Christmas sweater and scarf from Big Daddy and the Chinese boots, all dressed for New Year's Eve lunch. I am short, but geez not as short as I look here.

We went to Red Crown and I had the brisket sandwich and BD had the perch sandwich with bacon jam. We shared the Pimento Cheese spread on fresh soft pretzels and life was delightful.

Should be getting the new Ford Escape on Monday if everything goes well.

Remember the broken home phone and horrible fight with Comcast and bitter words with the intention of getting rid of Comcast forever? Well, that did not happen as no one had time and really who cares if someone can't call me at home. Suddenly this phone started working, and the damn recorder started recording messages again. The totally broken system that Comcast swore was a piece of shit and my fault for not working, is well, working like a charm. FIE ON YOU Comcast.

And yes, the only calls I get are creeps trying to sell me something.

These boots are NOT made for walking

Saw these boots at work, totally inappropriate for the plant but I was intrigued. Fur boots and they looked good. The gal said she bought them from Wish dot com and paid 15 bucks. I found the web site and bought them for 24 bucks. The sizing was dicey and I should have gone with my regular size, except the boots are kinda sweaty. So one size up with socks is a good thing for me. They were also supposed to take forever to arrive and just yesterday I received an email that they would be here the week of January 11 and they were on my porch in a vacuum pack the same day. Take it for what it is worth, would I order again? Yes. Would I spend a bunch of money? No.

The word is the Fiesta is toast and we need a new vehicle. We are thinking the Ford Escape. Gotta drive a Ford and I want a bit bigger and higher ride than the Fusion.

So tomorrow is look for a vehicle, go to lunch and get snacks and bites for New Year's Eve. We always stay home now and just nosh with a big lunch on New Years day. Big Daddy bought me a caftan from Dennis Basso and I will model that on my next post. Or the next next post.

I have a hard talking about this because it is not a comfortable subject. My hairdresser had a bad PAP smear and then went in for a D&C and then had to have a hysterectomy. And now she has Stage 3 cancer. She is the sweetest person and I don't know how she is dealing with this as she is the person in the family that takes care of everyone. But no one at the salon is taking care of her customers and her business. I have to make a decision on what to do with my high maintenance hair and I am not happy about my options. It is scary to have someone else cut or do highlights on my hair after 20 years of the same person taking care of it, even when I was in China I always came home for cuts and highlights. I know this is silly and superficial, but to me it is a trial. No one in the salon is offering helpful tips and I don't know where else to go. None of the best hairdressers in the salon are offering to take on her clients, even though she is the best and teachs at this joint. WTF.

Christmas Bits

The lighted train by the chrome tree, the rest of the village is on the hearth.

We put all the decorations up to see what was what and what we would keep. Punkin Head wants the chrome tree so it will be packed away for him. Also the train and village.

The spiral tree is going away, done with that one. Keeping the crystal and pearl and fancy balls.

We got new books for Christmas presents, from MIL The Two Week Wait by Sarah Rayner and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. From PH Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. Will let you know.

We got MIL an orchid and delivered it in a surprise visit on Christmas and then yesterday we took her and her friend to lunch in Blissfield. It was a nice day to travel. Oh, we also took her the Sister Pie chocolate chip cookies with buckwheat and another fan. They are the most incredible cookies.

We had our Christmas Eve lunch at Atwater Brewery in GGP and it was horrible. Not very good German food and mediocre wine. PH tells me the craft beer is not that good either. I don't drink beer as nothing in the US has ever matched the beer in Austria. And beer carbs are a weight gain for me.

Speaking of weight, Big Daddy and I got FitBits for Christmas. Supposed to help with our insurance rates with his work policy and just a general trendy thing for us to do to try and lose weight. I would like to know how many miles I walk a day at work. Last I knew was over 7. BD says I get special treatment for how many steps. We will see, I don't go back until Monday the 5th.

The Slavs brought us a Christmas basket I assume as a thank you for the pecan pies. It was sweet.

Wednesday is lunch out for New Year's Eve and I will take better pictures.

All I will say about work is I am off until Jan. 5 and Felice Navidad.

Saddest Christmas tree part 33

The polar bears are back. I love them.

If I can sneak it out I am gonna take a picture of this tree tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day.

People are now putting their parts on the tree as decorations. Mostly the badging parts. Those are the ones that say the name of the vehicle, or company, or a special assest of the vehicle like "trail rated" and no I am not at that plant.

Well today I came down the steps and said, WTF, someone took white garbage bags and fashioned them into a really bad Angel on top of the tree and tied it up with the used and discarded tape film from my parts. I cannot describe how hilarious and sad this looks. Guess I am not the only one who thinks this tree is in need of love or a Christmas Special ala Charlie Brown.

I bought pizza for the materials group today, 200 bucks worth of pizza and when I went down to get help they found the guys on the flat bed and another dude grabbed a vehicle and we all rode out to the gate to collect the food and sign the receipt. Hilo drivers are happy and my boss is not. He told me to keep it under 150.00 but that is just not realistic. Let him scream, let him scream, let him scream.

IBS acted up this afternoon and I had to run for cover. Thank goodness I made it home safe and tomorrow is the last day and we can relax and have some fun. Or sleep. I will start showing the Christmas pics.

There is to be a wee bairn

Punkin Head called and told me I am to be a Grandmama, how sweet is that?

I am thinking of all the ways to spoil the child and make her/him my own little special treat and I know everyone who hears the news is thinking exactly the same thing. Babies are a wonderful thing for all of us to enjoy.

I need to start buying books for the nursery.

This is a great Christmas present, the best ever, a little piece of all of us coming in July as a unique and precious person for us all to love.

Doing the happy dance.

All Good Things must come to an End

We have not had a serious car accident in quite some time, until Friday afternoon. Big Daddy had to avoid a car that ran a red light and his evasive action landed him right on the "bumper" of an old well- built truck.

It even cracked the windshield.

Things we learned, on this car when the battery is gone so are the door locks and the ability to open the trunk. When you have just left Costco with your trunk stuffed full of stuff, well it now becomes a project to open the trunk through the escape hatch. Thank goodness the lease on this car is up in less than 6 months. But our rental car coverage is only good  for one month and I don't think we are gonna make it to the end without having to pay extra. Thank goodness we have the means to pay.

But, seriously you could not open the door to get out and if that accident had started a fire, well BD would have been toast. And the airbag never went off. And we both think it should have at the speed and angle of the contact. Does not make me happy. BD will follow up with the insurance company.

Work is worse than ever and I have never ever seen anything this bad. I have refused to work over the holiday shutdown and we will see how that works out. I did get a special lunch and recognition last week for doing a great job. I had to chuckle, it was almost a special pat on the back for not quitting this nightmare and becoming a professional greeter.

We now know our Polish cleaning lady is laughing her ass off at us. For some reason last night BD was turning and tossing and found a zipper on the silk bed cover he brought back from Mysore, India. It is not a bed cover it is a duvet cover and we look like the Clampetts. WTF.

Updates on life

Someone took pity on the sorry ass Christmas tree and now they are hanging key fob shit on the tree.

I swear to all that K Mart trees looked better. When they were shunned and in bankruptcy. And Martha shunned them too.

No, I did not go to lunch-all the crazy ass engineers stirred up a bunch of shit and then ran off and left  me with the customer engineer and an air charter. This is when it got ugly. The last I knew and that was a few years ago this kind of air charter was 25 grand minimum. So I went hungry, the customer engineer melted down and almost cried and I heard at the end of the day the customer ended up paying for the charter.

Then the asshat came in-in the morning on his vacation day and hugged me. He is foreign and I think they think they can get away with that shit, and I as the supplier really can't squawk if it is not obscene, but really-keep your hands off me. Period. No touching. One of these days I am gonna haul off and punch some asshat in the nuts and I want that meeting with HR recorded. Do not touch other people without permission. Especially if you are the slimy customer and I hate you.

Big Daddy is out of town and Sammy the Spanky Dog is feeling full of himself lately. He usually tells me to go to bed with a little nudge and a bark. The bed is rather high and he can't just jump up there. Last night he made the mighty leap and went to bed alone.

Sammy is the new asshat.

2 more balls on the Christmas tree

This has to be a UAW job, who else can get away with taking a month to decorate a fucking Christmas tree that is supposed to make us all happy.

I had a disaster today the cousins of the Marsulsians are crying that all their parts are rejected.

They want to know if it is true.


As I keep saying, I can't make this shit up.

Tomorrow I am invited to a Holiday lunch, with my asshats. My boss thinks I should go. I have not had a lunch or break in days, where does he think I am gonna find the time to lunch with idiots.

More on the lunch tomorrow.

I miss blogging and they are killing me

This launch has been the worst launch I have ever seen and I have been launching since 1998. I am exhausted and worn to the bone. And it keeps going on.

The only highlight of my life is that every day I walk into the plant I have to see the most sad assed Christmas tree ever. And I do mean ever. First there were these really tired and ugly wreaths on the plant. At night they light up and look fine but in the light of day, awful. Then one day there appears this phony green Christmas tree out of the box that reminds me of a Charlie Brown Christmas, but 7 feet tall. About 3 days later there are some lights. A day or two later there are these lame ass red ribbons that I swear are the torn off red film strips from some parts I ship in. Not bows red shit hanging from the limbs.  And then yesterday tada, there is one fucking Christmas tree ball on this tree. ONE. Happy fucking Christmas.

So I have this sort company working for me and they are all Marslusians. I do not speak that language or understand their culture so we have quite a few lively discussions. I have had to have 2 or 3 "Come to Jesus" meetings as we tend to call them in the auto industry. At one meeting I asked Dick where the fuck he thought all the supplies came from, Heaven? And did he think St. Dick was leaving them on his work bench? Marslusians are very Catholic. I fired Roman Peter yesterday and he was still there an hour later. So I had to call the consultant, (it is like I am working with some Mafia group) and tell him to go fire Roman Peter again. And now I have an email from him and I am not even gonna read it for a while.

As I was delivering the supplies the other day as I walked into the cage I noticed there was a person laying on the floor surrounded by medical personnel and an oxygen mask. Yep, it was on of my Marslusians. She passed out and was stabilized and taken to the hospital by ambulance. The story I was told is she takes 2 bus transfers and walked 5 miles to work. She did not eat for 2 days and bought and drank 2 very large cups of expensive coffee in the cafeteria. WTF.

Big Daddy is cleaning the carpet in the Family Room and it is not going well.

I told my boss if he wanted me to work during the Christmas shut down I was available X days for a 4 hour minimum. He emails me back with maybe we can just be on call. Dumbass, Sure for a 4 hour minimum. I am not on call for free.

I promise to be more positive on the next Blog if I have to medicate myself. Love to all and to all a goodnight.

Odds and ends

Yes, it was a great pie.

And the bird was good.

And the wreath is up so we don't get run out of the neighborhood.

Big Daddy took Sammy for his cookies this weekend to the City Bark. These are expensive and hand made cookies for this mutt we rescued, a mutt with no gratitude in his heart. He will not sit pretty for me or BD. He knows how he just won't do it. He prefers to prance and bark for us. Well the little ingrate sashays into the store and when the clerk holds up the bag of ultra expensive dog cookies, Sammy the Spanky Dog sits up like he is at the Westminster Show and up for a blue ribbon.

And now a short rant, people that do style blogs should have a sense of style. Or a sense of what is not appropriate, like the ones in my former rants with wrinkled clothes, taddy ball clothes, clothes that should never be seen on a woman much less put on the world wide web as something you should lust for. Today it is about feet and more specifically toes. If you do not know how to properly give yourself a pedicure and you cannot afford a proper professional pedicure---do not put pictures of your ugly ass feet with too long toe nails, crappy polish all over your cuticles and uneven and unshaped toe nails. Do not show nasty feet on the Internet. As a matter of fact these people should invest in socks and never take them off. Ever, even if there their feet rot the socks are better than their ugly ass feet.

Done.

Reporting on Thanksgiving Day

In order to make the best pecan pie you must make 2 pies. Do not ask me why, I just know this is true. And we are just 2 people who are trying to lose weight. So Big Daddy took the second pecan pie next door and gave it to the Slavs. They appeared to be very happy with the pie. As they should be, it is delicious pie.

Pictures taken freshly this morning. Big Daddy had to explain to the Po-Po's why he was taking pictures this morning. He said there were 3 empty cop cars in the parking lot and the copper came out of the bushes. Do not want to know.

Anyway, The Roostertail is still alive and well. I went there for the boat races one year and saw Pat Morita, fresh from the Karate Kid fame. I believe Punkin Head's senior prom was held there. I ate quite often at the restaurant next door back in the day. And why are we discussing this?

Because I saw the wonderful movie Jersey Boys last night. I do not often pay top dollar for movies as most of them disappoint. This was the best damn movie I have seen in a very long time. And I had no idea the Roostertail played a part in his career and the movie. The Roostertail itself is surrounded by much gossip and stories through the years.

Putting the house back together today and perhaps some pictures.

Oh, and BD made enough mashed potatoes for the Walton family so I reminded him of an old southern favorite, fried potato cakes for breakfast. He found a recipe demanding the use of an iron skillet so we were good to go. I bet I gained 5 pounds yesterday and today.

Happy Thanksgiving

On the phone last night until late, certified stock arrived all messed up and of course the supply plant is claiming it is a shipping issue.

I just want to find this 3000 pound gorilla that fucks up every shipment and then seems to melt away into the night never to be seen again.

Worst managed launch ever

We have now reached the point of "cannot be fucked up any worse" with this launch. Every day I think I have reached rock bottom and there is a seismic shift allowing me to sink further into the abyss of hell. And I am doing this in a foreign language, which I have not spoken since 6th grade and I only had 6 weeks of training. Oh and of course the occasional movie trailer, hasta la vista baby. I texted my contact that he had to call me pronto as things were mucho mucho grande bad.

And speaking of mucho mucho grande bad my IBS is at an all time mess. Stress does not do well with my guts and my complexion. I walk around as if everything is fine but the insides know better. Due to an unfortunate accident this weekend I now own new slippers, a robe, a nightgown, 2 white towels and a Ralph Lauren throw. Don't ask.

The painting is complete and when it is dry I can vacuum, put things away and start decorating for Christmas. I wanted to buy stuff this weekend but I had to keep reminding myself, I do not know what I have packed away. Pictures of the update will be available soon. That reminds me I am still looking for washable rugs for the kitchen, is it us or does everyone else really have those expensive rugs in the kitchen that must be sent out to them cleaned. WTF.

We will be giving thanks at home alone and Big Daddy wants to do the whole 9 yards. We will see. I mentioned he might want to contact his mom to see if she would like to go to lunch on the weekend, or we could take her lunch. Whichever, we will see.

I am thinking about making cookies. It could happen.

Our Traditions

This was in Big Daddy's parking lot at work. In the middle of the city.

Yes, it is that time of year again, horseradish harvesting. BD loves his horseradish. In honor of the crop we are having a standing rib roast for dinner. With Yorkshire pudding. Delish.

Today we will have the annual fight over when it is time to put the wicker furniture away. It is past time and it will be done today.

This is gonna be a crazy week, work is already crazy and Big Daddy made the correct and manly decision to hire the painter I found. He is a professional painter and takes on side jobs. He was recommended by my manicurist who has known him for years. He paints for her and she is one picky bitch.

Painter will make a few visits for prep work during the week and paint the dining room, kitchen and back entry on the weekend.

I wanted a bakers rack for the spot we removed the counter top "breakfast nook". I finally admitted what I really need is a hall tree with a seat. We don't wear our work shoes in the house, where we walk is sometimes really nasty, and I am too old to dance around on one foot at a time. Now we can come in and sit down and take off our shoes.

That is when I noticed that the light fixtures, original to our move in over twenty years seemed ugly and dated. And the Martha Stewart type back door curtain looked as old as Martha.

So BD got a deal on lights, he is hanging them and taking down the back door curtain rod, and I will post pics when it is done. Kinda a before and after for the Punkin Head.

Latest Mishmash

The last rose, it was in the 20's last night.

Since I bitched about needing help I guess I should not complain about the yahoo they sent to help me. Let it be said I tried hard to be nice, but almost every person in the plant came up and asked me who the "Goofy Guy" was. That is an exact quote, "Goofy Guy". Just one example, he bought 2 chickens, I am hoping they were cooked, and kept them overnight in his car--because it is cold enough now. And he ate one on his drive into work.

And he never washes his hands.

And he looks for old pizza under the seats of his car when he is hungry.

Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck and yuckity yuck.

I have 2 new winter coats and both fit like a second skin if I do not have anything else on, including the glasses I hang on my neckline, they are both from Costco and they are both made in China. I think  made by  the company that does not make bigger bigger bigger, the one on Quipo Lu, pronounced Cheapo Lu. For goodness sakes they are a large and are skintight. Everything else I wear is a medium. WTF.

Yesterday I had a couple of the plants calling me and acting all loud and important and stating important shit, kinda like they were yelling at me. I have found the most effective response is no response. Then they gotta kinda repeat themselves to make sure you heard them and it takes the wind out of their sails, and then I say , uhuh. Got it.

The sort companies are still all f'ed up, not sending proper information, new reworks, new problems and I am home and not working right now.

That is because it is a UAW holiday. Veteran's Day. No the UAW does not memorialize or thank the vets on Veterans's Day. They give them a nod on Friday while they are driving up north for the start of gun hunting season or they are laying about their homes that some other went out and gave his all to protect this country.

Asshats.

Herding Cats

Herding Cats is indeed a strange occupation. I know this because I have had to participate in the herding.

I had to hire people to do a yard purge. This means you let a large group of people loose in the yard to find vehicles with issues and repair them. Let us say 1000 vehicles.

These people are people who for whatever reason do not have full time or sometimes even part time jobs. Because working for a sort company is an on call position. You can work up to say the top 3 to 5 people in the sort crew, but sometimes that is how big the pond is.

When I need to go into the yard you sometimes need 15 to 30 people. Just the experience of getting them all peed and into position to be trained is like stabbing your foot multiple times with a really dull screwdriver. And I swear to all that is holy, an hour later you need to send a recon team to find these people. They are all over the map.

And I can't get angry, for some of these people it may be the only job they get in a week or a month and I know they come from the local soup kitchen or homeless shelter, but WTF.

These are the people fixing the vehicles. And I am paying 30 dollars an hour per head for this shit.

Unbelievable and Sassy Pants

Those of you who remember my China days may remember her, I call her Sassy Pants. Big Daddy had her framed for my birthday. I like the change to the black frame.

The timing and the route to work has me just coming up a hill at daybreak, beautiful and today the sky was reddish at daybreak and I wondered if that was the red/pink that was the sailors warning. Well, when I left the plant this afternoon the wind was so strong from the southwest (don't know a thing about wind direction) that it practically walked me to my car. It was 65 degrees when I got home and tomorrow is supposed to be COLD. Will let you know.

Can't say much about my job because you could easily figure out where I work, but I will say this is a mess and getting hilarious.

Felt bad today on the way in and back home, I thought they sold Poppy's for Veteran's Day. Guess not. Thanks to all who served.

I am still around

Some of the style blogs that I read post pics of themselves. So this is my new haircut and color. I am happy with it at this point.

I hate not posting for so long, but this has been a long ugly time, this is one of the worst launches I have ever seen. Prolly the worst really. Thank God we are off for Voting Day or I might have collapsed. I got a flu shot yesterday after work and my arm is not happy. And they say massage it and I say, what-I cannot touch it or move it without pain. Fun.

Halloween was a bust here, even with the glowing red eyeballs in the skull we had zero trick or treaters. None, zip, nada. Very chilly and rainy prolly did it. I remember taking Punkin Head to the Emergency Room so many times on Halloween when he was small and cute. Versus grown up and handsome.

Bought lunch at the plant last week, I rarely buy lunch and sometimes just eat on the run. Fried fish, hush puppies and mac and cheese. Who could say no? I should have with a Barq's, which I also do not do-- this lunch was just shy of 10 bucks. And not all that good. Fish was good. Barq's was good. Hush Puppies were horrid.

But I did get some laughs, as I was sitting there I saw a bunch of zombies walk past me and said to myself, WTF are zombies doing in here eating this shit. Completely forgot that the line workers dress up for Halloween and was so stressed out did not even think to hide in the basement.

Weekend roundup

I am about to let out a long guarded secret, I am going to be 60 years old on my next birthday. I have been very sensitive about my age for years and then suddenly this year it has become less important. Not so unimportant I am telling people I work with, but I am loosening up a bit. I told Big Daddy I want a great and special birthday even though he and I are the only ones left here in the rusted out city in the rust belt. Since he was worried he had to have something special made for me he showed me some pics for my opinion. On the above I told him no, too fussy and not me. I want something I can wear every day.

Punkin Head asked for pics of the gorgeous hand loomed towels from Joanne, Cup on the Bus blog. She sent these to me and I am touched that someone would send me something so wonderful. I am saving them for Thanksgiving when we take food to my MIL's and I can show off my lovely towels. And yes, I will no doubt hand wash and press them. They are the bee's knees.

Went to get my pedicure yesterday and as always half awake as it a 9 am appointment on a Saturday and she is telling me she has this new product to try on me. And as I am leaving she tells me to report back if it lasts and is okay and doesn't chip. Wait a minute I just paid full price to be a test subject? No, I want OPI at these prices.

Watching the Lions at Wembly Stadium, 21-0 Atlanta at half time, WTF. Late breaking news, Lions won 22-21 on a kick when weeks ago they had no kicker. Must have been the tea.

Made the Trader Joe's pumpkin bread mix with added chopped walnuts. Not too bad, I mean nothing is as good as scratch but for a mix, as Miss Verita would say, not too shabby.

Got a call this morning asking if I knew that the vehicles were leaking. As in water leaking. No, I did not know that. I guess I am the only one and now this is the new big thing. Wet feet.

Big Daddy has a question for Esby, he is one of my long time readers and an owner of a dog. BD is convinced that dogs have been proven to have an internal compass to poop with the poles, they poop north south or south north, aligned with the poles. Can anyone confirm this? This has something to do with that circling that they do when they get ready for bed.

Gotta get my galoshes ready for tomorrow, that would be for inside not outside.

Come Fly With Me

Well this should tell the whole story.

Well, it is still going down hill and now I am told that if we do not get parts into the plant Saturday night it will be a blood bath. Of course I reported this and of course everyone said no problem.

And then on the 6PM conference call no one knew a thing about this, no this was not gonna happen and pretty much we have other arrangements. So I asked for the names of the other arrangements to report out on this issue, and my boss jumps in and saves the day.

Not for the shipment, just for them saying I was a stupid bitch.

Because if those asshats do not get me the right info tonight, well the parts are gonna be flying in the wide blue skies, also known as air charter. AKA as really fucking expensive.

The more that happens the better this gets.

And Big Daddy can't get home his plane went AWOl at O'Hare and he is zig zagging home doing his best.

Thinking October is not my best month.

This is a cross between I am Woman and I am done

So the Neanderthal Engineer I work with  has been kinda bully(ing) me and treating me like his ex wife or his junkyard dog. Now he is trying to get me fired. This is going up to a Director level.

The hilarious part of this is that before I got there they could not find a person to take this job. Everyone who has had this job before me says my company is worse than the worst. I am starting to believe this by the way.

Today I worked 11 hours and most of it was not productive as I was chasing my tail with lies and such and not making head way.

Well, tomorrow my phone is gonna blow up at 6 am and I am gonna tell them that they gotta talk to my boss. Cause I am too confused.

And disheartened.

I am the Queen of ESP or been there, done that

Limelight Hydrangea just starting to turn, a few weeks ago. Will get a new photo soon.

Well,  you regular readers you may recall the pile of scrap parts no one wanted to deal with. Where there's a will there's a way. They called the supplier quality people and told them those were all my bad parts. So I got written up and my plant had to expedite parts. Yes, I can get it mostly reversed but the one thing you can never get reversed is the money. It is a dirty little secret in the industry. The big auto companies nickle and dime the suppliers into what actually amounts to big money at the end of the year. And they still expect us to buy them coffee, donuts, lunch and baseball tickets out of our own pockets and meager profits. Cheap bastards.

Major props to Big Daddy, he did the main work on cleaning out the frig and freezer. Hate that job but it must be done. Now everything is in proper order as I like to keep some food in the freezer in the winter in case of late nights and bad weather. And speaking of bad weather I need to get the "next to the down coat" ready for Monday and the down coat on stand by. This morning 38 degrees, and when you are walking the quarter mile to the door in the wind at 7 am, well it is a bit nippy.

I had a dream the other night I started smoking again. I was so upset with myself for starting up this nasty habit again. I don't think you ever get to the point of never thinking about it again but I am so grateful to not have that monkey on my back anymore. If the thought crosses my brain now I just picture lighting up a 10 dollar bill, and as we all know of my love for jewelry I can't justify burning money that could be spent on a new bauble. Or better yet an old bauble.

Off to do laundry and get ready for the fresh hell I know Monday will bring.

The expected and the unexpected.

Gourds from the Farmer's Market, 2 for a buck. Much smaller ones were at Trader Joe's for 69 cents a piece. And mine are much more unusual. Love them.

The Plant of Dreams has decided to go forward with this debacle of a launch. I have never seen such a mess in my life. I have piles of parts that are scrap, no longer usable, and today I had to go to a person of importance and say "How long are you gonna allow this shit to hang and lay in baskets?" If it is not counted and formally scrapped out they will run out of parts and then all hell will break loose. Asshats. Actually they are just lazy and think they can get away with not doing their jobs.

Had to talk to my Mexicano today and yes it gave me the same headache as before, however at the end of the conversation he told me I am to go back to talking to the real QE, not him the trainee. Thank God for small favors.

Tomorrow is clean up at the plant and awaiting answers from the plants, wait and see.

Its a dogs world

When you make a purchase at the hoity toity Grosse Pointe Dog Store they get what looks to be a homemade style dog treats. A lagniappe. And Sammy the Spanky Dog seemed to like his treat alot.

Hilarious, I just noticed it is in the shape of the mitten, for the shape of our state-the Michigan Mitten. They always leave the UP out, no wonder they get so feisty up there.

And here is the sweater, we finally found one that fits. Sammy eyeballed it this morning when Big Daddy put him out and I overheard BD telling him he did not need his sweater this morning. I told BD he was no judge of that as I did not make him pee and poop outside.

And just so you know it is not all sweetness and light here, we also bought poop bags.

What a week.

Finally the new kitchen, landing and stairs floor. I am glad I like it.

Horrible week at work, not long hours or anything just the dealing with the idiots. One of the managers asked me why I always look so stressed. Okay, that is a bad thing I always need to look happy and carefree, but damn when you work with cretins all day, well it is a bit wearing.

Starting fresh here so no bitching about the past. Getting ready to make soup and do laundry.

Need to finish putting the summer away and bringing the winter out.

Switching the picture thing to the family room and putting some of the books in the living room. We have so many books and I keep buying more. I don't keep them all, but I do keep them until I read them. I just bought 13 Hours, about the incident in Benghazi.

We went to the Park this morning and visited the market, bought gourds, and fish and had lunch. It has been a nice day.

Now, Big Daddy needs to work outside and I need to start the soup.

Sacred Saturday

My agreement with the company is, I don't work nights and weekends. So imagine my surprise when my phone rang at 8:15 AM, while in the stylists chair, at the hairdresser. Trying to explain to a guy at the plant that I cannot chat as I am getting all visible hair on my head tinted a color of my choosing.

So, I had to spend half my morning on the phone and reading email and bothering my Quality Managers for bullshit that could and should have waited til Monday. But no, these guys are under the gun and the rumor is that heads are gonna roll soon, so of course everyone is running around peeing on the trees to prove how hard they are working.

As I amassed a fortune in overtime this week I decided to spend it at the inside sidewalk sale on the hill. I bought some lovely driving shoes marked down from 184.00 to 37.00. They are a luscious dark tan and orange sherbet. I also found a beautiful silk scarf in red and dark brown hand pleated and produced in the USA. That was full price. I adore scarves but good ones are so expensive I don't buy them often. They have to be something a bit different and they must speak to me. That was at Capricious and next door at The League Shop I found the wonderful wreath. I normally do not do Halloween but who can resist the skull with working red eyes, battery operated.

Listening to WJR one morning Paul W had an interview with the owner of Sister Pie. They make pies and cookies and cater dessert trays. The food sounded so amazing I stomped my little foosie and demanded a salted maple pie and cookies. Big Daddy sat outside the shop and waited for them to open. He snagged the last pie and buckwheat chocolate chip cookies. To die for. Sister Pie is in the West Village at Parker Market. Well worth the trip and you order pies on Tuesday and pick up on Friday.

Monday it is back to the grind and I must press my new clothes. Ordered ponte pants from Lands End and some long sleeved knit shirts. No longer wearing jeans to work as I found out it is the Plant Manager's pet peeve. My company does enough to piss him off, no need to pour salt on that open sore.

The Dementors

This is the only one that thrived and it is on the last hurrah.

There are 3 or 4 guys guys I work with that are just nasty, dis-heartening, depressing and just dang a pain in the butt to work with. I had to see them again today and I noted that I get testy and unpleasant around them. I said to myself, remember "Don't let them steal your joy".

As I was walking away feeling horrid I remembered "The Dementors" from the Harry Potter series, these asshats suck all the joy of the world out the air surrounding them so that the rest of us are gasping for just a piece of humanity to go forward.

In other words, now that I have found the root cause of the problem I must solve the issue and make sure this never happens again. This is gonna take a little bit of time, maybe some super glue and perhaps some duct tape.

The most important is going to be a way to hear my iPod on my car radio on the way to work, Johnny Cash Ring of Fire or The Doors Riders In The Storm. And just to make sure I walk in proud and brave we must finish up with :

Random Ranting

My mother wanted to see the European tri color beech tree, I planted this the year my dad died. It has not yet started to turn.

Well, I still do not have a kitchen floor. There was too much tomfoolery going around and then I remembered, Riemer Floors. Well we called, they quoted, my certificate for air worthiness is ready and yes, they cost a bit more-but they will be much better. Floor goes in the 9th and we will all just have to deal with the nasty floor type thing left behind. Sammy the Spanky dog dropped his stuffed fooshie toy on the floor and was afraid to pick it up. Oh, yea I should take a photo.

It is not looking good for my vehicle launch. I should know this evening if they are going to struggle on or take a break and review the situation. Either choice is very expensive. The asshats in the engineering side are once again asking for the exact hours I work. There are no exact hours and for some reason my bosses are afraid to admit I get time and a half over forty hours, and they try and avoid over 40 hours like the devil is chasing their tails. Monday I worked 10.5 and that is causing some unhappy faces.

I don't know how, but Big Daddy found a book by Maeve Binchy, Light a Penny Candle, that I had never read. It is glorious, I am so happy.

Why is it always happening to me?

Nothing really severe happens, just the not normal messed up stuff. Wire in the food, it will be in my bite. All things that go wrong, go wrong in my house.

So the guys came on Friday morning to put in my new floor. Whoops, whoa, no way lady--ya got two floors here. The cheap ass Grosse Pointer before me--the Executive Secretary of one of the biggest bankers in town--cheaped out and put the floor down on top of the original. She did the same shit with the wallpaper--and she painted the damn refrigerator.

Well, due to age of my home and long reaching arm of the EPA (even though flooring asbestos is not the bad threat asbestos) I must be tested for asbestos. This is the EPA scam. I call to get the flooring tested. It takes 3 days and cost 300 U.S. dollars. By this point my home is torn up for this stupid floor. If I want the asbestos testing done same day, well that costs 900 U.S. dollars.

So here is what I did, I called the asbestos abatement people and got the removal done, it cost me 700 with a certificate cause it was done on a Saturday for cash. Saved 500 for removal plus all the testing fees. I really do not care if that stuff was asbestos or not.

So I am waiting for the guy to come and take the air sample so I can have a certificate and now I am re-quoting the floor. Original company tells me they will only take 66 dollars off the quote. Bullshit. New idiot salesman quoted much higher and asked me if I wanted to pay 50 more or would I move my own stove and refrigerator. They were thrown out.

New people coming Monday.

Pics too follow.

The most boring time of my life

They ain't building shit in this launch.

My plants are bitching about paying for sorts;which indicates to me they plan on shipping shit parts.

I may have to drive my mother to Florida.

I am getting a new kitchen floor on Friday.

Oh, and if you are caught with a Blue Tooth at the plant your ass is fired, along with your bosses.

It is a new day

Not.

We are supposed to be building new vehicles.

That is not happening.

I can't say much about this, but I can say when are the firings going to start.

These people are extreme jackasses.

Random Stuff

What we've got here is a failure to communicate . . .

I made a sacred vow not to travel this year, kids are going to her family, and I want a few major things done on the house. Or the leaking sieve from hell money pit, as I so kindly call our abode.

Well, it is getting to the end of the year and I have no new kitchen floor to go sit on and ponder why I am not flying the friendly skies with whatever airline decided to let me on board. It is getting ugly here.

Big Daddy went along with my request for a big ham dinner this weekend. He bought the ham at the end of the week from Eastern Market. It was a country ham. It involved scrubbings and soakings and other things I did not care to know about. It took 2 days. The best part of it was the fritatta on Sunday morning with the leftover ham. Yes, we have ham in the freezer if anyone needs a pound or two.

We are at the end of our bulb planting extravaganza, 90 Tulips and 90 Daffodils. I am too damn tired to put in the Asian Lily, but I know I must find them and make Big Daddy put them in.

We put Sammy the Spanky dog on Dinovite. Don't judge, he is a licker from hell. And his breath is from the devil from the "supposed congestive heart failure" and the theophilin is making him pee all time. Other than that he is the healthiest dog ever.

Punkin Head is making pickled everything-we are awaiting the cauliflower results, Big Daddy has cracklins on hand courtesy of the country ham and a Paula Deen recipe and I am trying to save my life by eating oatmeal every morning thanks to the new microwave.

Do you ever get a wild hair up your ass and think I must look up Graceland, the one where Elvis lived? Well, if you do you will find they have home furnishings for sale on the website. That is why I drink.

Way too long away from the blog

The Red Crown restaurant in Grosse Pointe Park

You may remember the old gas station turned into a restaurant, well we finally ate there last Friday for lunch. Big Daddy and I do not get much time for lunch and we snuck off and had a date. I must say it was wonderful. I had a perch sandwich with bacon jam which I was quite ready to hate and it was wonderful. I think we will be going back.

We took a ride around and saw the offending farm shed which cuts off traffic to Detroit and the infamous round-a-bout and yes indeed it does cut off Detroit traffic. Detroit is supposed to spruce up their side of the street and then we will pull down the shed. Should be a hoot to see if anything actually happens.

I did not realize it was so long since I last posted, so sorry. I have been lazing about.

Tomorrow is a quick trip to one plant and lunch with the Bigwigs at my primary plant.

Then we have to plant the daffodils. And harvest the basil and parsley for butters for the winter.

And come Monday it is back to the serious business of making vehicles.

Good things come to those who read the NYT book review

Remember when I was looking for that author duo that even Anne Rice thought was worth reading? Well, they showed up in the NYT this weekend, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I will pursue this as a cheap ebook to test out if they are my cup of tea.

Tomorrow I have a road trip from hell. We are only allowed to travel with a direct employee so we, the contract scum, do not incur any reimbursable expenses. Well this guy, my supe, thinks he is the best car driver in the world. Wrong. And he is that guy that "saves" his wipers only using them when he literally cannot see. The last trip was spent with me dodging bullets in the car and telling him he scared me. This and one more trip and then I am going to refuse to travel. It is no fun and I am tired of the bullshit. I need the information for my benefit, after that it is all a crap shoot and I don't need them.

That is what is hilarious about this company, they tell you up front--you will be contract forever. There will never be advancement. However, if I choose to go it alone I can triple my income in a heartbeat with no effort. And not much extra work. Talk about a company without a plan.

So I am taking bags of wine, don't judge-I went to the good wine store, and when we can escape from the asshat after dinner me and the Princess can sneak out like teenagers and drink and she can smoke.

I am hopeful Big Daddy and Sammy the Spanky Dog will be okay without me.

Still crazy

Still reeling from Joan Rivers services. She was lucky, she would have never made it as an
invalid.

No work tomorrow as there is a parts shortage.

Almost killed myself today doing beginner Yoga.

Seems like I am going on a Road Trip Wednesday, need to get that confirmed.

Windy Weather

We had some wind this weekend. Our house was not badly hit.

The Mormons however were not so lucky. And don't you like that lake at the end of my driveway. There is a huge branch up there ready to fall and we are betting on which vehicle it will fall on. That is the only side of the road that allows parking and there is a skirmish daily on road parking. And whatever the Slavs are up to they all now drive luxury vehicles. Mercedes and BMWs  galore. And the Flower Lady came home from the hospital so the Clampetts can't park there anymore. There is gonna be one big boom.

If we don't get a new road soon I am gonna hafta to get a special friendship with someone that owns a tank.

After some research it appears the resident hawk might be a Coopers Hawk as they are now crashing parties at every luscious  spot in the Metro Detroit area.

I just finished an ebook, still not sure if I like them, Snobs by Julian Fellowes. Don't know if I will read him again. Starting speed reading to get to the end. It was one of those where I started guessing the next plot line and was right every time.

Well, I asked Punkin Head if he was gonna be a Sparty or a Duck and he demurred and kinda thought maybe a Duck as he is a tried and true Wolverine. Good move because the Duck quacked all over Sparty and kinda proved that maybe Sparty is trying to play in too big a sandbox. Hmmm.

Aw come on

Tomorrow I have to go on another road trip with the Supe, this is not gonna be fun.

I am back on the part time thing and trying to just sneak by.

Oh, well . .  I am off Friday.

Feeling like an old fogey

Hot Pink House Shoes

When I was raised up by the southern and semi southern contingent everyone wore house shoes. Not slippers, House Shoes are shoes worn in the house. I have owned these. I change into these when I get home from the assembly plants and take off my Ecco lace ups. These are Minnitonka house shoes. In Hot Pink, and hot damn. This is from my Marshalls' shopping extravaganza.

I also found some  L'Occitane hand cream and it was on sale.

Big Daddy is smoking and making pizza on the grille, it is a good holiday weekend.

A week of sleep

The India silk bedclothes from a year or 2 ago.

The fabric up close.

Well, I for some reason woke and said, why are we not using the India silk bedding? And there you go it is on the bed in the guest room.

I took this week off from work and for the most part it worked out fine. The big boss called me early Friday morning about some missing parts and I was as vague as could be considering I did not yet have coffee. Today at the Marshall's checkout another guy called about his recalcitrant parts and I explained, who knew. No one bitched, I am shopping, the parts disappeared and really who cares at this moment in time. Guess he agreed.

There is a new Foundation in Grosse Pointe, I really don't have a lot of information but they are running a resale shop and it appears most of the worker bees have Downs Syndrome. So I took all my shit down there. This seems to be a rag tag shop at the moment so I took them my dress for the wedding, that was 500 bucks, the good fat clothes I bought, the couture cape I bought in China and a bunch of Chico's stuff. I hope they can make a buck off of it.

Went shopping for samples if I really have to go to Mexico as the boss does not pay for bags to be checked. You know shampoo and stuff. Got a few items at Marshalls, had lunch at PF Changs--never again.

It is cool enough if I can stay awake we can have another fire, and maybe light the candles in the back forty.

We used to have a Michigan State Fair

Punkin Head and the Duchess went to the Portland fair.

My favorite animal at the fair is the pig. To be specific, the red pig. This is the best pig PH could find.

Missed the Armada fair.

Need to give myself an mani and finish the book Cut And Thrust by Stuart Woods, I do still enjoy his books, even if the are very light reading.

Red Tail Hawks

At the right side top of the bench is a hawk. Our new resident hawk. Big Daddy says he is hanging out on our patio because it is lush. He is hanging out now for about 3 days. He shits a lot.

Sammy  The Spanky Dog got his spa day Saturday and I am wondering if the hawk is eyeballing Sammy.

BD says it is a Red Tail Hawk. We will try to get better pictures.

I am on vacation now and should have more interesting photos and conversation for a few weeks.

Goat Rope Extraordinaire

I feel so left out sometimes when my well traveled blog friends use phrases that I have never heard before.

Currently I am sorting parts at my plant. This could be described as the sort from Hell. Lots of parts, lots of screaming, bad problems, meetings, conference calls, people with grimaces and then just the regular asshats acting in their regular manner.

I am sending out those emails with the red hot dot thing at the top.

In speaking with my important customer contact this afternoon he referred to my sort as a goat rope. And I almost asked him if he knew Badger.

Sometimes I truly forget how many truly stupid people there are out there. I wonder how they get to work everyday.

Funny of the day:

I once worked with a guy that was dumb as mud. He was in his late 70's, still working, hooked up with a 20 year old. She made him buy a car. He always had taken the bus to work. He waited at the bus stations to follow the bus to get to work. Don't know when she got to drive the vehicle. He got fired when they got tired of his antics and put him in water test, his job was to drive the cars up to the water test. He never rolled up any of the windows. Dumb as mud.

Kindergarten

Nasturtiums getting large.

Today all the big boys in the quality group decided to have a pissing match. You know, my pee pee is bigger than your pee pee. The only ones that have this war are the ones that question the size of their pee pee.

Then they all want everyone to come and tell them that they are right, it was a war worth fighting.

This war is about some union asshole having to get off their ass and work for 30 minutes, the real war is some reporter getting his head cut off today.

This country is getting crazier and crazier and I am so tired of asshats.

Random Stuff

Dream a little dream

So this week was a week of randomness and to a person who does not appreciate change it became a debacle. I had to cancel my hair appointment on Saturday as on the way there the IBS reared its ugly head and I had to head straight home. So on Wednesday my gal worked me in at five, mixed and put on my  color-I sneaked out the back door and Big Daddy paid. While I was getting the color he went next door to Hydrangea Cafe and ordered us the best take out dinner. When I got home and at the required thirty minute mark I washed the tint out of my hair at the kitchen sink. Saved 60 dollars and 1 and 1/2 hours.

The roofer still has not made it to my house for the roofing leak on Monday night. Rat Fucker.

Had a very hard time getting to work on Wednesday and an even harder time getting home on Thursday. Our roads were shit before this happened and now I can't begin to calculate the cost to fix the grid. This is gonna get ugly this winter.

Just an observation-because it is still en vogue not to wear stockings and to bare your legs, well not everyone should follow that fashion. Some thin white women look like hell with bare legs. IF you are too lazy to take of your legs, wear stockings or were just born with ugly legs, please wear pants. It is quite distracting to see this look in a work environment. Especially with cheap and worn down shoes. Shoe polish is not that expensive.

I ordered a bunch of books from Amazon, here is how that works-I make a list and when I am ready I put the list in the cart. Then BD tries to find the best deal on the books and we get what we get when we get it. The first to arrive is Happy Times by Lee Radziwell. A picture book with narrative and so far in it is entertaining. I wish I could only recall the happy times.

BD went to Eastern Market this morning and came home with beets to roast, glads, duck and blackberries and raspberries. Better than my dinner idea for last night. It was a disaster of epic proportion.

I am having a weird spiritual thing happening and I will share it when I figure it out.

No dry bed for me

Adding some perennials on sale at the end of the season.

Well today I am stuck at home-Detroit flooded out. The only way I could get to work would be to swim, and they are saying don't swim in the water as the bacteria count is high. And I can't find my water wings. There are scuba divers on I-75 looking for people in the cars that are underwater. That is crazy ass.

Doing my bedding, yes my bed was wet again and my roofer is not answering his phone. Paid him a lot of money for a dry bed.

My plant is running but I don't know for how long as the trucks can't get through. This is a mess, I don't know why people are working today. Of course Big Daddy is about the join the crazies as he heard 8 Mile is open now, I will update as appropriate.

Come on baby light my fire

That is my new Limelight hydrangea tree behind the chiminea. First fire of the year, it has been such a cool summer.

I think I need to go back on hormone therapy, I am just on my last nerve. I am going to try the valium thing to see if that helps out first. I hate taking the valium--but I can't be a crying neurotic all day long either. If I go back on the HRT I will probably need a hysterectomy. And I need to call the doctor about my knee, it is killing me. And I need to call about getting my hair colored before the roots get out of control. This has been a shitty week.

August 22 is my last day and I cannot wait, I am taking at least one week off and do not want to talk about that to anyone.

My first serious boyfriend was during the Doors first hurrah, loved them and of course had my heart broken. So glad he broke my heart and moved on--he was so not acceptable for long term romance.

Oh my.

IBS Strikes again.

Hail from a recent storm, not something we see often on my side of town.

I have been having a terrible time with this issue for the last couple weeks. Stress has been pretty bad so I guess that explains it. I had a melt down 2 nights ago-way too much stress. I was supposed to report out on what we did to make sure this part shipped without defects. And I did not have a clue and the Mexicans were not too eager to explain it to me, even in their favorite Spanglish language. And then there was the disastrous phone call from the Customer to the Quality Manager, you know the one where he told the him he "would give me a talking to" and then asked him if he worked for us. Umm, know I work for THE Customer. Awkward.

And speaking of "giving a talking to" that dude has no idea who he is dealing with.

One thing that I have in my back pocket, no one wants my job. No one with a brain anyway.

Funny of the week,

Email from one of the engineering group telling me I sent him an odd two-dimensional picture that makes no sense and can I go and take another one. Uh, no. You diss the picture come take your own asshole.

Then we were written up for caps falling off the parts. These caps protect the part until installation. It turns out these are the new caps to replace the caps that were too hard to pull off. Hilarious. Then my Quality Manager never responded because she cannot read and missed portion of the document that stated 24 hour response required. I have always thought she was not all that bright.

Punkin Head is heading home to Portland this afternoon and Big Daddy said he is ready to go home. Can't blame him, 7 days is a long time away from home. We are sending him with some truffles that we had at the rehearsal dinner and an early Christmas present. His anniversary was the 3rd and he was here and we are giving them cash so they can fly home to DIL's family for Christmas. Tickets between Portland and Boston skyrocket for the Christmas holidays.

I am hopeful it won't be so long between posts again, work is just killing me. It must be those odd 2 dimensional pics I am taking.

The home gardener

The head Slav has put up netting on a portion of the vineyard. He takes people out and shows them the baby grapes. Dammit, it think this is fun. I also wish he would mow and take care of his lawn.

I am so damn busy at work I cannot believe it and then today I was felled by the IBS. It was a brutal afternoon. Big Daddy is in Chicago where he learned his lying, cheating and stealing co-worker was walked out the door today. And BD is interviewing for a new company tomorrow. More on that if it is warranted.

The biggie of the week is that I must go and be nice this weekend at my MIL's, but only for a short time as we must pick up my Punkin Head at the airport Sunday---early afternoon. He is coming in for a conference at his old Alma Mater and I get a great excuse to leave early.

Hubba Hubba.

You can't fix stupid

Sammy Dog being too cute.

So the Co-hort in training  goes out and finds that all the parts that were supposed to be reworked by the best of the worst sort companies are not re-worked. They are marked reworked, they just did not do the work. Co-hort is really unhappy and calling all peoples who are just not doing their damn jobs. This is gonna get ugly and now I have to institute the Rules Of Engagement, or I Will Have Your Ass if you can't do the fucking job.

This is all union bullshit, you have to put the union "kids" on the job and they are lazy and stupid. This is gonna be a great launch. This is why vehicles so much, union graft at this point.

I have to have an outfit to wear to corporate this week for a training session. Normally to work I wear jeans, a really nice Tee shirt, expensive shoes, which I need new ones, and a safety vest. This outfit will not work at corporate.

Okay, have to go write sort rules and order new shoes.

Just a minute to share my fun

Gotta get new pics this weekend.

Funny of the day:

But, aren't we sorting these parts.

Yes, and they are still fucked up.

This has been a horrendous week, too many problems and no help.

Why I Love My Job

Candles in the pots on the teak table.

Today I was tasked to find out why the parts assembly taped up to meet the "does not rotate in a 180" request were causing this huge problem.

The goal was to put some cheap ass tear tape on the part so they would not spin like a child's toy.

The unsaid expectation was that the parts would now be in a perfect configuration to make the parts go on the vehicle with no effort on the operators parts whatsoever. We call this asking the part to jump on the vehicle and make themselves at home.

And the most hilarious part of this discussion is that we used tear tape for this issue. Because the asshats are supposed to tear the tape when installing the parts. Guess what? They don't want to tear the tape. That takes too long. They want the cheap ass tape to do the job of an expensive design change because they are too damn lazy to tear the tear tape.

Just try having this conversation with yourself, "You know that is tear tape, so you can tear the tape."

"I don't have time to tear the tape, WTF, you are supposed to make this perfect--with this cheap ass fix that no one wants to pay for." "I gotta go get some free donuts."

This is why the vehicles cost so damn much, stupid shit. You can't fix stupid.

A surprise

That is the Tat Lady with the Cherry red hair. Our backyards are really tiny.

With the hiring of a real cleaning lady we were on track to be normal again. I can't put the tale of the faux cleaning lady here, but if I could it would be a beaut.

The only thing left to be cleaned on the main level was the front coat closet. Big Daddy and I got that done in a flash. We found our hats and put everything to rights. While we were picking up for the new real cleaning lady I found a purple yoga mat. Naturally I asked BD what possessed him to buy a new yoga mat. Especially as he had never used the old yoga mat. He proceeded to tell me that was my yoga mat, from the coat closet. Then it dawned on me, Punkin Head had been searching high and low for a yoga mat with a surprise wrapped up inside. Yepper, we found PH's hidden surprise. He is happy and should receive it soon.

I have to put together an outfit to visit my mother-in-law in a few weeks. It will be the first time I have seen her since the wedding and then her pissing me off. I don't want to buy anything as I am still in the weight losing mode and should be able to find something to wear. The only saving grace to this visit is we must leave the visit by 2 to pick Punkin Head up at the airport and take him to his hotel in Ann Arbor and then out to dinner. He has a conference he is attending. BD will take him to lunch and back to the airport the following Saturday. I won't be able to go but they will have some great father/son time.

BD took Sammy the Spanky Dog to the vet this Saturday and we learned something new. Dogs do not get asthma. Sammy sounds like he has asthma. He was deemed extremely healthy; we now have some pills for what we are calling congestion.

Need to say, shooting down that plane was a horrid thing-but not allowing investigators and trained clean up people in there is unconscionable. Someone needs to be made to pay, and pay dearly for this mess. And someone needs to stand up and be a leader, no one seems to want the job. Except John Kerry and he is more worthless than McCain.