Speaking of Resumes

My resume is updated.

Remember the old joke about how it sucks to see your job posted on the net? Guess what? My job is posted on the net! It's been on Hot Jobs since August 23rd.

Ok, I am a little worried. Not that I'm not looking, but I'd rather have that safety net of another job before I lose the one I have. You know?

The guy I work with is on probation, so perhaps it's for his replacement. Then again, a clean sweep could be a good thing.

Organized

Yep, that's what my resume says. I am organized. You know what? I think I lied!

Some things in my life are organized. To be honest, I would have to say most things aren't. One perfect example is my kitchen.

I have lots and lots of cupboards. And a food pantry! But, it's the cupboards I wanna talk about. Like I said, I have lots of them.

When we moved in almost two years ago, I just started putting stuff in cupboards just to get them out of boxes, thinking "one of these days, I'll organize that better". Well, so far, I'm still waiting for one of those days! In one cupboard, I have a couple of pans. In another cupboard, I have a Pyrex baking dish and a wood cutting board. In another cupboard, I have three waffle irons and two George Foreman grills. I have rubbermaid stuff spread out into three huge drawers! What a mess! I won't even talk about the cupboards that my dishes are in! Eight dinner plates on one shelf! Six soup bowls on the shelf above it! Wow! You think I overstuffed those shelves?

The cupboard in the mudroom I'd really like to empty in order to utilize the space for the cases of water and soda that are now adorning the floor in there. But then I'd have to make a decision on where to put those aforementioned waffle irons and George Foreman grills. Hmmm, if I go to the cupboard with the Pyrex baking dish and the wood cutting board, I could consolidate both of those items on one shelf there by opening up more storage in that cupboard....

I think I have the right idea. Perhaps it's not disorganization and just plain laziness that prevents me from redoing the dang cupboards!

Oh well. One of these days, I'll have to fix that.

Fade to Green

My monitor is old. I got it used in December of 1999. I guess it's done me well to last this long.

For quite awhile now, at least a couple of times a night, I get a "lightening flash" across my screen. It buzzes a little then it comes back ok. Tonight a new twist has been thrown in. I have a lovely green cast to my screen now! Get the feeling this ain't good? So much for nursing this thing through.

So, now what? Where do I even look for one of these things? Can I upgrade to one of them cool flat screen models?? Like a 21" or so?? Yeah! That's what I want!!

WWMS

What Would Mom Say?

I have been told I am not true to my Slovak roots. Ok, I will confess right here and now. I buy Mrs. T's Pierogis. With jalapenos. There. I've said it. My sister Cathie says that since I buy and eat these, my Mom, if she had a grave, would be rolling over in it.

Well, brace yourself, Sissy. I think I've reached a new height!!

We all know Mom's Orange Spaghetti. A good Slovak dish. There are two ways Mom made it. With or without hamburger. Tonight for supper, I made Orange Spaghetti. With KIELBASA!! Don't knock it until you've tried it. It was really, really good!

There is a little left over in my fridge if anyone is interested.

Reality Bites

My heart is breaking over here.

I told you about Rock Star: INXS. One of my favs. My ALL time favorite reality show though has to be Big Brother. http://www.cbs.com/primetime/bigbrother6/ This is season six. I have seen every episode from season one to present. Every one. I have loved these people, hated these people, rooted for these people.

The premise of this show is sixteen strangers are isolated in a house. They have absolutely no contact with the outside world in terms of TV, internet, newspapers, phones, radios, etc.

They compete for different things during the week. They compete first for food. If they don't accomplish whatever goal was set up, they are on a peanut butter and jelly diet for the week. PB&J breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. PB&J. Needless to say, people compete pretty hard for their food every week.

The biggest competition is for the coveted position of Head of Household. The HOH gets a private bedroom, a private bathroom, some momentos from home, special snacks etc. One guy this season even got a Hookah pipe! I'm not sure if they gave him anything good to smoke in it but hey! The HOH also has some serious responsibility. It is the HOH that has to nominate two of the houseguests. One of the two nominations will be going home on Thursday. The HOH nominates, the nominees beg, plead and make deals with the houseguests to stay, and on Thursday, the houseguests vote for one of the two nominees. The nominee with the most votes is evicted. As soon as the eviction is over, the competition begins for the new HOH. The whole vicious cycle starts again!

This season has to be the best and the worst. I have seen the biggest fights, the most yelling, the most hatred. The house has split into two groups. I am rooting for the one group, and unfortunately for me (well, maybe for them!) it isn't looking good for them to remain in the house much longer. The bad group (AKA the nerd herd) has been strong and picking off the other group one at a time. It is so frustrating. I know, I know. I told you I get way too involved in this crap!

I need a life.

Reality Rules

I have many sicknesses.

One of them is Reality TV. Between that and my DVR I'm telling you I could live my life without ever leaving this room!

I'm not just any reality TV junkie. I am very particular in my viewing. One of my new favorites is this season's hit show, Rock Star: INXS.



This is from the creator of a few of my other favorite shows, Survivor and The Apprentice, Mark Burnett. The premise of Rock Star: INXS is simple. Rock Star: INXS brought together 15 of the best undiscovered rockers to compete to become the new front man/woman for INXS. The winner will cut a new album with the group as well as lead them on a new world tour. Cool, huh? INXS is present for every show, and their decisions are final. The show is hosted by Brooke Burke and Dave Navarro.

Sunday's show is the clinic. INXS and/or Dave Navarro will have exercises for the rockers to help them be their best. From how to dress, to vocal coaches, to song writing. Then, the rockers pick their songs from a list of songs complied by INXS.

Tuesday's show is the concert show. All the rockers rock with The House Band. The best part is after the performances, idiots like me get to vote on who was their favorite rocker!

Wednesday's show is the tough one. From the voting Tuesday night, they announce the three rockers that received the least amount of votes. The bottom three are then given an INXS song they must sing. Out of the three, it is now up to INXS to decide which one goes home. The first few weeks of this show has been absolutely awesome! Great music! Now, it's getting down to it though. After tonight's elimination of Deanna, there are only six rockers left. I can't decide on who my favorite is just yet! I'm rooting for MiG and Marty. I say one of the two of them end up taking it all. Remember, you heard it here first.

I know, I get way too involved in reality TV. I plan my life around this crap for crying out loud! But, what the hell. Their reality is a heck of a lot better than mine!

Rock Star: INXS. I highly recommend it!

The Cat is Out of the Bag

This post could be more info that you want to know.

Today is the first day I've put a bra on since surgery. It was not a success. Officially at 1:45 p.m. I ran to the ladies room and ripped it off.

The bra strap is right over where my incision is. You don't realize how much your bra moves with you during the day. I feel like I'm back to being raw back there. Ugh.

The Postman Rang

Ok, I'm all about putting people on mailing lists. Just ask Michael about the Rogaine information he has received in the past. I think someone has returned the favor.

In yesterday's mail, I received a newletter from the Lorain County Board of Mental Health. Hmm. I'm not saying that I'm not nuts and don't need this, I'm just wondering how I got on the mailing list! I mean after all, I should know about all the goings on in my county from which I could reap benefits!

This is the gift that will keep on giving!

They Are Everywhere!!

What the heck is up with the crickets?

As I think you all know, I have an aversion to just about everything, but tops on that list is bugs. Any kind of bugs. Crickets fall into that category. Bugs. Ick.

Saturday, I went into the garage to get the bird seed to refill the feeder. I had to jump over a cricket on the garage floor. Ok, that sounds harmless, and I was mostly ok with it. After all, it's outside. That's where crickets belong. Even the garage, I'll give to the outside "stuff". I hold no domain over my garage. I want nothing icky in my car, but the garage I guess is neutral territory. So, being the nice person I am, I jumped over the cricket. No overpowering urge to smash it to smithereens.

Which brings us to Sunday. I went down to the basement to do some laundry. Please picture me, walking down the stairs, carrying the laundry basket. I turn the corner and THERE IT IS! A big, black bug on the basement floor! I scream for Ron. He comes running in (believe it or not) his bare feet! I warned him that at the least he needed some big shoes. Or, to be safe, he could have grabbed my gun before running downstairs! Hey, I think I did mention that it was a big, black bug. Ron chose to come downstairs in nothing but his bare feet anyway. Upon closer inspection, I was told that:

1. It's only a cricket
2. It's a dead cricket

Grrr. I hate to waste a good panic attack on a dead cricket. But, since he was there any way, Ron did get rid of the carcass, and he did scout the laundry-doing area for any other offending creatures that might be lurking, ready to get me. When I got the "all safe" sign, I proceeded with the laundry.

Now we're up to Monday. You will never guess what was hopping and jumping all over our office! Ok, since you're reading a story about crickets, you've probably guessed. A baby cricket! Dang, I can't get away from them! The ones I work with found humor in the fact that I wasn't happy about this BUG in the office, but since Ron wasn't around, I chose to live with it. Especially since it was technically hopping around the office next to mine, not exactly in mine! Bonus! So that cricket lived to see another day.

Today is Tuesday. Today's surprise was again found in the garage. As soon as I walked in, there it was! Right by the back end of my car....a CRICKET! This one wasn't dead, either! What's going on? What's up with this? Is it me they are stalking? Is there a conspiracy? Should I call the FBI? The CIA? The ASPCA? Buddy Holly??

Breakfast is Served

Sunday. A day of sleeping in and a day of big breakfasts!

Ron for whatever reason was up really really early this morning. I chose to sleep in. That just might have turned out to be the best decision I make today!

Some time this morning, I rolled over, realized Ron wasn't in bed, and thought I'd relax and watch a little TV early in the a.m. I remember I turned the TV on and somehow ended up on the cooking channel. Ron, thinking I was awake, came back to bed. HA! Little did he know, but I had already rolled back over and went back to sleep! So lucky for me, he decided to watch the cooking show that was on TV! He actually watched until he got most of the recipe and then went downstairs and started cooking.

I woke awhile later to the wonderful smells of bacon frying. As most of us know, that is one of the most awesome smells there is! That definitely got me out of bed in a hurry. A few minutes later, breakfast was brought right to me. In case you're interested, the cooking show was Wolfgang Puck and the recipe was http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/recipes/recipedetail.php?Alias=RE_WP3170 We already know I am technically challenged, so I hope that link thingie worked!

Regardless, breakfast was awesome!

If I click my heels three times . . .

Today we drove home to see Dad and Jim.

We met up at the nursing home and busted Dad out for a few hours. I thought Dad was having one of his better days, that's the good part! We all went for lunch, and Dad ate really well at one of his favorite places. Then, we bid Jim a fond farewell, and Ron and I took Dad for awhile to go play. We had Dad out seeing the sights, visiting with family, and even cheating on his diet with a great ice cream cone! (Thanks, Julianna!)

I gotta tell you something about going home again. You can't do it. Well, I guess technically you physically can. But mentally, I have such a bad feeling when I'm there anymore. Why is that? I lived there for over 30 years. I've been gone now for ten years. Wow, ten years. A lot has happened in ten years. Nothing is the same any more. My home isn't there any more. Most of my family isn't there any more. My good friend isn't there any more. For someplace I've called home for most of my life, I really hate being there any more. I have a knot in my stomach from when I hit the state line going in until I hit the state line again coming out.

I may still call it home, but in truth, my heart doesn't believe it. Maybe if I click my heels together three times, I can find it.

Lilies in Bloom

The Resurrection lilies in my yard are now in full bloom! They are weird looking in a way, with no leaves, just the stalk with the blooms. Driving up the street you see this field of pink in the middle of the yard! It's so awesome! Too bad they don't last too long.

The lilies popping up in the middle of the yard are a surprise. Another surprise in the yard is in the "rock garden". That's the area behind the lilies, to the right of the Rose of Sharon tree. It is named the "rock garden" because it is full of decorative rocks. Duh! I liked how it looked when we moved in, so we never did anything with this area. Now it is always a surprise what will come up next in between the rocks.

You can't really tell from this picture, but there are two trees together here. The one closest is a purple one, and the one behind it is a white one. They had a gazillion blooms last year, the blooms eventually go to seed and drop off. I now have a handful of baby Rose of Sharon trees growing to the right side of the parent trees. Ron dug one up and we gave it to a girl I work with. We were going to dig the rest of them up, we just haven't gotten there yet.

Along with the trees are a few of the Resurrection lilies, I get a handful of spring blooms and a bunch of garlic plants. These are obviously from the garden that used to be my yard, more of the bulbs that won't die. Being an apartment dweller my entire life, I had absolutely no idea what the heck garlic looked like outside of the grocery store. I remember that first year, we dug a few up, sniffed them, and threw caution to the wind and nibbled on a few! There is no mistaking the taste and smell of garlic even if the plant was unrecognizable.

Who knew buying a house would involve so many nice surprises!

Here we go

Well, my very first blog. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time.

There are quite a few blogs I read, or check, daily. I am so impressed with the way people will open their lives, their thoughts, their dreams their fears. I don't know if I can write as well as some of the blogs I read, but I will give it my best shot. Lord knows, I always seem to have something to say and an opinion about everything. Maybe this will be a good outlet for me to help me sort out the things in my own head, sort out my own thoughts. I want to give it a try anyway. If this gets to be too much, or just is too bleh, I'll rethink the whole thing. But for now, maybe it will be fun.

Then again, this is my second writing of my first blog! Believe it or not, I'm 1/2 hour into blogging and already I have a story about it. Go figure.

To say I'm technically challenged is an understatement. I was told this blogging thing would be easy, especially on this website. So, I started it finally tonight. I wrote out what I thought was a nice post, sort of introducing myself, why I'm here, and all that. Then, I started clicking. Bad. Very bad. Next thing I know, my blog is GONE. Yes, gone. Where? Darned if I know. But it was gone. I clicked a few more times, like I didn't learn enough the first time. I clicked and clicked and clicked. I found a few things, but not my dang blog. I even tried my favorite "back" button, but to no avail. It's gone.

So, it may not be a great start to blogging, but perhaps that's a good sign. That means it will get better and better from here. Yeah, that's it! So, now let's take a journey. A journey into my thoughts and opinions. Are you scared yet? Are you ready?? Because here we go!