tire on his Range Rover and needed to get a new one. Except that no place around here could get one in for like a week. He bought the vehicle in Chicago. Last week, when it was in the shop for something else, he had my realtor's truck. Rookie called realtor and said that the truck kept stalling out on him. First thing realtor asks is if there is gas in it. He says yes, he just filled it up. It then dawns on him that he put gasoline in. Not diesel fuel which is what it runs on. Realtor needs a new engine. Rookie said that he would buy him a new truck. This is like the 4th or 5th thing that has happened to him and vehicles in the last 4 months. I told realtor that I would be rookie's driver. He laughed and said that he has already recommended that he get a car service.

In the end, I decided to put an offer in on the house in St. Francis. Realtor thought that since it has been on the market for so long, we should be able to get a deal on it. We are offer of 135,000 to see if they bite. He figures that they will then counter with 140 or less which is perfect for me. I am waiting for Realtor to email over the paperwork so I can sign it and away we go.

I'll keep you all updated on the progress. Keep you fingers crossed.

House Hunting - Day 2

Today, dad and I went out with my realtor and looked at more houses. We went to look at 4 new ones and back to the one I liked last week.

Started out in Cudahy, This one was a foreclosure. It was a dump. You could tell that it had been empty for over a year now. Needed a new driveway, had no gutters. The only nice thing was that it had nice refinished hardwood floors.

House 2 - was back to the one in St. Francis that I liked. When we went out last week to look at it, it was with my realtor's associate and my realtor wanted to look at it so he could see it for himself. I still liked the house. I know someone who lives across the street so that would be nice as well.

House 3 - It was in a nice location on a dead end road behind Zablocki park. Long driveway. As we walked up the driveway, you could see that the garage was crooked. Quite a bit. As we walked in, you could see that the rest of the house was off as well. The fridge was tilted about an inch or so. It looked like the house was a small cottage at one time and they added on to it. This was a definite no as well.

House 4 - Was a few blocks away. As we drove up, we noticed that it was the smallest house on the block. The garage was tiny. I don't think that my truck would have even fit in there. The owners were at the house. As we walked in, there was an odd odor. Kinda gross. The house was crammed with stuff. For those of you who know me, I hate clutter, especially when it looks like a dump. This was what the house looked like. Do you think if you wanted someone to buy your house, that maybe you would run a vacuum through quick. Not these folks. Besides the fact that there was no basement this was a no as well.

House 5 - It was on Honey Creek Dr. Nice area, but very close to the freeway. You could hear the traffic and it was loud. The house was very well maintained but small. Two of the bedrooms were like 9x9. Way to small for me.

One thing I have learned was that there is a reason that alot of the homes do not have pictures of the interior on the web. They are dumps and there is not much you can do, even with Photoshop, to make it look better. I just have a hard time believing that people live in this kind of crap. They are all fairly decent neighborhoods. Not like I'm looking in the inner city somewhere.

So, I think I have decided to put an offer in on the St. Francis house. My realtor is going to look at the comps in the area and see what a reasonable offer is. I think we have the fact that it has been on the market since last May going for us. They may be willing to deal. I am hoping that all works out. Keep your fingers crossed.

ZOBMONDO!!

Would you rather....

Have a see-through nose

----OR----

entirely white eyeballs?

Well, since I have a cold going on, the see-through nose would be quite gross at this time. But it could be fun to gross people out. hmmmm... what are your thoughts??

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.