Wednesday, September 24, 2008

pix

Here are some pix from Annie and Dr. Sue's Montana adventure. Remember to click on a picture to see a larger view.









Here is my new jewelry box



Here is how the house looks with the bushes gone.



Tonight I went to Home Depot where I had a coupon for I thought buy one get one free bushes but it was buy one get one half price, which is still a deal so I bought a different hydrangea and a spirea. And a knockout rose in blushing. So I have plenty of stuff to dig in. Which I doubt I will get to before the trip to ND so I need to haul them all around back or else I fear someone will steal them. So I have 7 new plants plus the ones I intend to bring from out back.

All the bushes are gone from out front.

Also I had to flea med the cats because they are scratching like crazy since the weather is still warm.

OMG work is so stressful. Today we jammed the fourth computer into my little 12x13 office and took out the loveseat and replaced it with a wing chair. Word is, a new area is being readied for the web operations area which is only going to continue to grow.

Plus I have run out of checks as I was still using the ones from before the Huntington became my bank.

I need to pack.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

ohhhhh mexico

Booked the flight to Cancun. Feb. 7 to 16. After much screwing around on the flight booking sites, I paid more than I wanted BUT got a good flight that (A) matches Annie's flight times pretty close and (2) flies out of Toledo. So although I have a long layover in Detroit going, I just fly Toledo-Detroit-Cancun and vice versa and I don't have to drive to DTW or pay to park there and when I get back, it's a short trip to home.

We will book a hotel when I go to Mandan and hope some fall hurricane doesn't blow it away.

The weather is cooling off out there so it's about 40 at night but still sunny and 65 in the day.

Tonight, I ripped out the bushes in front of my house so now I just need to get some topsoil and some plants and get on that maybe some nights this week yet and hope for good weather in early October to finish it up before the snow sets in.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

just the most exciting life ever

I took a huge amount of stuff to the Goodwill yesterday. I also went to the farmer's market and bought some chicken sausage and some bacon and an aster plant. Then I went out to the Naturally Native Nursery on 582 where frankly, everything looks like weeds. I suppose that's what native plants are in a flat former swamp, stuff that could take it and win out over various weather situations. I didn't buy anything. Frankly, I think I have had some of these things and pulled them out. So much for my native plant thing.

Friday, I went to the new Fresh Market at Westgate. It's not all that big inside and the produce was expensive and not all that great looking although I need to go back and see if it's locally produced or at least not commercially produced. They have a counter full of prepared salads and an already-cooked meat case along with fresh meat and a bakery full of delightful sweets and a lot of sauces and compotes and stuff in jars and a very small wine section. Then I went to an estate sale off Bancroft and bought a small pan with lid, a basket, a photograph book with old photos of the Eyster family in Toledo and bag of matchbooks, all for $5.

Thursday at lunch I had gone to the new Burlington Coat Factory which is where the Best Buy used to be at Reynolds and Airport. Racks and racks of clothes of varying quality and shoes fit for a drag queen. There were housewares and stuff too but I didn't have time to look at them.

Today, Amy and Sherry and I went to Springhill Nursery in Tipp City. Wow, when googling I see that in 2002 the place had gone bankrupt after 152 years and abruptly closed and re-opened 8 months later after being bought by some garden place in Indiana. We all had $25 off the purchase of $50 of stuff coupons so we bought. I got a pinky winky hydrangea, a purple salvia, a fleece something or other and a xenox sedum. All for $30!

And I mowed after yesterday STARTING to mow and then the oil dipstick pops up and oil starts spewing all over the mower and smoking so I shut it off and came in and looked on the internet and it seemed like it wouldn't really hurt it so today I put in some more oil and it worked just fine. And I had to water. This week I think I will whack at those green bushes out front in the evening. And get some of those new plants in the ground.

GNO has been moved to Oct. 8 to accommodate going to GFT on Oct. 1 to see Little Cow although I don't know how many people are that pumped up about seeing them. The were wacky at the Swamp.

Also last week I watched The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which was wayyyyyyyyy too long, even with Brad Pitt portraying Jesse James as some kind of lunatic. Here is a Google result for Jesse James lunatic about that movie:
"It is perhaps pertinent to note, first off, that Jesse James is a dickhead. A lunatic and a dickhead." So he was shot and then Robert Ford was later shot because he thought everyone would be glad he had rid the world of the outlaw but alas there is always some nutcase who will stand up for the lunatic outlaws. That's why there are Republicans.

Also I saw Tropic Thunder and laughed continuously for 107 minutes. Tom Cruise is hilarious. I never thought I would say that.

So another 5-day work week coming up but then I leave Saturday for North Dakota, returning Tuesday afternoon. Says the weather will be in the upper 60s to low 70s with lows in the mid 40s. And sunny. Keep your fingers crossed that my flights go on time. Apparently this trip is real popular as almost all the seats are taken AND it now costs $1,680 instead of the $310 I paid. Sheesh.

Also I sent some of you this household hints email about scrubbing out your dryer's lint trap because some build-up from dryer sheets gets on there and clogs it up, eventually burning out your dryer motor. I just now ran water through mine, which was not clogged. So I thought maybe this was urban legend but snopes.com says it's TRUE. So maybe it's the fragrance in dryer sheets that clogs it because I use the scent-free ones.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Travelin' light

I've embarked on the massive cleanout. Closets, for starters. The one in the green room had clothes I wore to work in the 80s. Many were size 14 but although now I only wear a 10 (OK, maybe some 12s), these old clothes are too small. Talk about your variable sizing. Which was a question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire today. Does variable sizing make you look (a) taller (b) richer (c) slimmer (d) smarter?

Then I started on my bedroom closet where I weeded out some stuff that I may bring to GNO because it's nice stuff-- Jones New York, Ann Taylor, Liz Claiborne -- but I'm never gonna get into again. And maybe I didn't even like it in the first place because some still have store tags on them.

So I had emptied the big Rubbermaid tote of sweaters first of all and kept 6 out of 24. So I decide if this is all the sweaters I have, I'll get one of those sweater organizer things that hang on a rod. And I put all the extra blankets in the tote and put it in the closet in the green room. But then I find more sweaters, good ones that I forgot I had, on hangers in the bedroom closet. So now I think I may have to unpack the blankets, restore the sweaters to the tote and keep it, um, somewhere.

I could put the blankets and sheets in that flat closet in the hallway which is full of jackets that could go in the front room coat closet if I cleaned THAT out. And if I installed some shelves in that flat closet. Which wouldn't be that hard.

Also tonight I made some pesto but not much. I need to pick the rest of that basil and pesto it up and freeze it. Picked about 40 Roma tomatoes and 4 big ones. I keep trying to find a recipe for tomato sauce that you freeze but mostly the scoop is that if you're going to freeze it, it won't be any better than commercially canned sauce. So why bother? Or as the Joker says, Why so serious??

Plus I made a grilled Muenster with tomato and basil but I had to eat it with a fork because of my jaw. The dentist said today that I should keep taking the Soma and the amoxicillin and the ibuprofen and eventually, my jaw will be better. Sometimes it takes months, he says. Sheesh.

Also yesterday I put that cabinet I got from Mrs. Crazy Lady's curbside in the green room and filled it with CDs. I'm not sure I like it. Plus it's FULL. So it's not really a very forward-looking CD storage plan.

And I emptied my 2 jewelry boxes into the big new one and now it's pretty much full. So no new jewelry. Ever.

And I went to the library and got Annie Proulx's That Old Ace in the Hole which I don't remember reading and I thought I had read everything she's written. Which is not that much as she didn't start writing until she was in her 50s. Because she thought she hadn't had enough experience until then. Inspirational.

Plus I got that Rolling Stones Satanic whatever and Bonnie Raitt's Souls Alike which is very lounge-like. I will burn the Stones one though as I don't have it.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Election coverage

My friend Tim is texting me random thoughts about the election.

So far I have:
Sarah-a heartbeat away from making us want bush back
9/27


Im sarah palin and tonight im trying to memorize the alphabet in case catie couric asks me to recite it
9/27

So Catie can i ask you a question-whats more imporant knowing all this foreign affairs stuff or having a blue ribbon for moose stew
9/29

Thursday on the joe and sarah show-sarah asks the moderator if she could dress a moose instead of answer more questions
9/29

Hide ur moose-sarah is coming to town (9/24)

Just like Sarah, mattie jb and i can c russia from our front porch-of course we're doing 'shrooms now so...but unlike Sarah we all can spell "Putin" (9/21)

Sarah saved me. I am no longer gay. (9/9)

U can put lipstick on a pitbull and a bra and panties too if u r a big old dyke like sarah (9/10)

Sarah wants war with Russia-shine them boots and get ready for deployment. (9/11)

Bush doctrine? What's that charlie? (9/12)

Pat Buchanan and other CONSERVATIVES just said that the US is in for a long period of economics decline. vote McPalin for more of the same :] (9/12)


I will be updating this as more posts flood in. I'll make this a link on the right side of my blog so you can read all about the race to the White House! I hope the phrase Race to the White House will get me some good Google results! SEO, it's not just for crazed web folks!!!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Labor Day and Swamp

The Labor Day party was the usual fun and I had hauled all this furniture out into the yard as well as the grill so we had the party away from the patio which worked out great. But I have no pictures. There were such great appetizers that the groaning buffet seemed excessive. But then we are Americans. Then I worked 2 days that week before the Swamp Fest.

The music was all excellent but I seem to only have taken three pictures of Eilen Jewell who was deeeelightful. I sold some CDs and hung around backstage some but also got out into the crowd. I bought a lovely bracelet and a fab jewelry box of oak.

I'm sorry I missed the Dirty Dozen Brass Band playing with Rod's Collision. But my knee was all puffed and painful and so I went home. Tomorrow I may seek medical attention as now my jaw, which has been too sore to open my mouth, is puffy as well. I have tried all the pain relievers and even got this Soma stuff from the dentist but nothing helps. I'm sorry to complain like this.

Plus work has been a bitch with all this Extreme Makeover: Home Edition stuff going on. And Erin is off Friday so I'll have to work a long day and I'll go in on Sunday to watch over the exciting conclusion of the EM:HE project.

Upcoming music:
Joe Moss (Nick's brother) at FFB Sept. 12
Lil Ed at FFB Sept. 20
Polka Floyd at Howard's Sept. 26
Soul Shine with Hubert Sumlin Sept. 27
Maurice John Vaughn at Hines Farm Sept. 27
JBD plus 2 at Grumpy Dave's Oct. 3
Todd Snider at Detroit Institute of the Arts Oct. 17
Rod's Collision at Alicia's Voice benefit Oct. 24
Eddie Shaw at Hines Farm Oct. 25
Eddie Shaw at the HiNote Dec. 19

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

further machine hate

Here are some Wheeling pictures:











So I decide I will blog but alas I also decide to install the weekly Microsoft "We're sorry we can never get it right" updates and now almost 45 minutes later, it is bedtime.