Visit to the South End

I took a ride on OnTran today after work. The adult foster care residents who live at Northern Star AFC who work at the CCMH Car Wash were on the bus too. I forgot how much fun it is to ride with them. I used to occasionally ride the same bus with them when I was in High School. I took a Business Class in Ontonagon and OnTran was the mode of transportation we both used.

Jeremy's talking to Nikki. I am so glad they have each other. They are so good for each other. Jeremy hasn't kept alot of friends, but he's had her for a long time.

I saw turkeys and deer today. Both in fields on the South End.

It was so nice driving the truck at normal speeds. Of course there was the out of state idiot who came out of no where and was on my butt and passed at the first almost safe chance he got. The drive north of Bruces is pretty straight and you can see cars for miles. I watched him catch up and pass vehicles until he was way out of sight. Unfortunately as the way it usually goes around here, there were no police in sight and he got away with driving recklessly. Then I caught up to the car that was driving 48 mph. Then I felt like the idiot who was speeding.

I stopped at the Co-op while I was down on the South End. For not having many items they have a good selection of the few they have. I found CHOCOLATE Chex and it was on sale. I bought them out, all Seven boxes. I also found kool-aid flavors that Jeremy hasn't had for a long time, so bought Watermelon-Kiwi and Berry Blue. Also picked up Dina Mia pizzas. Hadn't had one of those in forever. Forgot how good they tasted. I was surprised, even Jeremy like them. Oh and I found the Jalepeno Popper Doritos. Bought those out too, all Four bags. Yeah! Life is good.

Still don't know my schedule past the weekend. I wish I did, just so frustrating. It's not like it really matters, I have no real life anyway. Jeremy, the kids, work, meetings, and AMC is all that I really ever do. Oh and crochet and read. Those I squeeze into every available minute I'm not on line or doing those other things that HAVE to be done.

I'm cranky, deal with it.

We got the call from Joe today. He couldn't get the part to work. So he can't get the truck into 4WD. Okay, so now it's in 2H. At least it works.

When Jeremy sits next to me on the couch he always tucks his hand under my butt. Why? Who knows. I've stopped trying to figure it out. I am however expecting one of these days to break his wrist, b/c well, I can see it happening. Okay, so last night I said, you know I may have to fart. And for whatever reason, he thought I already had and now he's still mad b/c I farted on his hand, I only wish I did b/c it was so funny getting his reaction. This sort of goes with along with the Modern Marvels Bathroom Tech. It WAS his left hand.

So, have you given any thought to what you were going to make for supper? Really, he's asking "what's for supper?" Right? He's telling me he didn't ask. I wish for one day I wouldn't be asked that question.

So I don't have any trouble with my thyroid. I'm going to have to check out what I can find online. There's got to be something somewhere

Hey get this, I just rendered him speechless. He said, Um huny I have and idea for supper. And I asked, So what are you going to cook for yourself? And he was speachless for a full 30 seconds. He claims he wasn't speechless, he says he was 'thinking on my feet.' Actually he was thinking on his ass. Too cool, I'm going to have to remember this. Earlier today I threatened to Polygrip this lips together. I happen to have first hand knowledge that it can stick lips together pretty good. I had a resident who always accused me of glueing her lips together. What would happen is she would get a little on her lips while she put her dentures in and sure enough, stuck together they would be. I was on the phone with Ben and he said why don't you just tie his hands b/c he can't talk with out moving his hands. That had him speachless too. He was thinking about talking w/o his hands and that short circuited him too. He couldn't talk.

Good thing I love him!

Oh hey, we were watching Glenn Beck and he showed 'highlights' of the first 100 days of Obama ruining the world. One of the things he showed was Obama messing up when he took his oath. Of course he screwed it up, he wasn't using a teleprompter!

Okay, I'm getting really pissed off at the TV news showing Mexicans wearing masks and not putting them over their nose. What the do those people think they are doing?

Okay, so this post has completely pissed off alot of people. Oh well. I'm cranky, deal with it.

Doctor, Truck and Bathroom Tech

Modern Marvels has some of the most interesting tv shows. The show I'm watching now is Bathroom Tech. It doesn't sound like it would be the most interesting subject, but it is. And the narator is using a lot of puns, dry humor but what do you expect when discussing bathrooms?

Here's a few things I've learned just with in the last hour.
* In many primitive countries where paper is at a premium, people use their LEFT hand to wipe. People there are right handed b/c the left hand is considered unclean. I would consider it unclean too if I lived there too. I'm thinking that maybe this is where the custom of shaking with the RIGHT hand comes from.
*Americans invented the out house. Yeah us! Before this people used an indoor sort of out house and they had to hire people to muck it out every night. YUCK!!!
*DuPont invented nylon for toothbrush bristles.
*Toilets are hand sanded, even today.
*Sheffield is the oldest tooth paste tube. Colgate soon followed and is more well known.
*Romans used urine to whiten teeth. That is the original teeth whitener. I will also remember THIS when I see people with teeth that are whiter than natural, you know, some people's white teeth or so white they glow and are unnaturally white.

Still haven't heard from Joe about the truck. I called his shop and only answering machine. Will call him tomorrow to see what's up with the truck.

Jeremy and I both saw the Dr Hayes today again. He didn't do much for me last week, so blood work was done and I will hear soon what's up. Jeremy's doing better w/o his pain meds and doubled his new med and we will get more in the next few days.




Jeremy & I had an in depth discussion about loosing baby teeth and wiggling them with our tongue and twirling them while they were still attached. And Jeremy has fond memories of the tooth fairy leaving money wrapped in a cigarette pack under his pillow.

I will keep this bathroom history in mind when I'm at work tomorrow. For quite a while I've been calling the bathrooms at work 'my office.' If an office is where you do most of your work, the bathroom, sadly I must say, is my office.

I love icanhasacheezburger.com!

Always funny pictures of cats & dogs.

Leah's out of the hospital and home. She's got to be bored. I hope she has the internet and more than just the basic channels with rabbit ears.

Joe called, he's working on the truck tomorrow. I hope I can pick it up Wednesday after work.

The swine flu is all the news networks are talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a look over here, while the White House does something over there. Otherwise, why would have Obama go down to Mexico and shake hands with a guy who dies the next day?!?

I'm a little less stressed than I was last week. Still very worried about Jeremy, he's not doing so good in the dealing with pain and withdrawls department.

We both have doctor appointments tomorrow after work. I'm not sure that my med change did any good. I think that this new med changed did some good. I didn't use any spray deodorant today just to see how bad it would be. It wasn't too bad. Will try the spray stuff tomorrow and go from there.

I'll be in bed as soon as AMC is done tonight, maybe before. I just want to get comfy and crochet and watch something of little consequence. Glenn Beck is on right now and it's making me think too much.

Pictures of the Big One at Talladega April 09

This is the big one. Amazing amount of wreckage.
Carl Edwards (99) airborne as Jr (88) drives by.
Below, Carl getting out of his car.
Above Carl running to the finish line.
He was a good sport about it.

Carl, just before he hit the fence and
Brad driving by and winning the race.

Dega's Big One Lap 7

Lap 7, the Big One. Unbelievable how many cars were taken out. At least Jr was up front and managed to stay out of it. It's so cool to watch the in car cameras when they wreck. DW said there are 21 cars that don't have damage. Right now there are 9 cars are in the garage some are completely done others, the teams are working on and some of those cars might come back. They won't do so well, but they will get positions and more points than those who can't get back out.

Jeff Gordon's beautiful retro car is junk. Although after they are beaten and banged and have doughnuts on the door does look cool, but only if they win.

Jr & Truex Jr are in the lead, they are fighting and trading the lead. So long as Jr stays out front, there's alot less chance of getting mixed up in another wreck.

This is the retro car Jeff Gordon is running today at Dega. DW drove the Pepsi Challenger in the early 80's and they are bringing the paint scheme back for this race. Too cool.

Leah & Baby & Pre-Cup Race @ Dega

Leah spent the last few nights at the Portage Hospital. She was having contractions Thursday night. They have everything under control, but she will be on bed rest the rest of the pregnancy. That's 8-9 weeks.

Cup race at Dega. Should be interesting. Still haven't heard anything about Bobby Gerhart. No news is good news when it comes to this sort of thing though. If he would have been in an acute condition, they would be talking about it. In the prerace they showed bad wrecks even showed Matt's yesterday. Nothing was mentioned of Bobby, so I'm assuming he's okay.

Okay, the race is going to start in a few. Got to go.

These are two of many pictures from Henry Kisor's blog. He and Lady Friend are photographers. He's been posting a lot of very good pictures of the area. This is one of my favorites. Lady Friend took the picture of the sunrise when they were at their cabin in Green this last week.

Withdrawls, PBS & Meeting

Jeremy's a bit manic tonight. He went crazy tonight grabbing up all the books he could find putting up books on Paper Back Swap. He's disappointed that he didn't get hits from people having his books on their wish list. I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't here he would have bought credits. He wants books pretty bad.

Speaking of buying online. He called me at work last night and told me he bought (can't remember what) something online. We had had an agreement that he wouldn't buy anything for 6 months b/c he bought that i-pod gadget that he uses as an e-reader and music player. That was March. It's starting to be a problem.

Jeremy's manic, he's having trouble with withdrawing from his pain med again. It comes and goes. He had been in a lot of pain today and the new med has been doing good.

I called Sarah she's going to pick me up for the meeting tomorrow.

Nationwide @ Dega big wrecks and close finish!

Matt Kenseth just wrecked out good. He was on his roof 4 times. Thankfully he landed on his wheels and was able to get out as soon as it stopped. He was on his roof longer in the accident than it wasn't. Amazingly he was able to walk away. Got to love the COT. Scarry. Reminds me of the Michael MacDowell accident last year. That was so scary I cried. Matt is being interviewed, he's fine. I'm sure his wife, Katie, almost had the baby on the spot! I can't imagine being married to a race driver.

Jr missed his pit box again on his first stop. He was interviewed and said his eye sight it 20/15. Doesn't mean he doesn't have something else going on though. He's always squinting and wearing shades. Wouldn't be surprised if there's more going on there. I do love his car today. Wouldn't mind painting the truck that paint scheme.

Denny had a cool March of Dimes car in Phoenix. That would be an ever greater scheme to have.

It hailed really good yesterday. Too bad we didn't have the truck home and it ruin the truck. I wouldn't think twice about having a racing scheme. It would be a tough choice as to which one, but would probably at this moment go with Denny's.

Still no big one at Dega today.

There's only 6 laps left.

3 laps to go. Ky just took out Algier & he took out Gerhart good. They both hit the inside wall. Jeremy's telling me that Bobby Gerhart's window net didn't go down. Now he's out and walking with assistance. He's holding his arm really close to his body. Looks like a broken arm or shoulder. Sadly, Ky is still in the race, he didn't wreck.

Jr's still running second. He had his bumber tucked up under Newman's and he's only got one shot at the lead. It's going to be good to watch. Green white checkered in a minute here.

Oh, he lost it, came in 5th. Regan came in first. Good for him, he's the one who should have had it last year.

Turkey, Truck & The Soap Lady

Well, the tow guy came a picked up the truck. Katey and Tracey weren't too happy to see it go. I'm sure Katey is thinking back to when Fooce took "her" truck and didn't bring it back. I assured them that it will be coming back, they weren't too optomistic that it wouldn't leave after that.

Nermal the shameless hussy that she is was trying to get out and flirt with the guy. I kept having to shoo her off the porch.

Okay, so we are officially vehicle less. Don't know that I like the idea, but it had to be done at some point. I'm very much looking forward to driving it at a normal speed outside of town.

I called work and told them I'd be back tomorrow. I hope they don't treat me too bad. It will help that I won't be on the am shift until next Monday. By then they should have someone else that they are pissy with. I'm hoping that there will be bids up soon. There should be the afternoon bid and maybe a midnight bid too. Either way, I should be up for one of them. Which ever Crystal doesn't want.

The turkey is in. Should take about 3 hours or so. Am looking forward to turkey sandwiches tomorrow. Yum, those are the best.

We got our soap today. I wasn't expecting it until the end of next week. Michelle's email said that she only does shipping once a week. All the soaps are soft. I'm going to hang them on my 3 tier mesh rack and have all those good smells in the air.

On the crochet front. The new idea is really cool. I'm hoping this will be the final draft and I can get going in full now.

Hearts in Pieces Afghans

Jeremy's back in bed. He was up for about 3 hours or so. He ate supper, dubbed online and went back to bed. He says he feels hung over. He's doing much better than I thought he would. He's not in so much pain and agony that I feel like I need to haul him to ER. I know the ER wouldn't do much, I wouldn't be surprised if they left some sort of orders that Jeremy can't have any narcs with the ER & Acute staff.

On the crochet front, I have figured out how to do my 'hearts in pieces' afghan. I found a pattern online and have adapted it to what I personally like. Will post a picture when I get it going. I've done a couple samplers of the heart design and now just have to figure out what colors to use where. I did look at the colors at USAVE today and decided to keep the colors I have at home for the ones to use. I'm know I'm going to use a multi-strand color that whenever I pull it out Jeremy says looks like Easter.

Hold on a just had a really cool idea. Must go do some more samplers. If this works It's going to be really really cool. If not, well, it will still look good the way I have it now.

Okay, off to 'tie knots' as the kids call it when I crochet. I'm pretty stooked this is a pretty cool idea!!!

Reverse Discrimination

Another reverse discrimination new report today. Originally I heard about it on Fox news, found this report on NPR to be a little bit more fact filled than anything else I found online. The following is from an NPR report that I found today:

In 2003, the New Haven Fire Department in Connecticut gave an exam meant to gauge eligibility for promotions to lieutenant and captain. Scores for Hispanics and for African-Americans ranged from 34 to 59 percent of the scores for whites. Because of the way the promotions were structured, no African-American and only one Hispanic would have won any of the 15 promotions. The question then became whether the Civil Service Board would validate the test results.

After five days of hearings, the board decided the exam was flawed.

"The measured thing to do was to decide not to promote based on that exam," says Acting Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden.

The lawyer for the white firefighters, Karen Torre, says there was nothing measured about the city's action. She says the decision amounted to reverse racial discrimination, pure and simple.

"There's no question that their race and skin color were the driving motivation behind the decision not to promote them," Torre says of the white firefighters.

Jeremy doing okay, sort of

Well, it hit with full force about 4 this morning. Don't remember the actual time, may have been later than that I was trying to sleep. I hadn't even taken my night time meds until 2 b/c I wasn't tired and was busy with graph paper and pencil trying to figure out a design I want to try to crochet today.

Jeremy finally fell asleep a couple hours later and has been asleep for about 6 hours. I let girls out and they whined and begged to go back upstairs with Jeremy. Hopefully they don't wake him up, unless he sugar numbers fall. I know I can count of them to watch that for me. They are so good to us. Too bad they can't cook and clean the house. Guess that's asking too much from dogs, should be happy they keep track of what they do.

I ran to the pharmacy to pick up Jeremy's med and a couple groceries. Also got to CCMH for samples. That will get us thru until his appointment on the 13th.

May 13th. Our anniversary. Five years. The best and the hardest even at the same time.

It is so hard to see Jeremy suffering, hopefully this will be the of a new start. He was talking about gastric bypass before this, I know he's more serious about his diabetes. The closer eye he keeps on his sugar numbers the less pain in his feet and hands.

Can't find those darn books. GRRR

Why is it I can find my baby book (lock of hair and everything) and my first Bible, but can't find the crochet books? I knew there was a reason I keep everything. I vaguely remember thinking about tossing them, but don't remember actually doing it, books are sacred in this house. Will now look online for a free pattern to download or pictures that I can approzimate. I already have an idea, may be able to just play with graph paper and figure out what I'm thinking about doing. Wish I could find those books though. Will run down to Vinnies tomorrow if Jeremy can be left alone for a few minutes. Will have to get meds from Inn Towne so running into Vinnies for two minutes shouldn't be a problem, just hope no one from work is there and gets the wrong idea. Oh well, they can come home with me and take care of him and I can go to work.

Jeremy is detoxing for the next few days. Doc took him off his pain meds. Will be a hard next few days. I'm scared, don't really know what to expect. Last time he started to withdraw we took him to the ER and they gave him a few meds to get him thru til we could get more. I'm not too thrilled about Jeremy going cold turkey, but we don't really have an option. Jeremy did this to himself and he's got to get himself out of it.

Work was really good. I talked to Karen & it's good that he took care of him in the ER and Acute b/c she knows he's got serious health issues and I'm not making this up. She gave me the same advice the dr did keep him hydrated and don't leave him alone. So I'm off for the next two days, will see from there how things go.

4:15 p.m. So far so good. Jeremy's online and not showing much anxiety so far. I know he's nervous and doesn't know what to expect.

Jeremy just apologized for anything he might say that will be hurtful and mean.

I was just watching a commercial for Staph Aseptic on the Fox News Network. Great, this will only make MRSA worse, harder to find something that will cure it. I know if this were something truly useful we would be using it at work. We don't. We usually use plain old Triple Antibiotic. And when someone does have MRSA we give them antibiotics.

Okay, I'm going. I've got the itch to peruse my crochet books. I bought a few skeins today.

The Soap Lady, Joe's Auto, & Doritos

It's 38 degrees and snowing. Heavy, wet, sloppy. Yuck. Had to go out and sign some papers at the LSCU or we wouldn't have gone out today. While we were out I hit Family Dollar and Pat's. Lot's of people out, almost like they challenging weather and thumbing their noses at it.

Speaking of LSCU they saved our butts again. I don't know what we would do w/o them. We have been needing to get our truck fixed for 5 months and haven't been able to scrape up enough money. They gave us a loan. We have an appointment at Joe's (in Bruce's) next Monday. I went to school with him and he takes care of my parent's vehicles all the time. Beats taking it to the dealerships b/c they charge so much more and it's so much better to help out the smaller businesses.

Speaking of smaller businesses, I placed an order at TheSoapLady.com today. Michelle Z started her business when her daughter had terrible skin rashes. The poor baby couldn't use any soaps so Michelle started researching and making her own. Now almost 25 years later Michelle is making and selling soap. She has all sorts of soaps and I couldn't decide on what to order so I ordered her 20 Small Heart sampler, 20 different soaps. I also ordered Prairie Sage b/c it contains tea leaves and I'm hoping it will work as a good antibiotic soap and still not irritate our skin. We've been using Tea Tree Oil in Lever 2000 body wash, but I'm looking for a better less chemical based cleaner. I also ordered Morning in the Woods it naturally repels mosquitoes and flees, so the dogs will be getting baths with this soap too. I ordered Lilac Sachet b/c it reminds me of our wedding. Jeremy picked me a bouquet of Lilacs for me to hold while we were married. It was so sweet and we both love that flower. And I ordered Fresh Meadow to see if I can use this as a shampoo. I also ordered Vanilla and Oatmeal bath bars b/c I remember how much I loved them last time I got an order from Michelle over 15 years ago.

I also tried a new product today. Doritos Late Night Last Call Jalapeno Popper. So good! Not too spicy just like popper, you can taste the cheese just enough. I could only find a small 3 5/8 oz bag, I looked for a bigger one but no where in town yet. I'm hopping they keep this one around for awhile. I remember when I was little we used to get Sour Cream & Onion Doritos they were my favorite. Ranch sort of replaced them years later but I wish we could get the Sour Cream & Onion. Sort of like the Mountain Berry Kool-Aid. Why do they get rid of the ones I love the most? I guess I'm just a bit off center (well we knew this didn't we) when it comes to my favorite things compared to the rest of everyone. Hope they don't get rid of Dr. Pepper. I don't know what I would do. Can't think about not getting my fix.

Talked to Cari today. They are probably getting water at their new house today. It's one of the things keeping them from moving everything in b/c she couldn't clean. They are still looking at May 1st as a move in date. I'm so jealous, I wish we could live in the country. Can't imagine being able to buy our own place, it would be so nice not to have to worry about renting. And we wouldn't have our neighbors. Not that they are all bad, but there are a few. Old Man Ugly for one. Well enough said about him. At least there aren't any grade school kids running around the neighborhood anymore. They've all grown up and are busy NOT riding their bikes and screaming while they chase each other thru everyone else's yards. They eventually did figure out that the "Beware Dog" sign meant what it said. One of the kids actually had the nerve to complain that our dog knocked him down when he ran into her chained area. The dogs only have a 20 foot lead and the kids couldn't stay out of the way! GRRR. Kids, I guess it's good I don't have any. Well, mine would know better and my dogs wouldn't mind try to keep them out of our yard. Okay, can you tell other's people's unruly kids are one of my pet peeves?

Afghans and Beaded Earrings

I was on Ebay tonight, there were some really nice handmade afghans on there.

One had a similar design that Grandma taught me, a bit more intricate. I messed with the design tonight and came up with one that I like.

Another was embroidered crochet. Not sure how I'm going to do that yet, but have a good idea. Need to play with that some more before make anything too big. Also, play with the idea on graph paper.

I was also looking at the handmade beaded jewelry. Some cute stuff, mine's just as good. Will think about setting up a store. Will have to buy some jewelry boxes from Fire Mountain Gems before I go too far. Maybe I could sell them at the hospital? I do have the jewelry racks. Will ask Gina in HR about how that sort of thing works.

Maybe I'm just grasping at straws, but I've been thinking about extra income and this may be a fairly good idea.

Sunday 4-19

Today is cold and rainy. 45 degrees. Feels like it could snow. Even though the weather's crappy, I'm glad it's finally raining. I've been waiting for rain so that can sprinkle that soil sweetening powder out there where the girls pee and poop. Hopefully it will help the grass grow and the Lilac bush bloom better than other years.

I started a pot of crock pot chili. Will make the house smell yummy and be nice and warm and filling. Jeremy will probably want to have it over pasta. He calls it Chili Soup b/c when we visited Grandma Wall a couple winters ago she served what she called Chili Soup with pasta. Now I know why Mom always served elbow macaroni with her chili. I will have Jeremy help with the spices. Most likely we will add some of the Sweet Baby Ray's chipotle bbq sause and peanut butter. I forgot to pick up green chilis at the store when I ran to Pat's today. I know it sounds really gross but it gives it a very distinct flavor and is sooo good. I'm using my new 5 quart crock pot that we got from Pamida a couple weeks ago. It's got an inner liner that is removeable. So much easier to refrigerate the left overs and clean it when we are done.

Law & Order CI is on USA today. They are running them all day. They were running the Nicole Wallace episodes. I'm pretty bummed that they killed her off last season. I love watching her and Bobby interact. The new episode is running tonight. Have to remember to watch it tonight.

I made a new little house for Nermal yesterday. Begheera was torturing her yesterday and she didn't really have a place to hide. So I took a good size box and made a door and wrapped a pillow with the throw that she just loves. I put her in it and I didn't see her for hours. Jeremy brought down the little tent that we got for Sweet Pea and gave it to Gheera. Right now it's sitting on the dining room table. Right where he always sleeps. I'm hoping to move it under the table and get him off the table. He's a cat though and I'm not overly optomistic that he can be 'trained' that easily.

Mark Martin won the race last night. It was the first night race and in Phoenix. One of my first thoughts while I was watching the driver's intro was I hope they aren't kidnapped and I hope they keep their families safe. Phoenix has the second highest kidnapping rate in the world. How bad is that? I wonder if they warn the drivers and their families.

My ulna nerve (you know the funny bone nerve) is bothering me alot today. Last night my arm kept falling asleep. I kept trying to move so it wouldn't but it did. Now as I type it's bothering me again. Will ask the doctor about it if continues to bother me.