So just how was our trip to the coronor's office?
Well first of all..."I didn't see dead people" There is no viewing at the coronor's office...even for the next-of-kin.
I should back up...
The coronor's office for my county is located inside the courthouse/jail facility. {kinda funny, you can get married, go to court and or jail, and have your body processed all in the same building.} So there is a security scan at the front door.
When I first arrived I checked at the security station to make sure I was in the right location. I informed the guard that I was there for a tour and would go back outside to wait for the rest of my group. When we had all arrived (YAY group! For everyone to arrive and be on time is quite an accomplishment!) we proceded to the security station.
The guard decided that we did not need to take off all our metal and have it x-rayed. He thought it would be fun for the kids to see what it was like to set off the metal detectors. So we went through and most of the kids did not set off the sensor...all of the adults did (keys!) Darly's eyeglass case did set it off.
Then it was off to the coronor's office. And for the most part it looked just like any other office...upstairs. They had a spreadsheet with all the cases they were working up on a plasma TV monitor...but that soon disappeared. We were later told that the screen replaced all the whiteboards that were still hanging on the wall. I think the computer screen is probably a better idea as they can turn it off when they have guests to protect the privacy of the families. (while I didn't see it on the screen, I know that they are currently working on a murder/suicide that happened a few days ago in my town.)
We met the chief deputy coronor, the coronor was not in the office at the time of our visit. There are 4 investigators in the office, we got to meet three.
Then it was time to go downstairs to the morgue. We got to see the door of the evidence room. It is locked with a fingerprint scan device (you know they proved on Mythbusters that you cannot crack those!) There was a couch in that area because that used to be their front office, they just recently expanded into the upstairs offices...they were really jammed in there before!
Next we got to see the first morgue (with the expanding of offices they now have two morgues...where before they just had the one.) We were shown the video camera that records the autopsy and can send feed to a room upstairs for the law enforcement folks to watch (they aren't allowed in the morgue like you see on TV...they could contaminate something!)
Normally we would have been able to go into the frig but it was occupied so no visit today. Our guide told us that it is just like a walk-in frig, only instead of food on the shelves there are bodies. There was a set of individual body coolers (for lack of knowing what the correct term for it is) but unlike you see on TV there was only room for 3 there. We didn't ask as we noticed it at the last moment in the room, but I would assume that they used that for autopsies in progress...and since they only have two tables there would not be a need for more than 3 at a time.
We next saw the second morgue that included the pathologist's desk (a very small table with a few files and a computer.) We were told that the pathologist works for a few different counties and isn't in this office every day. I would have to assume that this pathologist is a very busy person as we were told that our county was "swamped" at the moment and that the next county was also "swamped."
Then it was on to the garage. In the garage they have a scale that is tared with the weight of their gurneys so they can weigh the bodies as they arrive. The garage door is closed any time a body is being loaded or unloaded to protect the privacy of the deceased. Bodies being released to the funeral home are picked up there with the door closed.
We got to see one of the investigator's vehicles. They use a large SUV for this. Looking at it you wouldn't suspect that it was from the coronor's office and that is on purpose. They also use the SUV because it has the ability to get up into the mountains easier than say a herst or ambulance. The investigator we spoke with said he had done numerous water recoveries and one rapelling recovery (that's where you go down a mountain on ropes). The vehicles do have flashing lights like on an unmarked police car, this is only so that the investigator can gain access to the scene (there is an officer that the investigators have to check in and out with at every scene), since there is no hurry the lights aren't used for anything else.
We got to ask loads of questions. One that really stuck in my mind was that if you live in one county but were to die in another county (say I was going to see my MIL and died on the way) the body would be taken to and processed at the coronor's office in the county where you die and then because you're a resident of the other county that county would be notified.
And yes the coronor's offices do work together and help eachother out. Many of the smaller population counties near ours use this office...and if there were a mass casulty accident all the counties would help out.
While I had a great time on this field trip, Darly was totally not interested. However, I don't think that she'll be mad at me forever. LOL! After the tour we went next door to the animal shelter and got to visit all the cute critters that were up for adoption. There were two (purebread looking) black lab puppies that had already found a new home. And loads of very cute cats. I of course was looking at the rabbits. I wanted to take them all.
One of the volunteers asked if we needed any help and I told her that we were just visiting after touring the coronor's office and if I adopted another pet I should just drive back there and wait for DH to finish me off. She laughed.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
almost 22 days
I thought I would give you an update on my no Pepsi challenge. As you can see from my ticker it has been almost (or maybe by the time you read this) 22 days. And I'm still Pepsi free. YAY!
Have I been tempted? YOU BETCHA!
One evening DH had set his freshly opened can on the kitchen counter and I was doing something and bent my head near it and could smell it! Oh I wanted just a tiny sip...but I was a good girl and walked away.
And to avoid all temptation for the next two weeks, I had Darly take all the Pepsi out of our frig and put it in the garage...it will be colder out there anyway...and it's easy to avoid when you don't even see it.
The hardest thing has been to avoid colas when I've been eating away from home. And I admit that I have had Sprite two times (those darned combo meals!) but for everything else it has been lemonade or water.
Aren't you proud of me???
Have I been tempted? YOU BETCHA!
One evening DH had set his freshly opened can on the kitchen counter and I was doing something and bent my head near it and could smell it! Oh I wanted just a tiny sip...but I was a good girl and walked away.
And to avoid all temptation for the next two weeks, I had Darly take all the Pepsi out of our frig and put it in the garage...it will be colder out there anyway...and it's easy to avoid when you don't even see it.
The hardest thing has been to avoid colas when I've been eating away from home. And I admit that I have had Sprite two times (those darned combo meals!) but for everything else it has been lemonade or water.
Aren't you proud of me???
How did this happen???
DH is out of town for a bit. Normally my calendar is PACKED with activities for Darly & I to do, but for some weird reason we have a lot of free time while DH is gone. This almost NEVER happens...and it's not so good.
Usually when we're sitting around with nothing to do we get to doing things that can get us into trouble. LOL!
actually we do have a few things going on this week...
today, nothing is planned.
tomorrow: Coroner's Office for a tour. LOL! Yup! you read that right...we get to see our county's morgue. The website is promising "Elementary and junior high school students are the most fascinated with the tour. These groups are all given pictures of their groups in the morgue." I'll keep you posted on the nightmare count.
Wednesday: we are going to the museum in search of elfs. "(The artist), who painted many of the diorama backgrounds for the Museum, often hid tiny elves in his work. The elves are well camouflaged, but using (a) guide and a Museum mpa, you can seek out the elves as well as some other surprises." Darly & I are members of the museum and have found many of the elves already...gotta make sure that kid remembers her glasses!!! or she won't see a thing. I wish I could find where dh hid his laser pointer. But there is one that we have yet to locate...I'm hoping that with the group of us going that it might be easier to locate him.
Thursday: I've volunteered to fold Newsletters at Church...that should take about an hour...then what?
Friday: we are doing a combined Girl Scout meeting and Leap Day party with my homeschooling group. See the Girl Scout troop had already planned the Leap Day party and then the homeschool group realized it was Leap Day and wanted to do something so we invited them to our party. We are going to make "time capsule" cards...where we write down some stuff and seal it away until the next Leap Day and see how things have changed. We have other froggy events planed too.
NOTHING FOR THE WEEKEND - well except for Church
and then a coop class on Monday...then that's it. Nothing else planned.
Usually when we're sitting around with nothing to do we get to doing things that can get us into trouble. LOL!
actually we do have a few things going on this week...
today, nothing is planned.
tomorrow: Coroner's Office for a tour. LOL! Yup! you read that right...we get to see our county's morgue. The website is promising "Elementary and junior high school students are the most fascinated with the tour. These groups are all given pictures of their groups in the morgue." I'll keep you posted on the nightmare count.
Wednesday: we are going to the museum in search of elfs. "(The artist), who painted many of the diorama backgrounds for the Museum, often hid tiny elves in his work. The elves are well camouflaged, but using (a) guide and a Museum mpa, you can seek out the elves as well as some other surprises." Darly & I are members of the museum and have found many of the elves already...gotta make sure that kid remembers her glasses!!! or she won't see a thing. I wish I could find where dh hid his laser pointer. But there is one that we have yet to locate...I'm hoping that with the group of us going that it might be easier to locate him.
Thursday: I've volunteered to fold Newsletters at Church...that should take about an hour...then what?
Friday: we are doing a combined Girl Scout meeting and Leap Day party with my homeschooling group. See the Girl Scout troop had already planned the Leap Day party and then the homeschool group realized it was Leap Day and wanted to do something so we invited them to our party. We are going to make "time capsule" cards...where we write down some stuff and seal it away until the next Leap Day and see how things have changed. We have other froggy events planed too.
NOTHING FOR THE WEEKEND - well except for Church
and then a coop class on Monday...then that's it. Nothing else planned.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Pizzagna curiosity
I had an idea about my recipe...
I was curious as to who all thought that they might make it and what changes they would make to the recipe. (I'm looking for yummy variations!)
So, if you've made it or are thinking of making it...let me know and let me know how you've tweaked it too. or your ideas for tweaking it.
This might be fun!
I was curious as to who all thought that they might make it and what changes they would make to the recipe. (I'm looking for yummy variations!)
So, if you've made it or are thinking of making it...let me know and let me know how you've tweaked it too. or your ideas for tweaking it.
This might be fun!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Pizzagna recipe
Here is Rachal Ray's version.
And here is mine:
jarred pizza sauce
favorite pizza toppings (we like peperoni & canadian bacon {and I like mushrooms!})
shredded motzarella cheese
shredded parmesan cheese
cottage cheese (you can use ricotta, but my family prefers this)
wide egg noodles
cook your noodles according to the directions and drain them. In the noodle pot, I mix the pizza sauce with the cooked & cut into bite sized pizza toppings with cottage cheese...heat this through. Then add the noodles back in.
I just serve this from the pot and add the shredded cheeses at the table (let everyone put on their own) but you could also put this in a casserole, top with the cheese and melt it in the oven.
I didn't put the amounts because you can adjust this to how much you need to feed your sized family. For us I use 2 jars of sauce, one 16 oz container of cottage cheese & one packet each of the toppings...oh and I have no idea how much noodles I use...it's like 6 handfuls dry. For the 3 of us I can get it to feed us for 3 days. I'm pretty sure that my version is done in way less than 30 min. LOL!
Oh and if you Must have Pizza Crust, some crusty French Bread or bread sticks work really well.
And here is mine:
jarred pizza sauce
favorite pizza toppings (we like peperoni & canadian bacon {and I like mushrooms!})
shredded motzarella cheese
shredded parmesan cheese
cottage cheese (you can use ricotta, but my family prefers this)
wide egg noodles
cook your noodles according to the directions and drain them. In the noodle pot, I mix the pizza sauce with the cooked & cut into bite sized pizza toppings with cottage cheese...heat this through. Then add the noodles back in.
I just serve this from the pot and add the shredded cheeses at the table (let everyone put on their own) but you could also put this in a casserole, top with the cheese and melt it in the oven.
I didn't put the amounts because you can adjust this to how much you need to feed your sized family. For us I use 2 jars of sauce, one 16 oz container of cottage cheese & one packet each of the toppings...oh and I have no idea how much noodles I use...it's like 6 handfuls dry. For the 3 of us I can get it to feed us for 3 days. I'm pretty sure that my version is done in way less than 30 min. LOL!
Oh and if you Must have Pizza Crust, some crusty French Bread or bread sticks work really well.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Stolen!
...from Jennifer, cuz it looked like a lot of fun!
60 Things (of course, there are some missing...there always are...don't know why...)
60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me (or maybe you did, but I'm telling ya anyway ;))
I originally stole this the other day, but I was running late and didn’t post it then. So now some of it is a little bit out of date. I’m going through it right now to update it for you…don’t sue me if I miss something. Thanks!
1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
I’m not entirely sure…that’s pretty much Darly’s domain. She normally keeps a few books back there to read and some toys too.
2. When was the last time you threw up?
I’m not sure. I think it was when I had that migraine a few years ago. I’ve felt so bad that I thought I was gonna puke since then, but I don’t remember actually doing it.
3. What's your favorite curse word?
I don’t curse if I can help it. So I don’t have a favorite. However, I have been known to say crap a lot.
4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
Just DH so far. But the day is still young! here’s something that is out of date. I was asleep when DH left for work today, so I didn’t even see him today. So so far let me see… Kathy on my homeschooling board made me smile when she said that her DH doesn’t ask the boys questions that he doesn’t know the answer to. Backing this story up… since Monday was President’s day her boys asked if they could have the day off from homeschooling and their dad said only if they could tell him why we have the holiday…Her boys were able to answer the question with flying colors! I suggested that the boys ask the dad if he knew first and Kathy said he wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t.
2nd smile was Kailani’s peek-a-boo picture.
And 3rd smile I’m still waiting for.
5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
getting my coffee and taking care of the rabbits. today I was loading the laundry and getting my coffee.
6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Reading my message boards. which were back up and running after being down all day yesterday! YAY! We were so worried about losing all our stuff.
7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now?
Let’s see, it’s almost 9am now…3 hours will be 12pm…I’ll be on the road heading to Colorado Springs. that was for Monday too. Today we are going to a book report class on Titanic books. Darly will be doing hers on the Magic Tree house story. And then we will go to Heather’s house so she can go get her new storage shelf…using my car.
8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
To a club where there is just stripping (that would be women stripping as I don’t think I’ve seen a male strip club (do they have those in California? I dunno.) Anyway, I have been to a bar where they had males stripping for my bachelorette party. Trust me when I say it was a TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY!!! The show as so lame and of course the guys don’t go for the “full monty”, not that I wanted to see that on them anyway. At one point in the show the guys come around through the audience to get tips…this one guy grabs my hands and places them on his butt…ewe! YUCK! nothing new to report here! LOL!
9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
“Go Potty” To our dog. She had asked to go outside, but as soon as she got out she was looking and listening for the neighbor dogs to go bark at. See our dog forgets to go potty when she’s outside. I know this because we’ll let her out and within seconds she is barking at the neighbor dogs so we call her in and she comes about 3 steps and squats…just looking at us. I don’t think that I have said anything this morning yet…but I’ve typed plenty. Weird! And I don’t remember the last thing I said last night.
10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Cherry Vanilla!
11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Coffee
12. What are you wearing right now?
Red sweater, blue jeans, purple fuzzy slippers from Darly. today I’m wearing a plum sweater, different jeans and my same slippers!
13. What was the last thing you ate?
Pecans! But for dinner I had Pizzagna (like lasagna only with pizza sauce) today that answer is asparagus!
14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
I almost said NO…but I totally spaced out that I bought a dress for Easter just the other night. not since I wrote about the dress…but I looked online this morning for some shoes to go with the dress…nothing that I liked so far. I’ve decided that I’m gonna try to sew Darly’s Easter dress, which means I need to get my patterns out and find her some fabric.
15. When was the last time you ran?
hummm good question! Oh I know…yesterday I ran to my car from Church cuz it was freezing out!
16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
On TV, we watched about 10 minutes of the Super Bowl (enough to watch the Patriots loose :( And in person, we went to a Rockies game.
18. Who is the last person you emailed?
Heather hummm I just IMed Heather, but my last email was to Kim.
19. Ever go camping?
yes. Last August. I can’t wait to go again!
20. Do you have a tan?
I think my left arm is permanently damaged from my driver’s tan.
24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
no
25. What did your last IM say?
I think we were talking about Girl Scout cookies…but I’m not sure. well today my last IM was about Heather using my car to get her new shelf.
26. Are you someone's best friend?
I would hope that I’m DH’s best friend, but you would have to ask him to be sure.
27. What are you doing tomorrow?
going to answer phones at Church and mail out worship attendant post cards. Laundry & take Darly to the gym. tomorrow I’ll be taking Darly & Heather’s daughter to see “The Music Man”
28. Where is your mom right now?
Florida
29. Look to your left, what do you see? trash can, vacuum cleaner
30. What color is your watch?
Navy blue band, white face.
31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ?
Beautiful oceans, unusual animals, red parched earth
32. Would you consider plastic surgery?
I wanted to get some work done a few years ago, but now I just want to have them taken off! Still sick of them!
33. What is your birthstone?
Garnet
34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
Both! It depends on how complicated the order is. I don’t trust those folks to get a complicated order over the speaker. Funny though, I used to work drive thru (almost every place I worked would put me on drive thru…I don’t know if it was because I was so good I could do it, or if I was so bad on the front counter they wanted to keep me far away from it!)
35.How many kids do you want?
One is plenty, thankyouverymuch.
36. Do you have a dog?
Just one.
37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
No idea! I can’t remember if it was a friend’s husband or if it was … hummm I know this one!!! The last person I talked to was some idiot calling from the Leukemia & lymphoma society. I call this person an idiot because he began his call thanking me for being so generous in the past (I have NEVER donated to them before!) and wanted me to mail out letters to my neighbors asking them for donations. Okay, I’m not opposed to donating to them…I’m just opposed to their methods here.
I asked him to take my name off his calling list and hung up on him since he seemed to not want to stop talking to me at that point. Yeah, I’m that brutal!
38. Have you met anyone famous?
Kevin Fitzgerald & Holly Knor from Emergency Vets, and I went to high school with Tino Martinez
39. Any plans today?
We leave the house in about an hour to head down to Manitou Springs to go see Cave of the Winds. After that I have to pick up more Girl Scout cookies this evening and then go to Teacher’s Night Out. Woo hoo! today we are going to that Titanic book report thing and then over to Heather’s place. I need to get her cookies ready.
40. How many states have you lived in?
LA, FL, WV, TX, WY, CO = 6 Oh and we lived in Osan, South Korea too.
41. Ever go to college?
Yes...twice.
42. Where are you right now?
In the office, sitting on a chair.
43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
mostly other people!
44. Last song listened to?
He Reigns - Newsboys Indescribable – Chris Tomlin...still working on this and now the last song is I'll Be For You - Toby Mac
46. Are you allergic to anything?
I’m not sure, but I think I’m allergic to Rubarb. And I know that I’m really allergic to Poision Ivy…I just get near the stuff and break out all over!
47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
My purple fuzzy slippers that Darly got me…but sadly they’re falling apart. Time to get some new ones.
48. Are you jealous of anyone?
No!
50. Is anyone jealous of you?
beats me…ask them
51. What time is it?
9:25 now! Wow! Last time I looked at the clock it was almost 9…this is taking longer than I thought to fill out. 10:27 now…and two days later.
52. Do any of your friends have children?
Most of them do!
53. Do you eat healthy?
For the most part.
54. What do you usually do during the day?
Too much!
55. Do you hate anyone right now?
Not that I know of!
56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
No, usually I just say “Hi”
58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
42…you just missed me turning 41.
59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
yup! Only it was called Fiesta Texas then.
60. How did you get one of your scars?
Hummm, which one to choose?
Near my eyebrow – fell into the coffee table as a toddler
Left hand middle finger – slicer at Arbys (had the metal mesh glove on right hand to clean the slicer, used my left hand to reach toward the blade, cuz the right hand was too heavy to lift.)
Left wrist – oh yeah, you only asked for one!
60 Things (of course, there are some missing...there always are...don't know why...)
60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me (or maybe you did, but I'm telling ya anyway ;))
I originally stole this the other day, but I was running late and didn’t post it then. So now some of it is a little bit out of date. I’m going through it right now to update it for you…don’t sue me if I miss something. Thanks!
1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
I’m not entirely sure…that’s pretty much Darly’s domain. She normally keeps a few books back there to read and some toys too.
2. When was the last time you threw up?
I’m not sure. I think it was when I had that migraine a few years ago. I’ve felt so bad that I thought I was gonna puke since then, but I don’t remember actually doing it.
3. What's your favorite curse word?
I don’t curse if I can help it. So I don’t have a favorite. However, I have been known to say crap a lot.
4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
Just DH so far. But the day is still young! here’s something that is out of date. I was asleep when DH left for work today, so I didn’t even see him today. So so far let me see… Kathy on my homeschooling board made me smile when she said that her DH doesn’t ask the boys questions that he doesn’t know the answer to. Backing this story up… since Monday was President’s day her boys asked if they could have the day off from homeschooling and their dad said only if they could tell him why we have the holiday…Her boys were able to answer the question with flying colors! I suggested that the boys ask the dad if he knew first and Kathy said he wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t.
2nd smile was Kailani’s peek-a-boo picture.
And 3rd smile I’m still waiting for.
5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
getting my coffee and taking care of the rabbits. today I was loading the laundry and getting my coffee.
6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Reading my message boards. which were back up and running after being down all day yesterday! YAY! We were so worried about losing all our stuff.
7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now?
Let’s see, it’s almost 9am now…3 hours will be 12pm…I’ll be on the road heading to Colorado Springs. that was for Monday too. Today we are going to a book report class on Titanic books. Darly will be doing hers on the Magic Tree house story. And then we will go to Heather’s house so she can go get her new storage shelf…using my car.
8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
To a club where there is just stripping (that would be women stripping as I don’t think I’ve seen a male strip club (do they have those in California? I dunno.) Anyway, I have been to a bar where they had males stripping for my bachelorette party. Trust me when I say it was a TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY!!! The show as so lame and of course the guys don’t go for the “full monty”, not that I wanted to see that on them anyway. At one point in the show the guys come around through the audience to get tips…this one guy grabs my hands and places them on his butt…ewe! YUCK! nothing new to report here! LOL!
9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
“Go Potty” To our dog. She had asked to go outside, but as soon as she got out she was looking and listening for the neighbor dogs to go bark at. See our dog forgets to go potty when she’s outside. I know this because we’ll let her out and within seconds she is barking at the neighbor dogs so we call her in and she comes about 3 steps and squats…just looking at us. I don’t think that I have said anything this morning yet…but I’ve typed plenty. Weird! And I don’t remember the last thing I said last night.
10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Cherry Vanilla!
11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Coffee
12. What are you wearing right now?
Red sweater, blue jeans, purple fuzzy slippers from Darly. today I’m wearing a plum sweater, different jeans and my same slippers!
13. What was the last thing you ate?
Pecans! But for dinner I had Pizzagna (like lasagna only with pizza sauce) today that answer is asparagus!
14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
I almost said NO…but I totally spaced out that I bought a dress for Easter just the other night. not since I wrote about the dress…but I looked online this morning for some shoes to go with the dress…nothing that I liked so far. I’ve decided that I’m gonna try to sew Darly’s Easter dress, which means I need to get my patterns out and find her some fabric.
15. When was the last time you ran?
hummm good question! Oh I know…yesterday I ran to my car from Church cuz it was freezing out!
16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
On TV, we watched about 10 minutes of the Super Bowl (enough to watch the Patriots loose :( And in person, we went to a Rockies game.
18. Who is the last person you emailed?
Heather hummm I just IMed Heather, but my last email was to Kim.
19. Ever go camping?
yes. Last August. I can’t wait to go again!
20. Do you have a tan?
I think my left arm is permanently damaged from my driver’s tan.
24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
no
25. What did your last IM say?
I think we were talking about Girl Scout cookies…but I’m not sure. well today my last IM was about Heather using my car to get her new shelf.
26. Are you someone's best friend?
I would hope that I’m DH’s best friend, but you would have to ask him to be sure.
27. What are you doing tomorrow?
going to answer phones at Church and mail out worship attendant post cards. Laundry & take Darly to the gym. tomorrow I’ll be taking Darly & Heather’s daughter to see “The Music Man”
28. Where is your mom right now?
Florida
29. Look to your left, what do you see? trash can, vacuum cleaner
30. What color is your watch?
Navy blue band, white face.
31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ?
Beautiful oceans, unusual animals, red parched earth
32. Would you consider plastic surgery?
I wanted to get some work done a few years ago, but now I just want to have them taken off! Still sick of them!
33. What is your birthstone?
Garnet
34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
Both! It depends on how complicated the order is. I don’t trust those folks to get a complicated order over the speaker. Funny though, I used to work drive thru (almost every place I worked would put me on drive thru…I don’t know if it was because I was so good I could do it, or if I was so bad on the front counter they wanted to keep me far away from it!)
35.How many kids do you want?
One is plenty, thankyouverymuch.
36. Do you have a dog?
Just one.
37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
No idea! I can’t remember if it was a friend’s husband or if it was … hummm I know this one!!! The last person I talked to was some idiot calling from the Leukemia & lymphoma society. I call this person an idiot because he began his call thanking me for being so generous in the past (I have NEVER donated to them before!) and wanted me to mail out letters to my neighbors asking them for donations. Okay, I’m not opposed to donating to them…I’m just opposed to their methods here.
I asked him to take my name off his calling list and hung up on him since he seemed to not want to stop talking to me at that point. Yeah, I’m that brutal!
38. Have you met anyone famous?
Kevin Fitzgerald & Holly Knor from Emergency Vets, and I went to high school with Tino Martinez
39. Any plans today?
We leave the house in about an hour to head down to Manitou Springs to go see Cave of the Winds. After that I have to pick up more Girl Scout cookies this evening and then go to Teacher’s Night Out. Woo hoo! today we are going to that Titanic book report thing and then over to Heather’s place. I need to get her cookies ready.
40. How many states have you lived in?
LA, FL, WV, TX, WY, CO = 6 Oh and we lived in Osan, South Korea too.
41. Ever go to college?
Yes...twice.
42. Where are you right now?
In the office, sitting on a chair.
43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
mostly other people!
44. Last song listened to?
He Reigns - Newsboys Indescribable – Chris Tomlin...still working on this and now the last song is I'll Be For You - Toby Mac
46. Are you allergic to anything?
I’m not sure, but I think I’m allergic to Rubarb. And I know that I’m really allergic to Poision Ivy…I just get near the stuff and break out all over!
47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
My purple fuzzy slippers that Darly got me…but sadly they’re falling apart. Time to get some new ones.
48. Are you jealous of anyone?
No!
50. Is anyone jealous of you?
beats me…ask them
51. What time is it?
9:25 now! Wow! Last time I looked at the clock it was almost 9…this is taking longer than I thought to fill out. 10:27 now…and two days later.
52. Do any of your friends have children?
Most of them do!
53. Do you eat healthy?
For the most part.
54. What do you usually do during the day?
Too much!
55. Do you hate anyone right now?
Not that I know of!
56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
No, usually I just say “Hi”
58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
42…you just missed me turning 41.
59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
yup! Only it was called Fiesta Texas then.
60. How did you get one of your scars?
Hummm, which one to choose?
Near my eyebrow – fell into the coffee table as a toddler
Left hand middle finger – slicer at Arbys (had the metal mesh glove on right hand to clean the slicer, used my left hand to reach toward the blade, cuz the right hand was too heavy to lift.)
Left wrist – oh yeah, you only asked for one!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
All to do for nothing...
well I got all worried about Darly's hair cut for nothing. Turns out the gal who cut it wasn't there and neither was her sister. And no one said anything about her cute new hair cut. hummm well they were kinda used to seeing Darly in a ponytail. LOL!
So last week after Church I sent out an email to everyone who had ordered cookies from Darly letting them know the cookies were in and where they could pick them up. Everyone who emailed back was there and picked them up...well except for one...oops I forgot that.
I couldn't believe how many folks weren't at Church today...3 day weekends are a bigger thing than I though. Wow!
So I get to Church early today and hand out quite a bit of cookies...YAY! and put them back in the car, go to Church...get them back out after Church...SMACK my hand on my luggage cart to carry the cookies OUCH!! and hardly anyone shows up after Church. We did sell 6 extra boxes though and one girl asked if we would still be selling next week. But I was hoping to be much more done than this.
I had to order some more cookies to replace the 6 we sold (cuz they were really someone elses...but you snooze, you loose. Okay, not really!) I'll get those tomorrow at the Cupboard.
Now I'm sporting purple fingers on my right hand. Luckily they don't hurt...unless I touch them.
So last week after Church I sent out an email to everyone who had ordered cookies from Darly letting them know the cookies were in and where they could pick them up. Everyone who emailed back was there and picked them up...well except for one...oops I forgot that.
I couldn't believe how many folks weren't at Church today...3 day weekends are a bigger thing than I though. Wow!
So I get to Church early today and hand out quite a bit of cookies...YAY! and put them back in the car, go to Church...get them back out after Church...SMACK my hand on my luggage cart to carry the cookies OUCH!! and hardly anyone shows up after Church. We did sell 6 extra boxes though and one girl asked if we would still be selling next week. But I was hoping to be much more done than this.
I had to order some more cookies to replace the 6 we sold (cuz they were really someone elses...but you snooze, you loose. Okay, not really!) I'll get those tomorrow at the Cupboard.
Now I'm sporting purple fingers on my right hand. Luckily they don't hurt...unless I touch them.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
what to do?
Last week or maybe even before then Darly mentioned that she wanted to get her hair cut...kinda like my new doo. So I kept asking her when she wanted to do it and she finally decided on Wednesday.
So I decided to take her where I got my hair done...Wally World. I've always had good luck there so I didn't think anything of it.
We arrived at the Wally World hair cutting place and I see a very familiar face! It's a girl that we know from Church. (I actually teach her younger sister Sunday School.) I had no idea that she had gone to beauty school, but I did know that she was out of high school. I was quite suprised. And as it turned out, she was the one who would be cutting Darly's hair.
I was fine with that at first...
But as she was cutting Darly's hair, I noticed that her scissors were quite dull. She would take a section of Darly's hair and try to cut it, but the scissors would just push most of it back out. She also didn't have her technique of hanging onto her scissors & comb down and kept having to readjust them.
As she was getting farther along, I noticed quite a bit of hair that she had missed. I didn't say anything until she appeared to be finishing up. So I walked over and just took the hair that I saw and pulled it gently where she could see it. She quickly clipped it off and looked around a bit for any others...but didn't comb the hair that I noticed tucked under and sticking to Darly's neck.
Then she took off the drape and had Darly stand up. Right off I noticed that Darly's hair was uneven. About an inch off. I asked as politely as I could "Is it just me? Or does this seem a bit uneven?" And she then noticed it too and began clipping the longer side to try to make it even. She mentioned that she didn't know how it could look so off since it measured as even. (note: Darly no longer has the drape on her at this point! and hair is getting all over her sweater) Finally she's declaring it done.
I figured it was pointless to try anymore and that I would just fix it up at home. I paid for the cut...luckily Darly is still under 10 so for the next two months we pay the kids price..."YIKES! how did my child grow up so fast?" Darly has her hair tucked behind her ears so the bad cut isn't quite noticable.
We get home and I grab my scissors and comb. OH MY GOSH! What a mess! There were a ton more places where there was a clump of hairs that she just missed. And then the long end was still long. Luckily I know enough about cutting hair to fix it up. And by the time that DH got home to take us out to dinner for Valentines Day, Darly looked perfect!
I am kicking myself for paying for the cut that I could have done myself...especially since I ended up doing it myself anyway.
But my dilemma is Church this week. I certainly don't want to give credit for that cut to the girl from Church, but I also don't want to tell everyone how I had to fix her hair cut and trash her either. I wasn't able to see if she actually has her beauty license yet. I just assumed that Wally World wouldn't hire her until she had it.
*sigh* Perhaps we can just smile and not mention where we got her hair cut for most folks. The fun part will be if the younger sister has already been told about the cut. I guess I should come up with a plan with Darly before we go to Church. We'll just not mention that I had to fix it.
So I decided to take her where I got my hair done...Wally World. I've always had good luck there so I didn't think anything of it.
We arrived at the Wally World hair cutting place and I see a very familiar face! It's a girl that we know from Church. (I actually teach her younger sister Sunday School.) I had no idea that she had gone to beauty school, but I did know that she was out of high school. I was quite suprised. And as it turned out, she was the one who would be cutting Darly's hair.
I was fine with that at first...
But as she was cutting Darly's hair, I noticed that her scissors were quite dull. She would take a section of Darly's hair and try to cut it, but the scissors would just push most of it back out. She also didn't have her technique of hanging onto her scissors & comb down and kept having to readjust them.
As she was getting farther along, I noticed quite a bit of hair that she had missed. I didn't say anything until she appeared to be finishing up. So I walked over and just took the hair that I saw and pulled it gently where she could see it. She quickly clipped it off and looked around a bit for any others...but didn't comb the hair that I noticed tucked under and sticking to Darly's neck.
Then she took off the drape and had Darly stand up. Right off I noticed that Darly's hair was uneven. About an inch off. I asked as politely as I could "Is it just me? Or does this seem a bit uneven?" And she then noticed it too and began clipping the longer side to try to make it even. She mentioned that she didn't know how it could look so off since it measured as even. (note: Darly no longer has the drape on her at this point! and hair is getting all over her sweater) Finally she's declaring it done.
I figured it was pointless to try anymore and that I would just fix it up at home. I paid for the cut...luckily Darly is still under 10 so for the next two months we pay the kids price..."YIKES! how did my child grow up so fast?" Darly has her hair tucked behind her ears so the bad cut isn't quite noticable.
We get home and I grab my scissors and comb. OH MY GOSH! What a mess! There were a ton more places where there was a clump of hairs that she just missed. And then the long end was still long. Luckily I know enough about cutting hair to fix it up. And by the time that DH got home to take us out to dinner for Valentines Day, Darly looked perfect!
I am kicking myself for paying for the cut that I could have done myself...especially since I ended up doing it myself anyway.
But my dilemma is Church this week. I certainly don't want to give credit for that cut to the girl from Church, but I also don't want to tell everyone how I had to fix her hair cut and trash her either. I wasn't able to see if she actually has her beauty license yet. I just assumed that Wally World wouldn't hire her until she had it.
*sigh* Perhaps we can just smile and not mention where we got her hair cut for most folks. The fun part will be if the younger sister has already been told about the cut. I guess I should come up with a plan with Darly before we go to Church. We'll just not mention that I had to fix it.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Am I a great Mom or what?
HUH? you ask.
Well today I'm Pimping out my blog for 5 chances to win Darly a copy of Hannah Montana: One in a Million.
I know not just one but two little girlies who would be so totally thrilled if I won this DVD for them.
So here I go...
If you would like to sign up for a chance to win this DVD too go here: Momsational
Well today I'm Pimping out my blog for 5 chances to win Darly a copy of Hannah Montana: One in a Million.
I know not just one but two little girlies who would be so totally thrilled if I won this DVD for them.
So here I go...
If you would like to sign up for a chance to win this DVD too go here: Momsational
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Update on the Pepsi thing...
NOPE! I'm still on the waggon, but it has been VERY hard. But I've been very good and having water instead. I can do this.
Bone suggested that I just cut back instead of going cold turkey. I was already pretty far back when I gave it up. I was drinking just one can...sometimes not the entire can and sometimes not every day. And since I had only been drinking it again for a few weeks, I was lucky and didn't get a caffeine withdrawl headache.
My only problem really is that time between 2:30 and 4:30 when my blood sugar drops and the promise of a quick energy boost just calls to me. But I'm able to tackle that with water & some nuts.
Jennifer asked if I wanted a buddy to go through this with. And that would be wonderful! Wouldn't it be cool if we started an entire blogosphere revolution that got the soda companies scared. LOL okay maybe we couldn't get that far.
and a side note: there is this mom & daughter at the gym that we see every Tuesday & Thursday...and each time they purchase a soda (usually the orange soda) out of the machine at the gym. (I've already suggested that the gym sell water instead, but the machine is there because the owner of the building had it put in.) So back to my story. Well the little girl is quite headstrong and determined to open the soda herself. Yesterday they had got a diet pepsi and N cracks it open and it spits and foams EVERYWHERE!!! including on the library book that they were reading.
I found myself disgusted and happy that I had given the stuff up.
Bone suggested that I just cut back instead of going cold turkey. I was already pretty far back when I gave it up. I was drinking just one can...sometimes not the entire can and sometimes not every day. And since I had only been drinking it again for a few weeks, I was lucky and didn't get a caffeine withdrawl headache.
My only problem really is that time between 2:30 and 4:30 when my blood sugar drops and the promise of a quick energy boost just calls to me. But I'm able to tackle that with water & some nuts.
Jennifer asked if I wanted a buddy to go through this with. And that would be wonderful! Wouldn't it be cool if we started an entire blogosphere revolution that got the soda companies scared. LOL okay maybe we couldn't get that far.
and a side note: there is this mom & daughter at the gym that we see every Tuesday & Thursday...and each time they purchase a soda (usually the orange soda) out of the machine at the gym. (I've already suggested that the gym sell water instead, but the machine is there because the owner of the building had it put in.) So back to my story. Well the little girl is quite headstrong and determined to open the soda herself. Yesterday they had got a diet pepsi and N cracks it open and it spits and foams EVERYWHERE!!! including on the library book that they were reading.
I found myself disgusted and happy that I had given the stuff up.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
What's up with that ticker?
Some of you (okay most of you) may get what my ticker up at the top of my blog means...but I thought that I would explain it as 1) it gives me something to blog about and 2) support is always good.
I have decided yet again to give up drinking Pepsi. I don't have any thing against Pepsi. I really love the stuff and that's what makes giving it up so hard. And No I didn't give it up for Lent, as you can see I started my "Pepsi Fast" on the 4th (the ticker actually counts from when I had my last sip) a few days before Lent began (I am not a person who can give up something for Lent...it just never happens...I also don't make New Year's resolutions.)
Okay, so why would a normal Pepsi drinker suddenly decide to give it up?
Well cuz as I get older, I've noticed that I've been packing on the pounds. And I know that my real life friends will have to pick on me big time about that as they can't see where I put on the pounds. One even asked me if I gained weight in my knuckles. You can't see it cuz I camoflage it...trust me, it's there.
Each Pepsi is a 150 worthless calories (160 if you do the Cherry Pepsi!) and to top it off, once you come down off that sugar high from having one, you want another one! It's just an aweful vicious cycle. And then there's that daily addiction where you're looking at the clock and looking forward to your next Pepsi. Blech!
I was sick of it. So after I had my last one, I decided that that was it. I had to quit it.
Problems with this decision...
This isn't the first time I've tried to give it up. This isn't even the first time this year that I've tried to give this up...I tried after my flu. I figured why pick it back up again when I was well...it didn't work.
We store the Pepsi in the garage and DH brings them in to the frig as the level goes down. Each time I give it up, it takes him a bit of time to notice and he keeps bringing in more...until he figures it out and then suddenly I'm back off the waggon and drinking up all his stash.
And then there is still that time in the afternoon where I really need a pick me up. I've so far had pretty good luck replacing it with water...HEY! There's a Healthy thought!
Weekends are usually the hardest. During the week I can keep myself busy and not dwell on it...but Saturday & Sunday, especially in the winter we just sit around and it's a good day for a Pepsi.
So I keep trying.
I'm very proud that I made it though last weekend without breaking...especially since I had all that cookie stress to deal with...but that kept me too busy to think about it. YAY ME!
I have decided yet again to give up drinking Pepsi. I don't have any thing against Pepsi. I really love the stuff and that's what makes giving it up so hard. And No I didn't give it up for Lent, as you can see I started my "Pepsi Fast" on the 4th (the ticker actually counts from when I had my last sip) a few days before Lent began (I am not a person who can give up something for Lent...it just never happens...I also don't make New Year's resolutions.)
Okay, so why would a normal Pepsi drinker suddenly decide to give it up?
Well cuz as I get older, I've noticed that I've been packing on the pounds. And I know that my real life friends will have to pick on me big time about that as they can't see where I put on the pounds. One even asked me if I gained weight in my knuckles. You can't see it cuz I camoflage it...trust me, it's there.
Each Pepsi is a 150 worthless calories (160 if you do the Cherry Pepsi!) and to top it off, once you come down off that sugar high from having one, you want another one! It's just an aweful vicious cycle. And then there's that daily addiction where you're looking at the clock and looking forward to your next Pepsi. Blech!
I was sick of it. So after I had my last one, I decided that that was it. I had to quit it.
Problems with this decision...
This isn't the first time I've tried to give it up. This isn't even the first time this year that I've tried to give this up...I tried after my flu. I figured why pick it back up again when I was well...it didn't work.
We store the Pepsi in the garage and DH brings them in to the frig as the level goes down. Each time I give it up, it takes him a bit of time to notice and he keeps bringing in more...until he figures it out and then suddenly I'm back off the waggon and drinking up all his stash.
And then there is still that time in the afternoon where I really need a pick me up. I've so far had pretty good luck replacing it with water...HEY! There's a Healthy thought!
Weekends are usually the hardest. During the week I can keep myself busy and not dwell on it...but Saturday & Sunday, especially in the winter we just sit around and it's a good day for a Pepsi.
So I keep trying.
I'm very proud that I made it though last weekend without breaking...especially since I had all that cookie stress to deal with...but that kept me too busy to think about it. YAY ME!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Time to deliver the cookies
As the cookie director for my troop, I had to first deliver cookies to the other girls in the troop. So two came to my house to pick up their cookies...and then after I picked up the second batch of cookies, I met two more at a post office to get their cookies to them. We now have orders for just two more girls. All is well in that department.
Now it is time for Darly to deliver her cookies. I am still so suprised by how many folks want to deal with me instead of her...when she is closer to them and talking to them. It is so funny the way people act. Darly has totally got the hang of this deal though. I should really allow her to work with the money, but with all the mistakes I've made, I am worried.
So yesterday we needed to deliver the cookies to people at Church. And wouldn't ya know it, the Women's Group was having a Bake Sale. Funny how the bake sales don't really affect selling Girl Scout cookies at all. We had two customers come up with bake sale goods and buy GS cookies too.
That first weekend is always the best for selling extra cookies. The booth sales haven't started yet and anyone who didn't order is looking for cookies (kinda feels as if we're pushing a drug.)
So Darly & I went to Church earlier than normal and set up on a table in the Fellowship Hall. We were mostly looking to deliver cookies. And I don't think that anyone showed up at that time (it's a bit fuzzy!) so I put the cookies away and we went to our class.
After service I set up again and that's when the fun began. I had made a sign that we were sending cookies to the soldiers in Iraq and Wow! What a response. One guy that we've never met before gave us $30! Then we had two other customers who overpaid their orders for the soldiers and one lady paid for her order with a check and then bought a box for the soldiers with cash...mostly change (bless her! I so needed change.) The soldiers now have almost another case of cookies.
One mom was virtually following me around with her checkbook trying to get her cookies. LOL! She did finally get them.
There are still lots more cookies to deliver, but Darly has reached her goal of 250 boxes. YAY! It looks like I need to go back to the cupboard to get some more extras since I'm out of some flavors...I should have ordered more than just two boxes each on those.
Oh and I had a bit of a triumph during my Sunday School class. See the boys in my class seem to think that it is socialization hour and not listening to the teacher time. I've been really racking my brain about how to deal with this and yeah, I failed by threatening and not following through. But yesterday must have been my last straw. I warned them at the beginning of class that if they were not discussing the lesson that I was going to send them to the hall. Well of couse they didn't believe me. And then one of the boys must have taken something from the other who smacked him to get it back. I only caught the smacker and I told him to please go wait in the hall. He went and sat quietly in the hall. WOW! And the rest of the boys, seeing that I meant business were much quieter for the rest of the lesson. So much so that we finished the lesson about 20 minutes early. After we finished up, I gave the kids the option of doing their homework for the next lesson or leaving. The boys split! They never do their homework anyway. So I had the one who was in the hall come back, and I gave him my notes so he would have them for next week's quiz. The girls worked on their homework and I graded this week's quizes. It was so nice. I've gotta remember that next time. Oh and it would help if I could figure out how to tell the twins apart...it's really hard to holler at a kid without knowing his name.
Now it is time for Darly to deliver her cookies. I am still so suprised by how many folks want to deal with me instead of her...when she is closer to them and talking to them. It is so funny the way people act. Darly has totally got the hang of this deal though. I should really allow her to work with the money, but with all the mistakes I've made, I am worried.
So yesterday we needed to deliver the cookies to people at Church. And wouldn't ya know it, the Women's Group was having a Bake Sale. Funny how the bake sales don't really affect selling Girl Scout cookies at all. We had two customers come up with bake sale goods and buy GS cookies too.
That first weekend is always the best for selling extra cookies. The booth sales haven't started yet and anyone who didn't order is looking for cookies (kinda feels as if we're pushing a drug.)
So Darly & I went to Church earlier than normal and set up on a table in the Fellowship Hall. We were mostly looking to deliver cookies. And I don't think that anyone showed up at that time (it's a bit fuzzy!) so I put the cookies away and we went to our class.
After service I set up again and that's when the fun began. I had made a sign that we were sending cookies to the soldiers in Iraq and Wow! What a response. One guy that we've never met before gave us $30! Then we had two other customers who overpaid their orders for the soldiers and one lady paid for her order with a check and then bought a box for the soldiers with cash...mostly change (bless her! I so needed change.) The soldiers now have almost another case of cookies.
One mom was virtually following me around with her checkbook trying to get her cookies. LOL! She did finally get them.
There are still lots more cookies to deliver, but Darly has reached her goal of 250 boxes. YAY! It looks like I need to go back to the cupboard to get some more extras since I'm out of some flavors...I should have ordered more than just two boxes each on those.
Oh and I had a bit of a triumph during my Sunday School class. See the boys in my class seem to think that it is socialization hour and not listening to the teacher time. I've been really racking my brain about how to deal with this and yeah, I failed by threatening and not following through. But yesterday must have been my last straw. I warned them at the beginning of class that if they were not discussing the lesson that I was going to send them to the hall. Well of couse they didn't believe me. And then one of the boys must have taken something from the other who smacked him to get it back. I only caught the smacker and I told him to please go wait in the hall. He went and sat quietly in the hall. WOW! And the rest of the boys, seeing that I meant business were much quieter for the rest of the lesson. So much so that we finished the lesson about 20 minutes early. After we finished up, I gave the kids the option of doing their homework for the next lesson or leaving. The boys split! They never do their homework anyway. So I had the one who was in the hall come back, and I gave him my notes so he would have them for next week's quiz. The girls worked on their homework and I graded this week's quizes. It was so nice. I've gotta remember that next time. Oh and it would help if I could figure out how to tell the twins apart...it's really hard to holler at a kid without knowing his name.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Remember all my gritching and whining about...
the Girl Scout cookies?
And how I mused at the very end of my post that after all my whining everything would probably turn out just fine...
Well guess what...
Not only did everything turn out just fine, it turned out better than fine!
Our cookie lady emailed us this week that she was expecting her order and would let us know when we could pick up the cookies we needed as soon as she got her order in. She emailed last night that we could come and get them this weekend.
I picked up the regular cookies this morning and was able to get 2 & 1/2 orders filled and then this afternoon, I was able to pick up all of the other cookies that we had ordered...and I was able to get 2 more orders filled and picked up. LOL!
I now only have 2 more orders that are not Darly's sitting at my house and I have cookies! Lots of cookies! YAY! We even started delivering them this evening. Woo Hoo!
Tonight after dinner, I'll get all the cookies that I need for our Church orders together and then we'll start delivering them tomorrow. Hopefully I can get rid of about 1/2 of these and then my family room won't look like we're moving. hee hee
And how I mused at the very end of my post that after all my whining everything would probably turn out just fine...
Well guess what...
Not only did everything turn out just fine, it turned out better than fine!
Our cookie lady emailed us this week that she was expecting her order and would let us know when we could pick up the cookies we needed as soon as she got her order in. She emailed last night that we could come and get them this weekend.
I picked up the regular cookies this morning and was able to get 2 & 1/2 orders filled and then this afternoon, I was able to pick up all of the other cookies that we had ordered...and I was able to get 2 more orders filled and picked up. LOL!
I now only have 2 more orders that are not Darly's sitting at my house and I have cookies! Lots of cookies! YAY! We even started delivering them this evening. Woo Hoo!
Tonight after dinner, I'll get all the cookies that I need for our Church orders together and then we'll start delivering them tomorrow. Hopefully I can get rid of about 1/2 of these and then my family room won't look like we're moving. hee hee
Friday, February 08, 2008
I HATE our smoke detectors
Firstly our house has WAY too many smoke detectors. Our building codes require that we have one in each bedroom and one in the hallway outside the bedrooms and one on each floor. I think that covers what the code says...honestly I don't know for sure.
So we have one in each of the 4 bedrooms, one in the office (which could be a bedroom since it has a window & a closet), one in the hallway upstairs (it's less than 5 feet away from the one in my bedroom!), one in the family room (that likes to get tripped when I cook! And NO! I don't use the smoke detector as a timer for my cooking.) and one in the basement. They are all wired together...so when one goes off, they all go off. And they all chirp when their back-up battery gets low.
I've complained before about one of these lovely detectors wanting a new battery on Christmas morning at like 3AM! The one in my bedroom will set off the entire house if I take a shower that is too hot and steamy, I guess it thinks that steam is smoke. They also like to go off it they get too cold (we shut the vents and doors to two of our bedrooms since we don't use them.) And while it would be nice to change out all the batteries at once so that they are all on the same schedule, we have never bothered to do that as we're lazy and cheap. So the rest of them like to go off chirping whenever they want to.
Oh and the best part (read that with dripping sarcasm!) is that when one decides it needs a new battery...it's a wild goose chase to figure out which one it is. Chirp! Is that downstairs? Chirp! Um, I'm not sure. Chirp! I think it's upstairs Chirp! is it in the sewing room? and so on until we can determine which of them is chirping. Oh and this noise grates on my nerves...and try that in the middle of the night which seems to be their favorite time to go off.
Just this past week the smoke detector in the family room and the one in the office both decided that they wanted new batteries. The one in the family room for some unknown reason to me decided that instead of happily accepting it's battery and being quiet that when I tried to plug it back in it would set off the entire house! I don't like these noises, so I took the detector and tossed it outside! (don't tell DH or he will get madder at me than he already is!) And then yesterday the one in the office decided it wanted a new battery too. Well when I went to take it down, I got showered with insulation and chunks of drywall! I wasn't a happy girl! I tossed that one outside too!
DH & I have an ongoing argument about the smoke detectors in this house. I would like to take down and throw away most of them and he of course thinks that they are all necessary. So when one goes off wanting a new battery, I take it down and don't bother putting it back up with a new battery. DH gets mad at me.
I suppose part of this argument stems from the fact that my family has NEVER had a house fire and DH's family has. (the fire in DH's family's house would not have been helped at all by smoke detectors as no one was home at the time. And it was caused by faulty wiring which seems to be a huge problem with the houses in his old hometown...and not so much of an issue here with all the building codes.) I feel as sensitive as these detectors are that one per floor is plenty.
So we have one in each of the 4 bedrooms, one in the office (which could be a bedroom since it has a window & a closet), one in the hallway upstairs (it's less than 5 feet away from the one in my bedroom!), one in the family room (that likes to get tripped when I cook! And NO! I don't use the smoke detector as a timer for my cooking.) and one in the basement. They are all wired together...so when one goes off, they all go off. And they all chirp when their back-up battery gets low.
I've complained before about one of these lovely detectors wanting a new battery on Christmas morning at like 3AM! The one in my bedroom will set off the entire house if I take a shower that is too hot and steamy, I guess it thinks that steam is smoke. They also like to go off it they get too cold (we shut the vents and doors to two of our bedrooms since we don't use them.) And while it would be nice to change out all the batteries at once so that they are all on the same schedule, we have never bothered to do that as we're lazy and cheap. So the rest of them like to go off chirping whenever they want to.
Oh and the best part (read that with dripping sarcasm!) is that when one decides it needs a new battery...it's a wild goose chase to figure out which one it is. Chirp! Is that downstairs? Chirp! Um, I'm not sure. Chirp! I think it's upstairs Chirp! is it in the sewing room? and so on until we can determine which of them is chirping. Oh and this noise grates on my nerves...and try that in the middle of the night which seems to be their favorite time to go off.
Just this past week the smoke detector in the family room and the one in the office both decided that they wanted new batteries. The one in the family room for some unknown reason to me decided that instead of happily accepting it's battery and being quiet that when I tried to plug it back in it would set off the entire house! I don't like these noises, so I took the detector and tossed it outside! (don't tell DH or he will get madder at me than he already is!) And then yesterday the one in the office decided it wanted a new battery too. Well when I went to take it down, I got showered with insulation and chunks of drywall! I wasn't a happy girl! I tossed that one outside too!
DH & I have an ongoing argument about the smoke detectors in this house. I would like to take down and throw away most of them and he of course thinks that they are all necessary. So when one goes off wanting a new battery, I take it down and don't bother putting it back up with a new battery. DH gets mad at me.
I suppose part of this argument stems from the fact that my family has NEVER had a house fire and DH's family has. (the fire in DH's family's house would not have been helped at all by smoke detectors as no one was home at the time. And it was caused by faulty wiring which seems to be a huge problem with the houses in his old hometown...and not so much of an issue here with all the building codes.) I feel as sensitive as these detectors are that one per floor is plenty.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
sharing the love!
The other day I was honored by Leanne, when she said she loves my blog. I'm so happy. So I've decided to share this with all my tree lazy buddies.
TC
Goofy Girl
Heather
Jennifer
Jen
Judy Thomas
The Meezers
Lynn
Haley-O
Kailani
Bone
I know that I haven't awarded this to everyone, and since I should be getting ready to leave instead of posting right now...please consider yourself loved as well. TTFN
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
It's so great to have friends like you!
I found out from my last post that I'm not quite as crazy as I though...
TC said...
ROFL
My mom's is still up too she informed me yesterday. And she still lights it every night. Good thing she went artificial this year!
gotta love those artificial trees! Well at least I wasn’t still lighting my tree or opening the blinds to show it off to all my neighbors…well probably because I was embarrassed to have it still be up.
Goofy Girl said...
I wouldn't worry yourself too much about it - it will come down when it comes down! :)
awww thanks! But you’re way busier than I am and you tree was already down! LOL!
H.N. Eisley said...
That is why I have fake too... I would leave mine up longer IF I had the room for it ;) Merry Christmas in February! It's never too late to celebrate Jesus' birth! You rock!
umm actually we weren’t celebrating any longer…just none of us had the ambition to take it down. But I “could” say that we were still celebrating. LOL!
Jennifer said...
I just took mine down tonight...does that help you any? at all? (((hugs)))
I’m so glad to know that I’m not abnormal and that lots of my friends still have their trees up too.
Jen said...
Man, this was a bad year for me, treewise, too! I just didn't give a darn about any of it.
Maybe I need to adjust my meds?
I'm glad you're done now!
Hopefully I'll remember all this next year when I start to go overboard decorating again...
I don’t have any meds to adjust. And yes, I do hope that next year when Darly says let’s do this and let’s do that, that I can remember to tell her about this year! Or I could just say…”Anything that you put up, you have to take down!” LOL! Mean Mom strikes again!
Judy Thomas said...
I took my tree down, but I JUST now got all the boxes of decorations out of the house. I don't know what it was about this year. Just know.. you are not alone!
so glad to know I’m among friends who understand me!
The Meezers said...
when i was growing up the family 2 houses down left their tree up until almost July!!! no lie! they re-decorated it for all of the holidays from January to the 4th of July. then it was just way too dead and really had hardly any needles left on it. they were very strange. - Meezer Mom Mary
WOW! At least my trees were artificial and didn’t drop too many needles on the floor…which by the way irritates me, why is this fake tree dropping needles???
Lynn said...
I would take off the Christmas decorations and just leave the tree up all year...afterall, rooms looks so nice with greenery:~)
Lynn said...
On second thought...you could leave all of the decorations in place and tell anyone who asks that you have decided to get ready for Christmas 2008 early.
there’s just two problems with that idea… 1) we have to move our furniture to fit the trees in where we put them and our one chair gets moved into the dining room until we take the trees down. 2) our second tree is set in front of the air intake for our furnace and that vent sucks in all the air and dust and dog hair from the downstairs…and the tree skirt is a really good filter (don’t ask about the tree!) so I had to clean the tree skirt before we could put it away. The floor is much easier to vacuum than the tree skirt is to clean.
Haley-O said...
Ahhhhh!!!! I don't think I can be friends with you anymore cuz of this! How horribly terrible of you! ;) Sooo funny!
:( That’s not fair that you won’t be my friend any more cuz I have a different religion than you. And it’s also not fair that you have it so much easier than I do with the decorations. (kinda makes me wanna convert ;o) )
Kailani said...
And I thought we were bad. Ours came down toward the middle of January!
yet another true friend. Maybe we need to start up a club of folks who keep their trees up. Hee hee
Bone said...
Hahahaha. That's funny. You could have just hung some hearts on it and called it a Valentine Tree.
I also find having company is sometimes the only motivation I have for doing certain things.
ya know that male "if I screw this up, I'll never have to do it again" thinking
I'm vaguely familiar with that. Wonder where we learn that? I don't remember going to any kind of class or anything.
I tried to get DH to go for keeping it up until his birthday, but he didn’t want a birthday tree…go figure! And yes, if it weren’t for company I wouldn’t get anything done around this place. Mom is due out in April, so I’ll be tearing my hair out in March to clean this place up again!
And you’re only vaguely familiar? Yeah right. Like I’m supposed to believe that. I think it’s part of the male DNA!
It does my heart and sanity so good to have all of you support me with your kind words. Thanks everyone! I love you all!
TC said...
ROFL
My mom's is still up too she informed me yesterday. And she still lights it every night. Good thing she went artificial this year!
gotta love those artificial trees! Well at least I wasn’t still lighting my tree or opening the blinds to show it off to all my neighbors…well probably because I was embarrassed to have it still be up.
Goofy Girl said...
I wouldn't worry yourself too much about it - it will come down when it comes down! :)
awww thanks! But you’re way busier than I am and you tree was already down! LOL!
H.N. Eisley said...
That is why I have fake too... I would leave mine up longer IF I had the room for it ;) Merry Christmas in February! It's never too late to celebrate Jesus' birth! You rock!
umm actually we weren’t celebrating any longer…just none of us had the ambition to take it down. But I “could” say that we were still celebrating. LOL!
Jennifer said...
I just took mine down tonight...does that help you any? at all? (((hugs)))
I’m so glad to know that I’m not abnormal and that lots of my friends still have their trees up too.
Jen said...
Man, this was a bad year for me, treewise, too! I just didn't give a darn about any of it.
Maybe I need to adjust my meds?
I'm glad you're done now!
Hopefully I'll remember all this next year when I start to go overboard decorating again...
I don’t have any meds to adjust. And yes, I do hope that next year when Darly says let’s do this and let’s do that, that I can remember to tell her about this year! Or I could just say…”Anything that you put up, you have to take down!” LOL! Mean Mom strikes again!
Judy Thomas said...
I took my tree down, but I JUST now got all the boxes of decorations out of the house. I don't know what it was about this year. Just know.. you are not alone!
so glad to know I’m among friends who understand me!
The Meezers said...
when i was growing up the family 2 houses down left their tree up until almost July!!! no lie! they re-decorated it for all of the holidays from January to the 4th of July. then it was just way too dead and really had hardly any needles left on it. they were very strange. - Meezer Mom Mary
WOW! At least my trees were artificial and didn’t drop too many needles on the floor…which by the way irritates me, why is this fake tree dropping needles???
Lynn said...
I would take off the Christmas decorations and just leave the tree up all year...afterall, rooms looks so nice with greenery:~)
Lynn said...
On second thought...you could leave all of the decorations in place and tell anyone who asks that you have decided to get ready for Christmas 2008 early.
there’s just two problems with that idea… 1) we have to move our furniture to fit the trees in where we put them and our one chair gets moved into the dining room until we take the trees down. 2) our second tree is set in front of the air intake for our furnace and that vent sucks in all the air and dust and dog hair from the downstairs…and the tree skirt is a really good filter (don’t ask about the tree!) so I had to clean the tree skirt before we could put it away. The floor is much easier to vacuum than the tree skirt is to clean.
Haley-O said...
Ahhhhh!!!! I don't think I can be friends with you anymore cuz of this! How horribly terrible of you! ;) Sooo funny!
:( That’s not fair that you won’t be my friend any more cuz I have a different religion than you. And it’s also not fair that you have it so much easier than I do with the decorations. (kinda makes me wanna convert ;o) )
Kailani said...
And I thought we were bad. Ours came down toward the middle of January!
yet another true friend. Maybe we need to start up a club of folks who keep their trees up. Hee hee
Bone said...
Hahahaha. That's funny. You could have just hung some hearts on it and called it a Valentine Tree.
I also find having company is sometimes the only motivation I have for doing certain things.
ya know that male "if I screw this up, I'll never have to do it again" thinking
I'm vaguely familiar with that. Wonder where we learn that? I don't remember going to any kind of class or anything.
I tried to get DH to go for keeping it up until his birthday, but he didn’t want a birthday tree…go figure! And yes, if it weren’t for company I wouldn’t get anything done around this place. Mom is due out in April, so I’ll be tearing my hair out in March to clean this place up again!
And you’re only vaguely familiar? Yeah right. Like I’m supposed to believe that. I think it’s part of the male DNA!
It does my heart and sanity so good to have all of you support me with your kind words. Thanks everyone! I love you all!
Monday, February 04, 2008
I'm not all right...
Can I lose my need to impress?
If you want the truth, I need to confess
I’m not all right
I’m broken inside
Broken inside
And all I go through
It leads me to You
It leads me to You
I need to confess something to you. It's really bad. I don't know how I could have lived with this for so long.
Are you ready?
*sigh* Okay here it goes...
I just FINALLY took down my Christmas Trees this weekend.
:o
Here's what happened...
I find that I just don't have the ambition to do this anymore. This year it took us about a week to get the trees set up. DH was getting pretty tired of tripping over the boxes and he ended up putting the smaller tree up (I've GOT TO MAKE SURE THAT DOESN'T EVER HAPPEN AGAIN! The lights were a nightmare to take off the tree...and I'm thinking he might have done it that way on purpose...ya know that male "if I screw this up, I'll never have to do it again" thinking.) Okay so it took me a long time to get the trees put up.
Then we originally (when we first got married) left the trees up until my birthday Jan 4th. But then a few years back I heard at Church that some folks leave the tree up until Jan 6th for the Epiphany...and I thought that was a cool idea.
BUT ever since I've left the trees up til the 6th, I've never had the drive to get them back down again.
This year has totally been the worst. I've never left my tree up until Feb before. And honestly the only reason I took it down now is that my friend is coming over next weekend and I was too embarrased for her to see the trees still up, but she'll know about it cuz she reads my blog. *sigh*
Oh and I have absolutely NO help whatsoever with taking down the trees. Darly will decorate the trees, but she won't take them down. And all DH did was complain loudly about the trees still being up. (ya, that's a big help dear!)
So now, finally they're down. *sigh* Next comes Easter...WHy is it EARLY this year? I guess the good thing about an early Easter is that Darly doesn't have to share her birthday with it again.
UPDATE: I vacuumed up all the fake needles from my trees and with help from DH & Darly we got all my furniture (including the recliner that was moved upstairs for my mom's visit) moved back to their oringinal locations...marked by the holes in our carpet. So now my house is almost completely undecorated...there's still a Christmas Welcome sign and I noticed a door hanger still out. oops!
If you want the truth, I need to confess
I’m not all right
I’m broken inside
Broken inside
And all I go through
It leads me to You
It leads me to You
I need to confess something to you. It's really bad. I don't know how I could have lived with this for so long.
Are you ready?
*sigh* Okay here it goes...
I just FINALLY took down my Christmas Trees this weekend.
:o
Here's what happened...
I find that I just don't have the ambition to do this anymore. This year it took us about a week to get the trees set up. DH was getting pretty tired of tripping over the boxes and he ended up putting the smaller tree up (I've GOT TO MAKE SURE THAT DOESN'T EVER HAPPEN AGAIN! The lights were a nightmare to take off the tree...and I'm thinking he might have done it that way on purpose...ya know that male "if I screw this up, I'll never have to do it again" thinking.) Okay so it took me a long time to get the trees put up.
Then we originally (when we first got married) left the trees up until my birthday Jan 4th. But then a few years back I heard at Church that some folks leave the tree up until Jan 6th for the Epiphany...and I thought that was a cool idea.
BUT ever since I've left the trees up til the 6th, I've never had the drive to get them back down again.
This year has totally been the worst. I've never left my tree up until Feb before. And honestly the only reason I took it down now is that my friend is coming over next weekend and I was too embarrased for her to see the trees still up, but she'll know about it cuz she reads my blog. *sigh*
Oh and I have absolutely NO help whatsoever with taking down the trees. Darly will decorate the trees, but she won't take them down. And all DH did was complain loudly about the trees still being up. (ya, that's a big help dear!)
So now, finally they're down. *sigh* Next comes Easter...WHy is it EARLY this year? I guess the good thing about an early Easter is that Darly doesn't have to share her birthday with it again.
UPDATE: I vacuumed up all the fake needles from my trees and with help from DH & Darly we got all my furniture (including the recliner that was moved upstairs for my mom's visit) moved back to their oringinal locations...marked by the holes in our carpet. So now my house is almost completely undecorated...there's still a Christmas Welcome sign and I noticed a door hanger still out. oops!
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