More Internet Fun for You

I feel it is my job to keep you entertained on the internet. Remember the catcam? Well, Mr Lee has no new photos posted but several other cats have, so you need to go back and check it out. Just click here:
http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/pe_cc_u.htm


Also, when was the last time you checked the cats at http://icanhascheezburger.com/
You have to keep on eye on this site every few days or you'll never keep up. Make it part of your daily login and you won't be let down.

Thinking about going back to work

My week off work is drawing to a close and I'm proud to say I didn't get too much accomplished. The shrubs that I had against the back of the house have been moved out to the line I made in the back of the yard. Hopefully they will be happier there where they can grow without limits. Mom got me some roses to plant against the house- I'm hoping their scent will come in the windows.

I also read some books. Did a little lame shopping (mostly many runs for different specialty groceries). Watched some movies.

The mosquitoes have been so bad the past few days I've just looked at the yard from behind the screens. There is no amount of Off that will work on this batch of skeeters.

Oh, we finally spent the night on a sleep number bed at a Radisson hotel and decided we like it. Buying a new mattress leads to a whole new set of shoppong opportunities: sheets, pillows, etc.

Did you see this photo of Emily and the girls posing with Lydia's driver's permit?

First Day in India

Today was a good day in India. I started with a 9:00 AM wakeup call. As you might imagine, I was sound asleep and needed the call to wake up. There was a great breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant. They had all the big American, British, and Indian favorites. Looks like the Indians are like the Chinese in that they don't have a different type of breakfast food- they just eat for breakfast what they eat for dinner. No way could I ever eat all those onions, curry, and spices for breakfast! During breakfast I ran in to two men I met in the lobby during check-in last night. (They were on the same flights as me and sat in the business lounge at Franfurt but we didn't meet until we hit the hotel)

Flight to India

Here is a note I sent from Frankfurt while I was waiting for my flight to India:

It,s 6 AM for me here in Frankfurt and I think it,s midnight for you. I am in the lounge in the airport using a very strange keyboard. The z is where the y should be and I had to hit three keys and stand on one foot to find the at key.The flight was good. They kept trying to feed me and give me booze. Alas, no chocolate. Plus in this business class I had to use the toilets the economy class used. First class had their own they wouldn,t share.The Frankfurt airport is huge. Their was a big bowl for collecting cash for charity and it was full of bills from all around the world. One bill was for 100,000 somethings. I have 4.5 hours before my next flight leaves. Might as well go get some more free food. Perhaps I can find some chocolate.

And from my arrival in India:

Here I am in India! The flight was good- slept a bit, watched some movies. I never read as much as I think I will on the plane. I mostly just veg. If I never eat again it will be too soon. A driver was waiting for me at the airport and the hotel was very close. They make praying hands under their chin and bow their head to you here. Very sweet!

It's 1:00 AM and it was busy at the airport and all the way to the gotel. Not sure when these poeple sleep.

Weather is like Florida. Palm trees, warm, muggy.

Critter Update

The raccoons have been messing around in my garden. This year they decided to tear up the plastic sheeting that I use as mulch. They tore it out of the ground (we bury the edges), tore it up around the holes the plants are growing out of, and chewed some chucks right out. They left their muddy little paw prints out there so they can't pretend it was the deer or rabbits who made the mess.

Another, more welcome, guest has evidently taken up residence in the grape arbor:

The wren is also busy feeding her second batch of chicks. But their house has a tiny little hole and I can't see in there or take a photo. And if I tried to get that close she'd probably dive-bomb me. She already yells at me just for walking by.

This is Unprecedented

You are not going to believe this. So I took a photo to prove to you that THERE ARE NO OPEN BOXES OF CEREAL IN MY CUPBOARD!



Note there is plenty of cereal on the unopened cereal shelf (top shelf). But the opened cereal shelf is EMPTY! Not even an open box of crackers.


After I took the photo I started thinking about it and checked and, sure enough, THERE IS ONLY ONE OPEN MUSTARD in the fridge:

This is a once in a lifetime occurrence at our house, I'm pretty sure. Good thing I can blog this for posterity. Otherwise no one will ever believe this story when I tell it in 10 years. And believe me, you are going to hear this story for at least the next 10 years.

Casino Update

Did I tell you we went to Casino Windsor last weekend? We changed $40 and cashed out with $32 so we felt better than if we'd cashed out $0.

The slot machines have been upgraded again. Like it wasn't bad enough when they replaced the pull arm with the "spin" button? Now you don't insert coins or tokens. You insert dollar bills. Here's the bad part: when you cash out of a slot machine it prints a receipt for you. Worse, it makes a stupid electronic noise like quarters hitting the old metal bin that is no longer there. So now instead of walking around with a plastic cup full of quarters and tokens, as God intended, you walk around with receipts in your hand.

We always tick off some serious slot machine gambler by getting excited when we bet $.25 or $.50 on a spin and win $3 or $5 dollars. We start whooping and laughing and people come running like they expect we must have won hundreds. When they see it's only $3 they give us looks of disgust and walk away. Our big excitement this time was that we started with a $5 bill and still had credit of about $4 when I won $10 on a spin.

Saturday Morning

I heard two women talking the other day. "Two of my friends in their 60's broke their hips recently. One was coming out of church and tripped over a curb. The other one was at a craft show and caught her foot."

If I ever break my hip let it please not be while doing lame old-lady activities like going to church or a craft show. Please let it happen while I am bungee jumping or dancing at a disco in some exotic land or fleeing the police at a crack-house raid.

I guess I better take up bungee jumping, disco, and crack.

Got My New Glasses

I picked up my new glasses today. While they are obviously going to take some getting used to, it sure is nice to be able to read small print again!!!

Did I mention that I visited my doctor last week and he had the gall to tell me that's he's turning 30 soon? I think they should just keep that sort of info to themselves.

Other Misc Stuff

1. Remember this commercial? http://youtube.com/watch?v=WU1K4X_LOxY
"Pretty sneaky, Sis!"

2. Just got back from the optometrist. It's been two years since I got my last pair of glasses. Every two years works since my prescription doesn't usually change too much but I want new frames about that often. Anyway, this year I get a new feature in my lenses: progressive lenses. Which is a nice way of saying, "bifocals without lines". Which is a nice way of saying, "You so old you need reading glasses!"

So, Mom and Dad, you now are old enough that your child needs bifocals. You haven't hit the milestone of being so old that your child is getting Social Security, but that's coming!

3. Still lovin' that Vanilla Coke Zero!!!

4. Have you visited I Can Has Cheezburger yet? Why not?!?!

5. Butternut and Scout fought like mad over the top shelf on their fort this weekend. If they don't knock it off I'm going to take it away from them.

6. Almost forgot to tell you about this very cool site I ran across. A guy in Germany rigged a camera on his cat and got a great set of photos telling him what his cat sees and does while outside in his neighborhood. Click here.

Ok, that's it. I had today off but tomorrow I'm back to work.

I Love Swiffer!!!!!

We did a major house cleaning this weekend and I was reminded again why I love Swiffer. I recently picked up the Swiffer duster. It has a handle that extends out and bends at the end, and you put a fluffy Swiffer duster on the end. Of course, if you're using a Swiffer cloth you know that no dust will escape its reach. Anyway, I used this for the first time this weekend and dusted the baseboards and tops of the door ledges through the whole house. You are invited to come over and run your fingers along the tops of my doors- they are dust free! I just LOVE this thing! The last time I dusted the baseboards I had to use a moist cloth and crawl through the house on my hands and knees. With the Swiffer duster I just extended the handle, bent the end at a slight angle, and whoosh! No crawling, no bending. And my baseboards are clean. Quite a deal for, what, $10?!? Can you NOT own one of these things?

Don't even get me started on the Swiffer Vacuum. Because I know that if you have hardwoord floors you own one. The cloth gets all the dust and hair and the vac gets all the crumbs. But you know this because you own one. And if you don't I know you are getting in your car right now to get one because you can't possibly exist any longer without the Swiffer Vac.

Diet Vanilla Coke is Back!

I keep forgetting to tell all of you who helped me stockpile Diet Vanilla Coke back when they discontinued it in 2005 that it's back! This time it's called Coke Vanilla Zero but it's pretty much the same as the old version. Yum yum!!
Now the question is will I have to stockpile 20 cases of it again in preparation for its eventual removal from the market.

Back to Work

It's my first day back at work since May 25. It was hard to wake up and do the commute but I was ready to get back to work (in case you couldn't tell by my activity with switching email accounts, creating this blog, uploading my photos, etc). My challenge is going to be to do what I can to make this a pleasant place to work. There are lots of really nice, smart people here and this should be a fun place to work. But sometimes it can be mean and depressing. Maybe that's gotten worse since Ford started its turnaround plan last fall and everyone left in February.
I forgot to post yesterday. Clay and I were going to do a big geocacheing trip. But we got stuck on the first one which was in a big park. It was just after the rain and we were slogging around in armpit high wet grass. Of course we always remember after we've been walking around in the woods, getting muddy and catching burrs, that most caches aren't too far off trail. Anyway, we got so wet we just went home and did chores. Which was a good way to end the vacation since the house is all in order now.
OK, now I need to get through my 103 work emails.

Saturday Evening

This is the garden, planted with 12 tomato plants and 30 varieties of squash and melon and bedded down with straw for weed control. Let's see if the straw works as promised.


Also found this photo of Julia with gum in her hair when we were in France in 2005. We were just talking about this the other day.

Easy Saturday

Clay and I are going to run some errands, return some stuff I bought this week (do you ever do a big shopping trip without some returns generated?), and then we're going to the Chinese buffet. I hope it rains so the seeds I planted yesterday get good and wet. I watered them this morning but that's won't keep them wet all day.

The baffle we hung on the bird feeder seems to be working. It's been 5 nights since the feeders have been vandalized. And I saw the raccoon 2 nights ago so I know he's around.

The Cats and Their New Fort

The cats have finally lost their fear of their new fort and were discovered lounging on the top bunk this afternoon.

Your New Car

Looking for a new car for yourself, your child, your spouse? I can get you hooked up with the seller of this beauty, which is for sale just around the corner from us. The rock on top is holding down a board which is protecting the sunroof so you know it will be nice and dry inside.

Just let me know if you want me to connect you with the seller!

A Butternut Photo

Butternut was a very acrobatic kitten.

My First Blog Entry

This is my first blog entry. I am going to go have some oatmeal for breakfast.