I’m Still Standing

 

It’s been a very busy week.  Training my replacement at work . . . for some reason it strikes me a little odd to train a replacement when I don’t know when I’m leaving the current job or even have a replacement job to go to for that matter.  Oh, well, I’m taking it on faith that there’s something wonderful waiting just around the corner.  I just wish that I had a little more idea of what the "something wonderful" was going to be!

 

Working on getting the office part of Hubby’s fishing rod repair business organized.  For some reason semi-retirement for Hubby has turned into a second full time job for me . . . okay, explain to me how this semi-retirement thing will benefit me?

 

Beautiful spring weather means that I’m walking Luci every night.  She’s having a grand time exploring the neighborhood and seeing all the friendly faces that have been hiding indoors all winter.  That dog sure loves her adoring public! 

 

Okay.  Back to work for me.  I’ll update more later. 

 

 

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High School Musical

 

I saw a high school musical yesterday.  No, not the wildly popular movie . . . a real High School Musical.  Every year my high school puts on a musical – this year it was "Beauty and The Beast"  It was a "girls day out" with me, Mom, my sisters, and my nieces.   

 

When I heard that this year’s musical was "Beauty and The Beast" I wondered how in the world they would be able to pull off such a production.  When I was in high school, we did the traditional Broadway musicals – "Oklahoma," "The Music Man," and "South Pacific".  And even though each musical was wonderful, you could tell that it was a high school production. 

 

Oh. My. Gawrsh.  Was I ever surprised.  It was a fabulous production!!  Okay, it wasn’t Broadway quality and certainly not the quality of the Disney movie, but it was very good.  The set was gorgeous and I couldn’t believe that they had made it all themselves there at the school.  And the cast!  The director did a great job casting the parts.  The kid that played Gaston was perfect.  At one point I thought to myself, "Gee, I hope he’s not like that in real life,"  because he was having a little too much fun throwing the kid that played Lefou around.  The boy that was Lumiere was hilarious!!  I couldn’t believe he was just a sophomore.  Belle, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, Maurice, Babette . . . they were all perfect.  And the little kids that made up some of the Enchanted Items during the "Be Our Guest" segment were just too cute for words.  All the cast did a great job – not a bit of nerves to be seen anywhere.  No flubbed lines or forgotten words. 

 

I don’t know why, but I’m always amazed at the wonderful talent of the students that attend my little high school.  It’s not a big city school – just a small school out in the middle of nowhere.  Farm kids.  Small town kids from the middle of nowhere Ohio.  But the talent they showed yesterday was amazing . . .

 

For three hours yesterday afternoon those farm kids and those small town kids made me forget that I was in a small high school auditorium and made me believe in an Enchanted Forest and the power of true love.

Mixed Up Friday

 

It’s another one of those days when I have a bunch of stuff in my head that I don’t know what to do with.  The only way to get it out of my head is to write it down.  Hang on, it’s might be a bumpy ride . . .

 

• ·        Why, why, why is Dr. Phil involved in the Anna Nicole Smith thing?  Does he think that he can make sense of the crazy mixed-up mess?  I want to ask Dr. Phil . . . "what are you thinkin’?"  This is seriously affecting my respect and affection for the man. 
• ·        "How come we can put a man on the moon but we can’t figure out what is in the dog and cat food that’s making all the pets sick?"  That’s a quote from Dad from Tuesday night.  
• ·        If one company in Canada is making all these different brands of dog and cat food how can Iams and Eukanuba expect their customers to believe that their dog food is better than the Wal-Mart brand?  Another quote from Dad . . . and something I didn’t think of until he mentioned it.  I might have to seriously re-think whether it’s worth it to feed Blacky and Luci the high priced Iams.
• ·        The AC in my building is still broke.  It’s probably 80 degrees in my office right now.  I’ve had to get out some of the summer clothes a little early so that I’m not roasting when I’m at work.  There’s just something really weird about wearing light summer clothing in Ohio in March.      
• ·        Hubby has a cold.  He’s not a very good patient.  I’m not looking forward to this weekend.  Wait and see if I don’t end up with the cold in about a week or two – just in time for our wedding anniversary! 
• ·        Heard a song on XM radio that I could have sworn was something that Mom made up to sing to us when we were little.  She used to sing "I love you a bushel and a peck" and I thought she made it up just for us.  She would do that sometimes.  Lo and behold it’s a real song.  I heard it on the 50’s channel yesterday.  The song "Bushel and a Peck" was sung by Perry Como.  Perry Como happens to be Mom’s favorite all-time singer.  Yes, it’s still stuck in my head! 
• ·        The Kroger store that I go to each week has installed the new e85 ethanol pumps at the gas station.  My brother is a service writer for a General Motors car dealer and told me that I have to be careful not to accidentally put ethanol in my car instead of gas.  It won’t do a whole lot of damage to the Dog Mobile, but I’ll have to drain the tank and the clean the fuel system.  Just what I need to add to my irrational fear of accidentally putting diesel in my car . . . .
• ·        It’s raining again.  The yard is a swampy mess.  Luci’s having a grand time slopping through the mud.  I’ve discovered that baby wipes are a great way to get mud off dog feet!  Blacky is a nervous Nelly and won’t go outside if there is thunder and lightning . . . unless Mommy or Daddy go outside with him.  I was outside this morning at 5:30 in my jammies and hiking boots with an umbrella over me and Blacky so that he would go potty.  Do you think maybe the dog is just a tad spoiled? 

 

Thanks for listening.  I feel better now . . .

Tuesday Night Madness

 

This is the blog that I was going to post on Wednesday before I got severely sidetracked . . . . 

 

Every other Tuesday my siblings and I – along with the nieces and nephew – trek on over to my folks house for the evening.  We get there between 6:30 and 7:00 and leave about 9 p.m.  (That’s so the nieces and nephew can get ready for school in the morning.)  We visit, watch American Idol, eat cake, the kids play games, the teenage girls try to listen to the "adult" conversations . . . there’s 11 of us in a little 3 bedroom ranch style house.  

 

• Since we’re all there, Mom makes some kind of dessert.  God love her, she’s always got something yummy for us to eat when we come to visit.  Ever hear the old saying, "If I’d known you were coming, I’d have baked a cake."  That’s my mom.  
• Because my youngest niece thinks we need to sing "Happy Birthday" everytime we’re all together, Mom puts two candles in the cake and we sing "Happy Day" to the youngest niece (she’s 5) and my youngest nephew (he’s 7).  "Happy Day" is really "Happy Birthday" with out the word "birth" . . .
• My brother and my dad usually leave to do the "guy bonding" thing.  They usually go to Target, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart.  They check out the new movies that have been released or just wander aimlessly. 
• This week, though, Little Brother had a meeting at work and got there late.  He decided to stick around and watch "American Idol" with us.  Then proceeded to tell us that he’s one of the Howard Stern listeners that’s voting for Sanjaya.  Do I need to tell you just how much abuse we gave him for that? 
• Mom was getting her Easter decorations out.  She has a rather large collection of little houses and figurines for a miniature Easter Village.  It takes over the entire dining room.  My 5 year old niece has to inspect every piece and make sure they are placed properly.  It sometimes takes Mom a week to get the village set up.  
• My two middle nieces (Big Sister and Little Sister had girls 9 months apart back in 1994-95) were working on the essay they have to submit for their application to join National Junior Honor Society. 
• My oldest niece showed off her prom dress. 
• Mom’s dog sat next to me the whole time I was there . . . because she knows I’m a softy and I’ll give her dog cookies!
• We watched American Idol and tried to explain to my nieces exactly who Peter Noone and Lulu were.  My oldest niece kept calling Peter Noone "Peter No One" . . .

Yea, it’s little noisy, a little hectic, a little crazy.  It’s also the highlight of my week! 

 

Please Make It Stop

 

Okay, it’s been 41 days since Anna Nicole Smith died.  I am so totally sick and tired of the media coverage that I could just scream!  Yes, it’s tragic that her son died suddenly right after the birth of her daughter.  It’s tragic that she died so young and left that little baby girl without a mommy . . . . and a gaggle of men that want to be her daddy.  But do they really want to be her daddy or do they just want the money the baby will inherit?  Do we need to hear something about this story every single day?  Do we need to know that the boyfriend from California has changed lawyers?  Do we need to know (or care?) that the judge was busted for smoking pot in the park? 

 

Entertainment Tonight devoted entire shows to this story for the first week after she died and has at least one story a week about her since.  The tabloids all have at least one screaming headline about Anna Nicole and baby Danilynn.  The E! channel has aired the same special Anna Nicole shows every weekend since she died.  I’m surprised they haven’t brought out re-runs of her reality show.  Arrrggghhhh!!!  Enough already.  It’s enough to make me want to pull my hair out. 

 

The poor woman is dead.  Leave her and her daughter alone and move along.  There’s nothing left to see here.   

Did Ya Ever Notice?

 

Today is the last day the boss will be in the office this week.  He’s taking three days of vacation.  I’m working just as hard today to get him out of the office as I do when I’m getting ready to take a few vacation days.  Geeze . . . but at least I’ll be able to appreciate the peace and quiet when he’s gone. 

 

I guess all the goofing off and catching up will have to wait until tomorrow. 

 

 

Lucky Me

 

I think I finally figured out the amount of exercise that a 18 month old Black Lab needs in order to sleep through the night.  Now I just have to work on my "Wake up at 4:30 in the morning all freaked out because I think I overslept" panic attack.