Just call me Persnickity

There are things I expect in this world.

Coffee will be hot and brown.

Showers will be hot and have sufficient water to make you feel, well showered.

Hard cooked eggs will have their centers cooked.

People that fall into that strange but ubiquitous normal category should be, well, normal.

Punkin Head is agreeing with me that given the people we are dealing with to get jobs it is amazing they have jobs and we are seeking jobs.

My current recruiter has done the following in the last 48 hours:

Given me the wrong call-in number after we had both checked it twice, he blamed this on his "colleague".

Given the people seeking a decent employee the information that I did not give a reference for my last direct report after he to spoke to my former boss, the Director of Quality. He told me that he was surprised I reported to someone that high up the food chain.

Sent me the incorrect address for the company I am supposed to show up for an interview with at 8 AM. He is correcting his colleague's records.

WTF.

Big Daddy got my fountain working in the back yard. I may need to go faux drown myself.

Monday Monday

Monday Monday 1966 The Mamas and The Papas

Actually a pretty good Monday for me. I had a phone interview this morning for a decent job and that always feels good for the moment. We will see. I do not want to jinx this but getting the unemployment letter right before the call for the job and then getting the biggest zit possible right next to my nose kinda guarantees at least a follow-up interview.

Sammy Dog went to his dog doctor this morning and is relieved to know that his few teeth do not need cleaning. And new news, did you know dogs and maybe other animals can get heartworm from bites and nips from other animals? Who knew! So just because your dog does not hang outside does not mean no heartworm meds are necessary.

I still do not have an answer from unemployment so I need to resolve this today.

Sunday Snippets

We had the most wonderful dinner yesterday, white bean soup and Crab Louis. Oh my goodness it was sumptuous. I have a new cookbook/lifestyle book by Julia Reed, Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties. She writes as much about the food and she made me hungry as heck for the crab. And many other things, good food inspiration for the coming month. But damn, lump crab is crazy expensive.

Do you remember the piece of shit iPod I had in China that would never work right and only had a couple songs to play? For some reason it is now in my family room and playing Beach Boy songs I do not remember downloading, ever.

My roof is fixed and we will know if this is done properly as it is raining again today.

Yesterday I had Big Daddy take out the storms and put in the screens. It was heaven. In the past he always opened the windows way too early and I froze my ass off. This year I was napping in bliss and he was chilly. Some of the outdoor furniture is out and the umbrella is up and still looks pretty damn good.

Lastly, another Sammy dog story. I was rubbing Sammy's belly and I found a bump. Now it is my position that bumps on a dog be taken care of by someone other than myself as I am always afraid they are a tick. I do not live in a tick area and have never had a dog with a tick here. It seems to reason that it would be a tick. Well, BD checked and he said it is not a tick. It is in an area where Sammy constantly licks himself and BD thinks it something from the licking, like an ingrown hair. Last night while I was rubbing the exact opposite side from the bump I found another bump. I think Sammy has licked himself a set of nipples.

Sammy is going to get his teeth cleaned tomorrow so he can also get a nipple check.

I am so glad I pay taxes

Soccer at the schoolyard

Yesterday I got mail, from the State of Michigan. It is about unemployment and how maybe I am approved to get more unemployment as I am one of the poor suckers that cannot get a job and be gainfully employed. I could not look into this until the afternoon as I was trying all morning to seek employment. I had to update my resume and I had 3 telephone conversations regarding this position. It is an okay job, nothing to write home about.

Anyway, in reading the documents I discovered 2 things, I do not remember my pin number and from what I recall without it you dead to MARVIN and if I might get this money there will be a reduction of 10.7 percent of the money for "sequestration" budget cuts.

Why they would give me the money is beyond me, I mean I ran out of benefits and no one wants to hire me. Why is that the governments fault? And then to take 10.7 percent out of this money for sequestration is just plain stupid. I read somewhere that the government has to spend all the money they take in, if true that is stupid. And to lay off air traffic controllers to give me money is beyond insane. Don't know yet if I can get the money, the phone lines are overloaded.

Crazy

So I am sitting here working on the computer and I hear some crazy ass outside doing yard work. It is raining and I am thinking who is this wacko doing yard work in the rain on wet grass?

Yep, it is my new lawn service. WTF.

Spring is here

I know this because I have sinus pain, a sinus headache and a sick headache.

Brown pants R us

These little spring blooms had a short life, hail got them.

I had to help my mom turn her 2 poodles over to a rescue shelter this week. As she is in Florida and I am in Michigan it took some diligent phone calling. A neighbor stood up to help her and drove her over and she managed to get the job done with a minimal of tears.  She said she cried it all out in the time before the turnover. The fact they were both spayed, up-to-date and freshly groomed did not hurt. Hopefully they will find new homes soon.

Mr. RV, my mom's soul mate was hospitalized and then transferred to Bradenton Florida for heart surgery, so hands are full this week. She is depending on the kindness of others for rides. That reminds me I need to do laundry and dig out summer fat clothes in case I need to make a quick trip down there.

My roof guy has had to postpone his repairs as one of his helpers was blown off a roof last week. I am glad the bucket is working. Why would anyone go on a roof in an unusual windstorm? WTF.

Sad of the day:

Trying to explain to my hairdresser being mother of the groom, it is like when they are toddlers and you go shopping and have to admit your choices in clothes are black, blue or brown pants. That is it. Learn to live with it. I am all brown pants. Of course being my hairdresser she said I will have the best hair at the wedding.

Hilarious funny of the day: Just when you thought my dog was not a genius-

So Sammy Dog is begging to go out and tugs and pulls and drags Big Daddy to the black dogs house. He does the peeing around then goes right to the spot next the driveway--just where the black dog can look out his doorwall--and stands there with his leg hiked, like he is peeing. Only he is not peeing, he is posing. He posed for a few minutes until the black dog saw him and went berserk. Then Sammy Dog turned around and barked a few sharp retorts to the black dog and turned his back and trotted away. God, I wish I spoke dog, I am sure he said fuck you and your old lady too.

She works hard for no money

Lenten Rose came back pretty good this year.

I have accomplished a lot this week and nothing I can talk about. Kind of like cleaning lamps, who notices.

This week we have had hail, wind, tornado watches, high 70's and low 40's. Now we are creeping back into the low 40's and waiting for more rain. Of course this was the week that Big Daddy's sun roof decided not to close so he spent one morning waiting for the decision on the loaner car and then the loaner car. They can't find the problem and if it is electrical thank goodness that ride gets turned back in the end of July.

Watched a documentary of Detroit, Detropia-so true.

Remember the guy from Grosse Pointe whose wife died and was found in her car in Detroit then his handyman confessed to the killing and said the husband hired him and then threatened to kill the handyman when he wimped out? Then the wacko Grosse Pointe guy hired a hit man to kill the hit man? Well, this week he was finally charged in the wife's murder-along with a whole slew of other charges and over 300 witnesses. This is gonna be crazy when it goes to trial.

From dust to diamonds

Well, there you go some flowers.

The sunshine is a motivator

Preserving the lemons, 12 to a jar.

The sunshine came out this afternoon. I am astonished.

Big Daddy is out shopping for me, he is a good man.

While I was in China I found a great recipe for chicken thighs that we could never make. That is because it required boneless chicken thighs, not possible in China, and preserved lemons. We found the preserved lemons here at Farms Fresh Market and at two lemons in a jar for 6 bucks a jar they were quite pricey. But the recipe was delicious and the lemons were the only expensive part of it. As fast as we found the lemons, also known as pickled lemons, they were no longer available. Everyone was scratching their heads as to why these obscure pickled/preserved lemons were suddenly flying off the shelves.

Dr. Oz.

These pickled lemons are a main ingredient in Moroccan food which "many" are now saying is the key to robust health and long life.

So we pickled our own lemons. Meyer lemons are the best for this exercise. Big Daddy and I fought about that but I explained, Meyer lemons are like blood oranges-short availability. They take about 4-6 weeks to pickle. The pickled lemons last about a year, which would be the fabulous chicken thigh recipe once a month. I am sure we will be trying other recipes and using up our lemons and maybe buying more of the expensive ones, or maybe even trying pickling the common lemons we usually find. It is fun to try new things.

*This is not canning and you need to find a good recipe, my son used "Tart and Sweet", a cookbook and I used a recipe off the Internet.

A year and half a day

I did not want to jinx myself yesterday, so I kept to myself that it was the one year anniversary of the no smoking for me. No more Merit Ultralight 100's, no more light blue Lucky 7's, no more filched Marlboro's. No more. Just done. And though I get the occasional twinge I am truly thinking it is a filthy, smelly habit for trollops and twits.

I have been known to trollop about though.

Just when you thought it could not get better.

Yes indeed, snow flurries predicted for last evening. And yes it snowed a tad, not much, just enough to make it known that Mother Nature is having bad PMS this season.

The roofer guy came by and saw the problem, he will get to it soon and recommended we put a five gallon bucket under the joist for now. Big Daddy was not sure who he actually hired for the last job so he quizzed this guy and what he did and where he left the old chimney. We will see how crazy this guy thinks we are as he is giving us a quote for painting the upstairs windows.

I have been watching silly TV this week as BD was traveling and yes I am now enamored of Myrtle Manor, thanks Rocky Cat. It seems to be a reality show of Honey Boo Boo's less affluent relatives.

And what is up with guys' hair these days. Punkin Head found out about the clothes when he when wedding shopping-remember when all the ladies clothes looked 2 sizes too small? Well the guys clothes have caught up. And now they all have weirdo foo-foo hair, kinda like styled to look like I went to sleep with wet hair.

Tonight's dinner is shrimp remoulade with homemade white remoulade and split pea soup. We can't decide whether to go with spring or fall.

I believe for every drop of rain that falls . . .

Well, it is still raining. And the bed is still wet. I must confess I no longer am sure a flower will grow. The weather is just too shitty. 

I really do not like this rendition of the song, we sang it in girls glee, yes Glee, and I feel we did it better. But it did remind me of all the Elvis stuff in my life. 

My brother loved Elvis. He was very handsome himself, he rather resembled Elvis at his best and Richard Gere at his hottest. Unfortunately he knew it and kinda acted the ass. But he loved Elvis. I also worked with a guy that loved Elvis. He was the ultimate Elvis fan and met this "Elvis insider guy" for an Elvis gathering. He picked him up from the airport and took him home to his barn that was all Elvis all the time, they were waiting to go to the conference, and this guy let him try on his Elvis ring. It was made exactly like the one Elvis wore that he took the stone out of to make Ginger a ring. Yellow Diamond. Big yellow diamond. 

More . . .

Standing in front of the Elvis mansion with my mom waiting for Elvis to come home from a trip and his uncle flirting with my mom. He gave her a branch from a tree in the yard and she tried to grow it. My dad got the guard to let us drive around the driveway once, I think because we had a Cadillac back in the day when just not every one had one. And it was blue. Elvis was not home that time but I think Priscilla was sitting in the yard. I remember my parents looking a home once that would have overlooked his front yard. I remember visiting there and marveling at the hype and the tackiness, it is so over the top you just have to go and see it. Just remember to go to the Peabody Hotel for drinks and the ducks. 

So a drop of rain dribbled onto to the sail of the  windmill of my mind. And I prefer Dusty Springfield to Barbra. 

Success!

I found the leak in the bedroom ceiling. When I grabbed my robe it was soaking wet.

I can confirm that whatever Big Daddy said he fixed last time, he lied.

And he is out of town so when he comes home it won't leak anymore.

Back to the daily grind

I had a post ready to go but I just did not like it. I tried to like it every day for a few days and I finally had to say no to the post.

I filled my recent days off the grid with a trip to the Gastroenterologist so I could eyeball him before he got up close and personal with the other end. He seemed nice enough and he promised not to yell at Big Daddy so I guess it will be fine. He really did not have any answers to my questions so I am going with I am the only one asking those questions and they are not important. Now we just gotta set it up.

Big Daddy is off to West BFE once again which at the moment is the least of problems, so he is pretty lucky. He is sending mean pictures of the dead birds and pigs to the guy in Shanghai where they are having the maybe yes or maybe no new bird flu. I am hopeful that is not like painting the devil on the sidewalk and he will end up with the face mask and crack cream. Crack cream is for the cracked steel.

My job for the next few days is to check for new water leaks as the April showers are upon us. The slavs for some reason decided to de-grass the dead grass and so now of course have dirt showing in the front yard. I don't know if they seeded or not but when you have temps in the thirty degree range at night and no sunshine and rain like Noah saw, seed is not gonna grow. So I am checking for a mudslide.

A little sun, a little warm, a little Slav

Yes, the Slavs came creeping out of their silent house and the jabba jabba sounded pretty damn happy to me.

We are talking close to 60 today and sunshine. Yes, sunshine.

Tomorrow is our home opener for the Tigers and the weather will not be quite as nice.

And Jason Hansen is calling it quits for the Lions.

Well, at least we have Michigan in the Final Four and maybe this time there will be no drama.

Take me out to the ballgame

I don't think so.

The Detroit Tigers will be shivering in Minneapolis this afternoon playing the Minnesota Twins in what might be the coldest opener in history. 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

This winter shit has got to stop.