9/11 - Never Forget

I'm on vacation right now....spent a nice relaxing week on beautiful Hilton Head Island, SC. As you sometimes do on vacation, I've kind of lost track of the date....actually, I barely even know what DAY it is! But as we were driving around the island today I noticed all the flags were at half staff. Then it hit me.....September 11.


Today I woke up in a nice condo sitting on a beautiful resort by the ocean. My mom and I got up at 6:30 at walked on the beach and watched a spectacular sunrise. We drove down to a lighthouse and bought some niceties....we grilled hamburgers and made deviled eggs and salad and had a nice lunch together....we played in the ocean and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on the beach and the sand between our toes.


And all of this because of those who have fought to protect what they tried to take from us on this day 8 years ago. I think of the innocent ones who will never see another sunrise, their loved ones who will never enjoy another sunrise, the responders who bravely ran into danger that day, and all those who have continued the fight since.


We still mourn your loss.....we still thank you for your sacrifice....we still honor your memory.


This sunrise is for you.


May God Bless America.

Ready For An Adventure

Friday we are supposed to leave for 9 days of vacation.

Friday.

THIS Friday.

Do you have any idea how NOT prepared I am??

I have about 6 days of work that HAS to be done piled on my desk at work.

I have not thought about clothes.

I need to buy shampoo.

Mom thinks the wheel bearing is going out in the van.

There may be a hurricane brewing on the coastline that we're headed to.

Did I mention I need some shampoo?

I keep telling myself when I'm laying on the beach the rest of it won't matter.

Except maybe the hurricane....

What A Difference You've Made...

Went to WalMart the other night for the obligatory shopping trip. Actually hadn't been in a while.....the last two weeks at work have been insane. I've not gotten home before 9:30 hardly any night, plus had to work one of the Saturdays. So as a result, I've not gotten hardly anything taken care of, and I needed a few things from the store to assist in my day-to-day survival. So, off to Mansfield Mom and I went.

We had been shopping about 4 hours or more, and were pretty tired and ready to go home. Fortunately, we got in Debbie's checkout line. I go to this WalMart a lot, and there have actually been times I've walked up and down the checkouts to see if Debbie is working. Why? Because she seems to be an awesome individual. First of all, she does her job well. She keeps her line moving. And she is always, always, always as friendly as you could want. Much more so than the ones that frown and growl and seem to hate their jobs. She was as chipper as ever that night...Mom commented on how happy she seemed. "Hey, life is what you make it," she said. "They ain't gonna dictate to me how my emotions should go. I'm happy to be alive!"

What an awesome lady.

I don't know if she knows how her attitude is a lift to mine when I go through that line exhausted and wore out from dragging all over the store. But I'm going to write management out there and tell them. Surely they know it, but just in case nobody's acknowledged it....I want to Debbie to know she makes a difference.

Going home we got to talking about the last time our church ladies group made pumpkin rolls. We go to Sam's Club and buy like 400 pounds of sugar and cream cheese and eggs and flour....people stare a lot at us during that trip and about half of the store strikes up a conversation trying to guess what we're making.

Well, last time we had a flatbed full, and I guess I was having a bit of trouble after I had loaded off about half of the sugar and flour and stuff. I heard this man standing in the next aisle handed his items to his son and said "Hold this...I'll be right back." Suddenly the 25 pound bag of sugar I was trying to heave up to the counter was light as a feather as he took hold of it. "Here," he said, "let me get the rest of that."

The kindness of a stranger. I thanked him several times before he and his son paid for their goods and vanished into the world...how often I wish I'd have gotten his name and took him a pumpkin roll. I pray God repays him somewhere in life for his kindness.

Tonight I helped Mammy fling buckets of water out of her pool so we could try and get the hose in it to drain. She helped me get my "new" $35 lawnmower in the trunk of my car and to my house, and move and assemble some furniture to boot. The world seems so much better we all just take a few minutes to help each other out, doesn't it?

So, when I'm feeling grumpy or grouchy or whatever the sour mood is, I try to keep in mind Debbie and the mystery pumpkin roll man. Because if they can take the time to make somebody's day a little better, surely I can too!

The Cable Saga continued...

Well, the cable issue is finally resolved. I guess.

I worked from home Tuesday so they could come fix this leakage issue I'm having. (That does not sound good at all.) So around 2 I was walking through the house and I see the van drive by. But it does not stop. Well, this alarms me....so I go running out the door yelling at the dude that this was the house he wanted.

My neighbors are probably REALLY glad I moved into this place by now..

Anyway, he didn't stop. Great!! So I go back to work, fuming, figuring I'm going to have to fight with them again over getting out here. About 15 minutes later the doorbell rings. Ah...he found his way back. The dude's name is Tim, and he's carrying a little device that is making a noise similar to the sound of a cat in a blender. Not that I've ever put a cat in a blender, but if I were to hear a cat in blender, I would imagine it would sound much like this "EEEeeeeuuuuuuaaaaahhhheeehhauuuauuehehhhhhh" sound that this thing was making.

Very annoying.

So I take Tim all through the house while he points the little thing and mutters a lot. After about 15 minutes he changes some ends to some of the cables, then says he thinks it will be OK but if I get tagged again to call him and he'll have to change outlets. I mention that his little cat-in-a-blender device is still screaming just as loudly as it did when he first arrived. He agrees that could be a problem, but he's not sure that it even works right to start with.

Dear lord....this is never going to end.

So Tim leaves, and I go back to work. Then about 15 minutes later the doorbell rings again. Another dude (don't know his name) who says he just talked to Tim and he doesn't think he did everything he should have, so could he come in and look at my cables. I ask him if he even works for the cable company because there is no identifying marks on him....he pulls out an ID tag, so I let him in.

Then I traipse him all over the house much like I had done with Tim. He doesn't mutter as much as Tim, but does start identifying things that need fixed. So off to work he goes. For 2 1/2 hours. Which means he cut off the cable for a while, and the working from home thing kind of went ca put at that point. Finally he tells me that he's got the Internet back up if I wanted to try it again.

So I come in here and fire up the laptop, and for some reason feel compelled to open my blog site. Of course, the last blog I had done pops up........titled.......I Hate The Cable Company.

Thank God he was not looking over my shoulder!

Then it starts opening multiple sessions, so it's popping up all over the screen. Good Grief! I frantically get it shut down just as he shows up asking, "Is it OK?"

Yeah, yeah....really good. Thanks for asking!

Anyway, whoever mystery man number 2 was seems to have known what he was doing and hopefully has taken care of all of the problems.

For the time being, anyway!

I Hate The Cable Company

Well, here's the next thrilling update on the ongoing saga of my ignorant cable company and the signal leakage that is threatening to command an airplane to land on top of my house....

At about 7:00 Saturday night, after waiting all day, I got fed up and called the company. The lady proceeds to inform me that someone came to my house and could not get in.

Uhm...I don't think so.

No - I inform her I was here all day and if they had called like they said they would and/or rang the doorbell and/or knocked on the door, I would have let them in. She couldn't tell me what time they came, because apparently there is no accountability as to logging such things when you work for this company. But they did leave another tag on the door.

Uhm...I don't think so.

I go to both doors and look...no tag. Then I kind of blew up on her. I'm really tired of dealing with these nuts. She of course does the obligatory apology and then asks if I want to reschedule for Sunday. The conversation proceeds as follows:

ME: NO....I have Church on Sunday.

Cable Chick: Oh, OK, well, how about next week then?

ME: Excuse me?? I can't sit here all day long waiting for you people to show up again! I have a full-time job!! How do you think I pay for this cable??!

Cable Chick: Oh, I understand ma'am...

ME: NO...I don't think you do!

Cable Chick: Well....I'm not sure what else we can do

ME: I'm sure you're not sure! I suppose I have to try and find a day that I can re-arrange everything for you guys AGAIN! I'll tell you this much, if I stay home all day long waiting for them again, they better break down the door if they have to to get in here and take care of this mess!

Cable Chick: I understand ma'am...

ME: And one other thing....that note they left the other day said my service would be discontinued if this was not corrected. I would expect that under no circumstances will my service be disrupted over this, because if it is I'm going to throw the biggest conniption fit you've ever seen!

Cable Chick: I understand ma'am....I'll be sure to update your file with that information.

ME: .................................(silence because now I'm just too mad to talk at all)

Cable Chick: Well ma'am, while I have you on the phone I would like to tell you about our latest movie channel offer for just $17 a month....

ME: Are you kidding me??!

Cable Chick: Oh, so you're not interested....

I hate the cable company. I really do.

The Waiting Game

Today has been an unusual day. I've been home all day. ALL DAY. That never happens. And truth be told, it probably only happened today because I'm being held hostage by the cable company. Again.

I came home the other day and found a little card on my front door that said I had missed my cable appointment. Which was very odd since I didn't know I had a cable appointment. Upon reading the other side, it had this note on there that said they had detected "signal leakage" coming from my house, which was very serious and my cable could be turned off if it were not fixed and they needed to get in the house to do it.

That's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard of.

So I called them and asked them if this was real or if somebody was just trying to break into my house. They claimed it's real. So they give me an appointment of Saturday from 8 to 8. Yes, you read it right....a 12 hour time span to sit here and wait for the guy to show up.

Now, since I've had all day to contemplate this, I wonder...why as a society do we allow them to get away with this? Imagine if we told our doctors..."Ah, I'll be there sometime between 8 and 8. Just hang out until I show up." It's kind of insane. I mean, are re-runs of Friends and documentaries about people going through psychotherapy for obsessive compulsive disorders really worth this?

Apparently they are.

So, I got up and worked a little in the office...and waited.

Then I started cleaning the kitchen....and waited.

Then Mom came by and pulled some of my weeds and looked through my shed, and I continued to wait.

Then she went to Mansfield and I had lunch and fell asleep on the couch while I waited.

Then she came back with a mirror for me and left her Wendy's trash.....and I continued to wait.

And now I blog.

And wait.

And hope I'm not being slowly irradiated by the cable signals leaking out all over my house.

I'll keep you posted...

Fortune Teller

Today I went to the local Chinese buffet for lunch. At the end of the meal, of course they brought out the little obligatory fortune cookie. I don't know why I read those things. I mean, a little slip of paper in a stale little glob of dough that, in my opinion, doesn't even have a right to really call itself a cookie...who came up with this idea?

I wouldn't mind so much if they were actually "fortunes". But mine never are. Today's was "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." That is not a fortune. That's a strange little saying that I'm not even sure really makes a lot of sense. Or maybe it does too obviously make sense. Either way, what am I supposed to do with that??

The worst one I ever got....no kidding....said "You love Chinese food". Tell me really, someone gets paid to come up with these things????

So at the end of every Chinese meal I tell myself I'm not going to read the fortune. Then I read it anyway. Someone should write me a REAL fortune. I can see it now:

"We knew you were going to read this. Now eat your cookie."

The Old Grind

It's 8:33, and I'm sitting in an office cube in Bucyrus, Ohio. This is not supposed to be. However, there are occassions when you have to get involved in projects that just seem to linger on into eternity, and tonight we're dealing with one of them. I've had a sub with way too much salt and a sweet tea and cupcake with way too much sugar, so my insides are very confused at the moment. I've been staring at a computer screen for 12 1/2 hours now, so my contacts are glued to my eyeballs.

And I forgot to turn my back porch light on at the house again. Drat it all.

I am very ready for this day to be done...

What Are The Odds...

Have you ever noticed how some things in life just always seem to happen a certain way? I find this really perplexing. I just don't get it. For instance, today...I'm driving home from work and realize I need gas in the car. I mean, like....RIGHT NOW. I must have coasted a couple of miles on fumes. (Senility is setting in, I tell you...)

So, I pull into the gas station. There are 2 cars there. Just 2. Not in my way. Just 2 little cars. So I pump my tank full, which takes, what....3, 4 minutes? Hardly no time. Then I go to pull out. Suddenly there are 12 cars surrounding me. Three want my pump. One is backing out at a snail's pace directly in front of me. Two have me completely blocked from every other angle. Others are pouring in from all directions, vying for a position of their own. It's insanity!!

I finally maneuver the vehicle obstacle course, and there's a pedestrian walking directly in my path of driveability. Oh, let me elaborate on that....walking SLOWLY. While they stare at me like they're daring me to run them over. Oooh...fight the temptation.

Seriously - you've been there, right? Why does it always happen that way? It seems completely statistically impossible that this phenomenon of car convergence could occur EVERY TIME I stop at a gas station. Yet it does. How can this be??

Personally, I count it as one of the great wonders of the universe. I remain perplexed...

I'm Back!!

Wow....it's been a while. Could that have anything to do with the fact that I've not had a chance to breathe here lately?? I'm thinking it could....

Here's what the past month has been like:

• Closed on and moved into the House on July 23 (Thu)
• Spent Friday and Saturday finishing out the apartment
• Sunday Church all day
• Mon - Fri was Bible School every night
• Saturday spent all day at Cedar Point
• Sunday Church all day
• Mon & Tues - had a couple nights to try and get something accomplished around here
• Wednesday Church
• Thursday - get ready to leave for the weekend
• Friday - Monday - went to Gettysburg
• Tuesday - Ladies Auxiliary at Church
• Wednesday Church
• Thursday - went to fair to get some of the best BBQ ribs ever
• Friday - I don't even remember Friday
• Saturday - had to work
• Sunday - Church all day

It's been nuts!! So, the blogging has fallen by the wayside, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things here. Hopefully life will slow a little.....

We can only hope!

All Grown Up

I know that I am 37 years old. Oh, wait...38. I forgot I just had a birthday. But sometimes you have this impression of yourself in your mind, you know? You still see yourself as the "young one"....even though you're really not. I mean....Jiminy Christmas....I'm almost 40. 40!! Shew...when did that happen?

Here lately, it's the weirdest things that are just making me feel "grown up". For instance, I moved in to the new house on a Thursday. I got my trash service started, and they delivered an enormous trash bin to me on Monday, and told me that I'd need to put it out Tuesday night for pick-up. So, that's what I do. And as I'm lugging that thing out to the front yard, this overwhelming sense of grown up responsibility overcomes me. Isn't that weird? I mean, I had to take the trash out at the apartment. I don't know why it's different, but it is. Is there such a thing as "grown up" trash?? Is "homeowner garbage" so different from "renters garbage"?? Apparently so....

Another completely bizzare instance of this? When I use the garage door opener. Seriously. I know...I know this is slightly ridiculous. But I tell you, it's there. Just to think I've got my car comfortably tucked away in it's own little place....it gives me chills. (Park your car on the road for 13 years and see how emotional a garage of your own makes you!)

Then tonight I came home and my neighbors were all outside. So I went over and introduced myself. There I stood, on the neighbor's porch, talking about how to keep skunks from habitating underneath my shed just like I had any kind of clue as to actually how to keep skunks from habitating underneath my shed, and it hit again. Wow...I'm talking with this guy about my property. MY property. Dear lord.....I have to take care of all this property.

Cool and a little scary all at once....

Home Sweet Home

My first pictures of the house!! OK...I'm sick today so my equilibrium must have been off some because I got the horizon crooked on these. (I hate it when I do that!) So, please pardon the downhill slant. The house really is on level ground!

Obviously, this is from the front. See how nicely the little garage tucks my car right in??

This is standing on the patio behind my garage looking across the backyard. The little shed is mine. The toys are not! (The neighbors have grandkids!)

Standing in the backyard by the shed, looking at the back of the house. And again, I've got the slant crooked. (I tell you, I was really dizzy earlier!)

The little shed up close. Kind of. It needs some work. I haven't even been in yet....hard tellin' what I'll find in there!

So, that's the place, from the outside anyway! I'll be getting some indoors photos once I get it looking halfway presentable....hopefully sometime soon!

America's Roller Coast

If you live in North Central Ohio, you know immediately what the title to this blog means. Ah yes, the joy that is Cedar Point. We spent the day there Saturday. That's right, Saturday. After an entire week of Bible School. After I bought a house. And we moved me in. And had to spend 2 days after that cleaning out the apartment.

I think we've lost our minds.

It was our company picnic. Though it really just amounted to them giving us discounted tickets, because there wasn't really anything company oriented about it. But at the time they offered the tickets, of course we didn't know the insanity that would be our lives, so we took them. So Saturday Mom, Hezzo, Adam, Megan (Adam's girlfriend) and myself headed up north.

Cedar Point is a cool place if you like the big roller coasters. I mean, the BIG coasters. Problem is, I seem to have developed a fear of heights over the last few years. That's not a good phobia to have if you're going to ride BIG roller coasters. That, and I've gotten a bit BIG myself. So, riding is not comfortable....therefore, I don't do much of it anymore. (Maybe if I'd get rid of some of the weight I'd lose some of the phobia too, but who knows...)

So, Hezzo rode some of the rides with Adam and Megan, and mom and I did a lot of people watching. Believe me, you will see all kinds of folks roaming around an amusement park like that. All kinds. Some are scary...some are sad...some are really nice...some are kind of rude...some make you laugh...some make you want to run as fast as you can in the other direction.

It takes all kinds to make the world turn round, right??!

Trust me....you will find all kinds there!

Moving Day....continued

The saga continues....

We arrive at the bank early for the closing, so we hop over to McD's for some nuggets since I am suddenly starving. While we're sitting there, in walk the sellers. They also are early, so join us for a little snack. It was nice just getting to sit down with them for a little bit before they took all my money. 'Twas a nice little memory.

Pretty soon we're off to the bank, and the flurry of paper signing begins. It was a bit chaotic, to say the least. Actually, I didn't do too bad with it until the very end. I had to set up a bank account because they draw my payment directly from it. A lady came in to explain all of this to me, while my banker was still talking with the seller, and my mom and seller lady were talking as they were heading out to find the bathroom, and banker lady was talking in my ear...and it got to be just a bit overwhelming. So much so that banker lady me actually started laughing and said "This is a bit much right now, isn't it?!" She assured me I could read the literature and understand it later. I pray she knows what she's talking about.

So, we head back into town to start the grand adventure of the move. It has now been 11 days since that all occurred. I pray we never have to go through something like that again! Try this little experiment once....live in a 4 room apartment for 13 years and only throw away 3 things a year. That will give you a bit of an idea of how much junk we had to move. It was insane. I thought we'd get the U-Haul, fill it once and everyone would be on their merry way in a few hours.

HA!

We filled the U-Haul alright....plus about 6 other vehicles. Not to mention the 6 loads mom, Andie and I had taken over before everyone else got there. Not to mention the 7 loads mom, Adam and I brought over on Friday and Saturday when we went back to clean out the "little bit" we left behind on Thursday.

It was embarrassingly ridiculous.

But the wonderful trooper friends I have just kept hauling it out...and hauling it out...and hauling it out. They were beyond great.

Even if the guys did scratch a swath out of mom's basement wall trying to get the couch she was giving me out of it. (I can still hear Simon..."Is there any chance at all that we'll be out of here before your mom gets back??" And Mark's answer...."Eat fast Simon...at least we'll have a full stomach before she throws us out!")

And even if Mark B did make Mark A stand out in the rain while he "thought about" if they should load the couch then or wait until it stopped raining. (While he laughed about it the whole time!)

And even if mom and Adam had to stop in the middle of the road on the way back from Mansfield after getting my washer and dryer because it came a torrential downpour (the same one Mark A was standing in, I believe) to try and cover them up so the appliances wouldn't get drenched. Oh, did I mention they had to do that 3 times? (Apparently the tarp kept blowing off...)

And even if the wall mirror did get broken on the trip across town. (I was thankful it was the only casualty of the night!)

We had one little girl helping....her name is Tessie. She's about 6 or so. She actually was kind of upset that she missed most of the hauling out because she was at Bible School at her grandpa's church, and was very excited that we had to carry it all into the house so she could help. (I'm pretty sure she was about the only one that felt that way at that point!) Her dad was unloading the truck, and he'd put special items down and holler out, "This one's for Tessie to carry". After her 7th or 8th trip with stuff, she looked at me and said..."Man. You've got a lot of stuff!"

Well said Tess.....Well said.

But I'll never forget my favorite moment of the night. I was back in the bedroom and they were all out there hauling stuff in like a little assembly line. I could hear them talking and laughing and carrying on with one another...

And I felt it. It was my home....full of friends and love and laughter. Just what I'd always dreamed of.

It felt really good.

Moving Day

Thursday, July 23rd. The grand adventure begins. I'm up at 7 scurrying around the apartment doing this and that. Drat it all, it's lookin' pretty dreary outside. That could be a bad thing when you're attempting to move furniture across town on the back of pickup trucks. Fortunately, the metropolis that is Shelby does have a U-Haul rental. So I attempt to make a reservation for their 17 foot truck. This is no easy task. The gentleman there was a bit hard to communicate with, to say the least. He tells me he has one truck. I tell him I will be there in less than an hour to get it. He says OK. Then says I need to remember it's first-come-first-served. I ask him if that means he's not going to hold the truck for me. He tells me, of course he'll hold the truck for me.

Alrighty, then.

I call mom and tell her to get to my place as soon as possible before crazy rental truck guy gives my ride away. Soon we're chugging down the road, and get to U-Haul land. In we go, where rental dude is waiting. We go through the whole rigamarole of who I am and why I'm there again, and then he starts the paperwork. Now, he had told me I'd need $29.99 for the truck. So we get to the money portion of this little transaction and he says, "OK, that'll be $100."

$100??!!

That's exactly what I said. And how I said it. He in turn looked at me like I had 3 heads. Then it hit me that they required a deposit. Which would have been nice if he had told me that before. So, since they only take cash or credit card, I give him my card. This is quite a challenge for him because his little card reader, which had been stuck to the outside of his CPU, had fallen down. Apparently this was pretty perplexing for him, because he starts muttering something that sounds like "whmf ifa crd og jst heerr whitm??"

If you think that sounds ridiculous in writing, you should have heard it in person. It's like the guy didn't believe in vowels or something. I must have really been giving him a look because he looks at me and starts laughing and says "I'm really fluid, aren't I?" Admittedly, I have no idea what it means to be "fluid", but I just agree and tell him I have no idea what he is doing at the moment. Well, by now he's found his little card reader, so life is good again. For the time being anyway.

To be continued....

A New Life Begins

Well, it's been a whole week since I've done any blogging. I had grand notions of sitting down each night and recapping the day in all it's glory and thus following every step of the moving process in a neat, orderly fashion.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

This past week has been a flurry of chaos. Fun chaos, but chaos just the same. Because on top of moving the 8,000 pounds of belongings that I own to a new location, we also have Vacation Bible School at the church this week. And my birthday is tomorrow. And we're going to Cedar Point on Friday. And I had to put my car in the shop. Twice.

I'm a little tired.

Soo, tonight I really need to get my banking account for the bank that's loaning me the money for this nice new house set up, so I don't have a lot of time here either. However, I will be back to recap the madness of the past week...

I'm sure you won't want to miss that!

Signing off (for the first time) as a new homeowner in my own place...

The End Of An Era

Tonight I'm sentimental....and probably a bit sappy. Just to let you know before I get into this. Don't say I didn't warn you...

If all goes as planned, this will be the last night I catch my snoozes in this apartment. You know, 13 years is a long time to be at one place. And even though I'm more than ready to move on, I still need to take a second to say goodbye.

So, I'm thankful that I had a safe, affordable place to come home to every night. And the neighbors were nice. Mostly. Except for whoever it was that left a nasty note on my car one time. But, that's times past now...I'll try to leave the grudge behind.

So tomorrow a new chapter begins. No more fighting for a parking spot on the street. No more scraping layers of ice off the car every morning while I nearly get run down by maniacal drivers who won't slow down. No more hoarding quarters like a raving lunatic so I can do my laundry.

I will be able to vacuum my floor after 10:00 and not worry about waking up the neighbors! I will be able to play my piano without the headphones! I can do jumping jacks and run in place all I want! (HA HA...like that's actually gonna happen!)

I can't wait.

(By the way, did I mention before that I really Thank God for all of this?)

Life is Good

Today I'm a packing fiend. I've officially reached the "organized chaos" stage, which actually is quite a step up from just plain old "chaos". Onward I trod...

Today 3 of my good friends from high school were in town, so we met and had supper together. Then we tried to go break into the house. It is a bit comforting to know it's a pretty sturdy little place. I actually did call the owners to see if they cared if I showed it, which they didn't at all...except they were at Cedar Point today, and didn't seem too willing to drive an hour or so back here to bring me the keys. I just don't understand what's wrong with 'em...

I also still have about 7 or 8 loads of laundry I need to do. I have a feeling some of them might have to wait for the new washer and dryer. I can hardly wait to christen them!!

Otherwise, today is a day I've just been noticing a few things that I feel the urge to share:

• I hate it when my DVR doesn't record a show I really wanted to watch
• I hate it even more when my DVR only records 14 minutes of a show that I really wanted to watch
• I also hate trying to get a little tiny spot of dried milk out of the bottom of a glass
• It's really not a good thing when you open up a butter bowl expecting to get butter only to discover it contains the left-over navy beans you fixed 2 days ago....which apparently you also forgot to put in the refrigerator (talk about rank!)
• It's also not a good thing to discover that your only loaf of bread is green
• It's been a blessing to me that the weather has been unusually cool...since I didn't bother to put the air conditioner in my window this season
• It's kind of odd to see your life sitting in a pile in the middle of your living room
• Greased Lightning is the most wonderful cleaning agent I've encountered in a long time
• I own way too many clothes

Life is good.

Hey....I'm Buying A House!!!

Today I got another call from the banker. He said he had some news for me.

Hallelujah and Praise The Lord.....THE GRANT CLEARED!!!

I'm giddy.

Thursday we close. That means I have tonight and tomorrow, plus about 2 weekdays for all practical purposes to get this place tidied away. And call all those places you have to call to get things set up.....Electric/Water/Sewer, Cable/Phone/Internet, Gas, Trash....what am I missing?

I guess I'll figure it out when I get into the house and the flip the switch for it and it doesn't come on, huh?!

So, as you can see, don't have a lot of typing time tonight. I have a feeling that the next few days are going to be a virtual whirlwind.

But a fun whirlwind....

(And just one more time....Thanks God! Very much!)

Just Stuff...

Well, I just bought a washer and dryer.

I also finished all my first-time-home-buyer counseling today.

Mom went to an estate sale and bought a couch, chair and loveseat.

She also bought a snow shovel and yard shears, but she thinks she "might just hang on to those."

My boss brought me 4 plastic tubs for packing today.

I have packed all of my storage containers away and now must either eat all of the food that I make in one setting or throw it away.

If something happens that this house falls through, I've got a world of a mess on my hands here.

(I'm sure it's gonna all work out though...eventually)

Show Me The Money!!

As you know if you've been following along on this little journal of my life, I'm in the house buying process. We've been sitting in the same stagnant position for about a month now, which is.....the loan's approved, the grant's approved, the appraisal is good - but we have to wait for the grant money to get here.

These are the times that try men's souls...

Or mine, anyway.

So today was the call I've been waiting for....I finally hear from the banker. The money's here!!!

Well...not exactly.

There's a question about my eligibility because they think I may be over the salary limit. However, I'm really not. It just looks like more because of the profit sharing check we received in April of this year. My banker's statement was "We figured that's what it was. We half expected they might question that."

I'll admit, it took all of my being not to scream into the phone "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU ADDRESS IT UP FRONT WITH THEM???!!!"

Instead, I said..."So, will this be a problem?" (Ah, sweet deception...) He tells me the same thing happened to his son and all they need is a statement from my Company explaining that.

So now we wait again...

He thinks though we should hear in a day or two about the funds, and closing will probably be next week.

Good grief...I gotta kick the cleaning/packing bug into high gear...

Mosquito Madness

I just came home from our monthly Ladies meeting at the church. This month was hosted by one of our members at their house in the country. It was a lovely setting...tables with cloths and flower vases on them, nice place settings laid out, and a wonderful buffet of food. It was lovely.

Then THEY showed up.

Mosquitoes. Dear lord...the mosquitoes. The UNBEARABLE mosquitoes!!

Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised to see symptoms of malaria soon. I better start reading up on what those are...

This is twice now in one week. On Saturday Adam was in the Big Ball tournament for Bicycle Days. We headed there after the parade and were there until after 11:00 p.m. So for the first 6 hours, we sat in the mostly blazing sun. I got cooked like a little lobster. Even the top of my head was throbbing. Finally, the sun heads down for some relief.

Then THEY showed up.

Are you seeing a pattern here??

Ah the joys of Ohio...

Giant blood-sucking creatures in the Summer...

Allergies galore in the Fall...

Rain and tornadoes in the Spring...

Ice, snow and freezing temps in the Winter.

Now...why on earth wouldn't anybody want to live here?!

On a completely unrelated note except that I somewhat mentioned it earlier in the blog and I wanted to stick a few more photos on it... here's some shots of Bub's Big Ball team this year....Sluggin N Chuggin. They ended up third overall....not bad!

Darth Vader, Jesus and Skateboarding Bunnies...

I think I may have mentioned once or twice before that I like small town living. I like it very much. This past weekend was our town's 18th annual Bicycle Days. Of course, what's a small town festival without a parade?!

All the little kids line up on the street with their plastic bags to catch all the candy loot the parade participants fling out at them. It doesn't take them long to figure out if they wave as they pass by, they're more likely to get more candy!

Even the "Big Kids" like to catch a prize or two!

(Now what are the odds that they would throw a little Republican elephant named
"Righty" directly into Heather's lap?!

She was nice though and gave it to a little kid who was upset because he didn't get an animal. Let's hope he's not a Democrat!)

And what's a parade without awesome floats??

This is the one our Church entered.

HEY! We won First Place!!

Of course, the most fun is hooting and hollering at all the friends and family you know...

Way to go Mammy! Convert all those ladies in the crowd to Curves!

(Look at the little kid's face beside her. He thinks she's nuts!)

Ah yes....nothing like a small town parade. I mean, come on...where else in the world are you gonna see Darth Vader, Jesus and a skateboarding Bunny Rabbit - all in one day!

Bicycle Days

Small town America. I love it. One thing that many small towns share is the Summer Festival. Around here there are several standards....The Shiloh Ox-Roast, The Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival, The Marion Popcorn Festival. Here in my home town of Shelby, it's Bicycle Days.

Shelby used to the be quite the little manufacturing town, making everything from bubble gum (they say we made it first) to light bulbs (they say we made the longest burning bulb ever) to seamless steel tubing (Another first). And of course, bicycles.

I'm told that Shelby bicycles these days are a coveted collector's item. And they're kind of cool looking. Check out the Donald Duck bike....

But, if you can't own a Shelby bike yourself, you may be able to catch a glimpse of one at Bicycle Days. This is always the weekend after the 4th of July. Usually you'll see a lot of people exodusing out of Shelby on the 4th to catch fireworks in another town, then the next weekend we all congregate on our football field and enjoy them with our townspeople...plus folks from all the other towns that we descended on the week before!

They take one of the streets and set up food booths...you know, the greasy, sugary, salty, no-health-value-whatsoever-for-you food types that you find in every small town festival. Funnel Cakes...grilled brats, steaks, burgers...fried everything you can imagine...frozen bananas...ribbon fries....shew, I gained five pounds just typing that!

And there are all kinds of activities...basketball shoot-outs, "Big ball" softball tournaments, live bands, square dancers, cornhole tournaments, a 5k run, a cruise-in, a parade, "Real Guitar Hero" competition, bicycle and big wheel races.

Something for everyone...

Come on now....how could anyone not love such a spectacle?!

More to come tomorrow....

Lunchtime routine

For some reason today around 11:30 a.m. I thought lunch would be a good topic to blog about. Now, at 11 p.m., I have no idea why I thought that. But, well....I'm here, so let's blog....

I don't go out to lunch with a lot of different people. A lot of days anymore I have to do working lunches. My boss and I do those a lot. Sometimes you get 3 times as much done just stepping away from the office for a while, even if you are cramming food in your mouth while you do it.

A lot of days if I don't have a meeting and Heather's free we do lunch together. Usually the same thing happens each time. I'll call her and the following conversation will ensue:

Hezzo: Hey.

Me: Whatcha doin?

Hezzo: Nothin.

Me: That's nice. Whatcha doin for lunch?

Hezzo: I dunno

Me: Wanna go?

Hezzo: K. Meetcha downstairs.

So we meet in the lobby, walk to the car, get in, buckle up, and have the following conversation:

Hezzo: Where do you wanna go?

Me: I don't know. What are you in the mood for?

Hezzo: I don't know.

Silence as we drive down the road

Hezzo: You gotta tell me something

Me: I don't care. What do you want?

Hezzo: I don't want McDonalds. or Wendy's. Or any burgers.

Me: I don't either.

Hezzo: Or Taco Bell.

Me: I don't either.

More silence as we drive further

Hezzo: So where are we going?

Me: I don't care. Where do you want to go?

Hezzo: I don't know. Wanna do Mexican?

Me: Yeah. I knew you were gonna say that.

It's a wonder we don't starve to death in this little ritual.

Oh, sometimes it varies. If I decide we usually end up at the pizza joint.

Though Heather declared we couldn't go back there the other day because one of the cooks was flirting with her.

Eh...she'll be back.... If I have anything to do with it...

Animal Crackers, MJ and Manilow...

Today was a weird day. Well, first I was sick all day. Stomach just nauseous. Which I hate. I'd rather be in pain then feeling like I'm going to throw up all day long. Trust me, it makes sitting in meetings that were already almost unbearable even more so. If that's possible...

So, I was really considering leaving early when my boss pops out of her office and asks if I can come back and review some stuff with her. Well, it didn't seem like "No I'm going home instead" was the proper answer, so back I go.

So as I'm going back she informs me she has to go get something to eat, and in a couple seconds she's back with animal crackers. Which she informs me she doesn't like. But she got them because they seemed healthier than Cheetos. Yeah, she and I both do real well together on this dieting thing as a support system for each other, since we both think the same way on that kind of stuff.

So, I start talking to her about Foreclosures and Vacancies, which is what she called me back for, when she starts making the sound of every animal that she is about to eat. OK...if you don't work in an office, you just gotta understand that some days at a certain point you just can't do anymore. Apparently for her this was one of those days. And we were at that point. Which really didn't bother me much because I was kind of there too.

Well, we do finally make it through the exciting world of foreclosures (cough, cough), and then get engaged in a lively discussion about Mr. Jackson's upcoming memorial tomorrow, which somehow leads into a discussion about Barry Manilow, whom Dona can't believe I don't just love, but she really does need to believe it because I really don't care for his music. I mean, I know he's a talented writer and he has a good voice....but his stuff just does not "move me".

So now she's decided she's going to give me a CD to listen to so I can "feel the Barry love".

I have a feeling I might be nauseous again tomorrow...

Sentimental Journey...For The Most Part

I'm beginning to realize that I am a sentimentally morbid person.

I'm still in the midst of all of this cleaning/packing fiasco, which is still pretty much a mess at this point. It would probably be better if I would just concentrate on one area at a time. But I must have ADHD or something, because I get bored in the same spot for an extended period, so I wander over to another part of the apartment and start ripping it apart too. I wish I could help it, but I really don't think I can.

So, last night I started into my hope chest. Wow, talk about a stroll down memory lane. Here is where you'd see my true personality at work. First, there's the sentimental side. I've got cards and letters from people from back when I was in elementary school. I found the card that came with the flowers my date to the senior prom sent me. I found my high school and college ID cards. (We'll just keep those hidden away, in the best interests of the public of course...) I found a note from one of my first piano students many years ago. (She thought I was the "best teacher ever." Of course, she was only like 9. I'm sure she's much smarter now than then.) I found a birthday card from my Granny Barndollar. I think it's the only thing I've got in her handwriting.

It was good to stop and think about her for a little while again.

Then it was on to the magazines. See, I'm a big fan of history. And the only thing I find more fascinating than history that happened a long time ago is history that is happening as we watch it. It just really intrigues me to see the world changing in front of my eyes. And that explains all the magazines. For years I always bought those "Year in Review" magazines. The whole year condensed into one magazine...how convenient! Remember the ADHD...give me the info in as quick and easy a format as possible...

Besides that, apparently the stuff that draws me the most lean toward the "morbid" side. Maybe that's because that's what makes news. Or maybe because those types of things make the most dramatic impact on society. Or maybe it's because it's just so hard to believe people engage in some of the activities that they do, or that their lives head down the course that it does.

Or maybe I am just morbid.

Timothy McVeigh, Columbine, Flight 800, Bill Clinton & Monica Lewinsky, Princess Diana, September 11, Ronald Reagan's passing...

I guess what it is is that all of these things brought out very strong feelings and reactions. Last night in the middle of my mess of living room many years after most of these had happened...I still felt some of those feelings. Things like that shape us...change us... I think that's why I look back to it sometimes. Not to dwell on the horrible past, but to remember. Remember how things used to be...and how it changed in a heartbeat.

So while I probably should part with some of these memories, I doubt I will. I'm just not to that point of reformation yet. Some things are just easier to change than others....

Happy Birthday America!

Hooray For the Red, White and Blue!!

God Bless America

(Happy 4th of July, everyone!)

Heroes and Holidays

Tonight Mom and I went to the store, and there was a man checking out in front of us who was wearing a National Guard uniform. He was just doing his grocery shopping...nothing spectacular in his mind, I'm sure. But I saw something more there.

We were in the presence of a hero.

I should have thanked him...for the sacrifice he makes for us, people he doesn't even know. It made me stop and think about what the upcoming holiday is all about. I had been happy because I don't have to go into the office tomorrow. But I had momentarily forgotten what it's REALLY all about...

It's more than a day off of work.

More than a gathering with family.

More than barbecued chicken and corn on the cob.

More than homemade ice cream.

More than parades and fireworks.

From the first utterance of "Freedom" in Colonial America to the deserts of modern day Iraq and Afghanistan, there have always been those who were willing to lay their lives and their own personal liberties on the line so that this country and the freedom and democracy it stands for could flourish.

Some have served us during peacetime...ready at a moment's notice if we needed them.

Many have gone off to war...seen and lived through things most of us could never dream of.

Some have returned home to try and rebuild a life after unimaginable horrors.

Some have returned home to claim their final resting place in their beloved homeland.

Some remain where they fell...but will never be forgotten by friends and loved ones back home.

So tonight I would just like to say to all of our Civil Servants, Soldiers and Veterans....

Thank You for all you've given to preserve the greatness of America.

Thank You for my Freedom.

Thank You for being my heroes.

I do so appreciate it.

And may God Bless America...

Question of the Week

Why is it that every talent show on television that has a reference to "America" in it always has at least one British judge?

I'm just wondering.

That's kind of bothering me tonight...

Photo Shop

Whoa....2 blogs tonight. This one isn't really though...just some photos to show what the family's been up to lately...

Here's Mammy and her Sunday School kids on Old Fashioned Sunday. Who knew there were Prairies in the middle of Ohio?

Adam chills out in his 70's Leisure Suit duds....

A nice little family shot at our church a couple of weeks ago. We had a memorial service for all of those who had passed on over the years. The church presented mom with a flower in honor of Dad. Notice the sign on the communion table...Life is not forever, but Love is. That was taken from his headstone.

Where Did This Come From???

Tonight I'm cleaning the small closet in my living room. And apparently, someone has been randomly coming into my apartment once or twice a month over the past 13 years and shoving their junk into it. That has to be what has happened, because surely I could not have been hoarding up all of this stuff in here.

I don't even remember ever seeing some of it before. Where did it come from??

Now there's a big mess in living room. Which is so nice, seeing as how it was about the only room that I had left without a mess in it. Now I pretty much am just hopping from one open floor spot to another. If I don't end up with gout again over this, it will be a miracle.

And I've got a show on about a couple buying their first house. They're having appraisal problems. I understand their pain.

And my light bulb just blew. Ha ha ha.....like I have a prayer of finding a light bulb in this place right now.

Maybe it would be better to clean the rest of this closet out in the dark anyway. Who knows what else is lurking in there....

Catch Up

Well, let's catch up on the last couple of days...

I started my new home counseling on Friday. I went to Barnes & Noble to meet this guy that I was supposed to talk to. Of course, I have not a clue what he looks like. So I'm trying to nonchalantly eyeball everyone and try to pick out someone who looks like they might be affiliated with a business of some sort. Then I see him. A guy sitting alone at a table with file folders spread out in front of him. So I walk over and ask if he's waiting for someone. I honestly thought he was going to cry. I mean, he looked terrified. I apologized and assumed he was not my counselor. Because if he was, this was not going to be good. Only I would end up with a mentally unstable counselor...

So I just go sit and hope that counseling dude finds me, since the other way around wasn't working so good. Then I see this guy on the other side of the room who is talking on a cell phone start waving his hand in the air. But he's not really looking at me. So I don't know what this means. And after that last fella, I'm not risking it. So I stay where I'm at. So cell phone man then gets up and comes over and sits down at my table. OK, apparently he was waving at me. But he's still on the phone, so I have to wait for him to get finished with his conversation. This is starting very strangely.

But, it turned out all good. Basically counseling was just talking about all the stuff that you go through buying a house, and how to save as much money as possible. He did have a lot of good info about local businesses with good pricing, so it was worthwhile. We have one more session, then I'm all counseled out.

The bank did tell me the appraisal looked good, so we are moving in the right direction! I have started now to box some things up around here. It's kind of organized chaos, but believe it or not, that's headed in the right direction too. I also washed 7 loads of laundry yesterday, and have at least that many more to go. I'll be hoarding quarters again over then next few days, I guess.

Oh, and I accidentally washed some migraine headache pills in one of my laundry batches. It turned my garment neon green. It kind of looks like it might contain some sort of radioactive material in it. No wonder they make migraines go away...

On top of all of that, Friday night we took Heather out to celebrate her CIC designation. Then last night we (meaning the ladies singing group from our church) had an appointment to sing in Mt Vernon, which is about an hour and 10 minutes or so from us. So we left at 5 and weren't back home until about 10:30 or 11. Then today was Old Fashioned days at the church, and then our Sunday School picnic was after that. It was 4:00 when I got home from that. My first order of business was to fall asleep, not waking until 6:22. Whoa...gotta be back at church at 7:00! Then to mom's for some food (pizza tonight), then here to blog a bit.

And now, it is bedtime.

Shew....I'm tired.

Call Me Hard Headed...

OK....My head still hurts today. Here's why...

Last night I was at the church because one of the groups I play piano for has an appointment Saturday night, and...well - we needed to practice. So we did our thing and then leave to head back home a little after 9.

Well, it's raining pretty good outside, and I'm carrying a portable CD player plus a folder with my songs in it which is made of paper and is bright yellow and so I pretty much know everything inside of it is going to look like it's been smeared with mustard before I can get it to the car. So, since Heather has an umbrella she tells me to get under it and off we go.

I'm yelling at her to take me to the passenger side of my car so I can toss the radio and folder in it. Then I didn't care if I got wet myself or not. So we get there and I'm all hunched down trying to walk under this umbrella and Hezzo's standing right on top of me trying to keep the umbrella over me as I try to open the car door.

Of course in this position I'm too close to the car, so I step back to allow the door room to open. Only problem with that plan is that Heather is still standing extremely close to me, so all I really do is step on her and nearly knock her down. Of course she yells (in my ear) "OOOWWW", so I jump forward to get off of her foot. However, the momentum of my arm is already in motion and pulling the door toward me. And I'm still hunched down because of the umbrella. As a consequence, I basically slammed the corner of the door directly into the middle of my forehead.

In case you're wondering, this does not feel good at all.

Immediately, the ground started spinning. I was sure I was bleeding all over because seriously, it felt like I had cracked my skull completely open. Somehow I manage to pull the door open without hitting myself again and dump the folder and radio on the front seat. I then grab my head and start yelling at Heather "Am I Bleeding?? Am I Bleeding??"

Well, it was extremely difficult to discern her answer through all the laughter. See, Heather basically is NO HELP when it comes to an emergency, because all she really does is laugh at you. I think she might have finally squeaked out something resembling "No" but I'm not 100% sure since suddenly it seemed best for me to try and devote all of my energy to not passing out. So here we stand in the pouring rain, Heather laughing hysterically and me hunched over trying to convince the ground under me to please stop moving. I'm sure it was a lovely sight.

I finally am able to stand up and stagger to the other side of the car to head home. I'm pretty sure I may have given myself a mild concussion, because once I got to the house suddenly I was sick as a dog. And that is not a pretty sight either. And I have absolutely NO recollection of even laying down last night, let alone falling asleep. Thank God I woke up today!

So, the head is still tender to the touch (though amazingly it didn't swell much), but the dizziness has stopped.

And the next time, I will perfectly happy to play from a mustard-colored songlist!

The Happy Dance

Well, yesterday was the big appraisal day. Today I e-mailed the sellers and asked how it went. She told me it went very well, and the appraiser said that there wouldn't be any problem with the house meeting the asking price.

HALLELUJAH!!

They also said "They don't build houses like that anymore".

Wow...that feels good to hear too!

So tomorrow I go to Home buyer counseling. I'm required to take this as part of the Welcome Home grant that I qualified for. I've always know I've needed counseling, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind....

So now I gotta kick the cleaning bug into gear and get this apartment under control. It doesn't help that it's about 92 degrees in here. See, I decided that I didn't want to mess with putting the air conditioner in since I was hopefully moving out. But of course the weather went insanely hot the last couple days. Shew...don't know if I'll make it another couple weeks if it doesn't cool down!

Well, I'm feeling a bit sick right now because I almost knocked myself out (literally) in the parking lot of our church a little bit ago. In a pouring rainstorm. And stepped on Heather's foot and almost knocked her over in the process. I'd explain more, but I think I may need to go throw up or something. Tune in tomorrow.....

House Buying and Superstitions

Well, tomorrow is the big day. The appraiser comes to look at the house. I'll admit...I'm a bit anxious. I've grown pretty fond of the little place. (Hmm, I might have mentioned that before, huh...) However, I still leave it in God's hands, and if it's meant to be, it will all work out. (please let it be meant to be!)

So the homeowners were back from vacation yesterday, and I still had their key where they had let me use it while they were gone. I figured I'd better return it. So I tracked them down over at the little place, where Mr. Homeowner was painting the shutters a nice fresh coat of green paint. He also had a nice fresh coat of green paint all over his hands. Hmm...I told him he was turning into the Incredible Hulk on us. His wife said he looked like Oscar the Grouch. He told me he liked my analogy better. Just don't get him mad....

While I was there the neighbor came out and was talking to Mr. Homeowner. Mrs. Homeowner wanted to introduce me to him. Mr. Homeowner wouldn't do it, as he did not want to "jinx" the sale. Mr. Homeowner is kind of a superstitious type. His son played football and ran track with Adam. Whatever routine we were in when we were winning (for example, meeting at their house for hot dogs after the game), he would make sure we kept doing. So, we give him his superstitions. I'll just have to meet Mr. Neighbor after I move in, I guess.

So, I'll keep you posted as soon as we get a figure. And for all you prayin' folk out there...keep tomorrow at 12:30 in mind if you think of it. A little of that I think will go a long way with Mr. Homeowner's superstitions!

And a couple side-notes...I drank my black cherry juice for gout last night. Tonight...no gout. OK, that had to be at least partly coincidence. It couldn't have cleared it up that fast. However...I believe I will be sticking to the black cherry diet for a while. Just in case....

And, if you've been over to The Great Lollygag lately (see link to the right), you'll see Hezzo talking about our Father's Day. I had forgotten....she did want to take the flowers off of someones grave. Yes, it was a pretty hanging basket. Yes, she didn't realize they were actually at a headstone (because the headstone was actually a bench, which is kind of cool). However, I don't think it's proper to envision removing flowers from ANYWHERE in a cemetery. Just something to keep in mind Hezzo....

Until we meet again.