Paper Work

Saturday when I posted about Buckeye's dramatic day I failed to mention that when I was getting ready to take her home I got a paper cut. The vet's office really likes to use their printer. We've had the dog a little over a year and I think I have more paperwork on her than I do for the boys. Or is it that I just keep better track of hers? The dog was shaking, her tail was between her legs and we're waiting for her examination report and invoice to print out, about 14 pages. That office isn't into saving trees, it seems their plate is full with caring for our critters. One of the 14 pages got me on my point, wag and nag finger. Now I don't want to make little of Buckeye's injury but I get a lot done with that finger.

Buckeye is Trippin'

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to faint now. Not that I can't stand the site of blood, I'm raising three boys, it's just with everything that was going on today, I forgot to eat. I ran to the bank and ran to the store. The husband had the dog, calls me on his way home as I make it into my driveway and says, "We might have to go to the vet."

"What did you do to my dog?"
She gets out of the truck with a gaping wound on, I guess her doggie shoulder. It's where the front leg and body meet. "Might have to go to the vet? Are you kidding me? Get the check book."
The husband isn't irresponsible, I should let you know that. I think he likes the dog, Buckeye, better than the kids. He just takes Buckeye over to his sisters every Saturday to play with Oliver, the big black lab. They have a fenced in yard and we don't. Dogs do what dogs do or Buckeye was trying to hump Oliver. A fight ensued and Buckeye ended up getting stitches in the doggie hospital.
This happened at 1:00pm ish and by 5:00pm we were taking Buckeye home. She walked in a Z pattern through the parking lot, she's trippin' on sedatives and pain pills and sleeping it off on the couch. As you can see in the picture. While she was on her doggie high, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to clean Sid the Leopard Gecko's cage. I could clunk that aquarium around without Buckeye's nose into everything and scaring poor Sid out of his skin. And it worked, Sid is styling in a clean cage with a new cage carpet and Buckeye is none the wiser. This is about the time when I realized I had nothing in my stomach but Mocha Cappuccino, 24 ounces of it. I got dizzy and shaky. The moron that I am, I asked myself, "Should I eat first or blog about this?"

Dreams, Death and Birth

It all merges into one in this family I married into. We arrived at my sister-in-laws house Easter evening, we greeted everyone and my sister-in-law pulls me aside and says, "Mom had her dream."
"Noooooooo!"
You could see a hint of fear in every female of the families face.
The dream, let me explain, my mother-in-law will have a vivid dream of "Uncle Chub's" farm. Uncle Chub is dead, the farm has been sold and whenever Mom dreams of him and the farm someone in the family ends up pregnant.
My dear brother-in-law tried to put us all at ease, "Jessie's pregnant."
My niece shoots that down with, "Dad, you know it doesn't work that way, it's one of us."

Back when we had two boys, the husband and I took a trip, alone, to Atlantic City. A few days before our departure Mom told us she had the dream and she told us with a little twinkle in her eye. "It" was on it's way any day, safely pack in my suitcase were maxi-pads, "It's not me." On our way home with the maxi-pads still packed, I told the husband, "Stop at the drug store, I have to buy a pregnancy test."
"Oh God."
Getting out of the car I asked, "Do you need anything?"
"Alcohol."
On my way into the drug store I muttered, "If I have to stay sober for the next nine months, he's going to too."
It was positive. The husband and I out-numbered ourselves, it was us against them and the chaos ensued.

I knew for certain that it wasn't me this time, but that doesn't put me at ease, I have three post pubescent boys. Quickly in my head I was trying to figure out my odds, while shooting "the exorcist" looks at them. The entire immediate family wasn't there, but I wanted to know, "All right, someone is pregnant, and I want to know who it is."
And all I heard was a chorus of, "It's not me."

I Want to Win a Renuzit TriScents Home Makeover

How about if I won a Home Makeover? Would that be awesome or what? Renuzit TriScents is running a $20,000 Home Makeover contest and we would have to start in the living room. I’m so stoked. All you have to do is submit a 2-minute limit video length and a 250-word limit essay. I can write a book on the work that needs done in my house. See official rules here.

We added a fireplace in our living room this past summer and I’m having a hard time designing the rest of the room. I have a kid with a new video camera and writing an essay will come very easy for me. I’m sure I can win once they take a look at my living room, they will have to take pity on me. I will definitely enter to win! Also you can download a Renuzit TriScents Starter Kit coupon for their two scents Seaside Breezes™ and Morning Meadow.

Once we get done with the living room we will head over to my dysfunctional kitchen, counter space baby, I need it. Thank you Renuzit TriScents for the wonderful opportunity, one that I plan on taking full advantage of immediately.

Blogging Family Style

It's only a matter of time before I have my entire family blogging their brains out. If I'm not talking about what I'm blogging about next then I'm talking about my blogs in general. While most of my friends and family pretend to show interest when I'm babbling about widgets, there are a select few that I haven't bored to tears and have actually listened to me. They don't pat me on the head and say,
"I'm going to go stand over there now."

"They" are my future daughter-in-law, Just Me and these two clowns The World of Silly Willy and Fluffy. I received a call from Uncle Silly Willy this afternoon. Let me tell you Uncle Silly Willy and Aunt Fluffy have parked their RV in Florida for the winter so when you live in Northeast Ohio and in March you get a call from someone who use to live in Northeast Ohio, it doesn't matter if their hair is on fire the first thing they are going to say is, "How's the weather?" Then there's a giggle.
After we got the Ohio's crappy winter weather conversation out of the way he told me he started a blog. These two clowns have so much fun that I've been telling them to start blogging. I'm so excited they jumped into the blogging world. Way to go guys!

Easter Egg Coloring

Do I still have to color Easter eggs? I have teenage boys that have no interest at all in dipping a hard-boiled egg in a coffee cup full of purple water that smells like vinegar. Last year I had to look up online how to make the egg coloring because they took the PAAS egg coloring kits out of the stores before I could buy one. The picture posted is the one I shared with my forum buddies last year. I remember going on and on, to anyone that would listen, the drama I went through the color Easter eggs.
"Do you know I had to make them with food coloring." I would say.
Probably, I should have saved the "recipe", Easter Sunday is in five days and I haven't bought my little kit yet. I have about 37 of those wire egg dippers in my utensil drawer. Why don't I throw them away? Why do I continually let them tangle with my slotted spoons, spatula's and basting brush? It can't be sentimental, can it? Am I that much of a sap? No way, I just don't want to clean out the utensil drawer.

Ohio Mortgage Rate

After spending the weekend in New York, the husband is happy to call Ohio home. He ended up lost in New York City and secured his country bumkin status, he’s fine with it. We have a good mortgage rate and we’re not going anywhere. In fact if he ever wants to move to New York, I’m suppose to shoot him. That’s what he said at 12:45 am when he called me. You can find an Ohio mortgage rate at this link if you ever what to chill out in Ohio with us!

Couple Questions For My Readers

Don't worry, they're not hard questions. Well not the first one.

Question #1: How hopped up do you think I'll get on two 20oz. cups of Mocha Alert Cappuccino? It has double the caffeine. I stopped of course and they were out of the 24 oz. cups. So I bought two 20 oz. Mocha Alerts and I'm about to start the second. I should probably eat something.

Question #2: And this might be more of a girl question, you tell me. When buying Mousse (for your hair) at WalMart, what is the difference between, Mega-Hold, Ultra-Hold and Ultimate-Hold?

Checking Out Kettering University

From the Marines, to a policeman, history teacher, then electrician and now industrial engineering, Boy #2 the Senior has me all over the internet seeking education information. But I encourage him to explore as many options for his future career as possible. What’s that old saying? “Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life.” I think it goes something like that.

While an education is very important, experience on the job can be just as educational. US News and World Report is telling me that Kettering University is the #1 University in the nation for Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. Huh! In their engineering co-op programs students get placed in a job and rotate between the job and school. That’s what you call the best of both worlds I would say.

So if the career merry-go-round stops at engineering, Kettering University is only 238 miles away from mommy, I mean home. We can easily take family road trip and check out the campus. Their site has a link to MapQuest and several places they suggest to stay. Sending a kid off to college and helping him take another step towards independence will be tough for me, how will I know if he’s eating his vegetables?

Back From New York

The husband went to New York Thursday morning for work. I opted to stay home with the teenagers. I was torn on who to spend my weekend with and decided the husband has better judgment then a couple teenagers home alone. He did manage to get himself lost in New York City, but I wouldn't have been any help there. I can barely get myself to the end of my driveway. He's home now and that worrying part of my weekend is over. I now have a fifteen year old out at the mall buying himself a pair of jeans for school. I'm going to worry about that for a while.

Skin Health Today

I think I’m missing out on the internet radio thing. I’m a talk radio junkie. One of my guys took the day off today and I decided to search for radio on the internet. Something I knew was there but never looked into. And that search lead me to a skin care site. I know, I’m having a hard time focusing today.

The site, Skin Health Today.com has a weekly radio show on WorldTalkRadio.com. I’m excited to have found these sites. Maybe I can find out why I still deal with acne when I’m pushing…… nevermind. You can listen to Skin Health Today on Thursday’s at 12:00 PST, I’ll have to find out what that is Ohio time.

Grandma's Have Bursitis

Why does my head feel like it's going to explode every time there is a major change in the weather? It's a sinus thing. I thought old people only felt the change in weather with their bodies. Do I have bursitis? What is bursitis? Grandma's talk about bursitis all the time. Oh all right, I'll look it up.
bur·si·tis [ber-sahy-tis]
noun Pathology.
inflammation of a bursa.

What the hell is a bursa?

bur·sa /ˈbɜrsə/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[bur-suh]
noun, plural .
a pouch, sac, or vesicle, esp. a sac containing synovia, to facilitate motion, as between a tendon and a bone.

Does that clear everything up? I'm pretty sure I don't have tendons in my head. But I can't be 100% sure of that. I'm leaning towards a sinus headache more and more. I think I'll just take some asprin instead of delving into the weather change/sinus headache phenomenon.

GPS Push for Mother's Day

I’m what you call directionally challenged. Someone can give me general instructions to get me somewhere and I’ll say to them, “Yeah but, which way do I turn when I get to the end of my driveway?” Then realization sets in and they get out the maps and compasses, paper and pencil, the cell phone numbers and overnight emergency bags with snacks. I would rather be a passenger, look at the pretty scenery and asking the husband if he’s sure he knows where he’s going.

I know there are technological advances in the way of driving direction to avoid getting lost now a days. I can’t think of anyone that needs a GPS Pal more than me. That’s why I plan on a GPS push for Mother’s Day. Those boys would be lost without me, it should be up to them to make sure I get to my destinations without incident.

The GPS Pal fits right in your cup holder, don’t worry I have two cup holders, I can still stop for my Mocha. It can be moved from one vehicle to another, which is a good thing, I’ll probably only have this car of mine for one more year. It would be nice to have GPS directions in the car with me instead of trying to decipher a map or follow someone. I’m known for my poor navigational skills and the last guy I followed to a travel baseball game, grinned at me and said, “Try to keep up.”

Mocha Cappuccino Science

If I go out, I buy a Mocha. Thank God for spare change in the seat cushions because I'd spend my last buck on a Mocha. It's a harmless addiction, but addiction none the less. And it's gas station cappuccino. If the station cappuccino making machine is out of mocha I am able to improvise. Two-thirds Original Cappuccino and one-third Hot Chocolate tastes just like a Mocha. Also, two-thirds French Vanilla and one-third Hot Chocolate can pass as a Mocha.
For the days that I stay in huddle over the computer in my jammies I've found a double mocha cappuccino mix. I mix two-thirds coffee, one-third milk and three table spoons of the instant mix and that keeps my going until I go out again.

My Online Community

Being online as much as I am, well I’ve made a lot of online friends. Mainly through message boards. Being part of an online community is part of my daily schedule, we share funny stories about our families, work, weather, you name it. Although usually light-hearted, we are not limited to that. My favorite message board, The Crabby Host, has a member going through cancer treatment. I was surprised when someone in our support thread mentioned the book called The Secret. Hey, The Sedona Method is really starting to get popular. The Secret was written by Marci Shimoff who is a Sedona Method graduate. It seemed just about everyone on the message board knew about this peaceful revolution in consciousness. There is a new book by Eckhart Tolle called A New Earth. This book shows you how to bring the presence of awareness that you truly are into the foreground of your consciousness and thereby change the mass consciousness of planet earth and there is a Free DVD and CD. I know the book sounds a little deep, so a free DVD and CD is a good idea. I plan on sharing this new book with my message board buddies and passing along the links!

It's a Major Award

At one of our Sunday dinners, Boy #1 mentioned the next day at work he's getting fed breakfast and they are having some kind of awards ceremony. I asked him if he's getting an award and he said, "I don't think so, but I'm getting paid to eat breakfast."
"Sweet." This was Boy #3's response.
Look at my picture, Boy #1 received a Major Award! I wish I would have had more time to make sure the picture turned out better. The Award is called The Step Up Award. He was being recognized for his hard work and moving up in the company. He was Employee of the Quarter not to long ago. He works across the street from the husband. At lunch hour, he and his Major Award jumped in his truck to run over and showed the husband. And the picture is of him after I hugged him and kissed him on both cheeks, he stopped over after he left work.
Often the husband and I sit in our recliners discussing our boys. Saying to each other, "We did something right." The boys are always told by us that we love them and we always let them know we are proud of them. We somehow have instilled in them a good work ethic and they can see it's paying off. Tonight we are going out to eat courtesy of the company Boy #2 works for, he was February's Employee of the Month.

Heavily Influenced Wedding

Wow, wedding invitations have sure change since the last time I browsed through them, twenty-three years ago. I was twenty-one when I was planning my wedding, back in the day. A lot of the wedding decisions where heavily influenced by my mother. She said the wedding invitations should be plain off-white with black lettering. I think I still have copies of mother’s guide to proper wedding etiquette wedding invitations in my attic. Some of our wedding gifts involved our invitation too. It’s in a frame somewhere and on a big, off-white candle. Some people can be so clever. I should get that big old candle out of the attic.

Boy #1 is getting married in August, so I’ve been frequenting wedding web sites and ran across a Contemporary Wedding Invitations site. They have colors on them and everything. 1st Class Wedding Invitations has one design that is called Watercolor Bouquet and it’s gorgeous. I think wedding etiquette might have been relaxed somewhat over the years. Do you think me being the mother of the groom and all that I still have to wear a beige dress and keep my mouth shut? Beige really isn’t my color and I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut.

The Weekend Wallop

Ummmm...... It hasn't stopped snowing since Friday morning. This morning I was outside with Boy #2 helping him clean off my car so he could get to work. I made him take mine, it's 4 wheel drive. He's is now safely home and I can stop worrying. The snow is twice as high as it is in the picture and still coming down. Digging out maybe a little more than I thought it would be Monday morning. The weatherman here in Northeast Ohio, the legendary Dick Goddard, is calling it The Weekend Wallop!

What a Busy Day

What a busy day! I had to drive around in the snow to make sure I stocked the fridge and get some bills paid. Just now, I’m starting to dig out from under the Christmas bills. It’s my own fault, I found so many deals from the Black Friday ads that I went overboard, just a little.

I had to get a job. I received an email when the latest Black Friday ads were posted and shopped online until my fingers were soar. All I had to do was submit my email address at their site and I received the ads for the Friday after Thanksgiving sales. The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, an ominous sounding day for a full frenzy of shopping. Looking for parking spaces, fighting crowds, standing in line, it’s just not for me. I avoided all that by shopping online last Christmas. I had my packages brought to me, right to my door. WalMart and Kohl’s love me. In fact, Kohl’s send me a note every month.

So now that I have another Christmas tucked away, I sit and watch the snow fall outside looking forward to spring. In Northeast Ohio it should arrive around July.

Northeast Ohio Getting Clobbered

The weatherman can be so dramatic. For anyone that's lived in this area for any length of time, it's just snowing, all weekend. But we are forced to listen to the end of the world weather forecasts and have weather bulletins trailing across the bottom of our TV screen for the weekend. The husband has a fire going in the fireplace. The dogs has camped out in front of it. We have some DVD's from the library and a fridge full of food. We will dig ourselves out Monday.

How Things Get Done

Throughout almost 23 years of marriage I’ve learned how to get things done. Maybe I should say, how to get the husband to get things done. I throw him into the situation that I’m unhappy about. It’s how I got my windshield wiper fixed. I strategically parked my car behind his and told him just take my car one morning. I had my windshield wipers fixed the next day. Now I want a new internet connection, muahaha!

Really, the only time the husband uses our home computer is to quickly look something up or to do ours and the boys taxes. Ours are done, he came out of my little office commenting on how slow my computer is. “Yeah.” I replied, “I still can’t get into the cpanel of my new blog yet.”

“We need to look into a new internet hook up.”

BINGO!

See how that works?

Today my search for high speed internet began. Clicking around the internet I found a chance to bid on Charter High-Speed® Internet services for life at an online auction that starts March 12, 2008. You have to register to be able to bid and you can also register to win a Nintendo® Wii™.

Click Here for a Chance to Win a Nintendo® Wii™!

I’ve watched people play a Nintendo Wii before but never tried it myself. It looks like fun. The bidding for the Charter High Speed Internet starts off at $10.00 on March 12, 2008, it will be interesting to see what it goes for.

You Don't Really Miss Something Until It's Gone

We hear that old saying in the back of our heads when the power goes out in the neighborhood or when a water main breaks on our street. First we check with the neighbors to make sure they are experiencing the same discomfort and we do that to make sure it isn't just us and a late payment on a bill. Once we are sure it's "not just me", it's okay to complain. We take a lot of things for granted.
Tuesday on my way to and from work, I found out I can't say enough about windshield wipers. I don't want to play favorites, but especially the left one. You know the one that helps you see the road when driving.
The windshield wipers get stuck in ice and snow, I've heard that some impatient drivers will grab the windshield wiper with unnecessary force to clean the windshield. The hell you say! Take care of your windshield wipers, you'll miss them when they're gone.

There Were Zombies

Not often do I remember my dreams. After extensive research into dreams and how they work, I asked a guy at work, I found out that you only remember the dreams you have when your not in a deep sleep. REM, I think. I'm a deep sleeper. The only thing that can wake me from a deep sleep are the boys. It's a mom thing. From the time I brought them home from the hospital, that mom alarm went into effect.

Saturday night I remembered a dream and there were Zombies. My dream was just starting when the dog decided to dramatically shift position. She sleeps in between the husband and I. She'll get up and turn around in a tight circle, round and round, and then flop down in the same spot she started. She's a drama queen.
The Zombies were just starting to wake up in my dream and I was right in the middle of them, I would have liked to see where we were going with that. I've seen enough Zombie movies to know that you have to hit them in the head to kill them. I've been playing softball since I was a kid, I have a pretty good swing.
I guess the dog sensed my disappointment, when we woke in the morning she had moved to the couch. Either she was scared of the Zombies coming back, she didn't want to wake me again or she was trying to make me feel bad. I didn't even know she left, I was in a deep sleep of course. The rest of my dreams were lost to me.

Lack of Communication

I only speak English. I can count to 10 in German and almost to 5 in Polish or is it Hungarian, one of those, my grandmother taught me. So when someone from another country comes to the U.S. and can communicate with me in English, they got one up on me. But we as Americans find it funny when we hear broken English, we talk louder to a non-American thinking that we can break the language barrier by enunciating loudly and clearly. You know you've done it and you know it can be quite comical.
At the Dry Cleaners today, yes I'm going there, I picked up the husbands shirts. I had just been to the bank and had a fist full of twenties, a five and a couple ones. Not enough change to evenly dole out lunch money when I got home. The Asian woman that works there knows my last name. Very little conversation goes on between us each week, because beyond Hello, Thank you, 6 ah forty and have a good day, I don't think she says much else in English. She is always talking to the guy that works there or on the phone in whatever language she speaks, not sure. Her vocabulary increased for me today though, when I tried to pay for my 6 ah forty bill with a twenty. She looked in my wallet as she was giving me my change and said, "You pay with 7 dollah, I need change."
She tried to give me back my twenty. But.......
"I need change." She said, pointing to my wallet.
There's a bank right across the street.
I didn't know if I should have been scared of the guy lurking behind the shirt presser or not, but I needed lunch money, evenly distributed, for teenagers.
"I'm sorry." I said, "I need this."
"Okay, have a good day."
She definitely got her point across to me, much more than I could trying to speak in any other language. Next week I'll make sure I pay 6 ah forty with my 7 dollah.