I'll try this again

Ok, here I am again. Now what do i have to talk about. I can tell you all that I have been doing, but that would be very long and involved and to tell the truth, probably boring. so I wont go there, except to say we did have a family reunion from the hubbies side ands it was just like it came from my side. We had a wonderful time, and the reconnection's were the best. Most of the family is on facebook, so staying connected this time is much easier.

Fast forward to the here and now. The cold weather has finally hit and its raining. Its been working it's way to getting cold for a while now, but the sun was trying to stick around do its job. We had some rain a few weeks ago, but it didnt really get cold. now it got cold with the rain, so up in the mountains, its snowing. this is all good for the central valley of california. it brings the skiers out of the house and people  start spending their cash up in them thar hills. I'm not a part of the money trail as far as reaping the benefits, but it means someone else has a job, and a little bit of our economy gets to improve for a while. its a cycle that goes around and around.

Well, that isn't what i was going to talk about. duhhhhh. I was going to tell you we are going on a mini vacation. the last time we left town on a trip was to vegas in july. we had a great time, but i need to get out again. I'm sure john does too, but I'm the one that voiced it. So John made reservations for two nights to that place up north in Ft Bragg that we like to go to. We usually over pack and bring a bunch of stuff we don't need, but this time we decided to minimise our luggage and if we need anything, we can get it up there. I cant wait.

And to top it off, crab season has started here. I don't know how many of you have tasted fresh dungeness crab, right out of th ocean, but it is sooo good. All white meat and sweet, almost. this year, all th reports are saying its a record year. the boats are coming in looking like the boats on deadliest catch. this again is a good thing, and this time I get to reap some of the benefits. I love fresh crab.

Ok, so hows that for the return blog. Ill try real hard not to stay gone so long again. see ya soon.

COUGH COUGH.....SNEEEEZEAAAAAAAAAAAAAWCHOO

No, I dont have a cold, or allergies, but it s been so long since I stopped in here the dust has built up to rediculous. I was thinking I sould either use this space, or shut it down. If I shut it down, I couldnt stop in to your pages and see what was going on in your lives. If I keep it open, I need to stop ina nd use it once in a while. So here I am, stopping in and using it. While I am here, I really need to Send HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to The Divine Ms Em.  Im sure she isnt bothered by the number she is changing today, becasue she is so much more focused on the more important things.

Ok, That is what I really wanted to do. Happy Birthday Em. I am so thrilled to have you as a friend, in real life, and also in this virtual life.

Rememeber my Fellow Americans, tomorrow is FLAG Day in the USA. So as a sign of RESPECT for OUR FLAG please fly it tomorrow at home work school and anywhere you can and fly it properly. Thank you, I have mine flyng do you have yours? I have AMERICAN PRIDE do you?

I was ripped off

Yesterday I went to Joannes to get some fabric to make a quilt for the new baby my niece just had. I knew she was having a baby, i don't know why ai didn't get this done sooner. So I grabbed my coupon and headed out the door. I had a few places to hit, CVS, Kohls, then fabric. I hit a good sale at Kohls and got to use a ten dollar off coupon I got int he mail. Saved 35.00 there. At CVS, I scanned my card for coupons, and ended up saving about 7 dollars there. good for me. Then, at joannes I found all the fabric to make my quilt, used a 40% off coupon for th highest item, and saved a little there. So far, so good.

I headed home and put all my stuff away, and got started on the quilt. I worked on it, stopping here and there to have a light lunch, talk to my son, talk to John. The picture of the quilt in the book looked like it would take me at least two days to get the front done. But it moved along, and all of a sudden, I was done. I was ready for the fabric for the back. So I had one more 50% off coupon from Joannes, so I headed back out the door. I bought too much fabric for the first part, so I grabbed them and the receipt to return them.

After I found the fabric for the back, I headed to the counter. The clerk returned the Fat quarters I bought too many of, gave me my refund then rang up the fabric I chose. It was already on sale for 50% off, so I gave away the coupon. When she rang up the fabric, she said it was 34.00. OH hell no. It shouldn't have been that much, so I went and found something else. So I found myself back at the register again, this time with a better priced piece of fabric. When I looked in my cart, my wallet was gone. I almost threw up. I went all over the store looking for my wallet, but it wasn't there. It was gone. John called cus he was holding dinner and wanted to know when i was coming home. He didn't even get to ask, I told him what happened, and told him to call the bank and cancel the cards.

I ended up barley having enough cash for the fabric I needed. Yes, I still walked out with my fabric, I still needed it. I am so freaking pissed off though. I cant believe that happened. I looked away long enough for someone to rip me off. mother effers! By the time I got home, John had canceled the debt card and credit card, and was on the phone with kohls to cancel that card. those are the only cards I carried.

Now, I have to stop by the bank and get new cards for John and myself. I have an appointment with the DMV to replace my licence. I still have to replace my medical card and costco card. son of a bitch. Well, now at least I have the back fabric so I can finish that today. I have to be at work at nine tonight, so it will be an early day for me. This has tought me a lesson I guess. I am going to have to learn to carry a purse, or find a way to keep my possession's safer.

Oh well, that was my weekend to this point. At least I get to try and take a better DMV picture.

Loyalty Day, 2010

March of dimes walk

Tea Party

What a great day it was

Hi everyone. Or well those few that come over  and check out this long lost page now and then. I have to tell you about my day yesterday. It was one of those days that wore me out, but really felt good.

It started in the morning when i met a few friends from the post for breakfast before we headed over to the park to do a March of dimes walk. I got there early, cus I am always early. I hate that, one day I'm gonna be late and see how it feels. I had chicken fried steak n eggs and the other ladies had I don't remember what. My food was good, and too much. I can never finish one of those.

From there, we got back into our cars and headed on over to Greceada park. My friend Linda works for the city of Modesto, and they had set up a team to walk for the march of dimes. She invited us to join in her team, and I am glad she did. I flaked this year in getting donations though, so I just gave her a hundred. Between all three of us, we raised 435.00. Pretty good I think. We got to the park, registered and turned in our money, and then waited for all the announcements and introductions and for the walk to begin. Just FYI, these walks all take place on the same day all over the us.

We finally started walking, and it was a huge wall of people. We were asked to stay on the sidewalk, but that was impossible. There were just too many people to stay on the sidewalk. There was a set path, with printed arrows attached to phone poles along the way to keep us going in the right direction. They also had four rest stops along the way, where we could use the restroom(portapotty), get a drink of water and maybe a bag or water bottle. the weather was sunny and warm, so the water was necessary. The really cool part about this walk was there was so many people and children. None of the kids cried or whined that I could hear. People brought their dogs to walk with them, and none of them fought. People were really great during the whole walk. it was a four mile walk, and I really enjoyed it. We did 20 minute miles according to our leader, Linda. I am really looking forward to next year.

Then, last night was Loyalty day at the Post. The post puts this on every year and it gives awards to students that win an essay contest about what our vets mean to them. sometimes, they read the essays  they write and that is very emotional. it really is pretty cool. the students receive a check from the post and also recognition from state and local politicians. that is really pretty cool. After the students, its the fireman, policeman, teacher of the year. These are all voted on by their peers. What an honor that would be. then its the People of the year from our post. These are people that have done exceptional jobs at the post or helped in the community above and beyond. These are voted by the members at the post.

The best part of the dinner, aside from seeing a great friend receive the Auxiliary woman of the year, was to see one of our members actually handing out awards from one of our senators. Yep, this lady worked her way through school, and also worked full time, did volunteer work, did so much, and now she had the pleasure and honor presenting awards to her peers at the post. We watched her grow, and regretfully she had to step away from the auxiliary, to be able to complete her other duties. I was talking to her last night at the end, and she said she is going to apply to the white house for an intern position. How cool is that. She will do it, I am sure. When she gets there, I will let you all know.

WE finally got home last night at 11:30. I was so tired, and so was John. That was one of those worth it kind of tireds.  I know this was kinda long. I even left out a bunch of stuff. If you read this far, thanks. So, until next time, see ya all later.

4-20-2010

Its raining again today. I dont mind. I will sleep good, once I shut this down, take my shower and crawl into bed. I look forward to crawling into bed. I get asked frequently how I can sleep in the daytime and why do i work third shift. Does it effect my homelife and when do i see my husband. Well, I have gotten used to third shift, I work hard all night, and when I get home, just like most of you that work in the daytime, I am tired. I have no problem falling asleep. All I have to do is close my eyes, and turn on the tv and i am out. I turn on the tv so I dont hear the outside noises. Also, if I hear that in the background, I am able to stop my brain from thinking about other stuff while I am trying to get to sleep. Then, John comes home for lunch and turns the tv off. I wake up when I wake up. It feels good. No alarm to scare me out of sleep. Just wake up when im ready. OK, so much for that thought.

I forgot what I initially wanted to write about. Could that be a sleepy symptom?

I will have to get back to this later on, when im not tired. I usd to come home and open my lappy and write here, or when I was watching tv in the evening. I will have to try and start that again. It felt good when i did it, but for some reason, something has changed with me latley. I dont know what it is, or why I changed, but something changed. I dont have the same desires to do things that are important to me I had jsut last year. The things are still important, I am just not supporting them the same way. I am talking about the relay for life. I usually will send out requests as early as I can and try to raise enough money to cure cancer. This year, I am writing my own check. What happened? Maybe I just need a year off.

There is something else going on, but I dont know if I can write it properly here. I cant say that one issue is the reason, it may have something to do with my changed attitude. it definatly isnt the whole reason. I am trying to correct that one issue, and see if it will cooect my attitude.

OK, that was my therapy for today. Im gonna go sleep with the rain now. see ya later.

my beginnings

Its been a really long time since was here last. I spend most of my time on facebook now, its faster to catch up on everyone there. Most of my family and frinds are over there also, so I tend to hang near them, It makes me feel better to be able to connect faster. even if its only for a second and online.

I started this page about five years ago when my mom was sick,. She had pulmoary fibrosis, and this was the first time she had ever been sick in all her life. Well, sick to the point that it effected her life. I started playing one day, and saw this link that invited people to join the 360 family and start a blog page. It was a big step for me, it scared the crap out me to put myself out there, but what the hell. Who was going to read it anyway. I figured i would use it as a journel, and then I could always go back and read how I progressed, if I kept up with it. And it was free.

So I signed up. I set up a page and wrote my first blog. I wrote on my page, after I learned how to get back to it. I forgot to bookmark it for the longest time, so I always had to get there going through all the pages. It was a pain, but i finally learned. Then one day, someone commented on what i wrote, and I was so surprised. How did this person know who I was and why did they want to read what I had to say. then i was invited to be friends with people, and this was a whole new thing for me. How do i know these people are nice, and why do they want to be friends with ME?

It took me a bit of a struggle to agree to be friends at first, then I realised it was ok, and I could just delete people I didnt like any more. As time went on, and I got to know the folks on my friends list, I got very comfortable logging on and dumping on this electronic page. I never put too much personal information here, so that allowed me to unload enough to let me better. sometimes, you just need to talk. There were days i needed to talk, be the only talker, cry and get it all out. My blog page allowed me to do all that. and to top it all off, I had a small group of friends on my list that would respond to me and send me the comfort I needed in return.

Since that first blog, my mom passed away, we all went through the 360 issues, moved to multiply and some of us joined facebook. I have met friends I will cherish for my entire lifetime. I have been fortunate enough to meet my two favorite friends, and hopefully one day I will get to travel to their part of the world. I have learned so much from everyone here. And I even got to show some of my talents to people. I taught a friend how to make a quilt, just going back and forth. It was a long process, but it was fun. That was something I truely enjoyed. Thanks Carol. I even wrote a few stories and puthtem up here. I started with childrens stories, then somehow it progressed to the more grownup  versions. Everything is a learning process.

I dont know where this particular blog is going, but i needed to write it. Its been in my head for a while, and it wouldnt go away until I put it in words. That is how the stories go also. they wont leave me alone until I write them. Maybe now I can sleep all night, and maybe now I will start writing here again. I dont know if I am in need of therepy again, but it is free and it makes me feel good to put things into words.

So, until next time, see ya later.

I have had to move

recently, my laptop has gotten so slow, it takes forever just to turn on. I have done everything I know to speed it up, but to no avail. that little blue circle just turns ans turns while I go about my business and get things done. I finally go check, ans it has stopped and then I can set it off on another long journey of finding the site i want. this may take another ten minutes, so i go do something else. I just need to sit down with it ans go over everything again. there is a page I can go to and try to speed it up from there, cant remember what its called, but its a help page for the lappy. When I have nothing else to do, that is my agenda. until then, I am sitting at the super fast desktop in my newly cleaned computer/spare room. I don't have any personal pics on here, or any personal stuff, and that kinda bugs me. but I can get past that.

John has been working a lot of OT lately. He normally doesn't have to do it at all, but there was some problems at the shop he works at, and until that is corrected, he has ot to do. Two hours a day and saturdays. Since he is doing that, I have had to take up the horrid chore of grocery shopping. If you have talked to me at all, you know that I DON'T GROCERY SHOP. I really am no good at it, and that is why John does it. He does the cooking, so he does the shopping. He buys what he wants to eat. I really don't care what I eat, so i clean.  I think its a fair deal. don't know what I just hit, but now I am typing in italics.

So John is at work now, and I have stuff i was gonna go do. There is something supposed to be happening at the post this morning that I wanted pics of. I should have been there already. Then I need to go find some fabric and donate blood and pic up some more champagne and wine. I have a full day i think. I haven't even cleaned my house yet. I should have done it yesterday, but i didn't want to then either. I better get going. I could sit here all day. This puter is really fast and I  kinda like it. See ya later.

A first for me

Ever since John and I have been married, we have never done our own taxes. I know it isnt that hard, but we jsut didnt feel like making a mistake and having to deal with the consequences. When we moved here, we bought our first home, our only home, and that presented a whole new issue in taxes. We found a lady to do them, and paid her to do them until this year. She moved to Washington, and would drive down and do everyones taxes, then go back home. She made pretty good money doing that, and she liked it. Well, she is getting along in years, so this year she decided to stay home and have her clients send the taxes to her. We decided to try and do them ourselves. By this I mean me doing them by myself.

So after breakfast, I headed off to my newly cleaned puter room and logged on to turbo tax and started putting in our information. What a pain in the fanny that was. it took me about three hours to finally finish and get everything printed out. While I was doing it, I had only put in Johns Information first, then i was going to go back and add my W-2 stuff. All was looking great. we were coming out ahead and getting cash back from both state and fed. then, as soon as I put in my info, everything dropped and we now owe state 307.00. that sucks. I even have extra money taken out of my paycheck to pay state, but I guess that is still not enough.

when I go back to work i will add a pint of blood to my state taxes. maybe that will help. I hope I did them right. It wasnt fun. then, everyonce ina while john stop in and ask ows it looking or ask me what i am doing with something else. and dont forget to add his tools or the donations. Duh! It wasnt him in there doing the taxes, but he had to remind me not to forget anything.

Well, I got them done. I efiled the fed and will mail the state when the fed pays us. so until next year and i have to tackle this again, i am done.

Getting it done!

I am having a very productive weekend. this doesnt happen very often, but I am happy it is finally taking place. Sometimes i have to wait for inspiration, or total bordom. What ever it was, it took place in in my house this weekend.

Before we went to Reno, I went shopping at Kohls. I bought enough using my 20%off coupon that I came home with $20.00 in Kohls cash. Now usually, I forget about this cash, but this time, I remembered and went to spend it. I was going to buy myself more clothes, but instead i looked for a seafood set to melt butter in for crab. They didnt have one, so I went over and searched out a new mattress cover for the bed. There was a lot to choose from, but i went for the middle of the price range and bought a very nice new cover. it sorta feels like a feather top and I only spent 27.00 for it. Pretty good if I must say so myself.

Next, I headed over to Wal Mart. Actually, I went to Target first, but I didnt like the choices there, so I left. I had to pick up a prescription at walmart anyway, so i while I was there, I looked for a new computer desk. I was pleasantly surprised to find one for only 49.00. I had one of the employees help me get one in my cart, and I was off to check out. I got my prescriptions and paid for everything at once then headed to the grocery store, then home.

last night i started putting the new desk together. I took out the old one, and set everything up on the bed to wait for the new arrangement. I got most of it done, then John said dinner was ready, so i stopped for the night. This morning I finished up the desk, and after we got back from Costco, I rearranged the room and removed a few things and now you can fit two people in there and not be forced to touch. It took me all day, and it looks good. I will have to take a pic and put it here. I also got the printer John bought me for christmas set up. I really like it, it's a lot faster than my other one.

While we were at Costco, I picked up an external hard drive. I have been wanting to get one to load my pictures on it and free up some space and possibly speed up the puter. It was 500 GB, with a docking station and for 20.00 0ff at the checkstand it was only 79.00. I think that was a good price. It didnt come with instructions, so I figured i would plug it in to my laptop and try to figure it out on my own. I must be missing something, cus I cant seem to figure this one out on my own. I can look up the online instructions, which  will have to do. I really need to unload some off the lappy.

On a different note. I got a jury summins today for March 22. I havent had one for a long time. I really dont mind doing this, i think its kind of interesting to watch the court system lumber along.

Anyway, I am happy to have the computer room cleaned up and all the pics and "Alex" stuff off the walls. I had put all of alex's team pics and awards on the wall. It really needed to be taken down and changed. I think I may paint the room a light green or maybe some shade of brown in the future. This start makes me happy though.

Hope your weekend is going as good as mine.

Another week has gone by........

Its Friday morning at 5:12. I got off work early and came home. There was still a cup of coffee in the pot, so I poured it for me. Yesterday we got our new uniform clothes we ordered last October, so I threw them all in the washer. I could wear them out of the plastic bag they came in, but I want the starch out of them. It makes me itch. So now I am sitting in bed with my lappy, typing to you and watching this weeks episode of 24. There is no way everything Jack Bauer does in a 24 hour day could realisticly happen. But hey, it's Jack. he can do anything. Its the magic of TV.

This week has been pretty uneventful. go to work, come home, sleep, repeat five times. Monday was my 52nd birthday and I got happy birthday wishes from so many of my wonderful friends. It was a great way to start the week. I even got balloons from Amber. Pretty cool huh!

There was on incident at work that set me off though. I work with a person that thinks the rules on the floor dont apply to her. She pretty much has done what she want to since she started there. She is taller and bigger than everyone on the floor, and refers to herself as "Queen Bitch". Yes, you read that right. Well guess what, I am not one bit intimidated by her and I confront her every time she pulls her crap on me. I am probably the only one that will say anything to her.

Anyway, she set her own rules on something and I told her she was wrong, she said she was doing things her way. I dont really want to go into the whole details of the situation, it would just sound stupid on here. Anyway, I went and told our resource he needed to talk to her and tell her she cant make her own rules. It makes a difference. He said he would talk to her, so I went back to my line and started doing my job again. A little later, I asked my resource if had talked to her. He said he was going to say something at the next preshift meeting. #$%^&^*&&%^*&^*)Y&_(*&_*(&! Those were the words that came out of my mouth.

I went off! I told him so now she gets to get away with doing whatever she wants again. She doesnt have to follow the rules because no one wants to confront her. I was yelling and swearing. it went on for about ten minutes. I am so sick of this lady. I am sick of being the only person willing to speak up about her. My next step is to file a personal complaint against her. If she even speaks to me in an off tone that will be it. For crying out loud, even the resource doesnt want to talk to her.

Wow! That felt really good. I am going to have to do this more often.  It doesnt solve the issue, but it made me feel better. On a brighter note, there was a job posting for a position out of the department. It includes a raise and is still my shift and days I work. I put in a bid for it and will find out next week if I get it. its based on seniority, so we will see who else applied for it. I will let you know.

So that is it for today. We have nothing planned for this weekend, so Im sure it will be play it by ear. I am going to post this and take a nap so I dont fall asleep at five today. have a great weekend.

I was going to put this in a blog, but I decided to put it here instead. On Tuesday I think I was, John told me I got a package in the mail, and I needed to get up and open it. What a pleasant surprise I had to find crab cakes in the box with a note from the Divine One. We had a conversation while she was here discussing the difference in east/west coast crab. We cooked up a couple of them and I loved them. I have never had crab cakes, so these were my first. OH YUMMMMMMMMM! We have two more to cook up, and I cant wait. John wants to have them with a nice steak, so for now they are waiting for us in the freezer. Thank you so very much Em. We will definatly have to head east to sample more of the east coast fare and visit with you again.

Finally found a minute, at 7 am

I have been trying to find a minute to update here again. It is getting more and more difficult to find the time when I am not too tired or doing something else, so I got up when John did this morning and got started. I finished  the quilt I started and now I am updating this one.

Let me start with Reno. We went to get away and also to cover Valentines Day and my birthday. I dont care why we get away, I just want to get away, anywhere. So John booked the last Grand Suite in the building I think. There was nothing left to book, oh darn. The trip up there was really uneventful. We did stop off at Boom town on the way up. For those of you that dont know what that is, its a little center that is a stopping point after you get into Nevada that ou can bring your family and also drop a few coins if you choose to. John did ok, and I doubled my money. I walked out with fourty in my pocket.

That was just a short stop and potty break, then off we went to our final destination. i took pictures on the way up there after we hit the snow line, and that was prewtty much the only ones I took. It was strange, there would be snow really deep on one side of the freeway, and none at all on the other. After i looked at all of them, there really wasnt much to look at. We finally go to out hotel, and it was really nice, much better than I expected. After we got settled in, we went down to the casino and did some more gambling and looking around. I found a penny machine that  was empty, so i sat down and put in my money. this machine started paying off, so i kept playing. Before the weekend was over, I won twice  on it and won 300 then 427.00 on it. We went swimming in really warm pools and a hot tub and ate some really really good food.

This weekend so far has been pretty booked. Friday I got off work and came straight home to make a carrot cake for a bake sale at the post friday night. there was a fish fry out there, and the bake sale was to make some extra cash. John called while I was in process of baking, and asked me if I would do the weekeley shopping, since he had to work OT and do an oill change on my car trhe next day. OK, I will grab a nap after that. I finally got to lay down at 2:30 until John woke me up at 5 to take off for the post. Then saturday I got up and cleaned my house, then worked on the quilt, I really wanted to get that one finished. We had a crab feed to go to at five. I worked on the qult till about 415 the worked on my face so we could leave.

that takes me to now. I woke up at 5 when john did and made coffee then went to finish the quilt and write this over do blog. I still need to write about the wonderful crabcakes I got in the mail. That will have to be all by itself though. OH yum.

Wine tasting at Murphy's with Em

I had made plans to spend the day up in the foothills wine tasting with Em. We all know she enjoys good wine, as some of us also do, and i happen to think we have really good wine here. I love going to Murphy's, cus there are 23 different wineries you can taste at up and down one block. Most of them are free to taste, and the wine is generally very good. It has been raining here off and on and we had heard there was snow in the foothills, and I don't know how to drive in the snow. John told me I should stay in this area, but I really had my heart set on Murphy's.

So, Friday morning I woke up to dry sky's. I checked the weather for Murphy's online and it showed a little rain, but no snow. I made up my mind, we were heading to the foothills. As planned the day before, Em showed up right around ten. It was so exciting to walk out and meet here in front of my house. The strange thing about meeting an online friend, we already know each other, its the personal meeting that is so cool. Touching and knowing the other person is really real. We hugged in the front yard and she came into the house for a short look around, then we were off on a fun trip.

I showed her the little Bistro we sometimes go to in the shopping center, where John works around the corner, then headed of in the direction of the mountains to enjoy a fun day. Actually, I didn't know how to really get there, I knew the general way, but I have never actually driven there, so Em fired up her GPS, just in case. As it turns out, I went straight there without getting lost. It was just different from the way John usually drives it. We talked like old friends all the way there, I guess because we are old friends. I never even got worried about being lost, and I always get lost. I don't think we stopped talking all day.

Anyway, we found our way to the main street, and found the perfect parking spot right in front of a cute little shop that looked like a house. it was a little chilly, but not enough to keep us from having a great time. We went in and had our first taste of the day. It was good, not good enough to buy so we took off on our next stop. We were both hungry, and it just isn't a good idea to taste on an empty stomach, so our next stop was at the local grille. After a hearty lunch, we started again.

 

At the first place we stopped at, the lady gave us a map of the wineries and told us to try and fill it out. We would have to get the paper stamped at the places we went to and then turn in the card to the last place that that got stamped. It would put us in a drawing to win something. Em was so good at this, she made it like a treasure hunt to find the correct wineries in just one of the blocks. There is no way we could hit every winery in one day and be able to drive home. With her insistence, we got the west part of the map stamped, and turned in. we were told not many people turn the papers in, so we have a pretty good chance of winning.

We had to finally head back home. But first I had to show her this huge gold piece at Ironstone Vineyards. It was found in the area and is now stored in a safe behind three inch glass case inside a huge vault, open to the public for display. it really is pretty cool.

I better wrap this up, it getting kinda long and I know you are busy. We met John for dinner, then headed back to the house. Em had to head back to her hotel and it was getting late. I hated that she had to drive back in the dark, but she got there safely. This wasn't all the fun stuff of the day, but the highlights. What a great day it was. Thank you so much Em for leaving for your vacation a few days early and spending time with your west coast friends.

Subject: FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY Smart Judge, we need more like him!!! Brilliant!!! For a change, a proper decision was made by the courts!! In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case Against Christians, Jews and the observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized Days. The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate Presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring,"Case Dismissed!" The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honor, How can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet My client and all other atheists have no such holidays." The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your Client,counsel, is woefully ignorant." The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we Are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists." The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is The opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then He is a fool.. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned. You gotta love a Judge that knows his scripture! This is too good not to forward

Like I said on facebook,

I dont have to work tonight!

I love it when I dont have to work. I took tonight off so I could get some good sleep before tomorrow. I get to meet the Divine One, Ms. Em. some of you know this. She flew out here to catch a cruise from LA, but she is spending a few days with some of her online friends. I am so happy to be one she is going to meet.

so many of us go online and write these blogs, respond to other blogs and meet new people. We dont really meet each other though. We talk online, become friends, share happy times and painfull times, but not many of us really get to meet. Its not like we may not want to. But Im sure there is a lot going on in most of our lives that prevent us from taking off and meeting the people we talk to here. I know the restrictive three weeks vacation I have keeps me from hopping on a plane to meet you. I would love to meet some of you, have a party and celebrate the friendships we have made here.

Every once in a while the planets align and some of us get to meet. Last year John and I met Amber and her Husband Chris in Vegas. We had the best time and became even better friends than we were online. It was like we had known each other for years and met up again, rather than for the first time. We are going to meet them again this year in Vegas. I am really hoping to make it to the UK some time and see life on that side of the planet.

since my son is on the other side of the states, I now have more reason to hop on  a plane and head to the east coast. I am thinking maybe next year, heading out that way. John doesnt know that yet. I figure if I can get out that way, I can see a bunch of people. Oh what fun that would be. I may have to call in sick for a week, but it would be worth it.

I will take a bunch of pics of our visit tomorrow. Not sure exactly what the plans will be, it depends on how bad the weather is. there is supposed to be a pretty bad storm, with high winds. I have a back up plan doing some local stuff and dinner with John and Em at a local resteraunt. in any case, it will be fun and I cant wait.

My Million Dollar Mouth

I have been going  to the dentist since I was a little girl. If it wasnt one thing, it was another. I have had everything done in my mouth. Except braces. One dentist I had when i was in grade school mentioned i might need braces one time, but I knew even then my teeth were straight and i didnt need braces. I have had multiple deep root cleanings, PAINFUL!  i have had Root canals, also painful and also one bridge and caps and fillings. Last year i had Implants started in the back, but I found out the teeth were not part of the 3600.00 price, so that gets put on hold for now.

Its not like I havent tried to do what was recommended for me to do. I was told if I quit smoking, my teeth would start to heal. So, after many years, I finally quit smoking. My gums turned pink and pretty, but my teeth didnt fallow suit. I was told to quit eating sunflower seeds cus the shells get in my gums and irritate them. So I quit the seeds. no change there either. I have flossed and brushed and rinsed till my teeth should have healed themselves, but they never do.

About 15 years ago, I went to the dentist thinking I was going to have a deep root cleaning, but in fact she cut part of the gums off, so the roots could be cleaned easier. i had deep pockets and this was supposed to correct that problem. All it did was slowley loosen those teeth till they were ready to fall out. So this year, I decided I was going to get that problem fixed too. I made an appointment with a new dentist and told them I wanted this problem fixed first. I couldnt look like a crack whore with missing front teeth. OH yes, it is my front right tooth and the one next to it. Wouldnt I be cute.

So i went to the appointment and got the teeth made for the first partial while my mouth healed. I was supposed to have the teeth pulled on Tuesday the 2nd, but I was leaving town and I didnt want the teeth falling out, so I was able to have the work done on Thursday. It only took a half hour to get my teeth pulled and the temp partial put in place The new temp teeth look really good, I can smile and be happy i will look Ok.

the thing is, right now, my teeth dont touch, so I cant chew. I talk like I have braces in my mouth. lol. for the first few days, I was starving. all ate was yogurt and cottage cheese. I may loose some weight here. I am going to call the dentist and ask about this in the morning. I am very fortunate that I dont get sick very often, but he dentist is making bank on me. I have double coverage and use every penny every year.

Ok, I gotta go snag a nap before I go to work tonight. I just thought I would fill in another blank here. so good night, and remember to brush your teeth.  lmao

I have a task...........

That I have to do, but I have no idea how to do it. I was asked, or more like appointed, to make a slide show for the post for a 75th anniversary. I have never made a slide show, but i was told I could do it on powerpoint and add music. I have Vista, which is supposed to be made for doing stuff like this, but i have never used all the playing with your photos stuff.

I was going to use the pictures i have taken, add some from the guys at the post and then see if i could get some more from people that have been around for a while. I was thinking of doing a little history about the place and putting it in a small book form. Maybe getting some quotes and small stories from the beginning of the place.

There are all the military branches there, so I should be able to get some good info. I could do the book thing, its the slide show i don't know how to do. The ladies in the Auxiliary seem to think that because i take pictures out there, that I can create a slide show. I think they need to bring their expectations of me down a notch or two.

i haven't even tried making a slide show yet. maybe i can do this. If I do, i will post it here and you can tell me what I can do to make it better. IF i can figure it out. I may also ask for help from some of you.

OK, that's it for today. gotta go shower and hot he bed for a few zzzzzzzzzz's.

Friday morning fluff

I need to get rid of that last post off the front of my page, so I am putting in this fluff piece. I don't know what I will talk about, but i am sure it will be so lite, it will be just fluffy. Here goes:

I decrewed last night again. At 12:20 i punched out of work and my friend Lorrie and myself went home. Again for the third time this week. I needed to waste some time, cus John is getting a little upset about decrewing so much. We went to breakfast at IHOP and wasted two hours there chatting. After that, the only other place open was Wally world. We walked around there for an hour where i bought some fabric to start a new project. Im gonna make my niece a quilt like the one I just finished. It will be in really bright colors though, for a young lady with a really bright personality. I will post a picture when I get it done.

the Divine One is coming out in a couple weeks and I get to meet her. I am so excited. I couldn't figure out what i was going to show her in Modesto, there is really nothing here to see. I could go show her graffiti on a wall, but we have all seen that. I haven't told her what I have planned yet, but I think it will be fun, and John is going to join us. I am now really looking forward to this. I m not scared any more of meeting Em and not having anything to show her. yes Em, I was scared I didn't have anything to show you.

It has stopped raining for a minute here. I am so happy for the rain we are getting. California is almost always in a drought situation. Every year for so many years. In the summer we burn. Then in the winter, it may rain a little. Every year, parts of our hills and coast fall, slide, drift down into someone Else's back yard. If it rains like it is this week, as happy as we are to have the rain, we have to worry about the effects of it. In southern Cal, the streets are flooding. Too bad they cant just put that water in a bowl and store it. Along the coast in Pacifica, the the cliff is about the fall and there is a row of apartments about to fall onto the beach. These apartments were built far away from the cliff, but the cliff got closer every year. This is what we go through though every year. i am still happy for the rain we are getting.

Hmmmmm, lets see. is that the end of the fluff? I don't know. Does anyone else watch Bones or Criminal minds. I love these two shows. I used to really like CSI Vegas, but Im not liking it as much as I used to. I think this is the end of this session of Friday Fluff.

windy storm in Modesto

This is a short video of the storm that is blowing through the west coast right now. Its supposed to last a week. This morning there were trees blown over, electric poles blown over and rivers and streams running high. Wind gusts up to 50 MPH in the area. I know most of you that read this get feet of snow, but we dont get this kind of weather every year. Im not whining, just sowing you.

A rare winter storm.

This is a short video of the storm blowing through here right now. its a very unusual storm, so I taped a bit of our back yard to show you. we dont usually get this kind of storm. there is flooding around the area also. gotta go run an errand now. check back with ya later

moss landing

a few pics from our day out

Phill's and Moss Landing

Friday night John asked me if I wanted to go to Phil's on Saturday for lunch. he has been on my shit list since last weekend, and i think he is trying hard to redeem himself. No, I will go no further than that about that. So, I agreed and Saturday we took off for Moss landing. Moss landing is south of us, or maybe its west of us, i am directionally impaired. I know it is between Montery and Santa Cruz. I know how to get to Santa Cruz, and its south of there, so i figured i could get to Moss landing. So we didn't print a map, and we forgot about the Gps thing alex left behind for us.

Note to Self: i am going to start a book of maps to places we like to go but cant remember how to get there, then i will leave it in the car. I promise.

Well, we ended up in Montery first. john wanted to see about booking a room at a certain hotel for my birthday. He wanted an ocean view, thought it would be nice. So we pulled up to  the hotel and there was a space pretty close, so we pulled. I deposited all my quarters, giving us 40 minutes. 10 minutes a quarter, or you could use a card. Yikes! We walked into the hotel and John went over and stood in line behind the people checking in and out. I walked out to the deck and took in the view.

It was a beautiful day. The rain was on its way, but on Saturday, it was breezy and really nice, for January on the coast. I turned around and John was up at the front of the line, so i went in to see what was happening. i have already taken time off for another reason in February, so we were going to use that weekend. Well, the AT&T Classic is the same weekend i had off so no rooms were available. the following weekend, a room with a balcony, ocean view, king bed was available for $425.00. I don't know if I actually let out a small gasp or not, I tried to restrain myself. its only a bedroom. the rates for the street view was around 200.00. we told them we would get  back to them. NOT!

then we headed south to Phil's. Phil's is a restaurant that specializes in fresh seafood. it is owned by a guy named Phil, and has been in business for a quite a few years. Our friends told us about it, so we searched it out and really liked it. It gained national attention after it was on the food network. The locals used to be able to just go there and have lunch or pick up a fresh crab. Now they have to wait in line. Lucky for Phil, unlucky for them.

We ordered a fire roasted artichoke with a sauce i cant remember the name for an appetizer. This was the first time we have had a fire roasted artichoke and it was oh so delish. I recommend learning how to do this. john ordered shrimp scampi, it was a full pound of shrimp in a red sauce. I ordered fettuccine with jumbo prawns.

 

 

There was so much food. and it was so good. Can you see all the prawns in that last shot. and yes, i ate all of it, along with that glass of wine in the middle pic. Like I said, really good food.

After we ate, we took a walk on the beach. it was just out the back door and about a hundred feet. Like i said it was breezy. A really nice day, so we walked down to a wall that extended to the water. I took a bunch of pics, but I will have to post them in an album. It was a nice walk to be out in the ocean air. That is always very refreshing to both of us, and it was good to walk off some of that lunch.

We had to go past the restaurant to get to our car, so we went back in and bought some dessert to bring home and two crabs. the are fresh every day, so we know they will be good. If they aren't caught off our coast, they are brought in from Alaska and cook each day. We could have even had them cook two live ones for us. the seafood moves through there so fast, it is always fresh. after that we headed home. After we got on the familiar road where john knew where e was, i fell asleep. I always do. i cant stay awake on a long trip.

Well, folks, that was out Phil's/moss landing trip. I hope you enjoyed it.  i know we did.

16 hours later

This is my latest creation. I am making it for a guy at work. He doesnt know, it is a surprise. I dont usually do this for the people I work with, but this guy did a very kind and heartfelt thing for me at christmas. I dont want to go into the detail about what happened, but it really made me feel good. Not many people would do what he did, and I appreciate it. I want to let him know how much his actions meant to me.

Anyway, the above blocks are the beginning of this quilt. i started it last week when I got off work early. I sorted and ironed my scraps I wanted to use, then set about cutting. I havent bought anything new for the front of this quilt. It is a pattern from a scrap pattern book, that he bought me. I wanted it to look more on the masculine side, so I tried not to use th floral prints that I have. I needed two yards of black, and two yards of white. I dont know how it happened, but I had both.

 

 

This morning I woke up early and went in to work on it some more. I started about 5 am, and finally stopped at around 2. I still have to buy fabric for the back, and I dont know waht that will look like. I will try to keep it on the masculine side, but i will show you when it is done. I really like this pattern, and i think I will make one using this pattern for my nephew. Its a good size for a guy.

Anyway, Em wanted pictures so here they are. My lens must be foggy, cus it doesnt look as sharp as I would have liked. I cant post these on facebook, cus he is on my friends list. I dotn want him to see it.

Maybe I will come back and tell you abut out trip to Phills and moss landing. It was a beautiful day. Its supposed to rain all week here, so we were lucky to get good weather yesterday. See ya later, I gotta go get ready for dinner and my prework nap.  

Alone again, ...............

Alex left a few days ago. Thursday morning to be exact. it didnt take long before the house just felt empty. it was actually. His game box and controllers were missing from the living room. His shoes and various pieces of clothing were no longer left in the living room, here or there. His room was suddenly empty and all the clothes were gone, stuffed into his car somehow. He did leave one small pile of clothes in the garage next to the washer that he no longer wanted. its not like the clothes were worn out, they werent. he doesnt wear is clothes out any more. I gave them to a friend who will give them to her grand children or some other kids that will be able to use them. I miss him already.

He is on his way to New Jersey, Mcguire Air Force Base. He is taking the low route, going through texas, Oklahoma and then up towards the east coast. He was going to go I-80, but that would mean he would have to drive through the snow and bad weather. It is snowing all along that route, so the lower route turned out to be a better decision, he hasnt hit any snow yet. His car has this system in it where he can talk on his phone and it goes through his speaker system. I can talk to him and feel good he can still pay attention to the road.

Anyway, the party we had for him turned out so good. Everyone had a great time and the DJ was absolutly AWSOME. He kept the music going all night long, and people danced all night, well at least until 11 when we had to exit the room. We ended up with around 50 people, and it was a blast. I dotn remembert if I wrote about this before or not. I put the pictures on my facebook page cus they load easier there.

Well, last night I had to work. it was my day off so i was forced in. I was hoping I would get to go home early, but that never happened. I am so tired right now, and I should take a nap, but I dotn want to waste the day away sleeping. I haveto go in sunday night at ten, rather than 12, so that means I have to go to sleep earlier tomorrow. It will feel like all I got to do this weekend is sleep. I want to do a little better than just sleep. I dont want to clean either, but I really dont want to sleep all weekend. what a conundrum for me.

Well, I probably should get off my tired ass and do something. maybe repack all the christmas ornaments into the box I bought to repack them in and put them in the garage so John can put them up in the rafters. maybe I could decide where to put the new wireless printer I got  for christmas. shuld I take down the old one? then what do i do with that one? I could give it to my friend, she doenst have a printer. I dont know. I also need to chnge the sheets on my bed, but then i may just fall down on it and then I would go to sleep and there goes the day.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, well, I need to make a decision and I could go on for a long time like this, but then I would lose your attention, if I havent already. so I am off for now to decide. see ya ll later.

Third times a charm

This is now the third time I am trying to write this blog. the first two were eaten by the hungry cyber wizards.  I think that is why my blogs seem to disappear. The cyber gods and wizards need someones words so they take peoples blogs to keep them satisfied. the bloggers are then frustrated and rewrite the blogs, and the wizards move on to someone Else's page. Multiply needs to add a blog save option in here. yahell used to do this to us, I really hope that part of yahell didn't transfer over here with the Multiply move.

Friday night our son Andy flew in from Washington. We hadn't told Alex cus we wanted to try and keep it a surprise. I tried to get alex to go to the airport with me, but the flight kept getting delayed, so I told him his dad would go with me to pick up my friend. I had told Alex's girlfriend and his friends his brother was coming in, so they kinda left him alone. His GF made sure he was home when we got here. Believe it or not, I was able to pull it off. Andy walked int he house first, and alex was there, think his dad was walking in the door. he had to do a double take to realise it was his brother. they hadn't seen each other in about 5 years.

After the hugs and a few pics(which turned out blurry in my excitement) the nonstop chatter started. I sat there happy as a clam listening to my two sons and john talking about so many different things. they talked and laughed and talked some more. It was the best. Alex told me he has never been surprised like that in his life. That is what I wanted.

Last night was the party we had been planning for him. I wanted to make sure he got to see his family from both sides and his friends before he started on this next journey of his life. Family is so important, and you really need to make sure to have them in your life. Well, alex is one of those lucky people that has a really great family on both sides of his family. Most of johns brothers and sisters and their kids were there last night. just two of my sisters were able to make it though. There was little kids and big kids all over the place. We ended up having about 50 people there, that is what we planned for.

We hired a dj to cover the music. I wanted to make sure we had a really good time for his last going away party. We just happened to find this dj by accident, but it was one of those really good accidents. he asked me to send him some pictures of alex and give him some info on him. I told him is passion is airplanes, and he put together a really cool slide show of air force jets and planes he found on line. For the pics I sent him, he put a separate slide show together with the music alex likes.

I am going to have to add his web page to my facebook page as a favorite. This guy is really good. He kept the music going all night long. He never took a break, and would jump between karaoke and music videos with a snap. He handed out microphones to people and had them singing with the music, it was just so much fun. I don't think I have danced that much in I don't know how long. We started dancing almost right after dinner. we stopped to cut the cake and make a short speech about alex and then we were singing and dancing again. I am going to have to post those pics here.

WE got home last night at 12:30 and into bed. as tired as I was, I could only sleep till 4:30 this morning. I tried to sleep longer, but it wasn't going to happen. So here i am, writing this for the third time.

On some other news. I went and got my hair cut the other day. I was gonna try and let it grow for a while, just for a change. i just couldn't do it. Anyway, i went in and told the girl just do something different, your the expert. So she cut the back, left some length int he front, died it darker in parts and put in highlights/streaks. I didn't like it at first, but i am liking it more and more. if I can find a picture from last night where I don't look like a sloppy drunk having too much fun, I will make it my new pic.

This is getting kinda long, so I am going to try and post it. This is where I have lost it the last few times. Well, here I go.See ya all next time.