This and That

My oldest nephew is visiting for the summer.  Luckily he enjoys coming to visit; a trend I hope continues for many more years.  It is usually a fairly boring summer for him, but this year we've joined the YWCA.  We have been swimming and walking on the indoor track (well he does the elliptical while we walk).  My BIL loaned him his snorkel and mask and the nephew has mastered it.  I'm a fan of anything that gets us off the coach.
The major part of the remodeling is done and looks really good.  Still have some doors to finish up painting.  And if it ever cools down a bit, I have to put in a window glass.  We are continuing the trend through the rest of the house and are sorting and getting rid of all kinds of clutter.  I've made at least one trip each week to Goodwill and Edward McKay's Used Books.  There's lots more to do, but we have come so far already.
And last but not least, my sister was looking through the federal jobs postings and found one that she thought I'd be a good fit with.  It sounded really interesting, so I spent the last 3 days of the week getting all of the materials together and applying for it.  This included driving to Raleigh and getting my college transcripts.  Made it under the wire and now I just have to sit with my fingers crossed.

War stories

If you don't already know, I work at a service station.  We have gas pumps and service bays as well as offering a towing service.  This keeps us pretty busy sometimes, but not always.  Those slow times are when we tend to get into trouble, but also when the stories get told. When we have time to talk about the oddest phone call we've ever received. That would be the lady that wanted to have her neighbor's car towed because it was ugly.  When told it couldn't be towed because it wasn't hers and she didn't have possession of it or the keys, she went and "stole" it.  Or the time a car went through the intersection, through the parking lot and crashed into the sign for the station, but no one was injured.  Of course we can't leave out, the folks who called needing a tow, because they had locked themselves inside (yes, you're reading that right - inside) their car.
Then there are the times when the employees have tortured each other, intentionally or not.   These guys are constantly thinking of new ways to hurt each other.  People have had fingers smashed, been hit with flying debris or been doused with the water hose or a bottle of soda, just to name a few.
And then the things we do to ourselves can be just as bad.  The tow truck driver running through the bay, who stood up too early.  Ran into the tire of the vehicle on the lift and knocked himself completely off his feet.  Or the cashier who was running to answer the phone and tripped over her own feet.  There was some blood involved in that one, as well as embarrassment.  (And my head still throbs at the thought of it.)
So while dealing with people having a bad day can be stressful, sometimes there are some laughs.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

My sister mentioned a list that was floating around a while back that asks everyone to list 25 random things about themselves.  She posted her list on her blog.  I thought that list was so interesting, that I'd try my hand at one.  I've never done this before so it will take some thought.

1. I hate having someone hang up on me.  I think it is so rude and disrespectful.
2. I'm always surprised when I see myself in a mirror.  I look nothing like I expect.
3. My one regret will always be that I never had any children.  I think I would have been a good Mom.
4. I’ve donated over 5gal of blood to the American Red Cross.
5. I love lighthouses and I enjoy climbing to the top when possible.  But I’m afraid of heights so it takes me longer to come down than go up, which considering how out of shape I am is saying something.
6. If ever given the opportunity to have plastic surgery, especially breast reduction, I would jump at the chance.  
7. I think the biggest gifts we can give our children are the love of learning, an adventurous spirit and compassion for others.
8. I'm halfway through War & Peace and the Bible, but I can't seem to finish either one of them.
9. I miss living in the country more than any other place I've ever lived.  The wide open spaces, the cool comfort of the woods, and the silence are all places in my soul.
10. I hate good-byes; leaving family or friends just tears (both meanings of the word) me up.
11. I believe if it hadn't been for my parents' divorce, I wouldn't be as close to my Mom as I am today or my aunt, uncle and cousin, for that matter. (and sisters, as I was reminded)
12. I strongly believe in corporal punishment and the death penalty.  Not sure what that says about me, but I'm also sure I don't really care.
13. I'm so glad that my father thought us girls should know how to change a tire and check the fluids in our cars.  By doing that he showed me that having a basic understanding of how my car worked could only help me in the future; even if I didn't do the repairs myself.
14. Sweet tea is the drink of the gods.  And like the McD's commercial says, "There are NO follow-up questions".
15. I want to take my motorcycle to Alaska.  Alone or with a group doesn't matter to me.
16. I love to swim, but I hate buying swimsuits.  I love being in the water.  And on that topic, why do all plus size swimsuits have plunging necklines.  Geesh, I have boobs but I'd like to swim without having to worry that they will be on full display.
17. If you don't know the definition of a word or how to pronounce it, use another word.  That drives me nuts!
18. My sisters and I usually have a good time when we are together, but the best time I can think of recently was a couple of years ago at the beach.  We were all crammed into a 2 bedroom condo and tempers didn't always remain cool with that many people.  But we all went down to the pool and swam together.  There was a water slide attached to the pool and amazingly both of my sisters were up for climbing to the top and sliding down.  We must of ridden down 10 times at least and we laughed till we cried.  Well, I think the only reason we stopped was we couldn't stop laughing long enough to catch our breaths for the climb back up.  I'm sure there were some people talking trash about the women acting silly, but I'll always be glad we didn't care.  We had the best time.
19. I would like to travel to Israel someday.  To be so near where Jesus lived and died (and lived again) would be a truly emotional experience.
20. You should apologize at the same volume you insult someone.  I can't stand when someone calls me out on a something in public and then comes to me in private with an "Oops, I was wrong. Sorry".  That's BS.
21. I love to read "Green Eggs and Ham" to the niece and nephews.  It makes all of us laugh when I try to read a whole passage in one breath and I'm kind of amazed when I manage it.
22. When we were kids and stayed with my grandmother, she had lots of puzzles.  We must have put some of those puzzles together ten times.  That could be why I enjoy all kinds of puzzles today.
23.  The best and worst moments of my life have all been celebrated/experienced with my family.  What's really telling is the worst ones are all about the niece and nephews, and no longer about me, my sisters or my Mom.
24. I love my family more than anything on Earth.  I can't imagine not having the support and love of family.  They can drive me crazy, but they are the first ones I think to share my good or bad news with.
25. I believe that laughter is most definitely the best medicine.  The times I haven't been able to laugh about then were some of the worst in my life, but other than those life-threatening moments we've laughed our way through every crisis. Well, laughing and plotting some awful payback or demise for the other person, of course.

I'm amazed with how long it has taken me to write this list.  I just don't know that there are that many things that people really want to know about me, but you're stuck with these now. I'm sure as soon as I post the list I'll come up with a dozen that I should have included.

Secrets and Transformations

My mother and I have lived in this house for 12 years.  We've dealt with the cold in the winter and the heat in the summer.  The windows that take a Herculean effort to get up and then the same effort to get closed again.  I've used the sink that's in my bedroom and crawled from my closet into the closet in the spare bedroom.  I've squeezed myself in the little dormer closet to arrange boxes of books.  I thought I knew every nook and cranny in this old house, but with the remodeling this week it appears that is not correct.  Behind the light switch inside the front door, there is a secret "room".  It is actually a a small space between the chimney and the front door arch, but secret room sounds so much more mysterious and interesting.  Of course, by the time I got home it had been boarded up and there was only 1 confusing picture and a very odd description of the area.  That is until today when I came home to a new front door.

In the process of putting in this awesome door, my cousin and uncle had to tear out some surrounding boards.  Now I can see into the secret "room".  Not sure what it was for but I couldn't resist taking some pictures and sharing them.  There is a special way to move some boards to get into the area.  You can see the lock here, but I couldn't begin to tell you how it works.

Something about moving one board up so the others move back.  Sounds like something Sherlock Holmes invented.

If I can get some better pictures, I'll be sure to post them.  Once you got into the little "room" there is a ladder that you can see on the right side of the above picture.  When you went up the ladder, there is a platform above the front door.  Sure wish someone had left a note explaining what the room was made for.  Until then I guess we'll all just wonder and speculate and tell the story of the secret "room" in our Old House.

Confusion reigns supreme

(Me):  Sir, what’s the address  of where the car is?
(Sir):  My address is ***, but my car is not here.  It’s at my MIL’s house.
(Me):  Ok, so what’s the address?
(Sir):  You come down 40 and turn here and turn there.
(Me):  So do you have an address or cross streets?
(Sir): blah, blah, blah
(Me):  Sir, is that Oak like a tree?
(Sir): Yes, blah, blah, blah
(Me):  Yes, sir.  Is that cross street Sixth like the number?
(Sir):  No, it’s blah blah.
(Me):  Is that like five six?
(Sir):  No, it’s blah blah.
(Me):  I’m sorry sir I’m having trouble understanding you.  Is that sixth like one two three four five six?
(Sir):  No, it’s blah blah
(Me):  So it isn’t sixth the number?
(Sir):  No, it’s blah like one two three four five six.
(Me):  *stunned silence*

I'm so Mad I can't see straight

I was just flipping through msnbc and found this article "Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees".  Of course, I had to check it out, because there had to be more to this with that teaser title.  This is unbelievable.  These boys were wearing American flag bandannas and t-shirts with the flag on them and were told to remove them.  If they went back to class wearing them, it would be considered rebellious and they would be expelled.  Now these weren't lewd or offensive items, but oh wait, it was the 5th of May, which is Cinco de Mayo, the day of Mexican Independence.  Well, duh, we can't wear the American flag, since it is the Mexican Independence day.  Wait, we don't live in Mexico, so what possible reason would we care that it is their day of Independence.  i feel sure that if I go to Mexico on the 4th of July, there won't be a flipping soul there that worries about me and my holiday.  And just so we're clear, someone in the article states that it is "Mexican Heritage Day", no it isn't, it is the independence day for Mexico.  But if you in your own way want to celebrate your heritage, have at it, but MY heritage is AMERICAN. As for an apology, have they lost their minds?  What exactly do these boys have to apologize for?
I think it is way past time that we as citizens put a stop to this ridiculousness.  What happened to being ruled by the majority?  What happened to us having a spine?  I'm sick and tired of every group (citizens or not) being able to force everyone else to their way of thinking.  We, as a nation, have got to get off our apathetic asses and show our outrage at this constant pandering.

Please don't stop Saturday delivery

The Post Office is trying to save money and one of the options they favor is to discontinue household delivery of mail on Saturdays.  I'm not against this on practical grounds.  It makes a lot of sense money-wise, but what about my little red envelopes?  I have my Netflix mailings down to an art.  If I send one back on Thursday, I'll get another on Saturday.  Oh, woe is me, if they stop Saturday delivery, I'll have to watch "regular" television.  Do you have any idea how long it has been since I relied on regular TV to supply my viewing needs?  Ages, if you must know.  Luckily, Netflix now offers a few options.  I can watch instantly on my computer, which is now a much better option than a year ago.  They've added a lot of movies and TV shows to the instant choices, so I can always find something.  There is also a watch from your TV option, but I haven't looked into that one yet.
So, all of you can breath a sigh of relief; crisis averted and the PO can do what it needs to do after all.

10 in 2010

I follow a few friends' blogs and I liked Karen's list of goals. So I'm making my own list and posting it here. Making my goals public will help keep me focused and a little more honest.  These are in no particular order.

1. Get a job more in line with my degrees and training - so if anyone knows of anything in the Piedmont area for a chemist/lab tech please let me know.
   
2. Learn to knit continental - I started knitting in the spring of 2008 and I’ve really enjoyed it. In an effort to keep me interested and challenged, I want to learn to knit continental by the end of the year. It will make doing ribbing easier, if the rumors are true, and it will allow me to switch between hands so neither gets overworked.
   
3. Lose weight and exercise more - I quit smoking in 2009 (yea me!). Now this was a big deal for me, so I’m thrilled that I’ve made it a year with only a few slips. But this year I need to deal with the aftereffects of this achievement, and that means I must lose some weight. At first, I would have bet money that I wasn’t eating more than before I quit, but after stepping on the scales I know this isn’t true. I won’t embarrass myself by posting how much I gained; I’ll just commit to losing 25 pounds by August and 50 pounds by December. I also need to exercise more, so I want to commit to at least 3 hours a week. At this point I don't care what the exercise is, just that I get off my duff and
   
4. Donate to Goodwill at least once a week.
   
5. Take my lunch & breakfast to work at least 3 days a week - This should help me save over $20 a week, and I have plenty of other places to spend that money.
   
6. Knit 6 pairs of socks - I love my hand knit socks, but I’ve slowed down so much that I think I need a goal. I want to finish 6 pairs of socks this year. That seems doable since I can usually knit a pair in 2-3 weeks
   
7. Go 30 days without complaining - I watch the program “Sunday Morning” on, yes you guessed it, Sunday mornings on CBS. A while back I watched a segment about a church that was challenging it’s members to go for 30 days without complaining. I’m a complainer so this seems like an insurmountable task. I tried it a couple of times right after seeing the story and, oh my, did I fail miserably. But I believe this is a challenge worth attempting, and the results should be noteworthy. I may end up breaking it up and being happy in 2010 with 30 individual days versus 30 straight days.
   
8. Donate blood 3 times (more if possible)
9. Go back to following the Fly Lady and her cleaning schedule/plans.
   
10. Sort through all of my unread books until they will all fit on one bookshelf.

I'll try and post updates to these goals and hopefully have some success stories and not just failures. Spring, rather than January, is such a time of hopes for me that I'm glad to make this list now.

Skype Hunt

Been debating about my topic for this week's entry and then "The Great Skype Extravaganza" occurred. When I started playing Evony, I downloaded Skype and started using it to talk to some of my friends from the game. It's easy to use and cheap (read that as FREE) plus you can do video calls which is great with families/friends that are out of the area. When my nephew and then my niece each got computers, I set it up for both of them. They could talk to me or to each other if they wanted to. I figured Booger would love to talk to Miss Thang and her brothers using the video option. Then it came up that Adam had to go out of town for training. After the kids flipped out and I mean they flipped out, Kristie decided sending the laptop with Adam so he could use Skype seemed like a really good idea. In case you don't recognize it, this is where the fun begins. Kristie has barely used Skype and Adam has never used it, so this means the 8 year old, Miss Thang, is the professional. Started off with a call Sunday morning from Emma, who if you've never talked to her on the phone sounds a lot like her mother at that age. This little squeaky girl's voice asks, "Do you remember Mommy's username and password for Skype?". After much trial and error, it turns out that Skype couldn't care less if your username/password combination are correct, if you aren't connected to the internet. Fast forward to the computer is all setup for Adam, but he now has to be trained on using Skype. He gets the crash course from both Miss Thang and I and sent on his merry way, poor guy. I heard through the grapevine that there was a bit of confusion when he first started it, but he's talked to the kids every night while he was gone, so he's done well. Now, the kids have had meltdowns every time they talked to him, but that's a different story.
All of this got me thinking about technology. I'm positive that I wouldn't have been able to spell computer at Miss Thang's age. A few weeks ago, Saint A couldn't get anyone to load his game online so he and Wowee walked me through it for the game they play. They're 5 and can't read. I remember Booger's first Gameboy and showing him how to use it and now he has to show me how to use his new one. I remember programming Mom's VCR and setting Dad's radio stations when I was young, so are you considered old when the kids have to handle the technology for you?

My 5 Favorites

I know everyone says they love their kids or their grand-kids or, in my case, their nieces and nephews the same. But it just isn't so, or at least not in my case. I mean how could any child be more my favorite then my very first nephew, Booger? It just isn't possible. I was there when Frankye finally told my mother on the phone, no less, that she was pregnant. And I was there for "the pressure" comments and finally his surprising arrival, since he was "supposed" to be a girl. I've laughed and played with him. I watched "Barney" until I was ready to cause the extinction of the last living dinosaur. I remember when I first told him that he couldn't do something until he was double digit aged and when he reached 10 I was amazed that it happened so quickly. He was my first and I discovered how much I could love someone. He'll be 12 this year and he continues to astound me with how smart and funny he is. So, of course, he is definitely my favorite.

Then came Miss Thang, and Booger became my favorite nephew. She was the miracle baby and my "L'il bit". She lived so close that I got to see her all of the time. She was the first one I took on our daily summer walks, when she could barely walk. It was me pushing a stroller and her giggling and chattering. She is such a girl, which is a rarity in our tomboy family of girls. She likes nothing better than pink and frilly and would change clothes 5 times a day if she was allowed. On top of that, she has her mother's sense of humor, so she can be so much fun to be around. I don't always understand her, but I'm her biggest fan. So, of course, she is definitely my favorite.

I missed seeing MissThang 's birth, but I was lucky enough to be in the room for Esay. He had the cord wrapped around his neck, so he was a little blue when he was born. It scared me to death, but the doctor acted pretty nonchalant about it. Seeing Esay today, I don't think it stunted him. It broke my heart when he went to the hospital when he was first diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I'll forever have the movie in my head of him laying on the gurney being held down while the nurses and doctors poked and prodded him. I know in my head that it was for his own good, but my heart couldn't care less about such practical things. He does things the way he wants to and makes no apologies. Seeing him struggle in school with some less than stellar teachers has ticked me off, but watching him manage to still excel has been great. He has always had such a beautiful smile and is one of the sweetest people I know. Even when he was really little, he would get two of anything so he could give one to Miss Thang. So, of course, he is definitely my favorite.

The twins were a surprise to everyone and not the least of which to their parents.  Saint A is the elder of the two and quite the entertainer. He seems to like nothing better than putting on a show with his funny faces and general silliness. When you see how little he is next to his twin, you'd think he would be weaker or get bullied, but it isn't so. He will share but he won't tolerate being pushed around. He is usually the first one to jump in and try something new. I love his adventurous spirit and his willingness to give hugs and kisses. He's my "front man" when we play badminton and he is hysterical to watch. I can always count on Saint A for love and a smile. So, of course, he is definitely my favorite.

Last, but definitely not least, there's Wowee, called that by Saint A for the first couple of years. If ever a child was born with attitude, it was Wowee. He has always been the strong silent type. I think he didn't crawl or walk when Saint A did because he just wasn't convinced it was worth the effort until he saw the advantages for brother. He is more reserved and standoffish from people. When you get a hug or kiss from Wowee you've really gotten a prize, because he cannot be forced to share them. But his giggles are like fairy dust; they make you happy, no matter your mood. I found a couple of David Shannon books a few years ago that had pictures drawn by Shannon. There were a huge hit for the twins, but especially for Wowee. We read them so much that he had them memorized. When his teacher at school tried to read them to the class she had to let Wowee do it because he was saying the words before she could. He loves being read to and so, of course, he is definitely my favorite.

Well, I seem to have a dilemma, but something my oldest nephew told me one time means that I don't have to worry. When Esay was on the way, I asked Booger what I was going to do since I was about to have nephew #2 and I already had a favorite nephew. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "You can have more than 1 favorite, you know". Out of the mouths of babes.