Really Great Day

Today was a really good day - sunny and in the 70s. I went out and did some yardwork and then walked for about a half an hour.

I baked some biscuits for Mom and Dad to celebrate their anniversay/dad's birthday. They got them today and already ate some for lunch.

Yesterday, I stopped at a chocolate festival when I was out but didn't buy anything. I wasn't hungry enough to buy expensive chocolate.

I've got a four day weekend coming up at the end of the week. Yay!!

I got to see the Gordon Ramsey/Top Gear show this weekend. I taped it last Monday night but didn't get a chance to watch it until they replayed it yesterday.

Fritz has gotten about 15 ticks or more this past week. All of the dogs will be getting baths this weekend and Fritz will get drops. Winnie bites when I try to give her drops so she will just have to have baths more often.

I bought a cd this weekend. It's a Rick Springfield greatest hits cd. It's pretty good.

Another Week, Another Weekend

Well, I bought a printer. It's an HP officejet all in one. I would have liked to have gotten one that you can lay a sheet of paper down on the glass to make a copy but I wanted a printer that would use the ink I already have and this was the only all in one Walmart had that would do that.

I got my Yanni Voices cds today. Mom got them in the mail yesterday. They are very good cds.

The back bedroom in the house has ants. I sprayed them with bleach water and that killed them. I hope my hair doesn't get speckled because of the mist falling down from the ceiling.

Bad News

I found out that my printer won't work on my laptop because the laptop runs on Vista. HP might have had an upgrade thing available, but with printers so cheap, I'll just buy a new printer. I've been wanting a wireless printer anyway. I sent an email to my mom to see if she wanted my printer to use as a back up in case hers breaks down.

I've been using my laptop as my only computer for a long while now so you can see that the printer wasn't a big priority anyway.

Yay it's the Weekend

I'm glad to be off from work for a couple of days. I made an egg, cheese, potato, sausage casserole thing this morning in my new non-stick ceramic bakeware. The food stuck to the pan. Oh well. It's pretty bakeware. I think I'm getting a cold. You wouldn't believe how many sick people come to work instead of staying home. They walk around with their dirty tissues and rub their grubby hands all over the printers, fax machine and copier.

PBS is airing a Barry Manilow concert this week. Yay! I love Barry.

Great News!

I didn't buy anything today!!! Yay for me! I even found other things to watch on tv instead of QVC. Granted, some of it was footage of the shuttle launch, but I wasn't buying anything.

Fritz was coughing quite a bit more this morning even after getting his pill. So, after waiting a couple of hours to give his pill time to work, I gave him another half of a pill. His cough went away after that. He had some fun today. He talked me into getting my shoes on and going outside with him. He loves it when people go outside with him.

I read the two romance novels I had sitting here waiting to be read. One of them I had actually bought twice because I hadn't read it yet and thought I didn't have it. They weren't fantastic books, but okay.

I've been thinking of things I can make in my Temp-Tations bakeware when I get it. They claim it's non-stick but I don't think so.

Yesterday was worm pill day for Winnie and PJ. For the first time, PJ didn't eat her pill on her own. She kept spitting it out. I had to crush it and coat some chicken breast with it.

Oh What an Expensive Day

That darn QVC has 25 hours of kitchen stuff today. Boy did that hurt my bank account. I bought some of their Temp-Tations line of ceramic bakeware. I was only thinking of getting their 11 piece set, but then I thought I would get their paper towel holder. Then I saw their new product - a dishware set for 4.

I have resisted some of their stuff today. No Kitchenaid mixer. And no rolling Island food cart. And no pig shaped ceramic baking pan.

A Saturday of Nothing

I did virtually nothing today. And it was great. I think the only work I've done is giving Fritz a bath. I took a nap and watched QVC and surfed the web. I will be cleaning my bathtub later. That's where Fritz got his bath.

4 Day Weekend

Yippeee!!!!! I'm off for four days. I went shopping today. I don't know what I'm doing the rest of the time off. It's nice to not have any plans.

Lost an Hour

Well, we lost an hour last night due to daylight savings time. That means I really got up at 4am this morning. I was up before the puppies for once. Usually they are up early and are playing and barking and waking me up early.

I took the puppies to mom and dad's today and then we came home as usual. I did some yard work and some laundry. Washed some dishes. Took a little nap - just dozing in front of the tv.

Winnie and PJ were sleeping on the couch. Winnie woke up and decided she would rather sleep in the family room so she went in there. Later, PJ woke up and missed Winnie. She got a little upset when she couldn't find her. So, I had to show her where Winnie was.

Fritz is still coughing a bit from not getting his pill on time yesterday. I gave him a pill and a half tonight, hoping it will straighten him out some.

Warm Sunny Day

Today was a warm and sunny day. I was outside at 8:30am cleaning out the flower beds and washing my car. Fritz stayed out much of the day and Winnie and PJ went outside for a walk too. I, of course, went with them.

I love warm and sunny days. And my electric bill will like them too.

Wednesday, Fritz went back to the vet and the vet gave him a shot and some water pills to treat the fluid around his heart that is apparently caused by his heart murmur. I forgot to give him his pill this morning and by 2pm he was coughing a bit. So, now I know he can't yet be stretched out to one pill a day. At least the pills are really small and can be hidden inside a glob of ice cream. So far that has been the way Fritz has been getting his pill.

I'm not looking forward to the time change for daylight savings time. I don't like going to work while it's still dark outside. And I work a regular 8am to 4pm schedule. The politicians who thought this up probably don't get out of bed until 8am. They don't know when daylight breaks in the mornings. But at least I have a 4 day weekend coming up and I can't wait for that.

A Long Week

This past week seemed pretty long and the upcoming week is going to seem pretty long as well. Fritz is somewhat better, but at the same time not as better as he could be. He's still coughing some. And he's not wanting to eat. I'm trying to feed him everything I've got. He won't eat people food or catfood. And catfood is his favorite. He did eat some dog food this morning. He has antihistimine pills through Tuesday night so Wednesday evening Dad and I have to take him back to the vet for a check-up.

I made a homemade pizza yesterday and it's very good. I still have some in the freezer. I don't have the same compunction to eat it all in one day like I do those pre-made pizzaa from the grocery stores.

I'm hoping to take the 9th and the 16th off from work this month. I was going to take the 13th and 16th off and have a four day weekend, but the boss scheduled a team meeting for the 13th and I have to be there. So, I'll just have two three day weekends in a row instead.

I checked out the wireless printers at walmart yesterday morning. They have one that just prints for about $50 but then they have one that copies and scans as well as prints for about $90. I haven't bought one yet. I have to budget my cash until I get to the bank again.

As for the Dell mini netbook that QVC has been trying to sell me for a week or two, I checked it out on the Dell website and built my own - when I do that I can get a router and an external cd/dvd drive along with the netbook for the same price QVC is selling theirs for. QVC is probably ofering a better warranty/service program than what I picked out when I built my own, but I think I can get a better deal by going to Dell.com. I haven't ordered one. I'm not interested in spending that kind of money right now. But the blue one is really pretty.

Another Weekend Gone

Fritz is doing better today. He's actually played around with the puppies and has been outside several times with an alertness that he wasn't showing earlier in the week.

I spent a bunch of money today doing some online shopping. I bought a couple of things for my niece's birthday, I bought a couple of things from QVC - one for me and one for mom, and I bought some things for dad.

QVC has a way of making you think you need everything they sell. They've almost talked me into buying a Dell Netbook. Like I need that. But it would be a nice backup in case my laptop crashes. That isn't something that should be an impulse buy though.

Long Week

It's been a long week this week. Especially for Fritz. He's having issues with his medicine - he doesn't want to take it. I had been putting it in ice cream but he found out and stopped eating the ice cream. So, then I had to resort to putting the pill in his mouth, closing his mouth and turning up his head to encourage him to swallow the pill. He hates that because I have to open his mouth. I also have to shoot the liquid antibiotic in his mouth. He hates that too. As for his condition, up until this morning, he's been having a rough time. Labored breathing and discomfort. The first day or so after he got the shots from the vet, he acted like he had never been sick. But then he started having these other symptoms. It could be a reaction to the medicine. This morning, he started acting a little better. Which is good because if I hadn't seen an improvement, he would have gone back to the vet today. I was concerned that he wasn't showing any improvement after having been on the medicine for a few days, but after reading the box the antibiotic came in, I figured out that Fritz is only getting half of what he's supposed to get. The vet prescribed one dropper full twice a day and the box says for Fritz's weight, it should be two twice a day. So, Fritz wouldn't be showing any improvement for a while with such a low dosage. I'm not going to disregard the vet's instructions. I'm assuming he has a reason for the low dosage. It could be stomach irritation issues or something. Fritz also won't eat much. Dad and I think it's a sore throat. I first thought Fritz just didn't trust me to eat the food I give him because he knew I was the one giving him medicine and suspected it could be in the food. So, I had dad come up today to try to feed him. Fritz didn't do much better with Dad. So we think it's a sore throat from all of the coughing and maybe stomach acids/irritation that comes up when he burps/belches - it could be burning his throat.

It was also a long week for me at work. You know how it is, different rules for different people - some people get away with everything. Same old crap in the workplace. I have to try to get rid of work thoughts this weekend.

Walmart has a wireless printer on sale for $50.00. I'm thinking of getting it for the laptop. I have a regular printer that I could hook up to the laptop, but I don't want to have a bunch of cords attached to something that's supposed to be portable. I did buy a humidifier today for Fritz. It's supposed to help with his coughing and it should help with winnie and pj's dandruff/itching and my itchy skin. I now have two of them running in the house. I had the one mom and dad left behind when they moved out and now I have the new one too. This way, if mom and dad ever need theirs back, they can have it and I'll still have one.

I cleaned the inside of my car today and let me tell you, the best thing I have found to clean the cloth seats is this Pledge Fabric Sweeper I got today at Walmart. It doesn't get in the cracks of the seats, but it does take up all of the fine pet hair and my hair and the lint that comes off of my clothes. I covered my seat with a twin sized sheet. But I don't know how long it will stay. I have a feeling it will be sliding around and falling down off the seat all the time. The bad thing about the Fabric Sweeper is that it's disposable. You have to buy a new one once you fill it up with pet hair etc. They need to make one that you can clean out and re-use. I would pay up to $14.99 for one of those.

Fritz Went to the Vet

Dad and I took Fritz to the vet this evening. His coughing wasn't getting better. So, here's how that went:

I got the leash on Fritz and walked him down around the driveway to the Lumina. I opened up the door and said "Let's go Fritz," and he jumped into the car, ready for a car ride. He hasn't been for a car ride since I first got him about 7 years ago. Dad drove us to the vet. We got inside and sat down and in came a Siberian Husky. It was huge. Then came a Chocolate Lab named Hershey. It was big and fat. Fritz was afraid of them and the Lab just had to meet and greet every dog that came in. Fritz didn't like that. He kept trying to go outside. Then when they called us to go back to the exam room, Fritz's collar came off and Dad had to carry him back to the room. As for the exam, the vet seemed to think it is allergies, being cooped up in the house with the heat on, and a heart murmur that's causing Fritz's cough. I hope he's right. The vet said that it isn't unusual for a dog that's 70 in human years to develop a cough. I don't tend to think of Fritz as an old dog. He's really active. The vet gave Fritz two shots and some antibiotics and antihistimines to take. I hope they will work mixed up in ice cream. When we got back to the house, we let Fritz off the leash and he beat us to the door. He wanted in the house. He wouldn't even eat the catfood Dad offered him. But after Dad left and everyone settled down, I gave Fritz some ice cream and he ate that.

Late Night

I stayed up until 11pm last night reading a book. My eyes weren't drooping or anything. But today I'm pretty tired. I went out early this morning to buy a couple of plastic storage containers to put my books in. I also spent too much money on stuffed animals. I got one for Winnie and PJ and Winnie wouldn't leave it. It was so cute.

We had snow this morning. That was a surprise. But it's all melted off by now. Someone must have wrecked on the interstate this morning. I saw a line of traffic backed up and some emergency vehicles. There wasn't enough snow to cause a wreck as long as you're driving smart.

Not as Tired

I wasn't as tired today as I have been. But then I didn't do a lot in the way of exercise today either. I dyed my hair (a lot of sitting and waiting), I gave Winne and PJ a bath, I read two romance novels, parts of other books, played with my Laptop (I found that I do have a program for copying dvds but it still won't work with my MP3 player that plays video. The mp3 player will only use WMA format), and drove down to the mailbox to get my mail. I was going to walk but it was spitting ice/snow and I didn't want to risk getting caught in bad weather. So, I drove and then it stopped precipitating (snowing, icing, whatever it was.)

I've been taking the herbal thyroid stuff so maybe that's helping.

The two books I read today are two Diana Palmer stories I haven't read before. They were pretty good. Not tied into any other of her books. I'd never heard of these characters before.

My butt and legs are a bit sore though from sitting around with dogs on my lap for hours. First, PJ, then Winnie, the PJ again, then Winnie, then PJ .... you get the idea.

Shopping

I went shopping today. Went to all of the stores I can't go to at 7am on Saturday mornings when I usually do my shopping. Found a dime on one parking lot. Found two Diana Palmer books I didn't have at the GoodWill store. Got some candy I didn't need at about three different stores. I also bought another Cat cube - a foam rubber padded cube that cats sleep and play in. I have a feeling I might be saving the lives of some of my parents future kittens (if the mama cat has them) by taking a few of them home with me when they are old enough. So, I thought I would get another bed for them to sleep in so they would have to share with Lapcat. And if I don't get the kittens, then I've got a backup for Lapcat in case anything happens to her cube. They will of course be outside cats. Maybe they will be mole-catchers. Lapcat sure isn't.

I tried to clean my dining room carpet today and my machine won't even spit out water now. It stopped spitting out soap a long time ago but it was spitting out water the last time I used it. So, I ended up wringing out a wet towel over the floor and then sucking the water up with my machine.

I've been pretty exhausted lately. Along with some other suspicious symptoms. So, after some reading on the web, I've diagnosed myself with thyroid issues. I got some herbal supplements to see if that might help.

Fritz is still coughing some. Not as often or as bad as he used to. He was due for a second round of worm medicine in a couple of days but I started giving it to him tonight instead. It's a little early but it can't really hurt.

Four Days Off

I'm taking tomorrow off from work and I have Monday off, so it's a 4 day weekend for me! Yay!!!

Some puppy stories: yesterday morning I got up and found Winnie laying on the couch being very quiet. Unusual, since they are often running through the house barking at each other. I went over and checked her out and she had a sticker from my pilates machine between her paws. She started chewing on it and I thought, "okay, that's not so bad. but I'll trade it for some catfood." So, I gave her a few pieces of catfood and then tried to get the sticker. It was stuck to her paw. I mean, really stuck. I had to yank it pretty strongly to get it off her food and then she yipped. Well, she was mad the rest of the day and I think probably still mad tonight. She bit me 4 times yesterday morning before I left for work.

Also yesterday morning, I finished washing my hair and left the bathroom to check on the puppies. I looked down the hall and saw PJ just standing there, acting very innocently, next to a cloud of quilt batting. She had pulled it out of the plastic bag it was in and dragged it over to the doorway.

Winnie and PJ finished up their second round of worm medicine last night. Winnie left some of her last dose behind but hopefully she got all of it that she needed. I'm having a hard time getting her to eat. I switched her back to bologna and she's eating a little bit of that.

Fritz has been getting some herbal worm medicine with his food every morning. Until this morning. He wouldn't eat it. I think he gets food up his nose when he eats the Mighty Dog canned food and I think it bothers him. He has another round of three doses of over the counter medicine coming up. Hopefully I can get him to eat that. I'll have to mix it into some ice cream.

We had some really strong winds last night and today. A metal lawn chair blew over last night and I had some tree limbs around the yard and the driveway. Tonight when I came home I saw some kind of cable (power or phone probably) laying in the neighbor's yard and it looked like it had actually cut a tree in half - it was in between the half of the tree that was laying in the yard and the half that was still standing. I don't remember if I drove over the cable or under it. I didn't notice it until I had passed by it. I was keeping an eye on the neighbor's dog instead - it was chasing my car like it always does.

I now have all of the stuff I've ordered lately on the web. I know I said that spending season was over after I bought the pilates machine. But that was before I needed puppy pads which Walmart wasn't selling, and before I wanted to buy the Cesar Milan book from Lakeside, before I had to buy the worm medicine for the dogs, before I had to buy hairball treats for Fritz.

Hopefully, I'm done buying now.

Wonderfully Sunny Day

It's a beautiful day today - blue sky, warm sun. I washed my car - the LaCrosse, not the Lumina. When I was done, I just sat down in the sun and soaked up the sun. The whole week will be warm, yay!!!

Finally Driving to the House

I finally drove up to the house Thursday evening. I decided that since we weren't going to get any more snow, I would drive up to the house. I slid around some and as usual, the neighbor's dogs chased me, but I made it. It's nice driving to and from the house for a change. And it's really nice to have warm temperatures. We were in the 40s I think yesterday and today we were in the 50s. We are going to have 50s and 60s this week. Yay!!!

I ate way too much today. But I'm getting back on the diet and exercise plan either tomorrow or Monday.

I made a little quilt today for Winnie and PJ. It has little dog bones on one side and Care Bears on the other. I broke my sewing machine while making this quilt. It won't sew in reverse now. Winnie doesn't know if she likes it or not. I put it in her little hidey-hole and she wouldn't lay there. So, I had to get it back out and put it back on the couch. She'll get used to it.

Fritz was coughing a little bit today. I gave him over the counter worm medicine and after the third treatment, he was doing very well. This morning he coughed some (during the dogs' 3am play time while I was trying to sleep) so I gave him some herbal worm medicine I have. Not the first kind that really gave him a bad cough, but the second kind I got in the mail. He hasn't had any bad reactions from that yet. But I didn't give him a second dose tonight. I thought I would only do one dose a day for a while and see how his cough gets.

Tomorrow the puppies get to visit their grandparents. They missed their trip last week because of the weather. They will be so excited when I start sacking everything up to go tomorrow.

Warm Today, But I Still Have Snow

My driveway didn't completely melt off today. I still went to the store. I walked down to my car and then after I got finished with Walmart I called mom and asked if dad would drive me up the hill when I got finished with the other shopping I had to do. Mom said 'of course dad would love to do that.' LOL. So, I picked up dad and he drove me up the hill. The neighbors' dogs chased us and we slid all the way up the hill. Before we got there dad said repeatedly, "you can drive up the hill." Hah! So, I gathered up the mail and stuff that I had to take to mom and dad's and dad and I left and went back to his house. Dad made over Winnie, PJ and Fritz while I put some groceries away and changed into comfortable sweats. They just love it when he comes to visit.

I parked the car back down at the road when I came home tonight and walked up. Dad said, "it should be melted off, you can drive up tonight." But I was concerned about all of the ice I might have to deal with tomorrow morning. So, I'm walking.

Dad says Fritz has hairballs. He might. These are the most sheddingist dogs. I'm running out of hairball remedy cat treats so I had to order some from the internet. I tried to find them in town and no one had them. I also ordered some puppy pads from the web since walmart isn't carrying the really good quilted ones.

Yay it's the Weekend

Well, I made it to work on Thursday and Friday. That's about all to say there. Today, it warmed up to about 34 degrees with plenty of sun, but it isn't melting a lot out there. Hopefully it will melt tomorrow and I can get to the store.

By 9:30am today I had washed my dishes, done a load of laundry and vacuumed in the living room. Later I took a nap. I've also eaten way too much. I am completely off any kind of schedule and hopefully, once the weather straightens up, I can get back to a good eating and workout schedule.

Fritz has been sick lately. Coughing. It was a dry, hacking cough. And with the addition of garlic powder to his food, the cough went away mostly. Then I got some herbal worm medicine and gave to him. Two doses and his cough was horrible. Like how it sounds when a human taks some medicine and his or her cough breaks up and they start coughing up stuff. Fritz was really bad yesterday morning and I contemplated taking him to the vet. But I stopped giving him that worm medicine and by the time I got home last night, his cough was nearly gone again. And he's been doing well today too. So, I think the vet visit can wait for better weather.

I did have to carry a bag of frozen chicken breasts up the hill last night because I was running out of food for the dogs. That was a workout. It really makes you aware of how much weight you lose when you add the pounds back on like that. I didn't notice how bad the walk was when I was that many pounds heavier.

Walmart is not carriying my favorite brand of puppy pads. I'm very unhappy about that. They are the Hartz brand and they are quilted. Quilted puppy pads are the best. I will probably have to buy them from Amazon now. Good thing I stock up on those for this exact reason - I know walmart has a habit of getting you hooked on a product and then not selling it anymore.

I've been watching the Australian Open tennis tournament. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are in the final. The Nadal-Verdasco semi-final was classic. It was good to see Fernando Verdasco play so well. As for the final, I don't know who to cheer for. I would like to see Roger eclipse Sampras' record and eventually get more majors than Tiger Woods has in golf. But I would also like to see Nadal win a major on a hard court. I don't think he could be considered a true #1 player unless he wins majors on all surfaces. Just like I don't think Federer can be considered better than everyone who ever played unless he wins the French Open.

A Half Day of Work

Well, I got to work on time this morning. But by 1pm I was headed out the door to come home. We were getting pounded with a fast, heavy snow storm at my workplace. Oddly enough, we weren't getting anything just 5 miles away. Skipping over the aggravations of the day (tailgaters on bad roads, idiot neighbors, idiot employees I have to deal with at work), I prefer to think of happier things. I continued reading "As You Do" by Richard Hammond of the tv show Top Gear this evening. I played with the dogs today. And it looks like I might get to go to work tomorrow too. Okay, so that isn't especially happy. But as I have something else to mail out tomorrow, it will be nice to get out. And maybe I can shop a bit at Walmart - Just window shop. I can't very well carry a bunch of stuff up my driveway.

Another Day Off

Well, I had to take another day off because of snow. This time, we got about 4 more inches on top of the inch we had yesterday. I did get ready for work and walk all the way down to the car but after surveying the two roads I would have to drive on, I decided to stay home. This afternoon I dug out the car and a turn around area in the driveway so I can hopefully get to work tomorrow. And mail out my mail. And hopefully get some stuff I ordered last week - it's supposed to be delivered to mom and dad's. I have a feeling I will be walking to and from the house until at least Sunday. Maybe longer. It depends on the forecast.

So, today I went out with Fritz and played a bit with him. And I carved out some pathways for Fritz and Lapcat so they wouldn't have it so hard roaming around the yard.

A little Haha moment - the new laxzy neighbor just had to go out today and drive on the 5 plus inches of snow in the driveway. He has a big truck with big tires. The haha moment - he backed out of his driveway and came within an inch or so of backing down into his big ditch. Heehee.

An Unplanned Day Off

Well, we got about an inch and a half of snow last night so I called off today. I swept out two tracks of the driveway all the way from the house to the road and by the time I took my car down at 3pm to park it alongside the main road, the tracks had melted out and the driveway looked pretty good. Just in time for 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight and 2 to 4 more tomorrow. I will be walking the rest of the week probably. I think Thursday it's supposed to be above 32 but then it will be cold again Friday and Saturday. Sunday, it's supposed to be above 32 again and I may be able to shovel that day. I know the part of the driveway used by the lazy neighbors will be solid ice for several days to come. They don't know what physical work is so I don't expect them to shovel.

The substitute mail carrier must have been working today. All the mail in my mailbox belonged to someone on down the road. How hard can it be to match up the address on the envelope to the number on the mailbox? 168 doesn't look anything like 170B.

I've been trying to watch tennis today but they keep showing the Tsonga/Blake match. I've seen it something like 4 times now. Enough already. I did manage to see the Murray/Verdasco match. That was a good one.

A Lot of Mail

I have a very unusual amount of mail to mail out tomorrow. Four envelopes. Usually I don't have any mail to go out but tomorrow I have two tax returns (state and federal), a subscription renewal to Dog Fancy magazine, and an order from The Lakeside Collection.

I did my taxes this morning at Mom and Dad's. I tried filling out copies of the forms on the couch and Winnie and PJ kept walking all over me and the forms. But eventually I got the copies filled out and then went into the other room to fill out the real forms and make the copies of everything before sealing the returns up in their envelopes.

I still have to wash out the bathtub from where I gave Fritz a bath yesterday. And I might get around to updating my checkbook. I try to put off the number crunching stuff since I do that at work.

Your Stomach Does Not Taste

I just heard this statement from a winemaker on the Rick Steves travel show. I thought this was a profound comment for us big eaters. If we can separate the great taste of the food we eat from the size of our stomachs and remember both are equally important when eating, then we might be able to cut down on what we eat, knowing that while our taste buds would love to have more of that really great ice cream or pizza, our stomachs are only food containers like that Tupperware, Lock & Lock, or Gladware container you have in the cabinet. (Or any brand of food storage containers-no endorsement is intended). This is why one of the four rules of the I Can Make You Thin system is "eat consciously and enjoy every bite". Give your taste buds what they want. Leave the food on your tongue long enough for your body to realize that you've actually eaten a piece of pizza, or a serving of ice cream.

I've taken a bit of a break from working out. And I ate a bit more last night and today. But still healthy - I bought a sub sandwich from walmart last night and threw away half of the bread. Then this morning I bought another one because I still had half of a tomato to eat and I've made this sandwich last all day. When I'm next hungry, I'm going for ice cream. I bought some low calorie/low fat cookies and cream ice cream this morning.

I have to start working on my tax returns this weekend. And there's some ordering I would like to do from a catalog. I know I said spending season was over, but these are good deals on things I either would really like to have or would get but have been putting off because I wasn't going to spend 'that much' money on them. I also need to update my checkbook. Hopefully I'll get my credit card bill today so I can get that payment in the mail.

Still Working Out

I've been working out some this week. Either the treadmill or the pilates machine. So, that's a good thing for me :)

I've been sticking to my eating plan and not even wanting to stray, even with all kinds of desserts at work this week. Another good thing for me :)

I've been tricking Fritz into drinking water. He hasn't been drinking any water because he won't drink in the house and the water outside has been frozen. But I've been mixing up some chicken broth and pouring it over some cooked chicken. He will eat it and drink the broth if it's not in a bowl. Sometimes I can use a Lean Cuisine container and sometimes it's just a paper plate.

Winnie and PJ got into my room tonight while I was changing clothes. Winnie helped me out a lot by going under the bed and retrieving one of my ponytail holders. I should tie a dustrag to her and send her under there once a week. LOL.

Sunny Day

The sun came out today and helped to melt some snow. Yay! I went out and swept the snow off of most of the driveway today anyway. It was good exercise. I didn't go as far down the driveway as I usually do because I have new lazy neighbors who drove in and out twice today before noon and I decided I wasn't going to try to clean off the driveway from their house down to the road. They must be related to the old neighbor woman's lazy relatives.

The Australian Open tennis coverage has started on tv. I hope to watch quite a bit of it. If I can pull myself away from QVC. I can watch it tonight since Top Gear won't be on. For some reason, BBC America thinks the Inauguration is a big deal. What they don't realize is that we're going to be seeing Obama for the next four years practically every single day we turn on our tvs, we don't really need extra coverage on the big day tomorrow.

I've been doing the I Can Make You Thin plan for about 22 days. Yay!! Some people say that you form a habit in 21 days. So, maybe I have formed a new eating habit. I have been cheating a bit though - I've been eating Lean Cuisines which are portion controlled. I'm technically supposed to fix a big meal and then not eat it all. So, I've been doing that on the weekends. Today I fixed some Kraft Mac and Cheese and put two thirds of it in the freezer. And I still have most of the hard candy left that I made in December.

One More Day

I've got one more day off and I am so happy! Today it warmed up and we didn't get all the snow that was predicted, but we still could get about an inch. It's coming down now.

I got on the treadmill today and on the pilates machine. I needed to get on the treadmill since I lazed around with naps a couple of times today.

I took some measurements of my driver's seat of the LaCrosse. I'm thinking of trying to make a seat cover for it. I thought it might be cheaper than buying one.

Weekend and a Holiday

I have a three day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yay.

I took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off from the pilates machine. Wednesday and Thursday I had to walk up the driveway because of the weather and that made me late with everything else I had to do in the evenings so I skipped the machine. I still walked in place so I still got some exercise. Friday, they had Lock and Lock on QVC when I got home so I skipped the machine to watch it. But I got back on the machine tonight. I tried to do every exercise slowly instead of fast.

I went to the store this morning and then took the puppies to see their grandparents this afternoon. We are supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow so I thought I would go today to avoid the weather.

It's been very, very cold here these last few days. My car registered -4 at work on Friday morning. Brrr... Lapcat somehow is keeping warm outside. I think she's staying under the old chicken house out by the garden.

Fritz finally got a drink of water today. He won't drink in the house and all the water outside is frozen. I put some out this morning and he got a little bit of it and then I broke through the layer of ice that was covering it later on today and he got a better drink that time.

Mom and dad say that Ralph, their little kitten, hasn't been seen in a couple of days. I hope he's okay. He's an outside cat. His mommy has been to their house for some food.

I picked up the Elvis cds I ordered from QVC today at mom and dad's. I played them when I got home and the songs are very good. Someday I need to put them on my mp3 player to listen to when I'm on the treadmill. Someday, I have to get back on the treadmill. I can't just do the pilates machine only.

Brrrr...................

It's going to be pretty cold here the next few days. Single digits with below zero wind chills at night. I ran out some water just in case my pipes freeze overnight. And we are supposed to get some snow. I parked my Lumina at the main road tonight so I don't have to worry about trying to drive down my driveway. But there's a problem - my driver's side car door lock was frozen this morning. I hope I can get into the car tomorrow if I need it.

I've been using my new pilates machine every day since I got it. I didn't use it tonight because I walked up to the house and it put me behind in all my chores. So, I figured I would use what time I had to do my dishes, run out water in pans and storage containers, wash the dogs' bowls, and do a small load of laundry.

My internet connection is not behaving tonight. I try and try to connect and it won't let me and then when I do, they sever the connection for some unknown reason. They better get it fixed, whatever it is.

I was going to watch American Idol this week, but I saw some clips of that new judge and thought that I didn't want to see them argue that much more. The show is about the contestants, not the judges. So, I'm stuck watching QVC. Believe me, there isn't much of anything else on tv.

Day Two

Day two and I still love the Pilates Machine. I wasn't sore this morning, just aware of some of the muscles I used yesterday - mainly the shoulder area because I tried some moves I saw on the sales programs on QVC and they weren't on the level one workout dvd. And there's a bit of awareness right above the knees. But it will go away. And I have some irritation between my lower back and my mid-butt area because my clothes are scratching against me as I lay on the padded bench.

I started reading a book written by Richard Hammond of Top Gear. It's called "As You Do" and it's a funny account of some of the trips and adventures he's had on the show and off. I'm not too keen on the naughty language, but I can get by that. I do have to switch gears, so to speak. Usually, when I read a book, I just read the dialogue. But this is a memoir of sorts so there isn't a lot of dialogue. I was a couple of pages in and realized I missed a bunch of the story.

QVC has a pretty cool treadmill on air right now. If I didn't already have a treadmill and the pilates machine, I might be more tuned in to the sales pitch. It's pretty cool.

I Love My Machine!!

I got my pilates machine last night and I love it. I was on it for 50 minutes today and it didn't seem like that long at all. I need to watch the dvds a few times that come with the machine to get all of the exercises in my head.

I made turkey meatloaf this morning. Newsflash: they say food won't stick to ceramic bakeware, but they are wrong.

Tired of Doing Nothing

Work is making me tired. Not because I'm overworked. But because I can't work. The stupid computer program we use has printing limitations and this week, there's been at least 1.5 hours each day when I can't print what I need to print to do my job. You all don't know how tiring this is. The frustration of not being able to do anything really wears you down.

I need to apply The Secret to work. I should start doing that and see what happens. Things can only improve since The Secret works.

According to two internet weather forecasts, we could see 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight. According to the tv weather that Mom saw, we might get an inch. I'll find out tomorrow how much snow we did get.

I watched the Discovery Health Body Challenge last night and I was very disappointed to see the participants at a boot camp. I don't like the boot camp thing and think it doesn't do anyone any good to attend a boot camp or watch it on tv. It's unrealistic for those in the audience who can't just up and leave their families and their jobs to attend one and I don't think those who attend one could settle back into their lives after it's over and stick with their programs. I'm still going to watch it this week, but I wish they could go back to how the Body Challenge was done a few years ago - several weeks of watching the participants lose the weight. That way you feel a connection to them and it really does inspire you more.

My diet and exercise plan is going well. I'm following the I Can Make You Thin plan and walking in front of the tv for a half an hour every morning. I'm also doing some mat pilates every other day. I'm hoping I get my pilates machine soon. The delivery estimate was for today so hopefully I'll get it before the weekend. And then I hope I don't have any snow on the driveway and I can get it home.

Inspiration

In this new year, if anyone is trying to get into shape or lose weight, there's a place you can go for inspiration. Yes, I'm talking about Richard Simmons' website. You may not want to sweat to the oldies or cruise to lose, but reading Richard's daily messages or reading about the many, many successful people who've followed his programs can inspire you to keep up with your chosen food plan and workout schedule. Check out today's message on Richard's website by CLICKING HERE.

Last Day of Vacation

Well, today is my last day off. I go back to work tomorrow and my next holiday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's a lazy day for me today. I went to Mom and Dad's this morning with the puppies. And when I got back, I took some laundry out of the dryer and rolled up some loose change. I also got on the treadmill for a half an hour. I'm doing pretty well with the exercise. I've worked out virtually every day since I've been off. And my diet has been pretty good too. No overeating. I'm not weighing myself so I don't know if I've lost anything. I'm going to go by how I look and fitting into my smaller clothes that I have in the closet.

I've been watching a lot of QVC while I've been off. There's a bunch of stuff that I could buy, but I don't need to buy. There's one more full hour of the Pilates show on QVC today and I plan to record it so I can watch it after I get my machine and watch it for inspiration and motivation.

No Nap Today

I spent half a day cleaning my bedroom. I even washed my curtains. I did three loads of laundry and have no idea where I'm going to put it all. It's not going back on the floor.

I read some of the posts on the QVC forums and I have to say I'm surprised there are so many unhappy people out there. Talk about people who need to follow "The Secret" and try to be positive and happy. I feel the need to speak up about a couple of the comments made on their forums: 1. I like Sandra Bennett. The reason she talked so much during the pilates show yesterday was because the other lady couldn't talk. 2. I liked the trip to Austria. Granted, in times of economic hardship, companies need to examine how they spend their money, but the trip to Austria was cool and since that guy is a host on the UK version of QVC, maybe the US QVC got some kind of a deal on the expense. 3. One of the subject titles was "Who cares about scrapbooking". Well, some people do and they deserve to have a chance to buy scrapbooking materials. I really don't like the shows about clothes of any kind. But I'm not going to post a 'get rid of the clothes' comment on QVC's message boards.

I have probably 10 to 15 shopping channels on my TV. I'm sure these unhappy posters have just as many. There's no one forcing them to watch QVC. There are other alternatives out there. Not to mention that some of these folks can turn the tv off and go to stores if they want to shop.

Sneezy, Headachy Day

Well, I did a bad thing today. I stirred up the dust in my bedroom. LOL. Before stirring up the dust, I took a nap and developed a headache so I thought I would clean some in there. There needs to be a lot more cleaning.

Winnie and PJ didn't like that I was in my bedroom without them. They found my prepaid mastercard records and chewed them up into little bits. I had to sort through all of the pieces to find my current balance.

I got on the treadmill today despite the fact that I really wanted to take my nap. I took the nap later.

So Easy It Was Weird

I ordered the pilates machine last night from QVC. I dialed their number, there were no rings, and when the operator came on, she knew who I was without even asking me. I guess their computer system matched me up with my phone number. I didn't have to give them my Q number or my pin number. I can see why so many people order bunches of stuff from QVC. It's really, really easy to just put it on the credit card and not think about it.

I cleaned more in the back bedroom where the machine will go. And I rearranged some things in there. Hopefully it will work even though it will be sitting on the shag carpet. It's very low to the ground and I don't know if the carpet would get caught in the machine as it moves. I'll find out when I get it. It's being shipped to Mom and Dad's, as usual, and I should have it by the end of next week.

New Year's Eve

My New Year's eve consisted of shopping this morning. Then I came home and cleaned my dining room carpet and vacuumed the big bedroom where I lay in the floor and play with the dogs. It's also where the pilates machine would go if I order one from QVC tonight.

I also took a couple of naps today. One was at 5:30am - I went back to bed after I ate breakfast and let Fritz out and in. Then later, I took a nap because I knew I'd be up late watching QVC.

After I got up from my nap, I went to Mom and Dad's to pick up my Avon order. As you know I have everything shipped to their address so I can hopefully get it without it visiting the neighbors for a week or two first.

I think I'm going to stop ordering from Avon. I need to spend my money on other things. I figured if I say that instead of "I can't afford it" then I'm in keeping with the Law of Attraction.

Beginning Again

Another 5 day weekend began this evening. Yay! I'm off until Monday.

I got an email today from Tracfone telling me that my issue has been resolved. I never did have to enter in any codes to update the phone. Maybe they did it by remote. I left the phone on all day today.

I've had a headache most of the day. I tried to use the Law of Attraction to get rid of it, but so far it hasn't happened. Maybe it just takes a while for my receipt of a pain free head to manifest itself.

I do think the Law of Attraction works. Right now QVC is selling Tiffany Style Lamps. The other day, I happened to think 'when are they going to sell those lamps again?' So, the Law of Attraction must have brought this show to me :) Not that I'm buying any of the lamps. I just like to look at them. In order to attract money to me, I can't say that they are too expensive or that I can't afford them. But I can say there's better ways to spend my money than by buying those lamps.

Coming to An End

Well, this five day vacation is coming to an end. However, another one begins this coming Wednesday. Yes, I work two days and I'm off five more. I really could get used to a schedule like this, but no work would get done at work.

The dogs could get used to this too. I think they will have a hard time when I go back to work and I'm gone all day.

Out of all of my Christmas presents, I've only got the golf book yet to read. I have a stack of romance novels I bought a while back that I still haven't read yet. Maybe I'll get to those during my next 5 day break.

I don't know if I've said it here, but I've been planning to make a pilates machine my last big purchase before going into saving mode. Well, I think I will need to save up and buy seat covers for my new car. I'm getting tired of using the dogs' shedding tool to pick up the lint and fuzz off of my car seats, although the shedding tool does work well.

It's nice to not have to do my laundry today. Since I'm only working two days this week and only worked two days last week, I don't need to do laundry yet. I did wash a load of cleaning towels, dog towels and dog blankets. A ton of dog hair came out of the dryer but they needed washed.

Ecuador

I watched the Ecuador dvd I got for Christmas today. I was doing fine until they got to the deep fried guinea pig. They showed a cute white one living and squealing and I just had to skip some of the program to get past it. This is one of the GlobeTrekker dvds and I've seen it before so I knew it was on there. But, I still didn't like seeing it.

Guess What....

The new tracfone is working. How's that for funny in the ironic kind of way? Just yesterday I posted that I should use "The Secret" to see if I could get the phone working. Well, this morning I turned it on and was playing with it and saw that it had a phone number when the last time I checked it didn't. So, I called the number and it rang. Then I used the tracfone to dial my home number and my home phone rang. Cool, isn't it.

Then I got an email from tracfone telling me that the phone was activated but that they needed to update the phone with some new codes. They asked me to either reply to the email with times that I would be home to take their call or to just call their 1-800 #. So, I replied to the email.

I hope these codes will leave my minutes alone. I added some to the phone today and I hope to keep them.

Shopping: I bought some on sale christmas wrapping paper and bows today. I also got a remote control for outdoor electrical stuff. It's supposed to be used for christmas lights, I think, but I hooked my dusk to dawn light up to it so I don't have to plug it in and unplug it. So far it works. Don't know if it will burn out or anything. I'll have to ask dad how powerful that light is to see if the remote can handle it. I also bought a couple of mugs that were on sale and a couple of cargo cubes that you put in the trunk of your car. I have a milk crate in my car now, but it tears up the grocery bags.

Reading and Reading....

I read the Diana Palmer book I got for Christmas last night. And today I finished reading The Secret, a book I bought at walmart on Tuesday. This book is about the physics law of attraction and how you can use it to bring whatever you want into your life. There's a website for it too and you can google it to check it out. According to the website there are people who have used this to cure their eyesight problems, lose weight, help with relationships, finances etc. I should use it to see if I can get that worthless tracfone activated and working.

I might try that tomorrow.....

I have to go shopping tomorrow morning - regular grocery shopping and checking out the after Christmas sales, if there are any at walmart. But after that, I should be home all day.


Oh goody, I just saw a commercial for the National Body Challenge that's going to be on Discovery Health starting Jan 5th. I like that show but I liked it better when it ran for a whole 15 weeks or so and followed everyone on a weekly basis. Now they've shortened it to a week for everyone. You don't get a chance to get inspired by the participants.

Christmas Celebration

I'm back from Mom and Dad's where we celebrated Christmas today. It was warm and rainy today so I didn't have to worry about snow or ice on the roads. The puppies spent a long time at their Grandma's and Grandpa's. We got there around 8:30am and didn't leave until about 4pm.

Winnie barked and barked and barked. She was very upset because there were strange smells and sounds all over the house and crazy looking boxes in the living room. PJ didn't seem bothered by any of it.

Dinner was good. We had it around noon. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, home made noodles, rolls, cranberry sauce. I only ate turkey, mashed potatoes, noodles and a hot roll. But the rest of it must have been good because Mom and Dad ate quite a bit. PJ begged and begged for food during dinner but Winnie wouldn't even come into the kitchen. It made me wonder if she really is a chihuahua (they usually are masters at begging for food).

Now for the presents: I am so excited about what I got: the ATP Calendar (pro tennis players - some without shirts and some who kinda need to put the shirts back on), a golf book called "The Scorecard Always Lies", two romance novels: Night of the Jaguar by Merline Lovelace and A Long Tall Texas Summer by Diana Palmer (two authors whose books I collect), a Globetrekker DVD of Ecuador (I love the Globetrekker show), a card with $20.00 in it and a little Santa magnet and a cute little stuffed Piggy. This was definitely a squeal with delight Christmas.

Mom and Dad got so many things that I don't think I can remember it all. They were very happy with everything they got. Smiles all around. My sister and brother in law got them a Web-Cam for their computer so they can talk to my niece and nephew. I hooked it up for them, but I don't know the first thing about actually using it. I'm not a web-cam kinda girl.

One cute anecdote from today: Dad said something about who got him something he opened and I said the kids? And he replied, "Jassie and Timmy". As if to differentiate from my kids Winnie and PJ. LOLOL. Because Winnie and PJ did some shopping for Dad too this year.

I brought home some peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge, and brownies that Dad made. And I ate a bowl of vanilla ice cream for a snack after dinner. I should have brought home some of that ice cream.

And when I got home, Fritz practically cried for Winnie and PJ. He definitely does not like for them to be gone for that long. I think he was worried they weren't coming back. It's good that he likes them that well. Even though he does growl and snap at them at times.

It's a good thing I have four more days off so I can read all of my books I got today. And I'm in the middle of reading The Secret. It's a book about how the physics law of attraction is supposed to affect your whole life, from the kind of job you have to your weight. I read about it in a Womans World magazine and thought it sounded a lot like some beliefs that golfer Nick Faldo has, so I thought I'd read the book.

Now I'm off to see if Walmart is having any kind of after Christmas sale, other than selling their wrapping paper cheap.

Good Sunday

I read three romance novels, took a nap, gave the puppies a bath, washed dishes and did a load of laundry.

Only two days to work this week, then off until next Monday. Yay!!!

Too Much Money Spent

I was balancing my checkbook today and got the bad news that I've spent way too much money lately. I'm hoping to curtail my spending habits after the first of the year, but there is still one big ticket item that I might buy. A pilates machine from QVC. I've wanted one for about the last 5 years. One reason my checkbook looks bad is that I had to pay a whole year's worth of car insurance this month. That's a huge sum.

I took the puppies to mom and dad's today instead of tomorrow since tomorrow's weather is supposed to be worse than today's. Thanks to having half a day off yesterday I was able to go to the store yesterday which freed up my morning today. I also was able to wash my car yesterday. Yay! It needed it. The cat offered her seal of approval by walking on it with muddy feet.

I made another pillow for the puppies today so they don't have to compete for the first pillow I made for the couch. Now they both have pillow room and are very happy.

Tomorrow I might read some of these romance novels I've got stacked up waiting to be read.

Let's see if Blogger will publish this now. I tried before and it wouldn't publish and it lost the original post. I had to re-type everything from memory. Trust me, the original post was much more enjoyable to read.

Sad, Sad News

I read on E! News that Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away. It's a sad day for all Trekkies everywhere, and all Earth Final Conflict fans and all Andromeda fans.

One of my favorite stories in the Trek universe is the one of the unrequited love between Nurse Chapel and Spock.

Avon Question

If anyone out there reading this blog knows the answer to this question, please either post a comment or email me: When do the prices in the Campaign 1, 2009 Brochure go into effect? I got this brochure with my last online order and apparently Avon never puts the dates on the cover like real life representatives do. Is there a place on the web that will list the sale dates for every campaign?

Calls and Walks

I was able to add a one year card to my existing Tracfone today. This isn't the phone that I can't get activated because Tracfone is a horrible company. This is the phone I've had for a few years. I had an extra one year card for the phone that doesn't work, so I sold it to mom today since she will need to add a year to her phone too.

I got on the treadmill tonight and walked for 50 minutes. The last time I was on the treadmill, I was having that horrible joint pain in November and thought that the treadmill was causing it. So, now that I know what the joint pain is about, I know I can get on the treadmill and just take an Aleve if I feel pain later on.

I needed to get on the treadmill. I spent the whole day eating candy. Chocolate covered peanut clusters. I'm taking the rest of them to work for my co-workers. I've made myself sick on them. Actually, I'm feeling a little bit hungry now. I think I'll wait a while longer and then see what I can find. I've got some applesauce in the kitchen. And some hot cocoa mix. Some orange juice.

Birthday

I had my little birthday party at mom and dad's today. We had cake and ice cream and I got a present from Mom and a few presents from my sister. From Mom I got Lock & Lock storage containers. I was the one to turn her on to Lock & Lock because I kept seeing it on QVC, but Mom was the first in the family to buy some. From my sister, I got a woven basket in the shape of a pig, a pop can cozy with a pig on it, a few little packs of designer chocolate, and a pretty bracelet. The bracelet was a timely gift since I bought a jewelry box on sale at walmart yesterday. The puppies even partook in the festivities - I gave them each a very small amount of chocolate ice cream.

I took the christmas presents to mom and dad's today. Again, they said that I spent too much, even though they don't know what I got them. They should be happy that I have the giving spirit at Christmas. I could be a selfish, give me-give me, type. I know someone like that. It's particularly sad since that person is an adult.

Cold, Cold, Cold

It is very, very cold this morning. About 20 degrees at 8:30am. It was really cold when I got up at 5am. Yesterday, the snow melted off the driveway with no help from me so I will be able to go shopping today. But I'm not going until it warms up. I'm thinking about a 10:00am start. Hopefully, it will be at least 32 by then.

I made more hard candy yesterday and a pillow for the couch. The puppies love the new pillow. They take turns laying on it.

Tomorrow, I'm going to take the Christmas presents I bought for mom and dad to their house so they will have them in case we get some bad weather around Christmas eve. I can always park my car at the main road and get in and out when it snows but I can't carry the christmas presents too. That would be a lot of walking.

Christmas Party

We had our christmas party at work yesterday. Dinner was provided by management and each employee got a gift from management. It was a nice time. One worker whined until she got the gift she wanted. She had marked the box previously so she would know which one had what she wanted in it but another worker got it before she did. So, she pouted and whined until that worker traded with her. That was sad. My present was nice. No photo album. No candle. I got a round metal tin in the shape of a bucket with a lid and inside there was a coffee mug, four packets of hot cocoa mix, two high fiber snack bars, and a packet of hot cider mix - I left the hot cider mix at work. The tin bucket and mug have snowmen on them and I'm not a fan of snowmen, but I can deal with that. The bucket is perfect for the hard candy I've been making.

I'm off tomorrow so I just have today to go. We are supposed to get some snow tonight and tomorrow so it will be nice to stay home and not have to worry about traveling in the bad weather. Even though it's supposed to warm up on Saturday to melt any snow we get, I might go out tomorrow and clean off the driveway anyway. It depends on how much we get.

Update on the Avon order

The order that was being shipped by UPS - the one UPS claimed was delivered yesterday, apparently was delivered to the post office instead of the house. The postal carrier delivered it to the house today. Along with what I purchased, there was another catalog with new sale items, so I just bought some more stuff. I might not have bought anything but I had a free shipping code I could use.

I've Had it With Customer Service

I ordered some stuff from Avon online and it was supposed to be delivered to mom's house. Well, the tracking info claims it was delivered to a dock and signed by someone named Vest. The detailed tracking says it arrived in Charleston, our state capital and not where I live, and that it never left there. So, I don't know where it is. I'm going to give it another day or two and then file a claim online for not getting the package.

This is really ridiculous. What's with all of these people? The US Post Office people didn't deliver a package to my sister's house and now Amazon has to send out a replacement. The UPS people either have bad tracking info online or they misdelivered my Avon order. And you've read all about my troubles with Tracfone.

You know, with all the bad things happening in America - failed banks, failed housing markets, failed auto industry, you'd think people would be trying to do their best in their jobs since jobs are scarce and money is tight. But it's like no one wants to do their job well anymore. It's sad. Americans should take more pride in their work than what they seem to be doing.

Rest of the Day

The puppies and I were able to go to mom and dad's this afternoon. I swept off the driveway, but the sun came out and melted much of it too. Then I waited around until 8pm for my 48 hour deadline with tracfone and after no one called me, I decided I was tired of calling customer service, so I sent an email to something called the Executive Resolution Department. They probably won't do anything either but at least I've done this so I can then say I've done everything when I file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

I tried to make lemon hard candy today but something went wrong. It turned out brown and I think there's a problem with my thermometer. It reached 260 degrees and I put the food coloring in and then the temperature dropped and had to rise again. I was afraid to eat the candy in case there was something really wrong with the thermometer and it leaked or something. I plan to buy a new thermometer tomorrow.

Today was a pain free day. Even after sweeping off the driveway, which is a big job.

We weighed Winnie today at mom and dad's and she's just under 10 pounds. If she goes over 10 pounds I have to start buying separate worm medicine for her. So, she's on a diet. It doesn't help that Dad fed them both about a loaf of bread today. He thinks it's funny. He doesn't have to pay $24.00 for worm medicine.

Staying Home This Morning

Instead of going to mom and dad's this morning, the puppies and I stayed home. We got some snow yesterday and I figured it wasn't worth it to try to go visiting today. The sun's been out this morning and it's already up to 30 degrees so maybe the snow will melt off of the drive way and we can go this afternoon.

I read a romance novel this morning, ordered a present for my nephew's birthday, bought some books from Eharlequin - they are having free shipping on all orders today as part of their 12 days of Christmas. I've done a load of laundry and I'm making some hard candy. I have a batch of orange and cherry. Today I'm going to do Lemon and another batch of orange. I'll either split it all up and give my parents some or I'll be a pig and keep it all. I won't eat it all for a while because there's a lot of it.

Haven't heard anything from tracfone. But I don't expect to. I'll have to call them back. And if nothing is resolved after this 4th phone call, I'll call the executive relations # that I have. They are supposed to resolve problems quickly. It really is absurd that it's going to take at least 4 phone calls and two weeks to get this phone activated.

I did hear from the Discover card people. They wanted to sell me the protection plan service - where if you lose your job they will suspend applying finance charges to your account. The saleswoman just kept trying to enroll me in the plan and I kept telling her no. After maybe 4 or 5 times she finally ended the call. She asked me if I kept a balance on my card and I said no. She said, "This is perfect for you then." And I was thinking, why do I need this protection if I don't have a balance. I can freely lose my job and not have to worry about paying off the credit card. They really don't think these things through when they are writing up their sales scripts.

Found the Book Hole

It was in the walk in closet in the bedroom that my parents used to have when they lived here. It's now a storage closet. The books are in a storage tote that looks just like one that has christmas ornaments in it and I thought both of them contained christmas stuff.

Whoever called this snow we're getting 'a dusting' apparently has the same housekeeping habits that I do because this dusting is about a half an inch thick.

Pain free day

I had a mostly pain free day today without the aid of medication. Yay!! I had one sore spot on the side of my knee but that was it.

I'm working out in the mornings since I now have an extra half hour before work. Just walking in front of the tv, but it's activity. And I'm trying to follow the I Can Make You Thin system. I still snack a little bit, but I haven't over-eaten at meal times and I haven't felt stuffed at all.

I'm glad I have a couple of days off. Last month I spent three days training a new employee who is assigned to a different office. Well, these last two days, he's been emailing me constantly with questions. I can't get my own work done because of this. I told my boss that I'm not training anyone else. He just chuckled. He'll chuckle when he gets yelled at because my work isn't getting done. And I'll chuckle when I remind him and his boss that they are the ones who created this mess to begin with. It isn't like I went looking for someone to train. They sent him to me.

The Tracfone Saga Continues

I got the replacement sim card today. I put it in the phone and called tracfone like I'm supposed to. After 20 minutes and talking to two different people I get the news that I have to wait 24 to 48 hours so they can remove some kind of error from their computer system and then they will call me and I can reactivate the phone. Sure.

When this is all over, I'm sending one heck of an email to tracfone. I don't blame the customer service people because it doesn't appear to be an issue with their knowledge of their jobs. It seems to me that the whole tracfone system itself is screwed up and completely un-customer friendly.

At this point I can only say do not order a tracfone from the website. Maybe you'll have better luck if you buy one from a local store. Good thing I don't need this phone or I'd really be ticked. I'm glad I was smart enough to just try to activate this one without trying to transfer my number and minutes from my other tracfone to this new one. I'd be out both phones and all my minutes. Because I'm sure in all of this mess, they would lose whatever minutes I had on my other phone and wouldn't give them back to me.

The Book Hole

I just realized today that I haven't seen some of my Nora Roberts books during the many, many searches I've conducted through all of my storage containers full of books. I think my Roberts books might be with the Family Secrets books.

Missing Books

I started looking at Amazon.com for the books in that series that I'm missing. It's going to cost me a fortune to replace them I think. I want good copies that aren't all bent and torn up. I'm going to wait until after the first of the year to buy them all over again. I have a couple of 5 day weekends coming up by the end of the year and I'll have more time to turn the house upside down looking for them. I really, really hate not being able to find these books. Here's a list of them. I'll probably put them in the side bar until I either find them or buy them again:

Enemy Mind by Maggie Shayne
The Player by Evelyn Vaughn
The Bluewater Affair by Cindy Gerard
Her Beautiful Assassin by Virginia Kantra
A Verdict of Love by Jenna Mills
The Billionaire Drifter by Beverly Bird
Fever by Linda Winstead Jones
Blind Attraction by Myrna Mackenzie
The Parker Project by Joan Elliott Pickart
The Insider by Ingrid Weaver
Check Mate by Beverly Barton

As near as I can remember, A Verdict of Love and the Parker Project aren't necessary to get the full story of the series/theme. There is another book in this series, but I have that one in my hands as we speak so I don't need to list it here.

Il Divo

I guess I'm supposed to know all of these 'popular' songs they are singing in foreign languages on this concert that's airing on PBS. But aside from "Unbreak my Heart", I haven't recognized any of these songs. They could have at least put the song titles at the bottom of the screen.

Really Irritated!

I have searched the house over three times now looking for a whole series of romance novels that I collected back in 2003/04. It's the Family Secrets series. I only have one of them out in the open and I must have put the rest away somewhere. Somewhere really safe and secure since I can't find them anywhere. I guess I'll have to try to find them on the web and replace them all. That's one sure way of finding my set - after I've bought another set of them.

Other things to report today - I'm completely pain free right now. Yay!!! I think my joint pain is pms related since it's gone now. I did have a really bad headache this morning, but after a nap and some snacking on chocolate frosting, the headache went away. I spent most of the day renewing my mcafee virus protection software. I don't know if I was supposed to download the whole thing after I renewed it, but I did.

Last night I spent an hour on the phone with the Tracfone customer support. They finally found out that the phone number they had in their computer for my phone is different from the number that is on my phone. So, they are sending me another sim card. Hopefully that will fix it. Reading up on the web about tracfone, it sounds like this is a very common problem - customers getting phones from retailers and the website that aren't programmed for their area. I missed the second hour of the Celtic Woman concert on PBS over this. At least the phone has the sudoku puzzle game on it even if I can't use it to make calls.

So Far, Saturday

Saturday has been a lazy day so far. I've read a couple of books, opened up my battery charger and have it charging some batteries, searched the web looking for info on my disabled tracfone, and put up my clean dishes from Thanksgiving Dinner. It's sunny out and is supposed to reach about 50 degrees today. Yay!

I felt kinda bad when I got up but the pain diminished quite a bit within a short amount of time.

A Good Book by Helen Brooks

I just read "The Billionaire Boss's Secretary Bride" and it's a very good book. A true romance story. What was the best thing about it? No explicit love scenes. I wish there were more of these kinds of books out there. The LoveInspired line doesn't appear to have any explicit scenes in those books, but you have to be preached to about God. I do have to say that there was a bit too much arguing in the Brooks book, but all in all it was a very nice read. One, I'll read again.

Black Friday

I went to walmart at around 6am this morning and virtually everything was gone, even the stuff that was supposed to be on sale through Saturday. Mom wanted to get a crosscut shredder and we thought since it was a Friday-Saturday sale item that she would be able to go anytime to get one. Well, when I was there early this morning, there were only about 8 left. So, I got one for her. I did manage to find an mp3 player with video capability. So, I bought that - now I have three mp3 players. LOL. I also bought some luggage, but not the set that was on sale. Apparently Walmart never had that in stock. I heard one of the workers telling a customer than no one was ever able to find it. Imagine that. And I bought one of those papasan chairs. I brought it home and set it up and PJ got into it the first thing. That was so cute, seeing her laying in it like a little princess with her front paws crossed.

I took all of that home, with the exception of mom's shredder and then went to mom and dad's and dropped off their shredder. I stayed there while they got ready and went to walmart for their look around. They didn't buy anything worth mentioning. I had to stay there just in case my tracfone was delivered because the fed ex driver required a signature for it. But it didn't come until later in the day. More on that later.

Once mom and dad came back, I left and went to the bank, bought some things at Fruth's, stopped at Rite Aid and then ate lunch at the local Mexican restaurant. That was a nice change because usually I either finish up my shopping and am back home by 9am or I eat at Pizza Hut. After lunch I went to Family Dollar and bought a couple of things and then went back to Walmart for my regular grocery shopping. Some special things I bought there while shopping are a battery charger for AAA batteries (now that I have three mp3 players), some Lock & Lock storage containers, and the one year service cards for the Tracfones. I have two phones and I'm going to keep both active.

Now for the Tracfone story. I got it home and activated it. Or thought I had. I went onto the website to do it and once I thought I had activated it, I went back to the website and found that it said I had pending updates. So, I clicked on the link, ended up entering a code and got an Invalid Code message. The website kept telling me to reenter the code and after doing this three times, my service was disabled. So, I had to call customer service. They couldn't find the solution so they said to wait 24 hours and if the phone wasn't fully activated at that time, to call back and they gave me a call ticket number to use when I call back. It's a good thing I didn't transfer anything over to the new phone because I might be out two phones at this point.

As for Tracfone Customer Service, I could understand the guy very well, even though he had an accent, but it sounded like he was very far away from the phone. I ended up turning up the volume on my phone so I could hear him. Did they solve my problem? I won't know that for 24 hours. There is another number I can call if I wanted to go straight to the top, so to speak, but I thought I would try this number first. It's the direct sales number that was printed on my invoice. Not the number that you find plastered all over the website and in the tracfone info included in the package.

Turkey Day

Well, Thanksgiving Day dinner went very well. The turkey was moist, the noodles were good, the mashed potatoes were non-lumpy. Mom and dad came up just in time for dinner at 11am. They had planned to come earlier, but my uncle Charlie called them as they were getting ready. Mom said she told him that they were coming up here for dinner and he asked "Is she doing the cooking?" LOL ! Apparently, that was something unusual for him - offspring cooking for the parents. The cranberry sauce, the one dish I always ask Dad if it's good, was a little different this year. I added strawberries. Both mom and dad said it was good. The dogs were very, very happy to have company. Even Fritz jumped his front half up into mom's lap for petting and you could tell he was happy and smiling.

We watched the parade and the dog show, napped a little, had some dessert. It was a good day. And it was a warm, sunny day. I love sunny days.

The joint pain I've been experiencing is still there. I've been reading about joint pain on the web and it's apparently a symptom of just about every illness out there. Being active helps it so I've been doing pilates and yoga. And I've been soaking in epsom salt. I don't know if that's helping, but it's supposed to make my skin soft and stuff so I don't mind the soak.

Did I tell you I ordered a new tracfone from their website? I wanted to upgrade to a phone that doesn't have an antenna so I bought a new one. But after reading all of the horror stories about the Tracfone customer service, I don't know if I want to try to transfer my minutes over to the new phone. If the transfer goes okay, there's still a chance the phone will be bad and break. So, I might just activate it and keep both phones active. After a while, I could give the old one to Dad.

I'm planning to go shopping tomorrow. Not at 5am when the Walmart sale starts, but early. I need to go to the bank and do my regular grocery shopping anyway so I might as well see if there are any good buys still out there when I do go out. There isn't too much I'd be interested in buying this year from the ad. The Kitchenaid mixer is a good deal. The flash drives and SD cards are always good buys. I would like to get a Trivial Pursuit game but I don't want the 80s version and the others are too expensive for me to buy (ie don't throw money away on it because it isn't worth it). The 500 threadcount sheet set is a good buy, but I have sheets. I buy the high thread count sheets every year they are on sale. Someone on a website I visit claims the $249 Camcorder is a good sale, but it will probably be gone in less than a minute. The employees will probably take them all like they did the laptops last year. Having said all this, I'm not inspired at all to buy any of this stuff. So, we'll see what I actually come home with. I'd say the items at the top of the list will be Fish Oil supplements and BenGay ointment for my joint pain. LOL! My goal is still to avoid using my credit cards. I've read that the credit score likes it when you charge less than 30% of what you are able to charge and pay it all off at once. Well, I used my credit card back to back, two months in a row and paid it off in full each time so I decided to lay off the credit cards for as long as possible.

An Update

I just got an email from the folks who work with the museum of the Whydah Pirate Ship wreck. He said that they did recover and conserve "an usually fine teapot". Of course they can't say for sure that this is the teapot that Maria gave Black Sam but I would like to think so.

Don't you just love those sweet romance stories? Of course this would be a good feature film. Hugh Jackman would be a good Black Sam.

I Forgot the Noodles

I also make homemade egg noodles for the big family dinners. They are very good. Thick noodles in salty, thickened chicken broth. This year I bought a new stockpot to use for them. I usually borrow mom's stockpot because it's smaller than my very large stockpot I've had for a while. But this year, I bought a pretty, red, enamel coated one at walmart. It was expensive, but I figured the noodles wouldn't stick to the enamel.

Preparing for Dinner

I think I'm done with the grocery-buying for Thanksgiving Dinner. It's at my house this year and I'm doing the cooking. Today I bought the ingredients for Dad's cranberry sauce, the potatoes for mashed potatoes, and vanilla ice cream to go with the frozen chocolate cake I bought last week. Dad's cranberry sauce is homemade, of course. It's pretty easy to do. Mince up about a two cup bag of cranberries, a small can of mandarin oranges, and this year I'm throwing in some strawberries - not too many though. Pour some sugar on all of this (no, Poison didn't sing a cranberry sauce song), add a few drops of lemon juice, a little bit of vanilla, and let sit in the fridge overnight. Stir up and put back in the fridge until just before the big dinner, then serve. As you can tell, I make this the night before. A tip - you can freeze whole cranberries for up to one month. So, I buy two bags now and put one in the freezer to use for Christmas dinner.

The mashed potatoes are made from yukon golds. This is not in keeping with Alton Brown's belief that russets are the best. I was watching Food Network today and he was doing a Q&A on Thanksgiving Dinner and mentioned potatoes. I peel and boil them, then mash them using a Ricer. I hate lumps. Then I add butter and just enough milk to make them a little smooth. I hate runny mashed potatoes so I don't add a lot of liquid. Oh, and I salt them in the boiling stage and probably while I'm stirring them up. Taste as you go along.

The frozen chocolate cake is a Peppridge Farm multi-layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I'm adding the vanilla ice cream to balance out the chocolate. It make be a bit more expensive than making a box-mix chocolate cake with ready-made frosting, but this way I can control the portions. There won't be a lot left over.

I also bought some frozen hot roll dough. I first thought I was going to buy ready-made rolls, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought I could go ahead and bake some. I just hope they rise in this house. I'll have to turn up the thermostat.

Last week I bought the turkey, green beans, gravy, sweet potatoes. I might have to sneak and steal some bacon fat out of mom's larder when I go there tomorrow to put on the green beans. That's how dad likes them. I might have to buy some bacon bits to add to them, but I think I might have bacon bits in the fridge.

I've been having some knee pain lately and I think it's because I've been sitting with my legs crossed. They are usually crossed, either because I have my dinner on my lap or because I have a dog on my lap. And at work, I cross them without thinking about it. My left knee is feeling better, but the right one wasn't feeling good today. I used the heating pad today and will probably do so again before I go to bed.

I went to the store early this morning, as usual, and couldn't believe how cold it was. My hands were completely frozen, i.e. numb. Finally, on my way home, I looked down at my dashboard and saw the temperature outside. 15 degrees!!!!! No wonder I was so freakin' cold. I had the heat in the car turned up to 90. LOL.

I read a new to me Diana Palmer book last night - Rawhide and Lace. It was very good. I think I like Tyson Wade the best of all of her heros. Cash Grier would have to be second now, even though he fell for Tippy and I don't really like her.

I Need Some Help

I was watching National Geographic last night. It was a show about Black Sam Bellamy, a pirate whose ship went down in a storm off the coast of New England way back in the 1700s. As the story goes, Sam fell in love with a lady named Maria. Maria's folks thought he was nice enough but didn't think a sailor would make enough money to provide for Maria so Sam decided to go off to find his fortune. Before leaving for the Caribbean, Sam was given a teapot by Maria - it was a beloved family item. Sam goes off to the Caribbean and becomes a very successful pirate. He was also apparently a democratic leader of sorts and fair minded and didn't kill a bunch of people. When he seized the ship he ended up going down on, he traded his old ship to the newly uprooted crew and captain. That was nice of him. After capturing about 50 ships by the time he turned 29, Sam decided it was time to go home. Possibly to Maria. So, he and his crew makes the trip to New England and apparently ran into a storm which sank the ship and killed all but maybe two people of the crew.

Here's where I need help. I was watching this show and when it got to the point where they were going to talk about how he died, I decided I didn't want to get so depressed over it, so I went to bed. I have one question that never got answered. If anyone out there knows the answer to my question, please post a comment and let me know. My question is: Did they ever find the teapot?

As you know I read romance novels. And the romantic reader in me wants the finders of the wreck to have found Maria's teapot.

Ouch

I woke up at 4am this morning needing to go to the bathroom and found that my ankles hurt, my knees hurt, my arms hurt. I can't believe that all of that was due to the time I spent on the treadmill last night. On the off-chance that I might have been poisoning myself with the poison I had hanging up to kill the moths, I decided to throw the poison out. It's double-bagged in plastic and on its way to be safely disposed of.

We had solid ice on the roads this morning thanks to some snow that fell overnight. The road crews apparently wanted to sleep in or something. I slid a little pulling out onto the road but drove slow and didn't have any other trouble. I was driving the LaCrosse and it didn't have studded tires. My Lumina will be road ready when I get the rear view mirror glued back on the window. The glue I have says it needs to be used in temperatures of 50 degrees to 75. It's quite a bit colder than that right now.

I had a headache slowly getting worse all day today and I finally took some Theraflu around 7pm. I wanted to get rid of the headache.

It's supposed to be pretty cold tonight. I hope my water doesn't freeze. Dad usually stuffs towels and stuff under my garage door when it gets cold, but he hasn't done that.

Update

A quick internet search claims that the oldest known iguana lived 29 years.

Re-reading Merline Lovelace Books

This week I have re-read the Codename Danger Series written by Merline Lovelace. I'm missing the first two books of the series, but put them on my Christmas Wish List. Maybe I'll get lucky and get them for Christmas. Anyway, there are a couple of things that bother me about the series: 1. While the books mention Adam and Maggie often, virtually nothing is said about Paige and David after Maggie's book. I would like to know what happened to them and it would be nice to see them re-appear in another book. A big question is why didn't they have any children other than Nick? 2. I'm having a hard time reconciling the time difference in the books. Elizabeth was old when the books began but she's still the secretary more than 26 years later. And Nick's age doesn't really appear to add up when you try to figure out when Maggie's kids were born. I'm trying to suspend disbelief on that one because you can't let a little thing like that get in the way of a good story. I hope there's going to be more to this series. The latest book, Undercover Wife, suggests that Nick will step down as director of Omega. I hope that doesn't mean the end of the series.

And I need to research iguanas. Can they really live more than 26 years?

Yay it's Friday!!!!

I'm so glad it's Friday. These last couple of days I've been suffering with pulled muscles and I don't know how some of them got that way. The only ones I can account for are the neck muscle and my mouse/telephone elbow pain. The neck I hurt by sleeping wrong on my pillow and the mouse/telephone elbow pain comes from reaching for the computer mouse and holding the phone while I'm talking to mom. The rest of the muscle pain is a mystery. I hope it goes away though.

I have been doing well watching what I'm eating these last three days. I bought that half priced halloween candy on Friday I think and I still have most of my share. I haven't eaten it all yet. And Wednesday evening I even got on the treadmill despite the killer headache I had. I didn't work out last night or tonight because of these pulled muscles. Hopefully I can get back to the treadmill this weekend. My new mp3 player helps a bit.

As you all might know, I've been attempting to follow the I Can Make You Thin plan developed by Paul McKenna. His US website has been offering a message board free to everyone, but on December 1st, people will have to pay and join a club to read and post messages there. Some people who post on that board regularly are a bit upset by this change, but I can see why McKenna would want to start charging the fee. I received an email from his website today explaining what the fee would include and pointing out that some other weightloss websites charge higher fees. If you join Jenny Craig, you pay a fee, if you do the Nutrisystem thing you pay for the food. I think the $14.95 month by month fee isn't a bad deal if they can get the website programming all worked out. I think I read that some people are experience glitches. I don't think I would be joining the 'club' but that doesn't mean that I think it's a bad idea all around. Just not the right thing for me to spend money on.

The moth infestation is, hopefully, gone. I found one dead moth this morning on my dining room hutch. I haven't seen any living ones for a couple of days. I am very happy about that.

I haven't thought about what I might do with my weekend. I have three new books I haven't read yet and I'm re-reading Merline Lovelace books. We're going to start getting snow starting on Sunday. Yuck. I hope there's no accumulation. I don't want to have to start driving my Lumina again, although it's a good car.

Gas prices have fallen to $1.98 a gallon here in my part of WV. It's probably less in other states because WV likes to tax it a lot.

Spending Way Too Much Money

That's me. This Christmas. Actually, it doesn't have to be Christmas related. I just ordered some books from Harlequin for myself and then from Amazon for myself. The other Christmas orders I had planned for. All I wanted was the Johnny Miller autobiography but I ended up with two or three other books to get the free shipping at Amazon.

Mom and Dad made it back from Indiana today. They are tired.

I gave Winnie and PJ a bath today. I'm going to have to get one now that I smell like a wet dog. I have a headache right now that I would love to get rid of. I took some tylenol earlier but it didn't do any good.

I've put some music on my laptop and then downloaded it to my new mp3 player. I hate the time it takes to do that.

Another Day Off

This is the last of my four days off in a row for this week. Yep, I get Veterans Day off so I took Monday off too. I had to go out yesterday to go to the bank thanks to the bank reducing the hours its lobby is open. I finished up my Christmas shopping yesterday and ate too much while I was out. I bought another little MP3 player and I'm planning to put some music on the laptop so I can eventually put them on the MP3 player.

Mom and Dad went out to Indiana yesterday. My uncle Harold, dad's brother, is in the hospital and it isn't looking good for him. Whenever I go on a trip, I always call home to let them know I made it to my destination okay. Mom and Dad? No calls. I tried calling her cell phone and got voicemail. And she says she keeps her phone on. They are planning on coming back today.

Love, Love, Love the Days Off

Another day off today - that was five in a row in case anyone is counting. I need to find a way to keep this going for good.

What did I do today? I vacuumed a bit to get some dog hair out of here. I did some laundry. Dad came up and put the studded tires on my Lumina. He also found out that the rear view mirror fell off the window in the Lumina. I have to get some really strong glue for it. I did the Christmas Shopping for my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew. All of the gifts are going to be wrapped and shipped by the online merchant so I don't have to worry about wrapping anything or going to the post office. I also wrapped the presents I had bought for Mom and Dad. I have a couple more things to get for Dad.

Yesterday I read three romance novels. So, I'm almost caught up on those. I have a few that I bought a while ago and never did read. I might have to get them out of storage and read them.

I still haven't balanced my checkbook yet. It's amazing how I can always find something to do to put off the checkbook.

A Warm Sunday

Today has been very warm for a November day. Over 70 degrees. I went out and walked for about an hour I think. That was after I went to bed for an hour trying to get rid of a headache. I had taken two tylenol at Mom and Dad's then took two more a couple hours later along with otc sinus medication and a headache pill that had caffeine in it. I went to bed where it was dark and covered up my head. Keeping my head warm seems to help sometimes. So, within about an hour, I had gotten rid of the headache. Yay!!

I was thinking about getting an Ipod but only if I could put video on it - like golf that I record from tv. Well, I played around with my laptop and found out that I can't copy dvds on the laptop. So, there's no reason to get the Ipod now. I don't need to carry around music to listen to. In order to use my laptop I would have to get some kind of decoder or something and even if I get that, it still might not work. So, I'm not going to worry about it. I don't need to spend money on that stuff anyway.

I still have moths. I hope they aren't coming from inside the ceiling because there's no way I can get rid of them if they are. I would just have to keep killing them when I see them. I'm not calling an exterminator.

Dad put air in my car tires today. They are supposed to have 32 pounds in them and he filled them to about 36 to 37. The car drove a bit differently with all of that air in them. They did have about 25 to 26 in them.

It looks like it's going to be another warm day tomorrow. Hopefully, I will be able to spend some time outside. Hopefully I won't get another headache.

My Thumb Hurts

Dad and I put plastic over my house windows today to prepare for the cold winter temperatures. We use thumbtacks to tack the plastic up inside the family room. Well, my thumb really, really hurts now because of having to push the tacks into the walls. It's so bad that I can barely use my tv remote. It really sucks that something is interfering with my tv viewing.

I washed some of the walls and cabinets today with some spicNspan. I have a moth infestation in the house and I figured if I washed the walls and cabinets I might get rid of some of them. Hopefully that works because I'm really tired and sore now from all of that work. I also dusted my dining room chairs today. I was going to do the buffet and hutch but I quit. I walked down to the mailbox to get my mail and after that I was done. I think I might be done for the rest of my little vacation. Laundry and dishes might be the only other work I do.

I made some brownies this morning. I tried a box mix by that Ghirardelli Chocolate company. It's so rich it made me sick. I gave the rest of the brownies to Mom and Dad.

I'm being reminded everywhere to turn my clocks back. I hope I remember.

The dogs were very happy to see Dad today. They all climbed on him and kissed him. He needs to come up more often. They miss him.

Another Day of Shopping

I took today off from work, so I went shopping again. Boy am I tired. I started out at around 6:45am and didn't get home until 3pm. I did my grocery shopping first. Came home and put the groceries away and then went out to the bank to get some money and then went to P-burg to shop. I went to a pet store and bought a couple of toys for the puppies. Winnie has wanted the little piggy thing that my sister got me for my blue bag I take to work. Every day she gets in the chair and stares at it. So, I found a piggy toy at the pet store and figured it might work as a substitute. I gave it to her tonight and she played a lot with it. Then I went to K-Mart and spent a bunch of money. I bought two coats, a pair of shoes, a rug for my car, two packs of puppy pads, a bag of doggie treats and I think that might be it. The coats are men's coats. They seem to be thicker than women's coats. The shoes are brown which will match my brown pants. The puppy pads are cheaper there at K-Mart than they are here in my town. And the doggie treats were on sale. Oh, and I bought two more doggie toys for the puppies. After K-Mart I went to the Dollar Zone store and got a heck of a deal on a baby blanket I bought for the puppies. The price tag said $5.00 but the lady at the register charged me $1 for it. I also got the puppies a couple more toys there.

Time for lunch and I went to a Pizza Hut. I wanted some breadsticks. Unfortunately, these weren't very good. They were all dried out. The waitress was very good. She brought me a second drink without even asking if I wanted one. So, she got a $3.00 tip.

After lunch I went to Borders Bookstore. I had never been there before today. It's a nice store. The golf books were out of order and intermixed with other sports books. I didn't buy any books there but I did find these very, very cute little pink pigs that have magnets in them. I have the pigs on my fridge. Big Lots was next on the list of stores to visit and I didn't really find anything there I wanted. I ended up buying some orange smelling bathstuff.

After Big Lots I drove back to my home town and stopped at the Rite Aid to get a reload pack for my prepaid Mastercard. I was also looking for a certain type of Theraflu which apparently no store wants to sell. So, I got the Rite Aid version.

I went home after that and put some of my purchases away. I didn't finish the job because I had to wash my car. This might be the last good car-washing day I get until next April.

So, you can see I was on the go pretty much all day. I'm happy to finally sit down and do nothing.

Walmart and Krogers employees dressed up for Halloween today. It was interesting to walk in the stores and see the employees.

I think I'm done with the shopping trips. At least for a year or so. It's much easier to buy the stuff online and not leave the house.

I don't have to go back to work until Wednesday so I'm going to enjoy my nice long break.