Weekend Review

I was under quarantine most of the weekend. Didn't really feel like doing very much and I didn't need to be passing my Snot Eye around. Greg took me to a few craft stores in an attempt to make me feel better. He's sweet :) But mostly I was home. My eye infection is pretty much gone and my ear infection finally stopped hurting Sunday. I have my voice back but I'm still on the penicillin for another week. Don't ask me how I got so sick. Maybe riding the shuttle with all those germ infested kids.

Okay, something fun.

What is this letter L famous for?



It is famous. No question. And I'd bet cash that everyone who reads me knows this L. At least every American will know it. You can't be American and not know about this. I have to choose my words carefully because if I say just the wrong thing, it will give you too much of a hint.

Greg is the only one who cannot play....because he had to help me "acquire" the L.

Hint posted in the comments

Finally had to go to the emergency room last night. My ear ache was getting pretty bad and I had snot coming out of my eye. Yes, you read that correctly. I'll get to that in a minute.

It was a mad house at the emergency room! I have been to the ER a handful of times and mostly the wait has not been too bad. Last night....there was a line to check in! Ugh. So I sat and watched TV with the other 100 people in the waiting room or an hour and then got called in. Then I sat for an 1.5 hours waiting to see a doctor. He finally saw me and told me I have:

Laryngitis (I already figured that's what I had)
An ear infection
A bacterial eye infection

So I have ear drops, eye drops and penicillin.

Ok, snot coming out of my eye. I really did seem like snot. And a lot of it. Never ending. It was this yellowish greenish mucus and it was as disgusting as it sounds. That started yesterday. I had no idea what I had done to myself when that started flowing. Thankfully it wasn't really snot. I'm only mad at myself for not getting a photo of it. After I started my eye drops, the snot is pretty much gone and now it's just puffy and really red. I could have grossed Laura out with that photo over and over. Oh well.

So during the 1.5 hours waiting in my little "room" in the ER (just closed off by curtains), I could see a man walking around with a little boy in his arms. The boy was only in a diaper and had to be around 2 years old. The father was singing to him very softly and stroking his hair to comfort him. It was touching. A while later, it was time for the doctor to look at the little boy. Oh man.....the boy just started crying and crying at whatever they were doing to him. Between the sobs, I could hear "da da....daa daaaa!". I totally lost it and my eyes watered up for that little boy. I felt so bad for him. And that poor father....must have been hell for him.

I just got to thinking about what parents do for their kids. I'm sure my Mom and Dad held me like that when I was a baby when I was sick. But I just never thought about it.

That's it for now.

Buffy is all better and running like a dream. Actually, she always runs like a dream. Even when she was sick. The only way I know something is wrong with her is when I hear that little "ding" prompting me to notice something like her coolent light is on. It might seem like I've had a lot of problems with her...does it seem like that? I'm not really sure if I have or not. These days cars have all these newfangled things on them and it just makes for lots more things to break. But....you know....can't avoid technology. I think Buffy is a good car. And just about everything that has gone wrong has been covered under warranty. Including the water pump which is what this last problem was all about. She's a 2003, so....not bad so far? I'd say this is the first major repair she's had. Other stuff was sensors and crap like that.

My other car....er, truck, has been a great to own, too. I didn't name the truck. Let's name it now. How about....Luke! Yup, so Luke is a little Toyota pickup. Got him when he was a year old. He's a 1988. Next year he will be 20 years old! Wow. He's got 178 thousand miles. With the exception of one major problem, he has run very well. He's had all the usual things....needs a new battery, new tires....blah, blah, but every car needs that stuff. So for 19.5 years, he has really been a good to me. Greg drives him now. I got Luke after I started dating Greg, so he remembers what Luke was like back in his heyday. He was handsome. Still looks good.....just a little gray around the edges.

And, of course, there was my first VW. The white bug with the plaid seats. I wrote about that car and the seats in my old blog. That post talks about another post.....and you can read it here if you so desire.

Okay, enough of this riveting post about my history with cars.

I, by the way, am still sick. I'm pretty convinced it's laryngitis.

Sick In San Diego

I'm sick.

Buffy is sick.

:(

I started to get sick Thursday night around 4pm. I was loosing my voice. By Friday, it was pretty much just a squeek here and there when I would talk. Yesterday and today, sometimes nothing comes out when I try to talk. And I feel rotten in general. I've got a sort of sore throat all the time. And at night when I lay down, I can't breath very well. So....does that sound like laryngitis? I honestly don't remember ever having that before, so I'm not sure if that's what I have or if it's just a weird cold. I think going to the doctor would be worthless.

Buffy got sick Thursday, too. She had a fever. Her coolent light came on while I was driving home. After some general medical care from us, the doctor, I mean dealer, said she had to come in for a visit. We had to have her towed because it wasn't safe to drive her in. Didn't want to risk engine damage.



Still no word on her condition yet. Poor Buffy.

Well, that's about it. Think good thoughts for both me and Buffy.

A Million Thanks

I wish I had seen this earlier. I was watching TV today and saw an commercial for "A Million Thanks". The basic idea is to send thank you cards to US military men and women. The orginization has been collecting cards since 2004. Had I known, I would have been sending cards to them often. It's just my kind of outlet to support the troops. The commercial I saw was for a special collection benifit for the month of May. You can drop off your thank you letter at any GMC, Pontiac, or Buick dealership until Memorial Day. They have special collection boxes just for the cards. I'm going to make mine today and drop them off at a dealership that's close to me.

Get involved. Tell everyone at work to make a card or buy one. Offer to gather them up and drop them off at the end of the week. Maybe put a collection box in the lunchroom at work so people can just drop it in and not have to find you. Have your kids tell their teacher about it and maybe have the whole class make cards as part of a homework assginement. It's short notice, but I think people will want to show their support.

Visit this website for more information: http://amillionthanks.org

:-)

this, that and whatever comes to mind

For years I thought the lyrics in ELO's (Electric Light Orchestra) "Sweet Talkin' Woman" was actually "Sweet Talkin' Lola". To this day, I sing it wrong beause even tho I know they are saying sweet talkin' woman, all I hear is sweet talkin' Lola. And honestly, it sounds better with Lola :)

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One of the best things in the world is whipped cream (Schlog) out of a can. Not Cool Whip.....that's totally different and not as good.

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The other night I told my mom about how to figure out her porn name (first pets name= first name and first street you lived on= last name). Her's is Midnight Six! Is that not one of the best porn names you've heard? My dad figured his out too, but I can't remember what his last name was. His first name was Smudge. Laughs!! But the best of all time is Greg's porn name. Brutus Chantilly. That just kills me. And his pet named Brutus....a parakeet. I'm Pookie Dorchester. What a pair we are.

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The coffee cart guy at work thinks my name is Drucilla.

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pantheon: 1, the place of the heroes or idols of any group. 2, a temple dedicated to all the gods.

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I snuck into a huge event hosted by a radio station.

I was alone and only a limited number of people could get in. People had lined up and counted, so I knew going to the end of the line was useless. Just giving up and going home wasn't an option since I had put in a lot of time and trouble to get there. So I quickly devised a plan. I went to the snack bar, bought two cups of cocoa and then acted like I was lost and could not find my husband.

"I just went to get us some cocoa and now I can't kind him anywhere..." I said wide-eyed and innocent.

A very nice police officer escorted me to the front of the line and said I could wait there until he showed up. When the doors opened, I merged right in with a man who had no idea what was going on. I was prepared to cry if I had to. Thankfully it didn't come to that. I think it was a brilliant plan.

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I'll leave you with this from YouTube. You need to be aware that this will make you laugh, so be ready for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnudM458uz8

At work, we have students working our help desk. They are all usually programmers in training or something. Pretty smart kids.

One problem we have is, our departnent takes up 2 floors, so we can't just walk over and ask someone a question. Because of that problem, we have a kind of messaging software in place that is like instant messenger. It makes it really easy to talk to each other. So the students page me and ask questions when they don't know something or get stuck. Virginia paged me yesterday and this is how it went:

[11:59:42] Virginia: Hi, I have a data base question. I'm trying to create an email account for someone, but when I enter in the part in the DB for forwarding, the email address has so many characters, the entire email address gets cut off
[11:59:54] Virginia: is there a limit on how many characters can be entered in the mailbox?
[12:00:18] me: how long is the username?
[12:00:38] Virginia: 8 characters
[12:00:55] me: humm. save what you have and then I'll go in and look at it
[12:01:09] Virginia: ok, you can check it now
[12:01:31] me: you are in the wrong field.
[12:01:34] Virginia: i am?
[12:01:40] me: field 5 for mail address
[12:01:51] me: you are in the middle name field
[12:02:03] Virginia: oh my gosh
[12:02:07] Virginia: *embarassed*
[12:02:43] me: no need to be embarassed. we all do these things sometimes.
[12:02:45] Virginia: well, that makes a lot of sense why it didn't fit!
[12:04:13] Virginia: good thing i asked you and didn't page the whole room
[12:05:43] me: *chuckles*
[12:07:03] Virginia: Thanks for your help!
[12:07:10] me: sure, no problem
[12:07:13] Virginia: and uhm....don't tell anyone....
[12:07:18] Virginia: I'm already picked on enough here
[12:07:36] me: you're safe. I won't tell anyone ;)

Ok, so I lied and I'm telling all of you. But you don't know her, so I think it's okay. I trust none of you will be running off to tell all the other student geeks she works with :)

Health Quiz!

I only got 7 out of 16 right. So seems I know about about 8th grade history than my body.


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On a more important subject, please look at this and email spread the word.

*Update: The email yesterday wasn't about the card contest. It was just a coincidence that I got email from them regarding something else. So that was disappointing. Maybe today....tho I don't think I'm going to hear from them. Oh well.

I'm incredibly tired today. I've been having a lot of trouble with my neck and shoulder over the past few weeks so I took a muscle relaxer last night. I should really go to the chiropractor and get adjusted, but I don't have one. Greg goes to a chiropractor and he seems to like him, but I am leery. Mostly because he seemed very interested in having me come in to see him, too. I was the one who phoned his office to see if Greg could get in to see him ASAP. He, the chiropractor, covers the phones for his desk staff between 7am-8am....so he's the one I talked to. Whenever someone seems overly happy or interested in me, I get suspicious. I am not a friendly person and I know that harms me in social ways, but I also think it's beneficial because it makes me more aware. I'm sure his interest is purely financial, but when Greg came home and told me he'd been asking what year I graduated and what high school I went to, that just sealed it for me. The question just came up in general conversation, but I think it's creepy.

Okay, enough of me prattling on and on about my sixth sense :)

Pins & Needles

UPDATE: The pins and needles have turned to nails. I just got an email from Paper Crafts that says "thank you".

That's it.....nothing else. So either they are writing to say "thank you for your entry, you have won" or "thank you for your entry, while we love your cards, you have not won".

*SIGHS!*

I wrote back and the message was retured as undeliverable. Good lord people....are they trying to kill me with suspense?

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Today is going to be pins and needles day. If I am going to hear, today would be the day I hear from PaperCrafts if I've placed in the card contest. They say "on or about May 14th" is when we will hear if we have won. So I've been checking my email every 10 minutes. I suppose if I don't hear something today, I can still have some hope since it says "on or about" but I just have a feeling if I'm going to hear, it will be today. I'm sure they have the winners picked....the deadline to have your cards in was 4/27. We'll see.

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So Earl won the million bucks. And Dreamz killed it for Yau. I wanted either Earl or Yau to win, so I'm happy. But I do feel bad for Yau. No car, no million ~ I can't help but feel bad for him. I knew there was no way Dreamz would win so I wasn't worried about that, but I would have had a cow if Cassandra won. She was so......yuck. She'd turn on you in a second and then play Mom to you the next. In my opinion, she is no better than Dreamz where moral values are concerned. And I know the game is not about moral values, but Earl and Yau are good examples of how you can maintain character and still play the game. Cassandra definitely rode coattails and did some back stabbing along the way.

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Saturday night our neighbor had a 16th birthday bash for his son. They really went all out....had a DJ and it was catered. There were tons of people there. We're not sure, but there is a truck over there that we have not seen before, so they might have given him that has a gift. I just see that as a nightmare waiting to happen. The father is very abusive and has a very short fuse, so should this kid make any kind of mistake....yeesh. It won't be a fun day in the neighborhood.

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That's all I have for today.


"Love Many, Trust Few, Do Wrong To None ~ Yau-Man

Recipe

Alright, before you say "Ewww, I don't like that" ~ try to keep an open mind, okay?

Today I have a tofu recipe.

*can almost hear the "eewwws" now*

In defence of tofu, I don't really understand why people don't like it. If you eat it alone, it's sort of plain and not very interesting. But when you cook it in a sauce or with other things, it takes on the flavor of what it's with. My friend Laura had a curry tofu sandwich a month or so ago at a conference with me and she had some reservations about it. However, after eating it, she said she really liked it and would eat it again. So there! I have someone on record who I would say is not adventurous in the food department and she ate it and would eat it again. In fact, she recently said something to me about liking her food plain....or maybe it was bland. I forget. But anyway, if she liked it, then maybe you will too!

And really....be honest. Have you tried tofu recently? Or did you eat it once back in the 80's when all they put on it was that hideous tahini sauce?

Keep an open mind, people.

Tofu Curry Sandwich

1 firm block tofu
Olive oil
salt
black pepper
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/3 cup white wine
1/4 cup chutney (recommended: Major Gray's)
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup medium-diced celery
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
6 tortillas

1. Press tofu to remove excess water: Place tofu on a flat surface. Cover with a cutting board, and place an iron skillet or a similarly heavy object on top. Allow it to sit for about 30 minutes.

2. For the dressing, combine the mayonnaise, wine, chutney, curry powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Process until smooth.

3. Cut tofu into small cubes and combine with enough dressing to moisten well. Add the celery, scallions, and raisins, and mix well. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.

4. Fill the center of each tortilla with the tofu mixture. Fold the 2 sides of the tortilla over the filling so that the sides overlap. Roll the tortilla from bottom to top, and cut in half diagonally.

aber - aca - dabr

I'm not sure I did a good job with the title. It's a play on the word abracadabra...like in magic.

I call Abby "aber aca dabr". Like.....Abbr....rather than Abby....

See, still not sure I'm doing a good job at this.

Ok, anyway, she's a funny little thing. She hides under the carpet in Greg's office. I'm pretty sure she thinks we don't know she's under there. You know....that big bump under the rug isn't noticeable at all. Sometimes her foot or her tail is sticking out....it just kills me. And that little patch of black on her chin....I mean, isn't that the most aborable thing? I know everyone thinks their cat, dog, rabbit, ferret, parakeet, hamster, goldfish is the cutest....but come on....she is pretty darn cute.

I watched "The Interpreter" Sunday night. My reason for watching it was because Sean Penn is in it.

I think I have posted about this before, but I have a "thing" for Sean Penn. I don't really know what it is about him. Well, that's not exactly true....I do know. He resembles Greg. Tho not so much in this movie. But when I look at him, I see things that just make me think of Greg. I think it's the hair and his eyes. A lot about the eyes. They both have these piercing blue eyes. But there is something else, too. I just can't name it because I don't exactly know what it is. Maybe a mannerism or an expression he has....I don't quite know. I sat and looked at this photo from the movie for a long time and, like I said, he does not look too much like Greg here because he looks older. But there still is something about him. I bet Greg will look a lot like this in 10 years. Look at them side by side.

Aside from all that, the movie was good. Nicole Kidman is in it too and I thought she did a good job. It has a good pace and never leaves you ywaning. I have no recollection of how it did at the box office or if the critics liked it, but I can't go off that stuff anyway. If the critics hate it, I ususally love it. So either I have low expectations where movies are concerned or the critics are too harsh. Maybe a little of both.

There you have it. A kitten crush and a movie review.

I figured it would be 1950something

You Belong in 1954

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

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You Passed 8th Grade US History

Congratulations, you got 6/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade History?

Course I have no idea which ones I got wrong because it does not tell you. But at least I passed.

hello again

Been gone for a few days.....miss me?

I have been in bed not feeling well. Getting better though.

Had to share this with you. Watch the first movie. Just amazing to me.

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If you are an ice cream lover, also check out 101 Cookbooks today. She has a frozen yogurt recipe that she says may never make her go back to ice cream again. I'm tempted to try it because it sounds amazingly simple and she has me believing it is yummy.