Come On, Please

Christmas is pretty much over. There are still gift cards to spend, decorations to take down, and a tree to dispose of, but for the most part Christmas 2008 is in the bag. Ragged has become ill during her vacation and she is one grumpy lady. I'm trying to keep her in snot rags and nasal decongestant as well as diet coke to keep her satisfied. Tomorrow we will have our contractor here to take care of some issues including the infamous living room leak. I hope they can fix it once and for all.

Hearing that Brando and Rudy are painting, changing around furniture, and purging has got me thinking about painting again. Everytime I mention painting to Ragged she glazes over and if I talk about it too much, she throws the nearest heavy object at me. We have agreed on the color for the guest room and after that my painting desire would probably be quelled.

I'm ready to hit the road today and get out of this house. Seems like I've been here for a week, although it's only been a couple of days. See ya.

To All

Merry Christmas!

Man Down

Today I was bee bopping out of work and unbeknownst to me, the parking lot was a solid sheet of ice. Accordingly, I fell. I was stunned, having gone from standing to lying in one fell swoop. I was carrying my laptop in a case and had a piece of paper in my hand and both became soaked as well as my hip and elbow then my knees as I gathered up what was left of my dignity and got up. I think I'm okay, but there is some pain in my elbow and the left side of my back. I also have gotten a headache since the fall. Tomorrow I'm sure I'll be sore and bruised. Whatsmore, co-worker after co-worker came out the door and fell. It was like a bad comedy sketch.

No, I'm down here.

A Leak Is Just A Kiss

As Ragged reported, we had a leak. Of course, Ragged and I being the happy go lucky sorts, we blew it off and went to Disneyland. Not really. We paniced and imagined all the horrible repercussions that could result. After awhile, we realized it was just a leak. Our house didn't burn down, neither of us was diagnosed with a terrible illness, and we both still have our jobs (for now). Thankfully we had someone to call to help as I am useless in these situations. The S Bros. came over, climbed up on the roof, and patched a hole in the roof defenses. They said they couldn't swear they got it fixed, but there was a good chance he found what the problem was. We'll know tonight when a thunderstorm comes through and dumps more rain on us.

R.I.P.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away today. She played Nurse Chapel on the original Star Trek and was featured in The Next Generation as Lwaxana Troi, the mother of Deanna Troi, and the computer's voice. She apparently died from leukemia.

Happiness

January is choked full of new shows. Just to name a few: Battlestar Galactica, American Idol, The Biggest Loser, The Real World, and others I can't think of right now. I'm practically giddy. I may never leave the house...well, unless it is to go out to eat. But, Ragged has clamped down on the budget much to my surprise and chagrin. Of course, she gets to eat out alot for work and I don't get anything from work besides an unpaid furlough. Perhaps I shouldn't find so much happiness in television and food, but really what else is there?

Slip and Slide

Ice is not fun. Particularly when you have to walk on it or it tastes like plastic or when it causes your windshield wiper to snap off and you get scolded for not immediately going to replace it, but anyway... I kept saying yesterday that the sidewalks were more treacherous than the roads which wasn't necessarily true as Pilot's blog attests, but I suppose a parking lot could be classified as a roadway and a sidewalk, nevertheless... I was careful yesterday as I was out and about a large portion of the day doing home visits and I did okay traversing the coated walkways by mostly staying in the crunchy grass, but last night I let the icey conditions slip my mind as I bee bopped out the backdoor with our trash. When I walked onto the icey step I immediately went down. Luckily I caught myself with my hand, but it could have been ugly. Actually, it WAS ugly just not because I fell, but more because of my large butt and thighs, freakishly tall stature, and misshapen head...but I digress. Lesson learned. I tiptoed out to the corner with our trash can and back knowing that tomorrow would bring a whole new set of challenges.

Snow picture from last year.

Happy Birthday Little Sister

Cynical, Plain and Freakishly Tall

I think I have one of those faces. It feels like people are always saying, "you look familiar". From the lady at the hospital cafeteria who thought I was the guy who worked in the pharmacy to my mom and dad's pastor who insisted he had seen me before. I swear I've never seen the guy and I certainly don't work at the hospital pharmacy. I told Ragged I was so plain I looked like everyone.

Anyway, last night Ragged and I traveled home to see my dad in a Christmas cantata at his church. It was alot of fun and the group did a nice job. Dad played "Tony Hobbs", a new cast member to the community Christmas play. The play was about a community theater putting on a Christmas play while forgeting what Christmas is all about. There was a section of the play which dad wasn't in, as "Tony" had been eliminated from the play because they didn't have time to make his costume. Leaning over to Ragged, I inquired, "Where's Tony?". Ragged began to chant quietly, "Tony, Tony, Tony." Of course I began to laugh and would have shot milk out my nose had I been drinking it at the time.

We got home about 8:30 or so. Looks like nasty weather is coming. For some reason I love all these winter weather advisories and snow accumulations. I loved watching the Snowbird report when I was a kid and seeing if our school system was closed.

ABC's

A is for age: I'm 35...for 2 more months. Oy.

B is for burger of choice: The Whopper. No onion or pickle please.

C is for the car I drive: 2002 Dodge Stratus.

D is for your dog's name: None, but cats are Ike, Izzie, Cooper and Eli.

E is for essential item you use every day: Computer or the internet more specifically.

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: Law & Order: SVU

G is for favorite game: Trivial pursuit, I guess.

H is for home state: Kentucky.

I is for instruments you play: I used to play the trumpet. Couldn't play it now for nothing.

J is for favorite juice: Good old Orange.

K is for whose bum you'd like to kick: Bush

L is for last restaurant at which you ate: Colby's

M is for your favorite Muppet: Kermit

N is for number of piercings: None

O is for overnight hospital stays: Tonsil complication

P is for people you were with today: Ragged

Q is for what you do with your quiet time: Blog, Facebook, and write

R is for biggest regret: Choice of major

S is for status: Single but committed

T is for time you woke up today: 8ish am

U is for what you consider unique about yourself: never used drugs, not even marijuana

V is for vegetable you love: potatos but ain't they a tuber?

W is for worst habit: Cursing. I really hate it and I feel diminished when I do it.

X is for x-rays you've had: Dental, foot, face, both arms.

Y is for yummy food you ate today: fudge

Z is for zodiac: Pisces.

Hodge Podge

We are in for some nasty weather it seems, starting with rain then freezing rain then a wintry mix. What a nasty mess. Ragged is going to have to live with those leaves out there for a long time. Tomorrow is my sister's birthday. She will be 31. Say what?! Yes, I said 31. Where has the time gone?

I made the mistake of going to Wal-mart yesterday. I had to circle to find a place to park. It was ridiculous. I'm not going to be trying to shop other than the weekdays until after Christmas. I thought we were in a recession heading to a depression. Someone forgot to tell the folks in our town.

Two Years Have Passed

And I'm still missing Sammy.

You Don't Have To Watch Dynasty

Last night, we went to Ragged's company's Christmas party. Usually I dread it because all of the socializing, but this year I hang in until they closed the place down. We enjoyed pork loin, chicken, and/or some kind of beef with green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes (Indiana spelling), cornbread, rolls, and salad with an assortment of desserts which included red velvet cake, pecan and chess pie. I had the chess pie (at least I think that's what it was). A good time was had by all. Ragged and the rest of her team did a great job. We watched her co-workers dancing up until 11pm when the party ended. Ragged and I don't dance, at least not where anybody can see, but Ragged did get a song dedicated to her by some of her co-workers. "Billie Jean" was dedicated to Raggedy and I think she might have been embarrassed. Ask her about why it was dedicated to her the next time you see her.

But I Thought...

As I've told previously, we were having a soup day at work and I was going to bring pimento cheese sandwiches. Said event was to happen on Thursday so Ragged and I went to the grocery and I got a big ole tub of minner cheese and a loaf of bread and happily schlepped off to work yesterday. Well, soup day is next Thursday. I realized the mistake before anyone noticed, so when I left I sneaked back out to my car with my sandwiches makins. Is this a sign of getting older?

Rundown

It's Wednesday, right? I had trouble remembering what the day was all day long. Yesterday I could have sworn it was Friday. Needless to say I'm all screwed up. Anyway, I spent the day at home. When Ragged got home, we went for dinner and groceries. I snagged a couple of gifts for my niece and we got food to get us through the weekend. Tomorrow I'm going in to work and we're having a soup day. I'm bringing pimento cheese sandwiches, one of my favs. I was going to bring bolognie, but I decided on PC sandwiches instead. The rain has gone and it's just cold again now. Christmas is 15 days away. Have you got your shopping done?

The kitties were nestled, all snug in their beds.

Tight Fittin' Jeans

I had to work at work all day today. It was okay if you don't count the fact that it was hot in the office I used, I wasn't told that we are allowed to wear jeans until further notice, and the whole floor is a construction zone on top of being crowded among annoying co-workers and absentee management. It was actually great if you don't count all of that. Anyway I kept my nose to the grindstone and got alot accomplished. I'm a morning worker so my peak performance period is from 8 am to 11 am. After that, my productivity declines dramatically, perhaps down to a crawl. But I forged through. When I got home, I was starving for Mexican food. I've wanted it for a few days but Ragged would never give in and go with me or she had eaten it for lunch, but today the planets aligned and we went out. It was good.

Now we're home and Ragged is preparing for hosting a lunch tomorrow with a couple of her work friends. I have to make myself scarce tomorrow. Actually I don't have to, but I would feel weird sitting around here when they're having girltime, you know all the squealing and talk about bras and cute boys. I'll probably go to work tomorrow again if not only to wear jeans.

Is your butt supposed to look like that?

Membership Has Its Privileges

Well, I said on Facebook I was going to be productive today but I think I may have missed the mark. I did get up and clean the toilet and made the bed, but beyond that, I didn't accomplish much else. After watching alot of crap TV, I went and worked out and later went over Ragged's parents to help with putting up their tree. Ragged's dad is insistent on 'making' strands of lights work. I mentioned that they are all of $2 a string at the Dollar Store, but he wasn't interested. I think he views it as a challenge, so most of the time was sent splicing and dickering with them. He'll do fine when the second recession hits and I hope they never leave the house and forget to turn off the lights. Ragged's parents provided pizza and later I was jonesing for a vanilla milkshake so I drove through the DQ, flashed my blizzard fan membership badge, and snagged a shake. It was so delicious.

Another Hairbrain Idea

Have you ever tried one of those "easy" meals that Rachael Ray yaps about? Well, yesterday I whipped up one of the desserts. For some godforsaken reason I made the pumpkin bars and I don't even like pumpkin flavored crap. I suppose it's all in the experience, but nevertheless it didn't go so badly. So, today, I tried one of the dinner recipes. It was a pasta recipe and let me just say it's not as easy as it looks or else I am terrible at cooking. Not only did I make a huge mess, but I grated my knuckle and the onion burned my eyes. Maybe there's a message in here that I shouldn't cook and things are not as easy as the experts make them look. Oh, and about the mess I made, don't tell Ragged. She no likey messes.

You gotta be kiddin' me.

Where Have Your Hands Been?

The pressure is on, so last night I made some online purchases for Christmas. The website stated that to receive your packages by Christmas Eve, you have to place an order by 12/9, so let that be a warning to all you procrastinators out there if you plan on buying online gifts. I would judge that I'm about half way finished with shopping. Ragged is about finished and she has her presents wrapped as well and she buys for way more folks then I do. Show off!

One by one, everyone I know and work with is getting sick. I keep hoping that I'll manage to avoid the cold epidemic. On average, I have two colds a year. I just keep washing my hands and being weary of door knobs and shopping carts. By the way, people are really nasty. They don't wash their hands for anything. It's best not to think about what is on the things we touch day in and day out.

Was that Santa Claws?

Hot Stuff Coming Thru

Ever have one of those days you feel like everything you do is screwed up and you're not quite as good as you think you are. Well today was one of those days for me. Of course I'm talking about work and I'm blaming all the mistakes on boredom and burn out cause I'm still the best and the greatest. Right?

Pilates cat doing pilates.

Brrrrr

I got a chill today. My hands and feet are cold and it's 50 degrees outside and I have the heat turned up pretty high. What's going on? I'm freezing up in here and it hasn't really got cold yet.

In other news, I still haven't made any more progress on Christmas shopping. I should be about finished by now. What am I going to do?




Is dat snow?

Are you Gonna Eat That?

What is it about cold weather that makes you want to eat everything in sight? These past few days I can't get enough to eat. I'm even taking a second glance at the bowl of catfood as I walk by. I've been trying to drink alot of water to keep the hunger pangs away, but I'm obsessed with food. Good thing I'm not a crackhead.


Daddy, what's a crackhead?