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 :