Random Friday Stuff

I forgot to mention one of my other guilty TV pleasures.  It’s a show called Kindergarten on HBO.  I usually watch it on Saturday mornings at 7:30 a.m.  It’s a reality show that follows a class of kindergartners through their school year.  Very cute show.  You just want to hug all the adorable little kids.

 

The bad weather that hit the Plain States yesterday has hit here in Ohio.  Very windy and rainy.  Might be stormy tonight, so Blacky is upstairs with his head under the bed.  He’s too big to get his whole body under the bed.  He figures if he can’t see the lightning, then it can’t get him.  It could be a long night tonight. 

 

I went to the grocery last night and noticed one of my pet peeves as soon as I got into the parking lot.  I’ll never understand why people can drag a shopping cart all the way out to their car, but they can’t drag it back one or two parking spaces to the cart corral.  They will leave the cart wherever it is convenient for them.  The weather was beautiful last night – no rain and in the mid 60′s – so that couldn’t be the problem.  This particular grocery store is very good at clearing out the cart corrals so it wasn’t that the corral was crowded.  It’s just one or two spaces away!  Yes, I took the cart and used it for my grocery shopping.  And, yes, I’ve been known to speak my mind to someone if I see them abandoning a cart.  Hubby hates when I get riled up and make a scene in public.

 

With the warm weather, the house was a little stuffy last night when I got home from work.  I let the dogs out to go potty and I opened up some windows and turned on the ceiling fan to circulate some air.  After I turned off the furnace, that is.  Anyway, Luci came back in and instantly got freaked out because she couldn’t figure out what the ceiling fan was and if it was going to "get" her.  I finally had to turn it off so that she would stop running in circles in the kitchen.  It should be very interesting when I turn on the box fans.  

 

Luci has finally decided that she’s done watching the storms – she’s been outside for the last 15 minutes playing in the sprinkles – and has come inside.  Now she’s tugging at my pant leg trying to get me to go to bed.   Good night, everyone!

My Other Guilty Pleasures

Now that I’ve ‘fessed up with my Blue’s Clues devotion, I should ‘fess up to a few more guilty pleasures.  I grew up with the TV as background noise and I’ve grown attached to quite a few TV shows.  You wouldn’t believe the amount of useless TV knowledge stuck in my head that I don’t know what to do with.  Here’s a list of some of my favorite shows. 

 

Captain Kangaroo -  Yes, I was a little kid and probably didn’t know any better, but I loved that show.  Too bad that today’s kids can’t learn about Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit, Mr. Green Jeans, and Grandfather Clock. 

 

Match Game – Used to be on in the morning after Captain Kangaroo.  We only got to see it during school holidays and summer vacation.  Most of the jokes were over my head as a kid, but I can watch Match Game now on the Game Show Network and am amazed that my mom let us watch that show. 

 

This Old House – I’ve watched this show practically since it began.  Found it by accident once on PBS and have been hooked ever since.  I love Norm Abrams – what a talent!  I didn’t care much for Bob Vila – too condescending.  Liked Steve Thomas – at least he had a little more talent when it came to actually doing work.  Love Kevin O’Conner – he’s just an ordinary guy that got to host a TV show.  What’s really sad is that I can name all three hosts and most of the contractors that work on the show. 

 

Eastenders – Another show that I found on PBS by accident and got instantly hooked on.  Discovered it when Hubby was an over the road truck driver in 1987.  Watched it faithfully until the local PBS station stopped carrying it a couple of years later.  Discovered it again a couple of years ago on BBC America and was in heaven.  Then BBC America stopped carrying it and I went into withdrawals.  Luckily, I can follow the story on the BBC Eastenders website. 

 

Seventh Heaven – My biggest guilty pleasure.  Watch it every week.  Hubby and Jr. tease me mercilessly about my love of this show.  I’m going to be sad when it goes off the air at the end of May. 

 

Mad About You – watched every episode and tried my darndest to get my hair to look like Helen Hunt’s.  I still follow the re-runs on whatever channel happens to have them.  Currently it’s being shown on the Oxygen channel. 

 

Seinfield – watched it from the beginning and watch re-runs every day.  Yes, I’ve seen them all.  No, I never get tired of them.   Yada, yada, yada. 

 

Ciao, Italia – a cooking show on PBS.  The lady reminds me of my older sister’s mother-in-law and she makes it look like it’s possible for normal people to make that kind of food.  A show I found while flipping through the channels on a Saturday afternoon. 

 

Dr. Phil – fell in love with him when he as on Oprah.  Taped the first season of his show and watched it every day.  Then I discovered his website and can follow from there.  When I have a day off, I make sure I watch.  My favorite saying is "What were you thinkin’?" with a fake Texas drawl. 

 

You know, I believe that I might have a TV addiction problem. 

Dirty Little Secret

Yesterday when I was doing my blog visits, I admitted to something that I’ve never admitted to before outside of my family.  Yes, I have a problem and I’m going to share it with all of blogland.  I watch Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues.  Not because I have toddlers in my house and I have to.  I watch them because I want to.  It started out innocently enough, but now I think I have a problem.  I was introduced to Blue’s Clues through my two middle nieces.  I was babysitting them one day and they wanted to watch Blue’s Clues.  Okay, I thought, how bad can this be?  Ohmygawrsh, Blue’s Clues was the cutest show I had ever seen.  I loved the cute little dog, Steve the dorky guy, and all Blue’s cute little friends – Periwinkle, Magenta, Paprika, Side Table Drawer.  At the time, I was in my late 30′s and watched the show every chance I got.  No, I didn’t tape the show, but I made sure that I watched the prime time specials whenever they were on.  I even collected some of the smaller Blue’s Clues and a friend bought a Blue’s Clues Color-Form set for me.  I didn’t even mind when Steve left and Joe took his place.  

 

I was introduced to Dora by my youngest niece.  She just loves all things Dora and even had a Dora themed birthday party this year.  I watched the show to see what the attraction was and also fell in love with this show.  I have to admit that I’m not as rabidly devoted to Dora as I am to Blue. 

 

These days most of my exposure to Blue and Dora through Nick Jr. on CBS on the weekend.  Luci is up for the day when the birds start singing – about 7 a.m. – and that means that I’m up for the day at that time, too.  I have the TV on for background noise while I’m doing my morning stuff – fixing breakfast for Smokie, Luci & Blacky, fixing my tea, making coffee for Hubby – and Dora and Blue are on just before the local news on this particular channel.  While technically I could say that I’m waiting for the news, the truth is I’m watching Blue and Dora.  

 

I feel much better now that I’ve divulged my secret.  Is this where I stand up and say, "Hi, my name is Pam and I’m a Blue’s Clues addict."?  

Just Half Her Energy

Hubby and I are still trying to figure out a way to keep Luci from digging holes in the yard – and we’re not very successful at it.  Everything I’ve tried works for a while and then she either picks a new spot to dig or decides that she likes the taste of whatever horrible thing I’ve mixed in the dirt to keep her from digging.   Cayenne pepper, horrible No Dig spray, Tabasco Sauce, garlic powder, citrus spray - you name it, we’ve tried it.  And it hasn’t phased her in the least. 

 

But I digress . . . the real topic of my entry tonight is that I wish I had just one-half that dog’s energy.  She runs at top speed from the minute she opens her eyes in the morning until we go to bed at night.  Earlier tonight I was out in the yard with her to make sure she didn’t dig any new holes and watched her run up and down the length of the yard just for the pure joy of running.  She has this plastic tire thing with a piece of rope attached to it that she was swinging back and forth as she ran through the yard.  When she got tired of that toy, she picked up her squeeky football shaped tennis ball and ran with that in her mouth.  She checked out Hubby’s boat that’s stored in the back yard, ran around the metal shed, sniffed at the apple tree, tried to get the pop cans I was putting in the recycle bin, and finally settled down to chew on a rock.  Then she ran around the yard with the rock in her mouth so that I couldn’t get it away from her.  All of this was in a 10 minute span.  When I was done in the yard, she came inside with me and instantly plopped down on the floor next to me while I watched American Idol.  She took a 10 minute nap and then was back at whatever it was she was doing before.  Right now it’s almost 11 p.m. – a little past her (and my) bedtime and she’s here at my feet chewing the dickens out of her stuffed duck toy.  

 

Blacky and Hubby are upstairs asleep and I’ll probably be headed upstairs here in a little bit.  I’m sure that she’ll be asleep within a couple of minutes of going upstairs, but right now she’s just a busy little bee.

 

It makes me tired to watch her.  Sometimes Blacky and I sit on the deck and just watch her run the yard.  I realize that she spends the day cooped up in the house while Hubby and I are at work.  My MIL comes and lets her and Blacky out about lunch time and lets them run the yard for a bit before they have to come back in.  But even on the weekend she’s going top speed the whole day.  Where does she get the energy and how can I get some of it for myself.  She just never ceases to amaze me. 

Pam and Luci

 

 

This is me about 30 lbs. lighter, no gray hair, and about 6 inches taller – not including the shoes!  The only part that resembles me is the blue jeans, the blonde hair, and the blue eyes.  It’s what I wish I would look like in time for the big high school reunion this summer.  But it is pretty close to what Luci looks like, except Luci’s not quite this big – yet. 

I Love Marty Stuart

Okay, I’ll admit it.  I’m a married woman that’s in love with another man.  The man is Marty Stuart.  In case you don’t know, he’s a country artist that isn’t played a lot on country radio these days.  He’s played with everyone from Lester Flatt to Tony Bennett.  He had a few hits in the 90′s – most notably one with Travis Tritt called "The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’".  He’s more traditional country and rockabilly.  But none of that matters to me, I love the guy.  And have been in love with him for a really long time.

 

He came to my hometown last night and played a concert at the local community college’s performing arts center.  Oh, and yes, Hubby knows that I love Marty Stuart and that I would be making a complete idiot out of myself at this concert.  Imagine whooping and hollering during a concert with a bunch of stodgey blue hairs.  It was the best concert I’ve ever been to.  Hubby and I have season tickets for this particular concert series and we’re about 8 rows away from the stage.  I could stare at him and see the sweat on his upper lip.  Oh, I even got his autograph and got a chance to tell him that I loved him.    I was in HEAVEN! 

 

I sang along with every song.  I clapped and stomped and hollered.  I’m surprised I have a voice left this morning.  I clutched the CD with his autograph on it all the way home and I told Hubby that he has to bury me with that CD. 

 

 

When Hubby first suggested getting season tickets for this particular concert series a couple of years ago, I thought he was nuts.  We weren’t season ticket concert series kind of people.  But I thanked Hubby last night for insisting on getting the tickets.  If he hadn’t I wouldn’t have been able to be that close to Marty.

 

 

Like I told Hubby last night.  I may love Marty, but I love him more because he’s the one that brought me to see Marty. 

 

I’m off to listen to my autographed CD. . . .

 

 

Little Bit of Everything

Have a bunch of different things running through my head today in no particular order.

 

Finally got the doggy mobile back on Wednesday night.  Since it was warranty work, they needed to use Ford parts on the car.  The Ford dealership didn’t have the particular parts in stock, so they had to order them.  No big deal, but the shipment got hung up in the snowstorm earlier this week and they were delayed a day.  Drat!  That meant that I had to drive Hubby’s F150 truck for three days.  I’m now driving my little Focus wagon again and I’m very happy.  

 

The parking garage guys were a little sad to see that I was driving the doggy mobile again.  They always park the F150 for me when I have to drive it to work.  There’s just no way I could put that thing in a parking space without hurting the truck or having a complete mental breakdown.  Must be a guy thing – they never complain about driving the truck and they always tell me what a nice truck it is.  Hubby loves hearing those stories.  

 

Hubby and I are trying to figure out a way to get Luci to stop digging in the yard.  She has three specific spots that she likes to dig in.  We don’t know what she’s looking for, but she’ll dig in the same three spots and only those three spots.  We’ve tried putting cayenne pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder on the ground to make it stink and less appealing to her.  But how do you make something less appealing to a dog that is a known poo eater?  Anybody got any suggestions?

 

Hubby and I are going to see Marty Stuart tomorrow night.  He’s coming to my hometown to perform at the local community college’s performing arts center.  They have a country artist series every year and this year Marty is coming!!  They announced the concert back last June and I renewed our subscription to the series the minute those tickets went on sale.  We’ve had tickets for the last couple of years and it’s a nice series of concerts, but I’ve never gotten totally excited about a concert until now.  I’ve loved Marty’s music for a very long time and I have all of his albums.  Tomorrow I will be driving around downtown looking for Marty!! 

 

Work is keeping me busy.  The accountant is working on the tax returns for the business and "just when you think you’re out, they drag you back in" and now I have an accounting problem that I have to find and fix.  As much as I hate having to deal with this, I can’t imagine how awful it is for the accountant that’s doing the return.  I’m glad that I’m not an accountant.  

 

I may have stumbled onto a new unusual diet.  Let’s call it the Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg diet.  At lunch the other day, I stopped at CVS and bought a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs – next to marshmallow Peeps, they are my favorite Easter candy.  Because of the accounting problem at work, I ate the entire bag in two days.  This morning I got on the scale to see how much weight they caused me to gain so that I could go walking during my lunch hour to work off the new pounds.  I discovered that I had LOST a pound.  How cool is that!!  I lost a pound eating Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs.  I ate regular meals over the last couple of days so I’m wondering if it’s a fluke or if I’m onto something.  Since I’m trying to lose weight before the big 25 year high school reunion, I’m not sure I want to continue with the experiment.  But wouldn’t it be cool if you could lose weight by eating Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs.  Imagine the possibilities!!

 

Okay, I need to get back to my accounting problem . . .  

Time Marches On

Last night after work, Hubby and I were in the backyard playing in the snow with Blacky and Luci and I noticed that Luci seems to be all legs.  They were chasing each other through the snow and it seems like she’s almost as tall as Blacky these days.  Geeze, I remember when we first brought her home she had these huge paws and we wondered how big she was going to be if she had paws that size at 8 weeks.  Now we’re wondering how big she is going to be with legs that long.  I know that puppies grow and that they don’t stay little for long, but, yikes, this is happening way too fast for me. 

 

Then I realized that Blacky’s 7^th birthday is April 1 and I couldn’t believe that he’s going to be considered a senior dog.  How can that be?  He still loves to run up and down the length of the yard for the pure joy of running and he loves chasing Luci around the yard.  I took a good look at Blacky last night and realized that he has gray hair around his mouth.  Yikes, he is getting old.  When did that happen?! 

 

But the thing that really got me to thinking is that I recently discovered a radio station that plays "oldies" and they are playing DISCO . . . which was popular when I was in high school.  I haven’t quite figured out if I’m sad that disco is coming back as nostalgia music or if I’m sad that I enjoy listening to that particular station.  

 

So then I started thinking about some other things . . .

• I’m going to my 25 year high school reunion this summer.
• Hubby and I started dating 24 years ago.
• Hubby and I will celebrate our 22^nd anniversary on April 2. 
• Smokie (my cat) is going to be 16 years old in May.
• We’ve been in our house for 16 years this fall.
• Jr. (my stepson) is 33 and T (my stepdaughter) is 32 (aarrgghhh!)
• My oldest grandson is 15 and my youngest granddaughter is 10.
• My oldest sister passed away 9 years ago. 
• My father-in-law passed away 5 years ago. 

Okay, now, I don’t feel like it’s been 25 years since I graduated from high school.  I can’t believe that I’ve actually been married to the same man for 22 years.  Or that the kids and grandkids are as old as they are.  When did all this happen?  I don’t remember becoming a responsible adult. 

 

Weather Fibbers

Since Sunday afternoon the weather geeks have been predicting a big snow storm.  Heavy snow advisory with accumulations of 4 to 6 inches of snow.  Sent everyone into a panic and had the stores packed last night.  Yes, I was in the stores, too, but I needed dog food for Blacky.  I can honestly say I bought just what I needed and I left.  Too many crazies out on the road.

 

Anyway, I got up with Luci at 4:00 this morning and there was no snow, no sleet, nothing!  Well, darn!  The snow was supposed to start at midnight.  Told Luci that if we went back to bed, maybe there would be snow when we got up at 5:30.  Nope, still no snow and they downgraded the accumulation to 1 to 3 inches.  Well, double darn.  No snow day for Mommy.  Guess I better go to work. 

 

The snow finally hit . . . when I was a little more than halfway to work.  (I have a 45 minute commute to work every day.)  Roads got slick fast and the salt trucks/snow plows hadn’t been out yet.  And I’m driving Hubby’s precious F150 truck – which is not a 4 wheel drive.  Figured it would be better to brave it into work and then wait for the salt trucks/snow plows to clear stuff off.  Maybe I’d leave early if it was still snowing this afternoon.  I white knuckled it all the way into work and was never so glad to see the parking garage in my whole life. 

 

The snow stopped about 11 a.m.  Now it’s just slush.  They just issued another snow advisory.  Sorry, guys, I’m not going to believe you until I see the snow falling again.  All I ask is that it please start snowing after I get home from work today.  I don’t know if either Hubby or I can stand the strain of me driving the truck in the snow. 

 

I really miss my Contour.  I know I was safe driving in the snow in that car.  It had front wheel drive and would trudge through any kind of snowstorm.  I just hope the Focus realizes the big shoes (tires?) it has to fill when it comes to driving in the snow. 

 

Well, back to checking out the latest weather and traffic reports.

It Must Be Monday

Had to take the doggy mobile to the dealer today.  Took it to Mom and Dad’s yesterday for Little Sister’s birthday party and Hubby heard a noise.  A growling noise on the right front of the car.  Said it sounded like a hub bearing or a brake caliper that was stuck.  We got it back home, Hubby took a quick peek and said that it smelled like the brakes were getting hot.  Great.  Just made the second payment on it and there’s already something wrong.  Luckily we still have about 6 months left on the factory warranty so whatever it is should be covered by the warranty. 

 

Hubby drove the car to the Ford dealership because I’m a nervous wreck driving a car when I know there is something wrong with it.  I drove Hubby’s F150.  I adjusted the seat for my short little legs.  I forgot to move the seat back when I got out.  Hubby cracked his knee like he always does when I forget to move the seat.  It wasn’t a pleasant drive home.  I promised to ALWAYS remember to move the seat back when I get out of the truck. 

 

Had to drive the F150 to work.  Not a bad deal except for the parking garage.  I don’t like parking garages and I don’t like parking the F150 in tight spaces.  Luckily, I talked one of the parking garage guys to park the truck for me.  

 

We’re supposed to get some serious snow/ice/sleet stuff here tonight starting at midnight.  I have to stop at Wal-Mart and the grocery store on the way home tonight to get dog food and some other snow day supplies.  They’ve been talking about this storm since last night, so I bet there won’t be much stuff left to get by the time I get off work.

 

The good news is that Luci is starting to sleep through the night.  I didn’t have to get up with her at all over the weekend – even when the ambulance went screaming down our street at 3 a.m. Saturday morning.  It woke her up, but she went right back to sleep without having to get up.  However, she did want to get up for the day at 7 a.m. yesterday because she could hear the birds singing.  I couldn’t blame the little girl for that so we got up and she was outside terrorizing the birds and generally running amok by 7:15.  I put on some water for tea and read my paper.  She would come in long enough to eat, get a drink of water, make sure we were still there, and grab a toy to take outside. 

 

Just got an update on the doggy mobile.  Hubby’s first thought was right.  It was the brake caliper sticking.  They’re going to replace it, the right front rotor, and the brake pads.  And it’s all covered under the warranty.  Yippee.  Thank heavens for a warranty.  I probably won’t get the car back until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, but at least it’s not going to cost me anything. 

 

On that happy note, I’ll get back to work.  But first, I need chocolate!!