Hooray, Hooray, it's on it's way!!!

I am a poet and don't know it. Actually, I do write poems. Mushy ones for Dean usually. I have written a poem or 2 for my sister too.

Well, yesterday was my last day of work until the 3rd of January. We had a great office party and I got wonderful gifts from my bosses and co workers as I do every year. 2 shopping bags full of stuff to bring home! We also had great food. Party Kielbasa, macaroni salad, chicken, veggies and dip, buffalo chicken dip and chips. Yum-O. After we all ate, we all took turns and opened one gift at a time. I got a new Mikasa crystal Christmas candy dish, a camper ornament with our name on it, a lightup gingerbread house and the candles to go with it, body lotion, foot lotion, and a christmas candleholder that is reindeer that hold votive cups. Even the dogs got gifts!

The shopping is all finally done. Everything that was ordered has come in. Even the last item I was waiting for for my sister. "Santa" sent it earlier in the week and it arrived today. It is wrapped already too! I just have a couple of things to wrap for Dean and all is done.

Once he is done baking cookies, I can put the table cloth on the table and put out the Christmas dinnerware and stuff. Then the house will be done. So, tomorrow sometime, I will be definitely ready.

We have our bowling Christmas party tonight, so I have to dash now and get ready. But I wanted to give you the update or low down or the skinny-whatever lingo the kids are using. Who can keep up? Any way, I didn't want there to be a lapse in my blogging. Some people get so testy about that............

Gingerbread houses; Shopping update; The Countdown; Stormy Weather

At Dean's work, they wanted him to make a gingerbread house. He suggested a "village". Here are some shots of his creation.....


Front view of houses


Back view


Close up front view of one house


Close up of back

He tried to use gelatin sheets for windows, but his boss wouldn't let him use glue, just icing, so, the sheets curled up when they got wet and wouldn't work. I don't know why he wasn't allowed to use the glue gun. It's not like anyone is eating these houses. They are for display purposes only. And it would have looked so much better.... More candy and snow too!!!
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Well, Dave's gift came in and so did Diane's. The first one I ordered for Dave is still out there floating around somewhere. That leaves Tea's gift and getting Kenny's. Our office party is on the 21st-Friday-which is also my last day of work until next year! I don't go back until the 3rd of January, which is the day my sister goes home. I couldn't get the Mater chair for Jordan, so maybe it will come in in time for his birthday on Jan 5. Lesson learned this year? Buy the damn things you want when you see them! Don't wait cause they're gone when you try to get them. Like the original idea I had on what to get Dave. Waited and they were GONE! Not one to be found anywhere! So, I ha to go with plan B for him. Sorry Dave. Then we have cash we will give Dean's nephews in their cards. They are "22" and 13. The oldest, Ricky, is at Penn State Main. He went their his freshman year, which only a handful of kids get to do apparently. You have to be a pretty smart cookie to be accepted at "Main" your freshman year. And he is. His birthday is the day after Christmas. That's why the quotes around the 22. Then all I have to do is get ready for my sister to get here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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So, it's 8 days till Christmas and more importantly, it's 10 days till my sister gets here! God, I can't wait!! I am going to take lots of pictures while she's here. I'll be sure to share. We will be going to see my Uncle Jim while she's here too. All my cousins will be there. Jimmy will be in from California and Larry and Scott will be in from Stoneboro. Larry owns a bar up there, and when Scott lost is job at Federated Investors a few years back, He went up there to find work. He's been up there ever since. Jimmy and my sister are close in age, and my brother and Larry are pretty close in age, and Scott and I are about 18 mos. apart. (He's older than me) So, we all grew up "together" but we all havent been together at one time in a very long time so that will be great! My Uncle has a cottage in Sandy Lake, which isn't far from Stoneboro. Daddy used to take me up there when I was a kid. We had some fun. Nothing around but farms and cornfields. We would go to the lake and swim and fish (not at the same time)and My cousins' one friend, Flea, they called him, had a boat and we water skied too. I could go on and on about those memories....But... It's the Great Countdown, Charlie Brown!!!



I am too psyched!!!
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Don't why there's no sun up in the sky..Stormy Weather.....That's an old hit originally by Billie Holiday then by Lena Horn. That's what we have in Pittsburgh this weekend. Snow, sleet, rain, more rain then snow and thunder. Yep. Thunder while it's snowing. Very interesting. Oh, and lots of wind. I don't want to live in a snow globe any more..........Yes, I'm whining.

Christmas Shopping Update: Why Don't Men Understand?

Well, we are getting down to it. 12 shopping days left. Last night I went on a VERY succcessful fact finding tour to get Dean's "big" gift. So, I can get that tomorrow night since payday was today. Then he's done. We have Tyler's gift card, so he's done. I renewed Vinnie's Dirt Late Model suscription, he's done. Got Mark and Angela's gift card, they're done. Stll have to pick up Tea's gift, but that's no biggie and have to get Kenny's gift card and that's no biggie either. I am still waiting for Dave's and Diane's gifts to come in. Dave's? Well, that's a story. I ordered his gift on line. Gave the bill to info to match the credit card I was using, then put in the ship to. I like to have everything come to my office because the UPS, Fed EX, and mailmen all leave the items on the deck if I have them come here. If it rains, whatever I bought would get soaking wet till Dean or I got home from work. Well, when I put the shipping address in, I put my HOME zip code instead of the WORk zip code. So, I keep checking order status on line, but it hasn't arrived. The company I ordered from used UPS Mail Innovations, where UPS picks the item up from the company, then takes to to the post office and it is mailed to me. So, I guess it's wandering all over Pittsburgh, trying to find the correct post office to be delivered out of. Since I am running out of time to get the Arkansas gifts into UPS, I called the company last night and I must say the Customer Service person was not very Customer service oriented. He told me "you have the tracking number. Just track with UPS and the Post Office." Well, the tracking number listed for my package was not a UPS or USPS tracking number so they had no clue. I printed all the information out that I could possibly print and took it to work today. I called the company again. I got a very nice young lady who definitely was Customer Service, WAS service oriented and went into their system and changed the zip code on the package and sent a message to the post office of the correction! She also suggested ordering another one and have it sent next day service and if the other one arrived as well, I could refuse it, it would come back to them and they would then credit my account for the item. I said that that would work for me because I was all stressed out over this not getting here in time and better safe than sorry. Now, I must tell you that I put alot of pressure on myself to get everything done for the holidays. So, in the midst of this pressure, I didn't want to have to worry about Dave's gift getting here and then there in time. So, after talking to the CSR today, as per normal, the company sent an email to show the order was submitted, another to confirm my order, then another to tell me it shipped. Well, Dean opened the emails after work today, and when I got home he questioned me about the shipping cost on the re-order. This upset me very much. I tried to explain the problem to him and how the other one would be returned and the account would be credited but he couldn't understand the need for the overnight shipping charge and the need to order another item. I got upset and got choked up and couldn't even talk. I waved him off and he got upset about that. Why can't he just understand it was what I needed to do at the time to keep my fast going sanity and it was the best solution to the problem. I look at the shipping cost as a mistake that I made that I had to pay for. So, all's well that ends well and according to the status on the new order, it will be here tomorrow. Now I can breathe......We can wrap the Arkansas presents tomorrow night and I can send their box on Friday!!!
Now, back to my update. We still have to get the chair for Jordan. We have to get cards to put money in for Dean's nephews. Yes, I know they are my nephews too, but I was using that reference for clarity purposes. A couple of last minute odds and ends---stocking stuffers and the like and I am done!

Saturday morning ritual, Chores; Racers for Tots Party; Cell phone Ringtones

Yesterday, Dean and I did our usual breakfast gig. Then we stopped at the dollar store to Dink around a bit and see if they had some cheap Christmas cards for him to give to co workers. They did. And I picked up a couple of picture frames for some gifts I want to give. Then, it was off to Walmart to get the toy for the party. It's the ticket price at the door for the Racers for Tots Party. That or $10 p/p. More on that later. So, we decided (Dean decided) we were getting a bike again this year. Cool. Found a pretty cool one for $35. That's do-able. Then he grabbed a bag of Swedish Fish and we got Christmas cards for us to actually mail to family and friends.



Checked out, and backed home before 11 a.m.!! Excellent. We watched his gold mining show (Gold Fever) and then he was off to put up the outside lights and I worked on the Christmas Village Display. Got ready for the Party and was out the door at 3:05. Traffic was incredible! All these people on the road. You'd think Christmas was in 2 weeks or something! LOL. Anyway, On the way to the party, my phone starts singing Redneck Woman. It's Lisa. She and Tom were at the party and were saving our seats. She wanted to let me know they just got there and that not too many other people had arrived yet. The party started at 4 p.m. and it was only 20 till. Okay, we'll be there soon, we're in Bethel. (the Party was at South Fayette Firehall in Cuddy-which is just outside of Bridgeville) Phone sings Redneck Woman again. Lisa voice says" Bad News" (what?) "Staggy just told us the Gunslingers aren't coming cause Dave and Scott are sick" (Why would he tell you that?) "Cause Tom wore his Gunlsinger shirt" (Well, that's why. He's just yankin' your chain cause he wore a Gunslinger shirt to a Christmas Racing party) "Yeah, probably. See you in a few" (yepSo, Dean and I get to the party and needless to say, Lisa was right. Not too many party goers have arrived yet. We find them and try to settle in our seats. We do our gift exchange (it is Tom's birthday and mine is Monday) And I had gotten Lisa a racing shirt just between us girls. Tom got Big Ben's BBQ Sauce in a gift pack of a bottle of Mild and a bottle of Hot.They Gave me a multi layered multi scented jar candle and a Jeff Gordon ornament. Tom and Lisa (her middle name IS Marie)


My boss had given me a $100 check from our company for the cause. So, Dean and I set off to find Staggy (Jimmy Stiegerwald who is the founder of Racers For Tots) to present him the check. As we got back up from the table, I noticed that the DJ was set up on the riser that Randy usually set the drums up on. That's weird. Lisa said maybe he would move when the guys come in to set up. No, can't see him doing that. Maybe the guys AREN'T coming......We go find Staggy.Dean asked him about the Gunslingers and he confirmed what Lisa had said on the phone. Scott and Dave were both sick and were hoping it would pass, or they would feel well enough to play at the party, but by 1:30 when they called Staggy, they didn't feel any better. By this time,The buffet was ready and we all got some great food to eat.

More and more people came and the hall and the toy room was getting full! This is our table.

This looking up toward the bar. (which is under the icicle lights)

This is the pile of toys and there were even more before the night was over!!

!

And rows and rows of bikes


Some one even brought a carton of red saucer sleds. A whole carton! That's like 10 or 12 of those suckers! I do have to say, the racers don't buy junkie toys.

But no one was dancing.


The DJ was playing good music, oldies, but good. Needless to say, our group was really bummed about the Gunslingers not being able to play. I decided I was going to make the best of it. Some things you can't control and people getting sick is one of them. So, I'm boppin' around in my chair to the music. NO ONE is on the dance floor. We sit and talk and wish people that stop at our table Merry Christmas and talk to lots of people, but it's just not the RFT party without the band and the girls. So, we come up with the grand idea of getting my CD's out of the truck and asking the DJ if he will play a few of the tunes off of them. He said he could do that so I give him the 12 bands of Christmas CD that Froggy Radio, Kings Restaurant, and 12 local country singers/bands have put out to raise money for charity and my Gunslingers CD. If they can't be here, might as well get there songs played. So, he plays the Gunlsingers "Santa's Got a Semi" off of the 12 Bands Cd! Lisa and I hit the dance floor and sing the song word for word while we dance! A few more people start to dance, too. That's what we needed. A Gunslinger song to break the ice! It was a very appropriate song because it alludes to there being too many good little girls and boys,the sleigh won't hold all those toys, so he has to get some tractor trailers to make this year's deliveries. I post the lyrics at the bottom of this post Here's Lisa, Brenda and Christie dancing'.



Then of course, Staggy has to sing. Karaoke style, but none the less...... He is wearing a Elvis mask complete with the TCB famous sunglasses....... He doesn't really have helmet hair.



The Marines show up to load up those toys in them big ol' trucks ........One of the guys (a racer I don't know) sang Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA while these guys stood at attention on the dance floor.



Traditionally, Scott, the lead singer of the Gunslingers sings it, acapella, I might add and is fantastic. So, it was sung Karaoke style as well.

Two of the Marines in the toy room.



Then, I guess in the DJ's infinite wisdom, he decides we were a dance crowd and started playing "dance' music. Cha Cha slide, Doin' the Butt, Funky Cold Madina, other songs I didn't know, but others did and were dancing. I am not into hip hop at all. So, I'll sit those out, thank you. The pounding bass of those songs was getting to Dean and giving him a headache. So he started making "I wanna go" noises. I put him off for a bit, then we left. We were so looking forward to Gunslingers playing and hearing "good" music. Hip Hop ain't it for us.
On the way home, Dean spots this house...................Talk about Griswald-ie!!!!



If you look closely at the roof, the man is still up there doing these lights..........Santa will definitely be able to see this house

So, I mentioned that my cell phone pays Redneck Woman when Lisa calls me. It also plays a Gunslinger tune when Dean calls me, Reba's My Sister when Dar calls me, and He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother when Bill calls me. It plays Santa Baby when it's an unknown caller (just for the holidays) some people it plays All My Friends Say, and others it plays Find Out Who Your Friends Are. Dean says I have too much time on my hands..............So, here's the Lyrics. It is a very fast, country rock song.

Santa's Got a Semi

Santa called a meetin’ of the North Pole Elves. Said listen here, this year, we need a little help. There’s been so many good little girls and boys, the sleigh won’t hold all those toys. So heat up your hot chocolate Thermos mugs, there’s a Christmas toy convoy revvin’ up.

(Chorus)
Santa’s got a Semi flyin’ down the road. Southbound, North Pole overload. Got a wreath on the grill; Star on the hood. He’s checkin’ off his list, so you better be good. He’s got a speaker on the top playin’ Jingle Bells, red snow flaps underneath 2 wheels. Tell me, have you ever seen steel and chrome fly? Beep, beep and bye-bye. Santa’s got a semi.

Santa called up the state patrol; said if you see ‘em comin’ boys, let ‘em go. We got a long night ahead and a big job to do. They said 10-4, Santa, you can roll on through. But be real careful. Don’t forget to buckle up. There’s a whole lotta love in them big ol’ trucks.

Repeat Chorus

So, if you see a big truck with a star on the hood, better think twice, yeah, you better be good.

Repeat Chorus

HO HO HO

Beep, beep and bye-bye. Santa’s got a semi. Beep, beep and bye-bye. Santa’s got a semi.

Christmas shopping update; The funniest Christmas Decoration I've ever seen; A Christmas card that made me cry

Well, I have checked into two of the items I want to get for Dean. I think I am good to go there. Just need time to sneak away for a few minutes or be late from work one night or something. My boss, Diane, is a big Gone With the Wind fan. In fact, her daughter, who is one of my co workers in a loose sense of the term, is named Tara for Scarlett's beloved house. I started dinking around on ebay and found a great item out of the over 2,000 they have listed for GWTW memorabilia. So, I placed my bid and we will see what happens..........

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I saw the funniest Christmas decoration I have ever seen in my life this morning. I was almost to work and noticed this house right down from Cool Springs Driving Range/Mini Golf/Batting cages/SnoZone complex with some of those C-7 multi colored lights outlining the roof perimeter. And then I see this Santa kind of up in the air. Well, It seems his hand is tangled in the cord of the C-7 lights and he is supposed to look like he's fallen of the roof and gotten himself all wrapped up in the lights. It is hysterical!!!!

And just in case you can't see how much snow ther really is................

This is a couple of shots of the view out of my office window..................

The day it snowed (Wednesday)

And today. Welcome to winter! Yuck.

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Today, Dean and I got a Christmas card from my sister. It is a wonderful feeling that someone (other than your spouse) thinks that you are a special person. My sister, as do I and I am sure many others, write personal messages inside cards. So, when I get to the part about she can't wait to see us, I just lost it. While I am at the kitchen counter opening the mail, Dean is starting to cook dinner, so I am reading the cards aloud to him. So in the middle of reading this card's personal message from my sister, I just broke down. Then, to boot, she sends a card that is just for me. Needless to say, that I can't even READ this one to Dean because by now I am sobbing so badly, I can't even talk. Part of her handwritten message read: Thanks for being there when I needed you most. That isn't entirely true. She needed me the week after. And the week after that and the week after that and the week after that. She needed me when she had gotten home from that surgery she had. It kills me that I couldn't be there then.

My sister and I have had an extraordinary bond ever since I can remember. Since she's a few years older than me, I was still in diapers when she took me to a school dance. I can't remember if it was jr or high school. She took me on dates and sometimes, actually alot of times, it was her and I. Swimming at Piney Forks Pool where we both got sun poisoning cause we fell asleep on our towels after dowsing ourselves with baby oil. What were we thinking? As fair as we are?.........She took me roller skating and to drive in movies, and to South Park. She was and still is the best sister there is.

It finally came; 4 inches of snow; Getting older

Well, if you read my post from a little while back, you know that I have a Dell computer at work and that it crashed on me BIG time. Dave couldn't fix it. (at least not over the phone and considering he's in Arkansas...)I called Dell and they were supposed to send out a disc for me to reload Windows XP. Well, There was a mix up with the "company" that it was shipped to even though it had my personal name and work address on it. Clark County School District was the "company" it was sent to, so DHL wouldn't deliver it to me. When the disc didn't arrive, I called Dell, they had given me the tracking number and I found out it was returned. Dell sent another one with correct company name on it, which I got the next day. So, the computer has been back up and running since Nov. 15th. So, what does DHL deliver today? A plain brown shipping envelope with the disc inside in a DHL corrected address clear, yellow and red poly bag!!! Yeesh! It only took 4 weeks + to correct that error. Glad I din't have to wait that long to be able to reload Windows!!!

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Today, the Burgh woke up to the first big snowfall of the year. It was coming down pretty good! By noon, we had 2.5 inches. By 3 we had 3.25 and probably 4 good inches by 4:30 or so and it was still snowing! I had my standing every other Wednesday nail appointment today and by the time I was done there, the snow had stopped. I thought they drove bad the other day. God, it was worse this morning. We live in Pittsburgh. Do the people forget how to drive in snow over the summer? No. That just never bothered to learn in the first place. All they have to do is respect the snow, use low gear downhill, and pump the breaks! Do they? NO! Since my birthday is in December, I had to learn how to drive in snow to get my license.......
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So, yes, my birthday is RIGHT around the corner. I will be older than I care to admit, look or feel. 47. But no one thinks I look my age. I certainly don't act my age. At least I don't think so. Dean and I have friend who is 6 years younger than me, but she looks older than me. I believe it's because she is a smoker and because she can party with the best of them. Me? Pittsburgher weekend was about it for me. Once a year. She parties like that probably twice a week during racing season and twice a month in the off season. And that's prolly being kind. I don't think I act my age. When my mom was my age, she seemed so old. Is that because I was only 14? Is it because all she did was work and sleep? I don't know. I just know that I don't ever want to be like THAT. Don't get me wrong. I know I'm no spring chicken. I feel aches and pains when I over exert myself. My back goes out of whack for sometimes what seems to be no apparent reason. My feet swell when I am on them too long. But all in all, I don't think I'm too bad for a broad my age!!!!

1/4" of snow........

WARNING!!!!




This what the snow looked like today when I went out to leave work. Ya know, here in the Burgh, that as soon as the snow flies, everyone has to drive 10 mph UNDER the speed limit! So needless to say, it was after 5 when I got home/ I am done work at 4:30, and I had to brush the snow off the windshield and let the truck warm up a few minutes, but damn, people, the roads aren't frozen. You don't slow down that much when they're wet from rain, do you? I don't want to wreck my truck any more than you want to wreck your vehicle, but people that break check for no reason should be shot! There should be a law! You cannot hit your breaks unless it's for a stop sign, red light, animal or person in the road. To hit your breaks when the weather is bad when there are people behind you just to see if the roads are icy is JUST PLAIN STUPID!!!!! This is what causes the accidents............ It was a 1/4" of snow and they all were driving like it was like this outside.................



It is supposed to get warm (er) again by the weekend. 50's I think I heard....................

Finally Done!!; Shopping update; Thanksgiving and Jordan pics

Well, after a week of demolition, shopping, painting, constructing, installing, hanging, and cleaning.........The bathroom's finally done!!!!


This was the old vanity-minus the sink and door. (I took more before pics, but the camera was obviously not cooperating.) Notice the ugly mirror and white walls, too.




New Paint, sink + vanity, mirror and towel ring. New light fixture on the ceiling too, but you can't see that.




Here's looking in the mirror at the opposite wall. New curtain for the window and


a new valance for the shower curtain. New towel bar too!

The problem is that the bathroom is soooooo pretty, now the rest of the house looks like crap. You know the scene in the Wizard of Oz after Dorothy gets knocked out by the window and in her dream she, Toto and the house land in Munchkin land and before she opens the door everything is in black and white, then she opens the door and reveals a marvelous, colorful land? Well my house and the hallway is the part before she opens the door and the bathroom is Munchkin land! We will have to paint the hall and living room and get new drapes between New Year's and spring. tha will be better....................
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An update on the Christmas shopping.......Ordered Dave's and Patty's gifts today. Should be here no later than early next week. So that leaves me with 2 gifts left to buy for Dean, 1 more for Jordan + some clothes, 3 office gifts, but I know two of them I am getting, just have to stop and get them one day after work. So really, it leaves 1 office gift, and it's for Diane, the big boss. I am really stumped on her this year. Then I have the gift cards to get for Tyler, Angela and Mark and renew Vince's subscription to Dirt Late Model Magazine.. The other kids get cards with money, so that's easy. Don't know what Dean wants to do for Sara yet.
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Well, since I haven't had time......Here's the Thanksgiving /Jordan pics.


Dean carves the turkey.







Everyone's ready to eat! From L to R: Jordan, Sara, Vince, Mark and Dean.


Jordan is a two handed eater! Fork in one hand; Spoon in the other!



Ouchie, Nani. I bumped my head!



If I can get these shoes on, I can go outside.........

Deer Camp; Lapse in Blogging; New Bathroom

It's the second week of deer camp and all the guys are here. We drink, play cards and shoot the bull but never shoot no deer. The only time we leave the camp is when we go for beer. The second week of deer camp is the greatest time of year!

Have you heard this song? It is a really funny song. But I think it sums up pretty well what REALLY goes on at deer camp. Grown men all together in a cabin, cottage, or camper and they don't have to watch their manners, they don't have to put the toilet seat down, they can do the Al Bundy position (hand down the front of the pants) while watching TV, get rip roarin' drunk, not make the bed every day, fart and burp without the wife making a disapproving scowl. They can act like the 8 year olds they are at heart, playing practical jokes on each other and just be plain asses and no one cares. They can let loose and just do just about anything short of getting injured or arrested and it's okay. It's their escape from reality. Away from the grind. Really. Where else can you take a shower with special hunting soap that takes away your own natural smell and then sprinkle deer urine on your shoe laces, use deodorant that doesn't smell like anything, put on your gear then go sit in a tree stand for hours and hours (yawn--oh sorry) and wait for a deer to mosey by so you can shoot it, gut it, drag it out of the woods, take it to a butcher or processor, then pay X number of $'s per pound for meat that you harvested your self?

My dad hunted for years. Never got a deer. Went to Uncle Jim's cottage every year. Came home with......Drinking stories! They were at the bar in Stoneboro (I think it's the bar my cousin now owns) and so and so said this or so and so did that. Funny stuff. I just can't remember any of the stories now. Dad went small game hunting too. Did he get anything? Rabbits, pheasants? Absolutely. And mom cooked them, too. Just never got no deer. Why? Cause.......
It's the second week of deer camp and all the guys are here. We drink, play cards and shoot the bull but never shoot no deer. The only time we leave the camp is when we go for beer. The second week of deer camp is the greatest time of year!
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So, yes, Dave. I know. I haven't blogged in a week. By the time I had time to blog, I was too tired to think. So I waited till now. See we've been really busy here at the Rump household. We've been make preparations for a VERY special visitor who will be coming next month. NO, not Santa! MY SISTER! Man I am getting excited. Then I think about all the stuff I still have to do and wonder if there's enough time. But, somehow, it will all get done. And it will be beautiful....
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The biggest thing is the remodeling of the bathroom. Painted the ceiling and walls. New linoleum on the floor-which meant lifting out the commode, and tearing out the vanity sink. We used the same commode, but got a new vanity and sink with new faucet, new towel bar, towel ring and TP holder. There will be a new light fixture and new medicine cabinet w/mirror. These two things are not up yet. Prolly do that tomorrow night and then that will give me the weekend to clean and put everything back in--towels, wall decorations, shower curtain. Hopefully, the camera was able to process the before pictures I took before it died. When all is done, I will take after pictures and post them all. So, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but we are getting ready for sister Darlene!!!!!

Salary Made Public?;Thanksgiving Eve; Thanksgiving Day Parade;

For some god unknown reason, the powers that be think that Joe Paterno's annual salary figure should be made public knowledge. Joe Paterno! He is the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team. Has been for, what, 43 years?

Paterno has posted a 363-121-3 mark in 41 seasons as head coach and ranks second in career wins among major college coaches and fourth all-time. His winning percentage of 74.8 is fifth-best among active Division I-A coaches (10 or more years) and he is second all-time in games coached (487) among major college coaches.
Paterno is the all-time leader among coaches in bowl appearances (33) and post-season triumphs (22). His overall post-season record of 22-10-1 gives him a winning percentage of 67.2, good for No. 4 among the bowl season's best of all-time. The Nittany Lions are 16-6 in New Year's bowl games under Paterno and 12-4 in contests that comprise the Bowl Championship Series. Since Paterno took over in 1966, Penn State has had 73 first-team All-Americans, with senior linebacker Paul Posluszny earning first-team honors in 2006 for the second consecutive season. Junior linebacker Dan Connor also received first-team accolades. Over the same span, the Lions have counted 15 Hall of Fame Scholar-Athletes, 26 first-team Academic All-Americans (35 overall) and 18 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners. Winner of the 2005 Butkus and 2005 and `06 Bednarik awards, Posluszny was selected the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American®-of-the-Year in Division I football, becoming the fifth Nittany Lion to twice be selected a first-team Academic All-American®.
Paterno's coaching portfolio includes two National Championships (1982, 1986); five undefeated, untied teams; 20 finishes in the Top Ten of the national rankings; five AFCA Coach-of-the-Year plaques, and more than 300 former players who have signed National Football League contracts, 31 of them first-round draft choices. A school-record four Lions were selected in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft.
His teams have registered seven undefeated regular-seasons and he has had 32 teams finish in the Top 25. Penn State has won the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy, emblematic of Eastern football supremacy, 22 times in Paterno's coaching run, including in 2005.

The man is 81 years old (come Dec. 21) and still coaching. He was made Assistant coach in 1957 and gained the head coaching position in 1964. So WHY does the public need to know his salary? Is it any of our business? The job he has is not that of a public official. He was not elected by the people of the city, county, state or country to do his job. He does not work for the citizens of this land. He works for Penn State University. No one has said that my salary or your salary needs to be made public. Are the professors' salaries at Penn State public knowledge? Then why his? It's no one's damn business!!!!

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Last night, Dean, Lisa and Tom, and I went to the Rythm House in Bridgeville to see the Fabulous Gunslingers play. They had an opening act-Brynn Marie- which, I think was booked by the bar and not a collaboration by the Gunslingers and Brynn Marie. She had an awesome voice. She did alot of Sugarland songs-quite well, too and Carrie Underwood's When He Cheats, and various other songs as well as some original material. Her band-sucked. They did a rendition (without her) of Neil Young's Helpless. Awful. They did Stevie Ray Vaughn's Pride and Joy and it was so bad, it took me till the middle of the 2nd verse to even know what the song was! The Gunslingers, of course were awesome and did some new cover songs ans well as some new original material. If you haven't checked out their MySpace, which you can get to by going to their website, http://www.fabulousgunslingers.com/, and heard their sound, you can get a good idea of what they sound like if you have ever heard Luke Bryant's song All My Friends Say. The first time I heard it on the radio, I thought the Gunslingers had gotten another song airplay!

We had dinner while the opening act performed. Dean and I both had Delmonico steak with roasted garlic red mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. Shrimp bisque was the soup or you could get salad. We both opted for the Bisque. Excellent for the price of $13.99. Tom and Lisa had a huge appetizer sampler and deep fried batter shrimp. They shared some appetizers with us since there was sooo much! Everything was Yum-O! We danced and visited with many friends during the evening. The place was packed! It amazes me that when I get out on the dance floor and start dancin' and wigglin' my badonkadonk, that young guys will jump in and start dancing with me. It's really neat that they don't see me as some old lady makin' a fool of herself on the dance floor and just as some lady that's out to have fun. Dean does not fast dance unless he's really drunk, and that ain't pretty. Can you say "no rythm" boys and girls? So, wehn the band was done, we said our goodbyes and holiday wishes to our friends in the band, their wives and girlfriends and got home at 3 a.m. Great night!

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We are eating early today because dean's brother Mark has to work tonight. So, last night, I told Dean I set the alarm for 8:30 so we could get the turkey in by 9:30 and he would be done at 2:30. We are planning on eating at 3:30. He said that wasn't early enough that the turkey wouldn't be done by then. So, I backed the alarm to 8 a.m. Doesn't he come in and wake me up at 20 to 8? We gotta get done. We have to take and drop his car off at Mike's shop cause the water pump is going. I get up, help him prep the bird, he stuffed one end, I stuffed the other, slather him in butter, tied him up and put him in the pan. Oh, the turkey, not Dean! But that's a thought! lol. I read the suggested cooking time on the package of the turkey to Dean. If we put him in now (it was a little after 8 at this point) he will be done at 1. Way too early! So, he said we would just put him in before we left. That ended up being a little after 9. So, back on schedule. After dropping the car at Mike's, we went and had breakfast at Mickey D's. Cinnamon Melts and coffee! Yum-O. Those cinnamon melts are to die for! I called my sister, who's call I had missed last night while we were out at the bar and must not have heard my phone over the noise. Her and I talked the whole time Dean and I were coming home! We haven't talked that long on the phone in I can't tell you how long! It was great! I can't wait till she gets here! 34 days!!!! So, I have cleaned all week and didn't get the china cupboard back together. I had run my crystal chutskies thought the dishwasher on the "gentle" cycle and needed to get them out and put them back out. While I am doing that, Dean put the Macy's parade on. He swithced to something else, and when I mentioned it, I got the parade at Disney World. NO-need the Macy's parade. Hello! So, it gets that back on and the usual is going on. Bands, Floats, Balloons. Dean gets ready and leaves to go get Jordan and Sara. Attention back to the parade --Then----JORDIN SPARKS!!!!!! The Amercan Idol winner of this year!!!! She was awesome! And a little while later- the grand finale! SANTA!!!!!! He was a very good Santa. Holding his belly while he laughed -HO HO HO!!! Smiling, eyes twinkling, playing to the crowd! Great Santa and wonderful Santa suit. I actually got teary eyed watching him because he was so good that it brought alot of memories of my childhood back which in turn make me think of mom and dad who aren't with me anymore. But, at least I have all those great memories and now am creating new ones with Dean, and Jordan. Memories are priceless but they are stuck in my mind! I wish may parents had taken more pictures when I was growing up......................

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steeler Day; Football Pool; Chores

GO STEELERS!!!

It's Steeler Sunday again! We play the Jets IN New York. Now the Jets haven't been so good this year. So, hopefully the Steelers don't take this game as a gimme and think they can just go in an walk all over the Jets, because when they get that attitude, things go wrong. We'll see.............

We have a weekly football pool at work. Everyone gets a paper with the week's matchups on it and you have to circle your picks. Then as a tie breaker, you have to write down how many total points will be scored in the Steeler game. Then you put your name on it and pay $5. Greg, our shipper/receiver at work keeps the money and pays the winner on Tuesday. (He's off on Mondays and we usually need to see who won on Monday nite anyway) The person or people who have picked the most correct winners, win the pot. It usually is about $60. Here's mine for this week:

WISH ME LUCK!!!!

Well, we have lots of chores du jour today. Dean has gone to the store to get supplies, and I have to seperate laundry and get that started, and we have to do some cleaning. We are having Sara and Jordan, his brothers Mark and Vince over for Thanksgiving dinner, so I want the house to be all shiny and pretty. So, I better get moving before he gets back from the store.

If you don't hear from me before..........

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, you turkeys!!!!!!!!!!!

More of "Oh, crap", but first.......

Have you seen this? It is great. All the major players and coaches from the start of the team through present day. Really nice.

Speaking of the Steelers, 2 weeks ago, they kicked serious Baltimore Butt! Last week, they struggled and with a little persistants and luck, Cut Cleveland off at the knees. Dean and I went to the club to meet Tom and Lisa (shown below with Dave P. on the left) and had drinks, watched the game in HD on the huge Plasma TV. It was awesome. Lots of cheers on ohs. It remided me of the times when my brother worked at Steak and Ale on 51 (Toys R Us is there now) and we go there to watch the plyoff and Superbowl Games back in the 70's and early 80's.

Anyway, things were going pretty smoothely at work with the computer today, or so I thought. It seems it is not exactly like it was before it crashed. And I find out that I haven't had a valid back up since 02/06! How much does that suck? Hopefully the guys at InSinc will be able to extract the info off of my hard drive and I will be able to have all my info again. But, I don't know why the back up changed. I used to be able to open Sonic, click on Parker Plastics, then click add and click the big red button and it backed up. I never changed how I did it from day one of getting a computer at work (that's another story). But, obviously, something changed in Feb. of 06 and I never knew it. When I make this discovery, guess who I call. Yep. Dave. I had to leave him voice mail, cause he was moving shelving or something at work. One of his many hats he wears at work, I s'pose. Anyway, he call me back and I tell him what i discovered and stuff and I get "oh, Crap" again. The more I tell him, the worse it gets and I even got a "Holy Crap" at one point. Holy crap, I think, is worse than Oh crap. But with what I tell him I have found and what it's doing as far as where it's storing my backup, which is on the hard drive and not on the disc I put in, he tells me how to get from the hard drive to back up on the disc. I am thinking" no wonder my hard drive went!" I was able to do today's work, finish the rest of the other work that was piling up on my desk from last Thursday till now waiting for the computer to be funtional again, got all my filing done, and my desk looks back to normal again! Thank God! But while I was going through some stuff in the one drawer of my desk, I found the Windows XP disc that came with the computer! I wouldn't have had to wait for a disc from Dell at all if I had known I had that! For some reason, it wasn't with all the other computer stuff I had--all the other discs and the printed manuals and such. Hmmmmmmmmm. Well, now we know if that ever happens again! Holy Crap!

WoooooooHoooooooo!; Yea!; BB; Gloom, Despair and Agony on me

Well, today I was finally able to load the contents of my back up into my computer and get it functional. The thing is that I lost all my Word documents. I am hoping that when the InSinc people extract the info from my old drive that that will all come back. Will it, Dave? Dave. I don't call him the Guru for nothing. He is all knowing. Anyhoo, I was able to enter the back log of manually typed orders that I had for this past week. I made a big dent in my pile already today and tomorrow will be even better! I just have dig further to see what info I have actually lost, if any. My custom layouts for my Invoices and Packing Slips were still there, but I had to redo the company logo, name and address so it would print on those forms as well. don't know why it lost that..........But, Wooohooooooo I am back folks!
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Oh, while we are on woohooing things........No bout of Road Rage today!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yea! :-)
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It doesn't suck to be me today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It sucks to be this guy.......





Well, Barry Bonds was indicted for his involvement with Steroids, aka performance enhancing drugs. Now, the Giants don't want him back next year. He has been using Steroids since Lord knows when. He first tested positive in 2001. 2001! That's over 6 years ago! So, why indict him now. Why should the Giants get rid of him now? Oh, because now it's not acceptable to do steroids? I have never liked Barry Bonds. Even when he played for the 'Burgh's Pirates, I didn't like him because he never said anything nice or positive about our city or team. It was a paycheck and a stepping stone for him I think because he always wanted to play for the Giants. Because that's who his dad played for. But, just because I don't like him, I still don't believe that the powers that be should make him the poster child for steroid use in baseball. There are so many others that you don't even hear about.............It just seemed that on tonight's news, they were acting like it's the first time it ever happened. Like who hasn't known Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire weren't doing 'roids? PA-----leeeeez!

Oh, by the way? The Washington Wildthings --that's the AAA ball team here that plays at Falconi Field in Washington, PA, has offered Bonds a contract. I think the pay is something like $1400 a month for the summer months that they train and play only, not for the whole year. Like I said, sucks to be this guy.
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Well, not gloom or despair but definitely agony. Yesterday and today I had to get up in the middle of the night (4 a.m.) to take Dean to work. They had big breakfast parties they were catering that had to be out by 6:30 or something and in order for him to get all he had to do done, he had to go in a half an hour early. Usually, he takes the bus into town, but the first bus(the one which he is always on in the mornings) doesn't come until 5:10. No good. So, he drives his car to leave it at the park and ride, I pick him up, drive him to work and come back home. I can go back to bed for two hours! This morning, I did just that, but when I went to get up outta bed, I was lying on my left side as per my usual, and tryed to push myself up into a sitting position with my left elbow. Follow me, here. Well, just as I get about a third of the way vertical, WHAM! pain in my shoulder blade! I manage to get through work by taking 800mg Motrin with my morning coffee and again right after lunch. It still hurts now but has crept up into my neck. When I was successful at the reloading of my backup on my computer today, I threw my arms up and hollered WooooooooHOOOOOOOOOO! then immediately said goddamit with about as much excruciating pain as I have felt in a very long time. Wooohooo was a big mistake. Huge! It's hell to get old. You never know when the ol' body is going to play tricks on ya. I guess I'll go see if I can get Dean to use the massager on it that Shan and Dave got us for Christmas a few years back. We really use the hell out of that thing. Then I'll get him to put Ben Gay on it. Love that stuff too..............

Stupid Woman Driver; Dude, I gotta Dell & Thank God for Dave; Columbia House

I'm too pissed off for my shirt, too pissed off for my shirt, too pissed off. Come on, now sing it with me (to the tune of I'm Too Sexy for my Shirt) I'm too pissed off for my shirt, too pissed of for my shirt, I'm too pissed off.

Okay, after work I went to the bank to deposit my pay check. I leave the bank and drive to the intersection by McDonald's to turn onto Lebanon Church Road. There are 3 lanes: one to turn left, the middle lane to go straight, and the right lane to do guess what? TURN RIGHT! There's a car in front of me that pulls up to the intersection (she's the first vehicle in line and I am right behind her) and she straddles the right and middle lanes! And she doesn't even pull all the way up like she should. She stops about 10 feet behind the wide white line where your SUPPOSED to stop. So, I blow the horn. She moves up about 3 feet. I blow again. And she moves up a good bit, but doesn't move to the appropriate lane. Now, I have to say that the painted lines that define these lanes have faded, but damn, common sense would tell you that you are blocking a lane when there is someone right on your ass blowing their horn with their right turn signal flashing! And you know the whole time I am in the truck yelling at her and telling her how stupid she is and all that. I wanted to get out of the truck, go up to the big fat black woman's window and say, PICK A LANE!!!! But I didn't. probably would have gotten shot or something. If she would have moved to the left while moving up, I could have gotten past her.Yeah, I was pretty pissed. It used to be the old gray haired men in the Cadillacs. Now it's fat black women in Lexuses. When will it stop? Will people ever learn how to drive? Can't they just use common sense, follow the rules, and drive a couple of miles an hour faster than me when they're in front of me? Is that too much to ask? Is it? I get road rage really badly. Oddly, the subject for tomorrow's morning show is who are better drivers, Men or Women? For me, that's a toss up because I've seen as many bad men drivers as I have seen women. Men complain about women puttin' on their make up while they drive. I've seen men shaving, reading maps, combing their hair, tying their tie, and reading the newspaper, and talking on their cell phone while smoking a cigarette and trying to shift. Driving is a multitasking duty in itself. Don't be doin' all that other stuff too. I talk on my cell phone while I drive, but to me, it's not any different than carrying on a conversation with some one who is actually in the vehicle with you. Dean? No. Doesn't do well talking on the phone and driving at the same time. Hell, he makes me nervous just driving!
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Warning: Semi-techie stuff ahead.......Now, if you read previous posts, you know about my computer woes at work. Well, I finally got the disc they said I needed yesterday. I put it in the drive and call Dave. Not . Dave. My nephew. Yeah, he's the one. He tells me what to type and we go back and forth with me telling him what the screen is saying and him telling me what to do. Then it gets to a point where it is going through stuff and Dave says call me back when it gets to 100% or the C prompt or something. Well, 2 hours later, it has gotten to 50% and says corrupt something or other unrecoverable blah blah. I call Dave back. He says "Oh crap!" No, no , no. Not oh crap. I don't want oh crap. I want okay do this and that and it will be all better. No. I get oh crap. Daves' diagnosis is the hard drive is probably fried, at least partly. I get off the phone with him and the dude from Dell calls me and asks me what is happening. I tell him what we (Dave and I) did, but I didn't tell him who we was, and told him what the result was and he said "oh, crap". Is this a tech support term for when things go totally awry? I am thinkin' it is. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. So dude from Dell says he will send a new hard drive to the tech in my area and have him come put it in for me since his oh crap diagnosis is the same as Dave's. But, that won't be till tomorrow till he gets the drive and once he receives the drive, the tech will call me to tell me his ETA to my office. Well, at 1:30 today, I call the dude at Dell and and leave a voice mail that I haven't heard from the tech can he find out status for me. At 2:00, the tech calls me and says he is about 20 minutes away. Turns out it was 10. So, he comes in, takes the side off the computer, takes out the hard drive puts the new one in, does a diagnostic to make sure the mother board can see the hard drive and oila'! he's done. No software reloaded, nothing. Blank. More blank than when I got the computer in the first place. You would think that the nasty lookin', bad comb over guy would have at least reloaded my software for me. No. Not his job. Call Dave. Dave tells me everything to do and it will take about 35 - 40 minutes for this to load. Bingo! 39 minutes. Man, he's good. So, when it's done, I call him back, he tells me what else to do, I do it and didn't have to call again today. He's probably glad of that. What a pain in the butt of an Aunt that don't know scutta (I would say crap, but that's a technical term used by the pros) about computers. So, we keep the old drive as per Dave's suggestion and it turns out there's a computer place called InSinc up the road from us and Kenny called them to see if they could extract the info from my drive and put it on disc for us to reload so as not to lose too much info. They are willing to try it and it will cost $60. If that doesn't work, then there is the option of removing the disc from inside the drive and getting the info off of it, but that will be to the tune of $1,000. I think that's not happenin' unless I can get it to Dave and back before 10 days is up. Not likely. And Dell is upposed to send the disc for the backup program I use so that I can put in the back up and get the info off of it. Keeps your fingers, legs, toes, and eyes crossed that something in this fiasco goes smoothely.....
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In the mail today there is a box with a DVD in it from Columbia House. Dean and I are members that have fulfilled all obligatory purchases, but have kept our membership in the event something comes out we actully want. So, every month, we get a catalog and an order card to accept or decline that month's Director's Selection. I usually always decline it. I do it online and keep the confimation email from them until I get the next month's. So, the DVD today was Transformers-the movie. That was 2 month's ago that I declined that one! So, it will be sent back tomorrow with a nasty note on the carton. I did choose to accept (now this is a while ago) the Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith. Never got that one. Got billed for it. But, never got it. That bill went back with a nasty note on it too. But they never sent the movie. I wonder if they know what they're doing sometimes...............
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So, that's been my life today. Sucks to be me.............

WooooHooooo!/Nani (rhymes with Donny)

This is one of the things I wanted to get Jordan for Christmas. Simple, right? A tricycle. your basic steel and chrome with rubbery hand grips and real rubber wheels. I found it online at KB toys and thought they would have in the store at the mall. Wrong. Toys R Us doesn't have one either. They have a retro Radio Flyer brand that just didn't appeal to me as far as the style. I wanted one as close in style as I could get as the one I had when I was little. It was the Cadillac, no, LEXUS of tricycles. So, we did get alot of things at Toys R US and other than some clothes, there is one more thing I want for him. It's the Mater chair. Ya know Mater. From Cars. The chair says like 6 or so Mater sayings when you sit in it. Really Cool. So, we got him Tuff Rumblin Dump Truck and the Frontloader-tough plastic by Fisher Price, but are about the size of the big Tonka dump truck. Sesame Street Tub windups-Ernie's speedboat and Elmo's submarine, A radio controlled truck, and Racin' Ramps Garage(my nephews had the original version of this when they were little)--All made by Fisher Price and age appropriate! I am such a good shoppin' Nani! (Rhymes with Donnie-it's what Jordan calls me). So, I go online when we get home to see if anyone has this tricycle in the store. NOPE. Online only. KB had it listed when I found it the first time for $29.99 and free shipping. Well, everyone must of jumped on that, cause I couldn't find it today! Not even a disclaimer that said they were out of stock or anything. So, I resort to a web search and find it for $33 + 7.95 shipping at Baby Bungalow.com. So, I talked to Dean and he said if it made me happy, get it. So, it should be on it's way. WooooooooHooooo! So, I guess this was a Christmas shopping update as well.
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Well, you might wonder why DOES Jordan call me Nani? It's actually the name I picked for him to call me when he was born. I didn't want to be Gram, MiMi, Mam ma, mawmaw, granny, grandma or anything like that. Bob had an Aunt from Hawaii whose name was Nani. She was married to his Uncle Chuck-Frank's(Bob's dad) brother. I loved that woman! She was such a great lady! And I liked her name as much as I liked her, so that's how I picked that. Her and Uncle Chuck and their 3 kids lived in California. The one son was actually Mr. Hawaii or something like that at one time and Aunt Nani was a descendant of King Kamayamaya (sp?). Just in case you were wondering................