About Me

I told you my nerves were shot. Sometimes it seems like I have a gazillion people all pawing at me, wanting stuff. Then I get home and I've got about a million dogs and cats all pawing at me, wanting stuff.  Everyone around me demanding something, and nobody ever gives back to me.  Bunch of leaches, sucking me dry.  Sometimes, every now and again, I've got to get away. I've got to do something for me. Today, I went to the zoo.

By myself.

It was wonderful.  Nobody clamoring for attention. Nobody asking me what such and such means, or can I do thus and so, or can I fix something so and so messed up  Nobody yelling at me for--well, for anything.  Today,. I was doing something I wanted to do.

For myself.  

The day was chilly, and the zoo was nearly empty. No crowds. No shrieking kids. Just me and the animals. I could get close enough to take pictures without getting a thousand heads in the way.  I could stand and watch the animals all I wanted, without anyone shoving to get in front of me.  It was relaxing.

Maybe not this relaxing.

But relaxing nonetheless. I enjoyed myself. I enjoyed my day.  I needed this day.

Tomorrow, it's back to the rat race.  Back to the demands.  Back to the questions.  Back to the yelling.  Back to the pawing. 

But today at least, it was all about me. 


P.S.  I'll get the rest of the photos I took uploaded over the next few days.  Right now, I'm going to bed.  After I take care of these dogs that are demanding attention.

No Mojo

It would seem my blogging mojo has gone South for the winter. 

We all go through slumps every now and again, especially when your life is as dull as mine is. 

But, instead of trying to force myself to post as I would have done in the past, I'm just going to take a little break.  I'm sure things'll pick up eventually. 

I took a day off at work tomorrow.  When I put in for it, my supervisor asked which day I wanted.  I said to give me the first day that's open.  "I just need a day off", I said, "my nerves are shot." 

Kelly Clarkson sang the National Anthem at yesterday's Super Bowl.  Although she didn't butcher it as badly as some have in the past *cough* Christina Aguilera *cough*, I wish they would just sing it like it was written.  The way it's supposed to be sung.

Like this:



Now, if that doesn't give you goosebumps, maybe you need to move to Cuba.

Or France.

Why?

Why do I do this to myself?  Why?

Why do I insist on reading creepy murder mysteries right before bed?

Why?

As if that weren't enough, the cat has suddenly decided she'd going to be a mouser after all.  So she's chasing mice through the kitchen, and the noise wakes Jesse up.

Jesse, as you know, sleeps right beside my bed.

So the cat is chasing mice through the kitchen, and the noise wakes Jesse up and he barks, and that wakes me up with a start and my heart is all beating really fast and everything, and I'm all scared and stuff...

That's one of the few times I really do wish I had a man in the bed with me.

But I don't have a man in the bed with me.  So I clutch Felix

tighter and pull the covers up over my head and vow to read only romances from now on.

That vow lasts for about half a chapter, and I think, "bleh", and I'm done with romances. Soon, another creepy murder mystery finds itself on my nightstand and the whole cycle starts all over again.

Why do I do this to myself?

Why?

Stormy Weather

We had a bad storm blow through here this evening, complete with tornado on the ground. 

The power was out for nearly two hours.  I was taking a bath by candle light when it came back on. 

So the blog post I had planned for tonight will have to wait until another day. 

Oh, and we all made it through ok. 

Query

When did stupid become the new cool? 

We lament in despair over the state of our young people, yet for some reason, grown folks -- grown folks-- have decided it's cool to walk around talking like three year olds.

No wonder our kids are growing up morons. 

We should be setting the example. 

Or we have no right to criticize the kids. 

Lesson For The Day

When you look at someone and ask indignantly, "Don't you understand English?"  it's a good idea to first make sure that you were in fact speaking...um..English. 

Sheesh...

For your Music Monday, I bring you a little flashback. When I first got to Italy, I listened to Italian radio. No, I didn't understand any of the words, but I did like some of the songs. Believe it or not, I actually found one of my favorites on YouTube. I still don't know what it means, but here it is.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
― Adrian Rogers

An FO!

Or should that be a FO, since "FO" stands for finished object? Well, no matter. What we have here is a completed pair of socks.

This is my second pair of sport weight socks, knit in Knitpicks Stroll Sport in Buckskin.

They are a little tight on my toes, but as the blue pair grew after I washed them -- so much so that I can't even wear them any more-- I knit these a little small. As for the blue pair, I knit them toe up.  I'm thinking if I rip back the cuff and decrease to 48 stitches, then re-do them, they will fit better.  It may not look the coolest, but since I'm only wearing them to sleep in, it doesn't really matter.


A couple of weeks ago, I was watching A Pioneer Woman Cooks on food network.  She made a recipe she calls Spicy Pop Pulled Pork.  I made me some, today, except not spicy.  Mainly because I forgot to buy the chipotle peppers. What makes this recipe unique is that you pour cokes over the pork shoulder before you cook it.  Apparently, in Oklahoma, they call cokes pop-- which is how the recipe got its name.

Anyway, in the recipe, she said she uses Dr. Pepper.  That's what I used, and it gave the pork an oddly sweet taste.  Maybe if I'd remembered the chipotles, it would have offset the sweetness.  I don't know.  It tasted better when I mixed barbeque sauce into it.  I think next time I make it, I'm going to use Coke instead.  It's not as sweet. 

Brittani and I got out and walked the dogs today-- all except Jesse.  Once we got down to the dirt road, and let them all off the leash, you could tell Sadie and Zoe were having the time of their lives.  I don't think Zoe stopped running until we were half way back.  We took them down to the creek and they played and chased sticks and peed on stuff and smelled stuff and got in the water and everyone got along perfectly well and a good time was had by all.  On the way back, Sadie and Rylea walked right beside each other with nary a growl or a lip curl. 

But, an hour later, they were trying to eat me through the fence again.  I think being in such a small, confined space is stressful to them, so they react the only way they know how-- with aggressive behavior. 

Well, we'll work on that, too.

Long Week

This has been the longest week!  I think it's the first time I've actually worked a full 40 hour week since October.  I'm just not used to it.  I keep hoping to get some overtime, soon.  They say by the end of next month, we'll be working 6 days a week.  I hate the hours, but I sure could use the money.

I've still got a few weekends left.  I'd better enjoy them while I can.

Jake

Remember when I told you about my cousin's dogs a couple of weeks ago?  Well, today the guy that owns the house on the other side was in his yard and Sadie and Zoe went after him.  He scared them off with a shotgun, and by the time James got over there, Ronnie was still shaking like a leaf.

James told me later that the little old lady on the other side of him was in her yard one day.  When Sadie and Zoe saw her, they went crazy, barking and snarling and jumping at the fence.  Mrs. Woods started freaking out, shrieking and crying and stuff.  If they'd gotten out, they would have eaten her up with her acting like that.  If they'd bitten her, her son wouldn't have just fired a warning shot.

Sadie

Even me, when I come outside of my house, they still come after me.  It takes a minute, and they eventually calm down, but for that minute, they truly look scary, what with their teeth all out and everything.  They look for all the world that they are going to attack me.   

That was always my worry.  If they did bite somebody, they'd probably end up being destroyed because they've shown a history of aggressive behavior, and Mike and Dennise would be fined or worse.

They're not really bad dogs.  I think they're insecure.  They're in a new place, surrounded by strange people and strange dogs.  They've always been inside dogs, now they're kept in a pen in the back yard.  The pen is too small for one dog of that size, much less two.  They're used to having walls around them.  Now everything is wide open. I think they must constantly feel like they're having to look over their shoulders, so to speak.  It's made them aggressive.  Kind of an "I'm going to get you before you get me" thing.

I don't know what's going to happen in all of this.  I did tell Dennise that I would start walking them when I walk mine and Jake in the evenings.  Maybe that'll help. 

I don't know, but it sure won't hurt.

Yay!

No doggie do in the floor when I got home this evening.  Jesse must be feeling better.   That's about the only good thing that happened today.


Well, I went in to get my prescription for my Nasacort and they told me it was going to be $102.  I asked for the generic, and they said that was the generic.  I think I'll just do without.  People want to blame "greedy" pharmaceutical companies for the reason drugs cost so much, but really, they only make about 2% profit.  Most of the costs go to a) research, and b) beggars, illegals, and other bums and mooches who just don't want to pay for their medicine.  Somebody's got to pay for it, and that somebody is you and me.

So I left the medicine there and just came on home. 

I watched this show on CBS.com called Undercover Boss.  I've only seen one episode, though this is the second season.  It was pretty good.  I wish one of our bosses-- and I mean the way high ups-- would go undercover at our plant.  Boy, would it be an eye opener for them.  There is so much wrong at that place, I don't even know where to begin. 

A couple of years ago, they sent an engineer out from Dallas to fix things.  He told me that things were going to start being done right.  I said, "Forgive my skepticism, but I've been hearing that for 15 years and nothing has changed."  He stayed for about a year (flying back and forth from Dallas), and came back about six months later.  By that time, everything was right back to the way it was when he got there. 

Part of the problem is, when they send bad parts to the assembly lines, we're not allowed to reject them.  They claim that they don't want to waste all that copper, so we just have to make them work.  All that does is remove accountability from the component areas.  When they know they don't have to do things right, then they do just enough to get by.  If they know they're short on parts, they don't re-order them.  So we have to do it.  If a part gets smashed or dented in a machine, they just toss it in the bin and send it on to the line with the rest of the parts.  So we have to go order a replacement. 

Howard is going to get all in a tizzy because someone pulls his gloves off 30 seconds before the lunch buzzer goes off, but we waste way more time wrestling with bad parts. 

And I won't even get into the harassment, favoritism, and the selective enforcement of the rules. 

Not tonight, at least.

No WIPs This Wednesday

Yes, I know it's Wednesday, and the day I normally post my WIP update.  However, since my knitting mojo seems to be somewhere in Barbados, I haven't really finished anything since last week. 

Something has Jesse's tummy upset.  He's been off his feed and today has had diarrhea.  I think it's all related to getting his heartworms treated, because since we did that, he's had lots of accidents in the house.  That's why I've put him back into his kennel while I'm at work.  I'm hoping it'll all clear up in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, he had diarrhea this morning on the carpet, and again in his kennel while I was at work.  So, after cleaning the carpet-- including shampooing it-- cleaning out the kennel and bathing Jesse, since he'd gotten it all over himself, I'm just too tired to knit. 

So in lieu of a WIP update, I give you this:

A First

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll know that strange dreams are par for the course around here.

From undead husbands, to the undead who wish to be my husband, to baby airplanes, and everything inbetween, I've had them all.

But I think this is a first, even for me.

Last night, I dreamed of a chupacabra.

My boyfriend -- amazing in itself since I don't have one-- came to my apartment (huh?)  All excited because he and his buddy had found signs of chupacabras.  They were going to go out the next day and see if they could find one. 

But I could see what was going to happen-- it was like watching the previews of the next episode of a television series.  I could see that the chupacabra was going to rip my boyfriend apart and eat him. 

Sigh, is it any wonder I always wake up tired.

Music Monday

When I first moved here, I wasn't really used to dealing with tornadoes. Hurricanes yes, but not tornadoes.

Now, some 18 years later, I'm still not used to dealing with tornadoes.

And it has already started. Last night, storms ripped through the South, killing at least two people in Alabama.

When I first moved here, I wasn't really used to dealing with tornadoes. Every little storm, I'd be running over to Beverly and James' house in a near panic.

Then one day, it occurred to me. Nothing is going to happen to me that is not part of God's plan for my life.

Now I'm no longer afraid. Oh, I take reasonable precautions, but I'm not scared any more.

Because I know he holds my future, and no one can snatch me out of his hands.

The Great Washing Machine Quest

Despite it being chilly and damp yesterday, I needed a new washing machine. So I got up bright and early and set out on the Great Washing Machine quest.

Well, it wasn't much of a quest, since I knew exactly where I was going to go. Lowe's in Batesville.

About halfway there, I remembered that I'd forgotten to get a new allergy protector thing for my mattress-- because the old one had gotten shredded when the old washer gave up the ghost-- so my first stop was at Wal-mart. I got into the store, and was wandering around with my buggy, when I realized that I couldn't remember what I'd stopped there for.

I wandered around a bit more until I remembered what I wanted to buy, then it was on to Lowe's.   I had looked online and found a washing machine that I liked, but when I got there, they didn't have that one in that store.  Instead, they had this one:

It's a Maytag, and probably a better machine than the one I was looking at anyway.  It's got four temperature settings

and four water level settings

and all these different cycles.

It's got a series of lights that shows you where it is in the cycle.  The only thing is, you can't start your tub filling with water until after you close the lid.  Then it locks and you can't open it at all, unless you pause the cycle.  And since you can't open the lid, it's got a built in fabric softener dispenser that you can turn off if you're not using fabric softener.

I spent all day today catching up on my laundry, including all the bedding that Jesse peed on.  It is so much quieter than my old machine, though the first few times it ran, it scared Jesse when the water came on. 

Speaking of dogs, we've come to a tentative truce with the dogs next door.  I'd made friends with them, and so had Jesse.  Rylea was still picking fights with them, though.  I suggested that we just put them all out in the yard and let them fight it out. This afternoon, that's exactly what I did.  Sadie was trying to make friends, and it's Rylea who gets all bowed up and starts acting aggressive.  I let them fuss for a while, then said, "that's enough".  We walked around the yard a bit, until Jesse started getting too excited and I had to put him back inside. 

In the meantime, Squeaky has developed quite a fondness for the space heater in the snake room. 

"I wubs you, warm fing", she says. 

Can I Curl Up And Whimper Now?

OK, so I come home after a particularly odious day at work -- which does not really figure into this story-- to find that Jesse had, yes really, jumped up right in the middle of my bed and peed.  Seriously.  In my bed. 

Boy, he's lucky I just spent all that money getting his heartworms cleared up or he might not have seen the light of another morning.  So out comes the dog crate again, and off comes the bedding.  Everything. 

I'm just glad I had one of those big plastic bags on my mattress, for allergies, you know.  It kept the mattress from getting soaked. 

I ran one load through the washer, but midway through the second load, I hear a huge crash.  It sounded like the washer had fallen over.  It hadn't fallen over, but the drain hose had come loose and water was coming out of the bottom and flooding my kitchen floor.

Now, under normal circumstances, I'm just about the biggest hermit on the planet.  If the phone rings twice in the same week, I complain that it's "ringing off the hook".  And no one ever comes to my house.  Ever. 

But the minute my washer breaks and water starts going everywhere, the phone rings and someone knocks on the door.  At almost exactly the same time.  On top of that, all the water I'd drank at work decided at that very moment it just had to come out.  Right then.  Figures.

How in the world does everything know to happen all at the same time? 

I called James and he came over after he got off work, looked at my washer, and pronounced it dead.  So, tomorrow I'm off to buy a new washer, which I can't really afford.  But I gotta have one.  A couple of people have suggested Lowe's.  The closest one is in Batesville, so I reckon I'll drive up there and see what they have.  I could order one online and have it delivered, but I want to see if they have any closeout specials or anything like that. 

But now, I've got to go find my other set of sheets to put on the bed, and the old comforter (and hope the cat hasn't peed on it), so I can sleep tonight.