Now, Here's MY Sign!!!

Anyone that knows me knows that I have always said "I hate kids." Not kids I know, usually. I love Tyler and Emily. I adore Jordon. I love my co-workers' kids: Caitlin, Roody. Julie, and now Marissa. It's other peoples' kids that I hate. You know the ones. You are in a restaurant and the child at the next table, or in the booth behind you is just a terror! Crying, whining, acting up, won't sit still, kicking the seat and their booth is attached to yours. The ones in the grocery store that are stuck in the damn cart and just want to hold something in the cart or they want a certain cereal or candy and they are doing everything in their power to make their parents give it to them. I am the one at the other table making the hostess seat us somewhere else in the restaurant cause I certainly DO NOT want to listen to that kid all the way through dinner. I am the one in the next aisle at the grocery store yelling up over the shelving unit to the aisle the kid is in screaming it's full head off for the parent (s) to give that damn kid what it wants so it will shut up. There is no excuse for children to act that way in public. Nick didn't do it. Sara didn't do it (according to Dean. I wasn' t there for her childhood). Jordon certainly doesn't do it. Do these children act like this at home? They must be allowed to. That's why they don't know how to act properly when they go out. So, I heard on he radio this morning that a restaurant in the Chicago area has displayed a sign stating that any parent who has a child tht does not behave appropriately and use their inside voice while in the restaurant will be asked to leave the establishment as to not to disturb the other patrons. Now, that's my kind of sign! (Wish I knew the name of that restaurant and the exact verbage of the sign)
Some of the parents in the Chicago area have said that they will never patronize that restaurant again because they feel that the management of the establishment is trying to tell them how to raise their kids! If your kids are that bad, maybe someone should tell you!!!
Well, almost time for "Idol". Gotta go.

Sandy and Danny updated......DEAL

Well, I had the Laura part right. But Max Crumm-y? America is crazy. I think they went for the sob story. Not that is wasn't true......Just America is so soft hearted. And that's not a bad thing. That's why shows like Extreme Home Makeover are a hit. It hits America in the heart. So, I think the Bell Palsy deal and telling that story was what got America's vote. Austin would have been so much better......

The lady on Deal or No Deal was tooooooooooooooo perky. I like my caffeine, but she is way too jumpy. Me? I would have taken the second offer of the 82K. I never win anything, so I know that would have been it for me. She ended up with $500. Poor Schmuckette. It was cool that the covered the cases like checkered flags, though. But if they did that for me, I would have called my numbers by the name of the driver associated with each number and really make is a NASCAR themed show! My case I would pick to be mine? Jeff Gordon (24), of course!Then I think I would go with drivers I don't like: Greg Biffle, Kyle Bush, Kurt Bush, Sterling Marlin, Matt Kenseth, Casey Mears Robby Gordon. Then I would do drivers that I do like, cause there are way more of them; Kenny Schrader, Mark Martin, Dale, Jr., Tony stewart, etc. till all the cases were gone and I knew I had the mil, or the banker made such an offer I'd have to take it. Maybe they could get Jeffie on the video phone to help me play..................Oh, the dreamer I am...................

Sandy and Danny.......

Well, honestly, I have not followed the Grease: You're the One That I Want competition as closely as I have followed the Idol competition. But a few weeks back, I said that Laura was going to be Sandy and was up in the air about the Danny. But, today, on BRAVO, they had a marathon, so I got to see alot of the competition that I have missed! Very cool! So, it has brought me up to speed for tonight's finals. Austin, who had to be saved at least once, is awesome, I think. He's got a twinkle in his eye and a little devil in his smile that just shines above the rest. And he kinda reminds me of the guy who played the lead in GREASE 2. You know the guy. He was a cop on TJ Hooker.....dark hair, good lookin'......wait, let me do a search....I find out his name. Okay, I'm back. Adrien Zmed was his name. He even appeared on one of the shows earlier on. Anyway, Austin reminds me of him.I think it's the shape of his face. Not that I liked Grease 2, though. Laura has also made it to the finals. Blonde or or not, I think Ashlee is lacking something. And the last show today, which would have been last week's show, was awesome. I think Austin and Laura made a better duet or couple if you will. I do think Derek had the look and a good voice, though, he was voted off. Max also made the finals, but he and Ashlee didn't seem comfortable together. But he didn't seem comfortable with Laura either. My votes: Laura and Austin. Definitley. Bleach her hair, dye his and oila'! and the girl has had to postpone her wedding for this!!! Man!

I want a bumper sticker..........

What is up with guys that own trucks that have to get those rubber looking scrotums and hang them on the rear bumper or undercarriage of the vehicle? It's not cute. It's not attractive. And it sure as hell doesn't make you more of a man! The amount of testosterone in your body, is all you have. Adding a set will not increase it. The truck's "balls" are where they should be if you have a bad ass truck with some horse power--in the engine, under the hood--hidden. And that's where all balls should be--hidden. The real life ones are not attractive to look at, so why put fake ones dangling from the back of your truck? There is a reason that nature has put yours where they are. Are you that insecure about your manhood because the ones you were born with are now kept in your wife's purse? Well buddy, Like I said, the fake ones aren't going to make you more of man. They just make women like me laugh at you. I want a bumper sticker that says "Both sets of your balls belong in your wife's purse!" My truck has balls. I don't have to advertise it with some fake ones!! Aaaaarrrrrgh!

As Trump says......"You're Fired!"

So, to continue the not wanting to come to work thing and leaving early on a whim saga, I come to find out that the 1st shift foreman is really unhappy with one of the Parker people's performance of late, but really likes the guy and doesn't know what to do, but something has to be done. This man is African American, has as many teeth as most West Virginians, is 50 some years old, has a biatch of a wife that we believe she, at least, if not him too, does crack, and this man has the mentality of a 12 year old. He plays Yu Gi Oh, and collects comic books. Not the ones worth money, NEW ones. He falls asleep at his machine, calls off at least 3 days a month, and lately hasn't followed instructions and has been making bad parts.
Anyway, the foreman wants to know what we should do with this man. He's moved him to different machines (Different machines make different parts-some jobs easier than others) had him do secondary ops, sweep the floor, we are just out of things we can do with him since his work has gotten so poor.
So, yesterday, he tells his foreman that he has to leave at 1:00 so he can go to the post office because he got a notice from them that his comic books have come in.
Now, if that's what you are leaving for, you don't say it!!! You say you have a dr's appointment or your kid does or grandkid does or something. Your wife. Your wife has a dr's appointment and she can't drive herself because they're going to put those pupil dilating drops in her eyes..Yeah that's it. Besides, the post office is open until 5:00. You are done work at 3:30. That leaves an hour and a half to get to the post office and pick up the parcel of comic books after work. The thing I am not sure about is this: did he get the notice in the mail the day before, or did his wife call him at work (on the lunchroom pay phone) and tell him the notice was in that day's mail? Or was that the real reason for the early dismissal at all? He said he wanted to leave that early because he didn't want anyone to steal them. Who is going to steal them? It's the post office! Besides, if they were going to be stolen by some comic book thief postal worker, it would have been done as soon as they came in and they would have not mailed the notice to him!! So, he was written up for leaving work for non crucial matters. Then, at the end of the day, all of his previous written warnings were pulled from his personnel file along with the new one, and he was told that his services were no longer needed at PPC. Sad, but true..........

Whaaat?

Okay, if you have been reading my blog since I started posting, you may recall that my very first soapbox issue was about people that call off of work.
So. We have a temp that left early on Tuesday saying he had intestinal distress to put it nicely. Then, on Wednesday didn't show up for work, but had called the lunch room phone and called off to one of the Parker people. Okay, they are supposed to call the temp agency to call off, not us. Secondly, call offs are never ever supposed to be made to someone on the lunchroom phone, which by the way, is a pay phone.
THEN, the owner of the temp agency calls me mid morning and wants to make sure the the foreman knew this person was not going to be at work today because he was going to be moving and had to be at the new place so the light company could enstate his service.My words, not theirs.(this person probably said "I have to be at my new crib so that my lights can be cut on") Ghetto-ese, I guess. It turned out that the person did not tell the foreman in advance about being absent on Wednesday. In addition, MY boss said that if this person called off one more time, they would be let go. So, I called the temp agency back and told them this info. Apparently she told this to the temp because........
She called today and said that this person was quitting because Parker Plastics had "attendance issues". What does that mean? Attendance issues? Yeah, you need to ATTEND work so that parts are produced, those parts shipped out, customers get billed for those parts, then the invoices get paid, and then you get your paycheck. That's how the real world works where I come from! I can't figure people out today. They call off more than they come to work, yet, somehow, it's the employer that's wrong??!! How is that? If you don't go to work, you get fired! Period end. The work week is 5 days a week, 37.5 hours a week (they don't get paid for lunches) 51 weeks a year! ( we shut down at Christmas) If they have vacation time, it would be less than 51 weeks, I suppose.I am all for the 10 hour a day 4 day work week with 3 day weekends. But, that's just not a reality for me, and I can't call off. I have bills to pay, food to buy, gas to buy (which is becoming harder and harder to do again)and bowling and racing to pay for. I like to be able to buy things for Jordan and my family.If I call off, it's a big hit in my paycheck, because of what I make hourly. I wanted to call off today. I really did and I NEVER call off. But I felt sick all night long, and had a really hard time getting out of bed this morning. But I did it. Ya know, I get 7 paid holidays and 3 weeks vacation a year. My job isn't a difficult one. The hardest part now that I have a computer, it answering the phone and it's my boss' mom. She's a lonely (by choice) old lady with nothing better to do than to call the office 18 times a day (slight exaggeration there) Sometimes it's hectic, but most of the time, I get my orders done, the cash disbursed, the cash received, and the invoicing done, then I sit and play free cell, or find things to do on my cell phone, or work on my own bills or something. I really just have to be there to answer the phones and field the calls. Alot of times, the office bunch sits around bs-ing. All in all, it takes me about 4 hours a day (sometimes less) to do my actual work. So call off? No way. People that do, just make me go EEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!Attendance issues. Hmmmmmmmmm.These people need to come back to planet Earth as Judge Marilyn Milian on People's Court tells the stupid people! Love that woman!!!

Is there a fairy?, Hello, Sun!, Work, Nosmo King

As promised, pics from Jordan's weekend with us.........

He played and played. With all his toys. But, if he knew I was taking his picture, he came right up to me. Thus the extreme close up! _____________________________________
Is there some sort of fairy or elf that puts a sign on the front of my truck that says " Pull Out in Front of Me; I Won't Hit You!"? How about the one that says "Cut Into My Lane. I Have Great Brakes!"? It's gotta be somethin' 'cause Friday and today people have been really testing my road rage limit. Friday on my way to work, someone pulled onto Lebanon Church Rd. from 885 N., cut across in front of me and made a 3 lane manouver to get into the left turn lane a half a block from where she came on! Freakin' INCREDIBLE! As she skated across in front of me, I had about 2 1/2 feet before I hit her, but still, it kills the momentum, and then I got the red light. But then, so did she. So as I passed her she got the evil stare, when I stopped, I actually (yes, I did) opened the door and stared back at her, then more evil stare as she passed me to make her turn as her turn light changed before mine! God! Some people's kids!
Then today, again on my way to work, some one decides that thay want to change lanes because the cars ahead are making a left hand turn, and will have to stop. There is maybe a car length and a 1/3 between me and the car ahead of me, but it doesn't stop this woman! Errnt.slides right in front of me! What ever happened to safe following distances? They don't exist any more, or people don't believe in them any more or somethin' cause if you leave a little more than a car length between you and the guy in front of you, some one's gonna put their car in there! Wonder if it's just women in Mini Vans? Both were women and both were driving mini vans. (No offense, Shan).
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The sun was back in the Burgh today! Hooray, Hooray! I hope it's the last of the snow and spring will spring! It was only 50 degrees today, but as long as the sun is out, I am okay with that!
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So, today at work, Wynn, my boss' son, used her Mercedes SUV something or other to run some office errands. Upon his return, he asks his mom what songs she has on the cd that was playing. Turns out, he was curious about Gadys Knight's version of Midnight Train to Georgia and starts really making fun of it and singing it badly. He said that's what it sounds like! The CD happens to be one that he got his mom for Christmas and it's titles Billboard's #1's of the 70's. Now his mom and I were both teenagers i n the 70's. He went down to the car, got the CD, and we played in the computer so he could prove that he wasn't making up how awful the song sounded! It sounded better than I remember it thanks to the digital remastering and it being on CD! So, he scrolled through the other songs on it, and I like 99% of them, so Kenny (my other boss) copied them and burned them onto a CD for me! Wynn couldn't believe it! We were in Kenny's office and singing and groovin'....it was pretty cool for work!
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Yes, you read the title correctly. Nosmo King. He was on Paul Shannon's Adventure Time. (played by Paul Shannon as an alter ego) Paul came up with the name when he read a No Smoking sign somewhere. I think he thought that it would sublimally get through to the kiddos' brains and they would not smoke. Just my theory there. Anyway, Allegheny County, which does encompass the City of Pittsburgh and many other townships and municipalities, has a no smoking law. For now, restaurants and bars are excluded, but all other public building are subject to a smoking ban. When the Pirates start the season at PNC park this April, the fans will not be allowed to smoke ANY where in the facility. Not the clubs or anything. No designated smoking areas. The even had a place called the Monte Crist, which was a brandy and cigar bar complete with humodors, but will now be turned in the the 21 Club, a sports bar with a Roberto Clemente theme, thus the number. There has been no smoking in the arean for years now, so that will remain the same, but there will be no designated smoking areas out on the mezzanine as in the past. And no, you are not allowed to leave the building and come back in. As a non smoker with allergies whose parents and brother smoked, I am glad for the ban.

Hi-tech scrapbooking, Jordan, commercials and Penguins

Well, I know I have not posted in a while (Thanks, Dave, like I didn't know it had been a while since my last update)but, my new found hobby really takes up alot of time. It's called photo story, a nifty program I downloaded (Again, thanks to Dave) that allows me to do my version of scrap booking. High Tech scrap booking, I call it. You open the program, import your own photos (or ones you beg borrow or steal from the internet) add comments and subtitles, and music (Thanks one more time, Dave, for telling me how to get songs from the internet) and it puts it all together in a mini slide show. the cool thing about is that you can pick and choose certain things in each photo for it to focus on and pan to and from, and even the way it changes from one photo to the next. And I don't know if because I am such a novice to this process or I just keep working and working it trying to improve it or what, but it is time consuming! and it's fun! So the time goes by and you don't realize how long you've actually been working on it. So, I did an 8 minute long photo story of the Daytona 500 party. I "borrowed" pictures of the race from Nascar.com, used the pictures I took at the party, and to enhance the length so I could get the songs to end where I wanted, I scanned in some photos from a nascar calendar I have that had alot of Daytona photos in it. I am very happy with the final version, which I will email to my nephew after this posting, since he liked the last version I sent him. But, Dean's cousin's cousin got his rig stuck in a ditch, and then I heard "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" by Tracy Lawrence, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney, and the first verse fit so perfectly, that I changed it. No more changes to that one though. I'm done! Like I said in the previous post, Dean thinks he's lost me to the computer!
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Dean and I had Jordan this weekend. He is such a good boy.He ate really well for me, and played and played with all his toys he has here. I will post some pics after I get them downloaded. We went to Babies R us and got him a new coat and his Easter outfit. I'd like to take him to see the Easter Bunny when I have him again in two weeks. The Santa thing went well, so let's see about the Easter Bunny. We also went to Sarris to get some Easter stuff and Dean wanted ice cream. (They have an old fashioned ice cream parlor right in the store!) And the whole day started out with us going to Waffle House for breakfast. Yum-O. Grits, baby. Love them! Jordan had his breakfast at home here before we left, but we let him have some of my over medium eggs, grits and some waffle. He liked it all! He really is such a good eater! Then Dean put some juice from his lemon for his tea on his finger for Jordan to taste. What a face he made! That was funny, right there.
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Have you seen the two commercials that were filmed in front of Pinks out in LA? The one is about a HD TV. The broker calls his guy and wants to know if they want tickets to something(Nicks game, I think) and the other guy says no and goes on and on about all the stuff he can watch in HD on TV.Especially the Nicks. Now, Pinks is a very famous hot dog stand. Celebs go there for supposedly the best dogs in California. So, why is there a guy waiting in line at Pinks that wants to watch the Nicks? Is he New Yorker living in LA, or do they want you to believe the commercial takes place in NY? Hmmmmmm. I can't recall the other commercial with Pinks in it though.
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Well, the Arena deal for the Penguins has finally been agreed upon by all parties involved. Mario and the Penguins co-owner (whose name escapes me) Dan Onorato of Allegheny County, Luke Ravenstahl, Pittsburgh Mayor, and of course Governor Rendell. So, they will tear down the old St. Francis Central Building and that will be the new site of the new arena. They will build that first, along with the traffic reconfiguration for that section of town, then I guess they will tear down the old arena. I hate to see it go. I have sooooo many memories in that building. My first rock concert, circuses, childrens's shows I took Nick to, Ice Capades, Harlem Globetrotters that I took my parents to see, numerous other concerst, WWF wrestling with Nick, Cyndi Lauper with my sister and my nephews, and the latest was the SouL II SouL tour of Faith HIll and Tim McGraw, not to mention the hockey games. And the Spirit! How many soccer games did we go to? Nick wasn't 3 years old and could name every single player. He even did the introduction of the players with the arena announcer ver batum. Now, the media has been all over this new arena deal thing. Mario even started looking at moving the team. What the media never told you was that the co-owner of the Penguins was the biggest contributor to the National Democratic Committee when Ed Rendell was the Chairman. So, they have a history. So, there was no way that this deal wouldn't be reached in my opinion. And the Birds have been flyin'! they have the best record they've had in a very long time! They are just playin' their little hearts out! A lot of shoot out wins! But, it makes it exciting, it's good for attendance and tv ratings, and it gives the city something else to get behind! Now, if we could get that from those Buccos...................

Are ya happy now, Dave?

Snow, snow, snow; Daytona; I've fallen and I can't get up!!!

We got a ton of snow the day of the Daytona 500 party. Some of us walked around in the snow, some rode their quad. But we had a great time!
The race finish was incredible! Harvick won over Mark Martin (the sentimental favorite) by a fender! I even was out in the snow a bit! There was a bon fire, so I could go up to it and get warm. I

am suprised that we did not end up having a snow ball fight! The fire was huge and burned for a very long time. The snow came so hard sometimes that you couldn't see! White out! not the kind that corrects mistakes, either! Speaking
of mistakes, Jim got his rig stuck in a ditch trying to make a wide turn in to the driveway! A neighbor with a jeep that was towing a trailer that contained a John Deere tractor pulled the big rig out! Now, Look very closely at the picture of the rig stuck in the ditch. See on the left? (click on the picture to enlarge it, and you can really see) That's our truck in the driveway. Dean brought me down to


the road to take picture of a stuck truck. As I went around the back of our truck to get back in, I get beside the bed and WHAM! my feet fly from under me and I take a hard landing on my butt-tocks! I band on the truck so Dean will come help me up!


So back inside the party, I heal my wounds with some slushies. They were so good. Here's me with the strawberry dacquiries and the slushies.The teal striped thing behind me is the hot tub.(see previous VD post-I told you there would be a hot tub dacquiries and slushies)


And the party went on! We watched the race, ate and drank like fools! There was Ham, Deep fryed turkey, macaroni and potatoe salad, garlic salad, veggie tray, chips, salsa, pretzels, chips and dip, devilled eggs and probably more! Oh, don't forget about those jello shots!

The drive home was interesting with the squawls of white out conditions!

So, monday at work, I was very sore from my fall. I went to the chiropractor and felt better. BUT, my boss asked me if I could keep her dog overnight since her mom was having surgery. I said ok of course.
The next morning when we were leaving for work, he went down the driveway, across the street and into a snowbank in the neighbors' yard. And he wouldn't get himself out. So I start down the driveway to go get him. And guess what? As I get beside the bed of the truck, I don't notice the black ice, and WHAM!! I fell again!! Needless to say, I am still a little sore at this posting.

We went to see the Fabulous Gunslingers last night. Great show. But then, it always is. They are always so appreciative that we come out and see them, so glad to see us. It makes us feel really good. Tom and Lisa went with us. We had a ball. We reserved a table and we sat right on the edge of the dance floor. Man, did we get an up close and personal show! Billy, the lead guitarist who is standing in while Darryl recooperates from his illness, laid the guitar right on our table and just let it scream! It was awesome! Well, now that my husband thinks he has lost me totally to the computer since I have been working on the Daytona party Photo Story most of the day and now I've posted to my blog, I better sign off for today.