I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Things have obviously been crazy busy here. We held our annual convention for work last week. It was a great success, but the weeks leading up to it were insane. I hate having the convention so close to a major holiday. Getting off early on a Friday and having a Monday off should be fun, not stress-inducing!
The 4th of July weekend was fun. On Saturday I cleaned like a madwoman, including renting one of those steam cleaners for my sofa. Little Sis' family came over to watch the fireworks, and we barbecued. Actually, I think it was the first barbecue of the season. That's how late summer has come to us! We had a lot of fun, especially Shanni's SIL. We introduced her to Sin.gs.tar for the PS2. I had no idea she loves karaoke so much.
Anyway. Fireworks were spectacular. No fires set by any neighbors, no runaway dogs...I was in bed by midnight and sleeping. A first for the 4th since moving into my house. It made me miss Scully, though. She hated fireworks and would bark all night long. Max and Leia aren't fazed in the least by the noise. A blessing!
That week a virus got let loose on our network (thankfully only affecting my laptop meaning I downloaded it! oops!) but it was a nightmare to clean up. Took three different antivirus/spam programs. The following weekend Shanni and I went rafting on the Missouri with a neighbor of mine. But that's a story best left to its own post.
Then the convention, which meant a week out of town working 15 hour days. Ughh. Last weekend I was pretty much a slug. Went on a puppy hunt (for someone else!) that Saturday, and mowed and grocery shopped on Sunday. This week has been all about playing catch-up both at home and at work!
Showing posts with label 4th of July. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4th of July. Show all posts
Friday, July 23, 2010
Friday, July 6, 2007
Fireworks - the Good Kind.
Well, I had a bit of a pity party below, didn't I? Sheesh. . I'm in a better mood now. Went out back and did some Qigong from memory. Helped me center and settle down a bit.
I think I'm getting a handle on this convention. Despite finding out the bus transportation from the hotel to the Charlie Russell Chew Choo on Friday night, where we reserved the train for the 135 people we're expecting to attend our Company Appreciation Night, was never arranged. Oooops.
So about my party on the 4th. I had an absolute blast, in spite of a few minutes of guilt for feeling happy while R's world has come apart at the seems.
The day started early. Got up around 8am. The dog even let me sleep in! Probably because I kept her up late the night before. [g] Picked up my little sister S and her older sister KT. Originally it was just going to be Shani and I, but their Dad decided Tuesday night that they couldn't come to my party. The 4th is his holiday, etc, etc. Gave their Mom grief to the point that their step dad Mooner was mad. Which is unusual for him. Even though the girls were originally only coming for an hour or so and weren't going to eat and were going to his house for the fireworks. FYI, their Dad's house is walking distance from my house. Everyone who knows me knows that for me, walking distance = really close!
The best part, though, was when she said she was done and I asked her to mop the floors. Now, I always ask and thank them for helping me and on. And they knew before coming over the entire list of things to do and picked the items they wanted to do. Floors were hers. So she shoots back at me "No, I want to watch TV or play. I'm bored." In a very whiny voice. Her 6 yr old voice. Considering she's almost 12, I hate it when she does this. So I just turned, looked at her, and said (quite calmly, I thought) "Fine. Then go clean the dog poop out of the yard. You know where the pooper scooper is." She kinda sputtered "wha...." But went straight to do it. I don't know if it was the look on my face or my tone of voice. But it shut her up in a hurry. LOL. I have an edge over her mother. I can return her to her parents whenever I want. ;)
After getting the house cleaned and the foods ready for the party, we crashed on the couch with our lunch. KT got on the computer immediately, just had to get into her MySpace account. [Yes, we check it, yes it's private, yes she's monitored.] Then S and I went outside to decorate the fence out front with balloons. We called for KT to come help us. When she got outside we ambushed her with water guns. Heeheehee...We were kind; we set 2 filled water pistols on the ground just outside the door for her to grab. Then the melee ensued. It was fun. We dragged my sprinkler out and turned it on.
Of course, all the neighbors were looking at us like we were insane. In my opinion, they're the insane ones. It was HOT. And really. Hardly anyone out here has AC. I know my house doesn't. Except the small portable unit I run in the bedroom when it gets crazy hot. Like yesterday and today; we're over 100*F. Yuck. According to Mom on the phone last night it was 10 degrees cooler where they are in FLORIDA. There's something wrong with that!
Well. Lunch break is over. I made myself take a lunch. Needed a break from work, and if I have to I can come in this weekend to get stuff done. I'll post about the party later. :) Ta-ta.
I think I'm getting a handle on this convention. Despite finding out the bus transportation from the hotel to the Charlie Russell Chew Choo on Friday night, where we reserved the train for the 135 people we're expecting to attend our Company Appreciation Night, was never arranged. Oooops.
So about my party on the 4th. I had an absolute blast, in spite of a few minutes of guilt for feeling happy while R's world has come apart at the seems.
The day started early. Got up around 8am. The dog even let me sleep in! Probably because I kept her up late the night before. [g] Picked up my little sister S and her older sister KT. Originally it was just going to be Shani and I, but their Dad decided Tuesday night that they couldn't come to my party. The 4th is his holiday, etc, etc. Gave their Mom grief to the point that their step dad Mooner was mad. Which is unusual for him. Even though the girls were originally only coming for an hour or so and weren't going to eat and were going to his house for the fireworks. FYI, their Dad's house is walking distance from my house. Everyone who knows me knows that for me, walking distance = really close!
Aside: I'm trying to come up with nicknames for the regulars in my life, in order to preserve their "privacy". I'm calling their step dad Mooner after the character in the Stephanie Plum books, for this one reason: In a transcendental experience, Mooner discovers the meaning of life. Unfortunately, a couple of hours later, all he can remember is that it has something to do with peanut butter. The Mooner in my life is addicted to PB.Anyway. We met at our favorite local Coffee Shack (that's the name), filled up on high test. Why the heck we let S have a double shot is beyond me. Maybe we were thinking it would last long enough to irritate her dad? We hit WalMart on the way back to my house, because of course, in spite of 3 trips the night before in a 2.5 hour period, I still didn't have everything. Sigh. Got to my house and proceeded to clean. And I do mean clean. Both girls were forewarned that we'd be working not playing. KT was a sweetie; she usually is. Pitched right in and everything. My child (Misdmeanor, my little sister's mom, often says "You know she's your child too." Usually when my little is misbehaving or being irritating). So my child jumped in. Only she had 3 tasks done while each of us was on our first. Suspicious, I went into the living room where she'd swept with the regular broom & swiffer, and dusted. Yet half the entertainment center was coated with dust, as well as the entire area below the TV stand. Sigh. So I made her redo that part. She kept saying "But I did it already." To which I replied "When you're asked to do something you can't do a half-assed job. Do it all and do it right the FIRST time." Probably not the best language to use, but I was hot and irritated. Sigh.
The best part, though, was when she said she was done and I asked her to mop the floors. Now, I always ask and thank them for helping me and on. And they knew before coming over the entire list of things to do and picked the items they wanted to do. Floors were hers. So she shoots back at me "No, I want to watch TV or play. I'm bored." In a very whiny voice. Her 6 yr old voice. Considering she's almost 12, I hate it when she does this. So I just turned, looked at her, and said (quite calmly, I thought) "Fine. Then go clean the dog poop out of the yard. You know where the pooper scooper is." She kinda sputtered "wha...." But went straight to do it. I don't know if it was the look on my face or my tone of voice. But it shut her up in a hurry. LOL. I have an edge over her mother. I can return her to her parents whenever I want. ;)
After getting the house cleaned and the foods ready for the party, we crashed on the couch with our lunch. KT got on the computer immediately, just had to get into her MySpace account. [Yes, we check it, yes it's private, yes she's monitored.] Then S and I went outside to decorate the fence out front with balloons. We called for KT to come help us. When she got outside we ambushed her with water guns. Heeheehee...We were kind; we set 2 filled water pistols on the ground just outside the door for her to grab. Then the melee ensued. It was fun. We dragged my sprinkler out and turned it on.
Of course, all the neighbors were looking at us like we were insane. In my opinion, they're the insane ones. It was HOT. And really. Hardly anyone out here has AC. I know my house doesn't. Except the small portable unit I run in the bedroom when it gets crazy hot. Like yesterday and today; we're over 100*F. Yuck. According to Mom on the phone last night it was 10 degrees cooler where they are in FLORIDA. There's something wrong with that!
Well. Lunch break is over. I made myself take a lunch. Needed a break from work, and if I have to I can come in this weekend to get stuff done. I'll post about the party later. :) Ta-ta.
Monday, July 2, 2007
The things I don't know CAN hurt me.
Like how to use a weed eater. Seriously. No wonder those things come with a warning. Although "Wear protective clothing" hardly works. Not when it's 90*F+ outside. Got a nice welt on my leg from a piece of the line when it broke off. And that hit me on the upper leg on my jean shorts! Yikes. :)
As you can probably tell, I decided to do more yard work this weekend. Mowed the lawn again with my old-fashioned push reel mower. (Had a neighbor ask me where I got it, she didn't think they made those any more!) And finally used the weed eater I borrowed months ago from a friend. She doesn't use it anymore since she lives out in the woods.
It was a trial just figuring out what kind of line it uses. There's umpteen million types of line and do you just want the line or the line in a replacement spool. (FYI, get the line that COMES ON THE SPOOL). And of course, my friend has long since lost the manual to the weed eater. So I do some research online, and narrow it down to one I think will work.
Get home and realize I have to manually wind this stuff onto the spool. Lovely. Especially when you factor in my butterfingers. So I finally get the stuff wound, and put back on and out I go. Long orange cord trailing behind me like a line of fire. Turn it on and the thing goes wild. Okay, not wild, it just startled me. Startled the dog too. She ran back inside and spent the rest of the time watching me warily through the doggie door. I could SEE her there, just staring at me. Silly dog.
Then I had to figure out just how to hold the thing. But it stopped cutting after a few seconds. Darn it. Turns out I had the line wound too tightly. Sigh. Fixed that, and put it back together. Turned it on and the whole spool and cap went spinning off across the yard. I kid you not.
So I had to rewind the thing, put it back on, and go at it again. To make a long story short, it took me over an hour to get the back yard done Saturday evening, and then I spent over an hour on Sunday afternoon on the front and side. The stupid cap kept coming off and the spool would go careening all over the place. Lost the stupid ring that locks it on a couple of times...only an idiot would design a lawn implement in GREEN. Darn thing blended into the grass. Turns out the little things the cap and ring hooked onto were worn away. So it didn't have much holding it on. And the line kept sticking every few minutes so I had to keep taking it apart and pulling it loose.
By the time I was done, my legs were green from the knees down. My fault because I let the stuff on one side of the house get over knee high. Turns out it was pretty wet, not that I water that section. Must not get enough sun to dry it up from the rain we had a month ago. Wet ucky mushed up grass is not pretty. It really isn't. I had to rinse off in the sprinklers. That was actually one of the nicest parts of the day. :) That and helping my little sister and her family plant some Chinese Elms on their property. That was fun. Although my legs and arms are achy today. And my butt muscles got a workout from squatting to plant the trees.
So today I'm sore and have bruises all over my lower legs. Guess I got hit with more stuff while using that weed eater than I thought. :) And I dreamt I was chasing that darn spool and cap all night long. But my yard looks great.
As you can probably tell, I decided to do more yard work this weekend. Mowed the lawn again with my old-fashioned push reel mower. (Had a neighbor ask me where I got it, she didn't think they made those any more!) And finally used the weed eater I borrowed months ago from a friend. She doesn't use it anymore since she lives out in the woods.
It was a trial just figuring out what kind of line it uses. There's umpteen million types of line and do you just want the line or the line in a replacement spool. (FYI, get the line that COMES ON THE SPOOL). And of course, my friend has long since lost the manual to the weed eater. So I do some research online, and narrow it down to one I think will work.
Get home and realize I have to manually wind this stuff onto the spool. Lovely. Especially when you factor in my butterfingers. So I finally get the stuff wound, and put back on and out I go. Long orange cord trailing behind me like a line of fire. Turn it on and the thing goes wild. Okay, not wild, it just startled me. Startled the dog too. She ran back inside and spent the rest of the time watching me warily through the doggie door. I could SEE her there, just staring at me. Silly dog.
Then I had to figure out just how to hold the thing. But it stopped cutting after a few seconds. Darn it. Turns out I had the line wound too tightly. Sigh. Fixed that, and put it back together. Turned it on and the whole spool and cap went spinning off across the yard. I kid you not.
So I had to rewind the thing, put it back on, and go at it again. To make a long story short, it took me over an hour to get the back yard done Saturday evening, and then I spent over an hour on Sunday afternoon on the front and side. The stupid cap kept coming off and the spool would go careening all over the place. Lost the stupid ring that locks it on a couple of times...only an idiot would design a lawn implement in GREEN. Darn thing blended into the grass. Turns out the little things the cap and ring hooked onto were worn away. So it didn't have much holding it on. And the line kept sticking every few minutes so I had to keep taking it apart and pulling it loose.
By the time I was done, my legs were green from the knees down. My fault because I let the stuff on one side of the house get over knee high. Turns out it was pretty wet, not that I water that section. Must not get enough sun to dry it up from the rain we had a month ago. Wet ucky mushed up grass is not pretty. It really isn't. I had to rinse off in the sprinklers. That was actually one of the nicest parts of the day. :) That and helping my little sister and her family plant some Chinese Elms on their property. That was fun. Although my legs and arms are achy today. And my butt muscles got a workout from squatting to plant the trees.
So today I'm sore and have bruises all over my lower legs. Guess I got hit with more stuff while using that weed eater than I thought. :) And I dreamt I was chasing that darn spool and cap all night long. But my yard looks great.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Sometimes I just wanna hit somebody...
Arghhhh. I've been planning my 4th of July Party since last year. Because the city I live in launches the fireworks - literally - over my house. It's the most amazing fireworks display I've seen since the ones on base in Germany. And since I'll be up all night anyway, why not have the party at my place? So I told everyone last year, and have invited everyone for this year (in the process, not everyone has their invites yet.) My so-called best friend, who just had her annual party last Saturday, announced to me this past Monday that she's having a party on the 4th. When I said, "hey, it's at my place this year, remember?" She went "oh, I forgot." Well, she's still planning on having the party! Even though our set of friends overlaps, and as my best friend, I really wanted her to come to my party...
So today I approached her and asked if she wouldn't mind postponing her party until later this summer, maybe Labor Day weekend? Since she just had a party, and I've been planning mine since last year...To which she responded "But I've already invited people." Umm, so have I. So she said she would but only if she could invite her people to my party. Duh. It's the same freakin' group of friends! And then she says "what are you serving?" Naturally, it being the 4th and all, I'm serving hamburgers and hot dogs. She goes "Oh, no, I was going to roast a pig's rump." I said she could bring her own grill and do that, but we're having hamburgers and hot dogs. She goes "The pig rump will feed everyone." To which I said "Remember, I don't like pig, and this is the 4th of July." So we're having burgers and dogs.
She's going to be cranky about this. She's probably going to hold her own party anyway, or try to commandeer mine. And I'm really tempted to tell her to go take a flying leap...Sigh.
It's not like she's being really friendly lately anyway. I came to her party even though she barely spoke to me for weeks beforehand, STILL hasn't asked me how I'm doing with Grandma's death (and reading about Bonnie's dad on the BB had me in tears in seconds, so I guess I'm not doing so good!) and didn't say hello to me when I got there. Seriously. Just frowned at me when I told her I'd also brought a bag of ice and put it in the freezer since I didn't know where the drinks were going. She was pissed I'd done that. Hello???? I just don't get it. But she was all smiles and sunshine for everyone else. She didn't even say 2 words to me during the party. Bizarre...her stepmom was very surprised. See, it's not just me. Someone else noticed.
But I didn't mean to get all of topic. I'm having a party on the 4th, I stood up for myself and, not unreasonably I think, quite nicely asked if she could switch her party date.
Found a new recipe on SparkRecipes.com. Crock Pot Lemon Chicken. Okay, I baked it in a corningware dish, used 2 limes instead of lemons, 1 cup of chicken broth using a bouillon cube and I cut up 2 small potatoes and baked them in with the chicken. Also didn't put in the garlic (migraines 'r us, that stuff). It was de-li-cious. :) A little too much Italian Seasoning, but it was easy to make and easy to eat. Gonna keep that one on my list!
I also got in 40 minutes of QiGong last night in addition to completing Abs #1 in the morning. Hurt like heck today (shouldn't have moved the washer & dryer alone on Sunday) but it's a good day to be me. :) And I'm halfway to my 8 glasses of water today.
So today I approached her and asked if she wouldn't mind postponing her party until later this summer, maybe Labor Day weekend? Since she just had a party, and I've been planning mine since last year...To which she responded "But I've already invited people." Umm, so have I. So she said she would but only if she could invite her people to my party. Duh. It's the same freakin' group of friends! And then she says "what are you serving?" Naturally, it being the 4th and all, I'm serving hamburgers and hot dogs. She goes "Oh, no, I was going to roast a pig's rump." I said she could bring her own grill and do that, but we're having hamburgers and hot dogs. She goes "The pig rump will feed everyone." To which I said "Remember, I don't like pig, and this is the 4th of July." So we're having burgers and dogs.
She's going to be cranky about this. She's probably going to hold her own party anyway, or try to commandeer mine. And I'm really tempted to tell her to go take a flying leap...Sigh.
It's not like she's being really friendly lately anyway. I came to her party even though she barely spoke to me for weeks beforehand, STILL hasn't asked me how I'm doing with Grandma's death (and reading about Bonnie's dad on the BB had me in tears in seconds, so I guess I'm not doing so good!) and didn't say hello to me when I got there. Seriously. Just frowned at me when I told her I'd also brought a bag of ice and put it in the freezer since I didn't know where the drinks were going. She was pissed I'd done that. Hello???? I just don't get it. But she was all smiles and sunshine for everyone else. She didn't even say 2 words to me during the party. Bizarre...her stepmom was very surprised. See, it's not just me. Someone else noticed.
But I didn't mean to get all of topic. I'm having a party on the 4th, I stood up for myself and, not unreasonably I think, quite nicely asked if she could switch her party date.
Found a new recipe on SparkRecipes.com. Crock Pot Lemon Chicken. Okay, I baked it in a corningware dish, used 2 limes instead of lemons, 1 cup of chicken broth using a bouillon cube and I cut up 2 small potatoes and baked them in with the chicken. Also didn't put in the garlic (migraines 'r us, that stuff). It was de-li-cious. :) A little too much Italian Seasoning, but it was easy to make and easy to eat. Gonna keep that one on my list!
I also got in 40 minutes of QiGong last night in addition to completing Abs #1 in the morning. Hurt like heck today (shouldn't have moved the washer & dryer alone on Sunday) but it's a good day to be me. :) And I'm halfway to my 8 glasses of water today.
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