Happy New Years Eve!!

I just got home 45 minutes ago from work. I jumped in the shower - styled my hair - and got dressed in that time! Incredible - I can't seem to do that when I am getting ready for work!

Everyone be safe tonight - watch out for the crazies on the road - and don't be one of the crazies! Blog at ya next year!

De

The End Is Near

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I will be heading over to Lyd's house. She always has such good food there - especially the chocolate fountain! Never knew there were so many things you can dip in chocolate! I will be working tomorrow and I need to work on Thursday so I won't be out too late partying. I'll be lucky to make to midnight! Maybe for tomorrow night I will be on Texas time - celebrate the New Year at 10 and then call it a night!

I have just been relaxing tonight - it's nice not to have lots of pressing things to complete. I made a few more Twilight Bookmarks tonight for friends - I have 2 bracelets I need to make too - I will probably work on those this weekend. I still haven't figured out what color to make one of them. I like having my creative juices flowing again - it had been way too long since I had made anything. I forgot to take pictures of the bracelets I sent down to Texas. I may have to have them take pictures and send them to me. They are all De De Originals as i don't follow a pattern - I think of the person the bracelet is for and just go from there.

Rest up for tomorrow!!

De

28 Hours Until 2009

How Long Can You Keep Up Christmas Lights?

I am sitting here in my new Christmas jammies - red with white lace - I look like Mrs Claus! They are really very comfortable. I have turned off the TV - for some reason the constant talking was getting on my nerves - which is really quite strange because I always have had the TV on for background noise. I don't have the lights on my Christmas tree on but I do have the lights on my window going. I think they look like fairy lights - scattered across the window pane in no particular order. I think they are beautiful and I am wondering how long I can get way with keeping them up. What is the "rule" on Christmas lights? Should they come down right at New Years - can I keep them up through the winter. Hmmm - I guess I could just keep them up and see if anyone complains - because if you are a regular reader you know that I have some neighbors who like to complain about everything - so I may just keep them up until I get a little letter from the Home Owner's Association telling me that they have received complaints. I could make it a game to see how long it takes!

Today was a good day at work. I got things done and I haven't started feeling stressed about Year End coming - which is so nice.

L just breezed in and back out - she came by to pick up some mail - a letter from the felon that is at the State Pen in Walla Walla - and a Christmas Card and Gift Card from her Dad. She also had an overdraft notice from the bank but I don't think she even really looks at those anymore - she's just like oh well, when I get paid again I'll just cover the fees. She just doesn't get that when you make that impulsive $10 buy at Red Robin it's actually a $45 buy because of the fees. I don't know how to teach her that. Oh well - she's going to be learning about bills here soon because as of Jan 5th I am taking her off my Cell Phone Plan - she hasn't paid me for her phone charges in 2 months and I need to cut down on my monthly bills. I can get a plan with T-Mobile that will only cost me around $50 a month - much better than the $160 I am paying now.

It's early but I am going to head to bed - snuggle deep under the covers - claim my territory before that cats come in and start laying in the middle of the bed!

52 Hours until 2009!

De

Meetup

Busy Busy Day today! I liked having plans.

I went to Sunday Brunch with Lyd this morning. We went to Big Bear Diner in Bellevue. It was really good. I hadn't gone out for breakfast in a long time. I think we will need to make a habit of this. Afterwards we went to Bellevue Square to wander around a bit. I hadn't been to the square in awhile - I had forgotten what it was like to wander around with a bunch of rich snobby people from Bellevue - yeah, won't be going back there anytime soon unless I absolutely have to - like if the Apple Store starts calling my name.

Tonight I went to my first Meetup Function. Meetup is a website where you can go and find all sorts of different groups in your area that you can join and get together with. They have them for all different types of interests. The group I met with tonight was the 40 Something Club. We met up at JJMahoney's which is an Irish Pub in Redmond. Then we went and saw Four Christmas at the Bella Botega Theaters. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the people I met and will definitely go to another function. I joined another club - Eastsiders Book Club that is meeting up the middle of January.

All part of my New Years Resolution to make new friends. Well on my way as I met Becky, Nicole, Jeff, Monica, and Gerard tonight.

De

Holiday Time

Christmas is over and I am back home. It seemed like a roller-coaster ride for part of the time and the roller-coaster was being run by an 18 year old.

I really enjoyed spending time with my Mom and Dad for the holiday. The ride up was clear of snow until we got off the highway and then it was like four-wheeling in the back woods - I only have a Ford Focus which is not equipped for the bumpy - icy - rut filled drive we had - I lost one of my hubcaps. :( The county had definitely not been doing any plowing on these roads. I was very thankful to finally get to my destination. Christmas Eve dinner was flank steak and Yorkshire Pudding. Yummy!! After dinner we started watching A Christmas Story. I love that there is a 24 hour marathon of that movie. I saw it when it came out in the theater way back when. Christmas morning came - we had a good morning. It was relaxing - during the time L was sleeping and then when she went for a walk. This morning we left to head home at 945 in the morning - I have been home since and enjoying not having to do anything or be anywhere.

I did not enjoy spending all that time with L. She was unpleasant and argumentative starting from the moment we left for La Conner on Wednesday morning. I was driving too slow - she hated the radio station - she couldn't smoke in the car - she was hungry - she hated my driving in the snow - she could do better - I was going too fast. All of that on the 2.5 hour drive to La Conner. I was so ready to just drop her off somewhere and leave. She immediately started in on Nana - when was dinner - she was hungry - the Internet wasn't working. After dinner I gave Mom a Christmas back massage - while I was doing that L said she was next - I said No that this was just something special for Nana. Oh that did so not go over well - she gave me a dirty look then started ordering me to move because I was in front of the TV - I told her she could move to the other end of the couch until I was done - she said No she was there first and I needed to move. I didn't move and she angrily scowled the rest of the evening. Christmas morning she was in a nice mood - seemed to enjoy what she got for Christmas - once all of that was over though her true colors came back out and she started in on - she was bored - why were we staying overnight again - she wanted to leave - she can't just sit on her ass and do nothing all day - I told her that next time maybe she should bring her own car and she responded with maybe next time I should just not plan on staying so long so she could get back to her friends. This went on for the whole day - even when we didn't respond to her she just kept on going. It was exhausting just being around her. This morning she woke up around 900 and was ready to go by 945. She packed and got things in the car so fast. The ride back was about as wonderful as the ride up there. When we got back to my place she moved her loot to her car - came upstairs to get a back pack she had left here - then just left.

Now I don't want to end this post on a downer note because I did enjoy the time with my parents. When I got home my mother-in-law Merilyn came by and brought me a Christmas present. Those who have known me for awhile know that I like cows. Merilyn brought me a cow print suitcase!!! It is great - I will never lose it on the carousel at the airport and I probably don't need to worry about someone walking off with it. Here's a pic!

Muppet had a good time too. If this picture could make noise you would be able to here the exhausted snoring of my little pup!! De

Twas the morning of Christmas and all through the house
not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. . . . . . Well - some creatures were stirring - Muppet, Tugboat, and Annie are all awake and so are Mom and Dad.

The stockings were filled and full of surprises
There were packages and boxes in all different sizes

L is still snuggled deep in her bed
With visions of . . . . . . i don't know what she has visions of . . . . . . dancing in her head. . . . . What is a Sugarplum?

Nana and Papa are awake from their winter sleep
The coffee is brewing and the snow is still deep

From the kitchen there arose such a clatter
I turned my head to look and see what was the matter

Nana was moving about and preparing the food
Getting Christmas breakfast ready which is always so good

OK - I think that's where my creativity has ended this morning. I have run out of rhyming words!!

It is really nice and peaceful this morning - just me, Mom and Dad. It's amazing how much noise, stress, and tension one 18 year old can cause. I hope she wakes up in a better mood this morning.

Merry Christmas To All and To All a Good Morning!!!

De

Twas The Night Before The Nght Before

I made it off the hill today briefly. It was nice to just see something else besides the four walls of my place.

While I was out and about I ran in to Christmas!! It was alive and well at the Walgreens in Issaquah! It was polite - courteous - smiling - laughing - and singing! Yes - singing! There was a young boy singing Jingle Bell Rock as he walked around with his Dad. I was in front of him and I had to turn around to see who was so happy - he was about 10 and just singing for the joy of singing. His Dad made a comment - think you could have anymore Christmas Spirit!! It was very cute. Then - when I was walking to check out I stopped suddenly - there standing in front of me was Santa Claus - not the regular department store Santa in the whole red suit - this was Santa in jeans, sweater, and Santa hat. I just knew it was the real one too! I said hi - he said how are you - i said fine - and then I told him I had been good - he told me he knew and I was on the list! We both laughed. See - Christmas in Walgreens!!

De

Stuck and Hating This Snow

I hate the snow!!!!!!! It is nothing but trouble. Sure it looks all pretty when it first starts but then it just keeps coming down and piling up more and more. I didn't get as much as some places but I would venture a guess that we have somewhere between 8 - 12 inches. I do know that it came up to Muppet's nose this morning - when she was walking through the snow she looked like she was having to dog paddle.

This afternoon I was really starting to go stir crazy and feeling a little claustrophobic - so on the advice of Lindsay and Tony I bundled up and went out to take a walk. Yeah - that lasted about 2 minutes - not because of the temperature but because of the fact that as I stepped out on to the parking lot in front of my house my feet went flying out from under me and I ended up flat on my back. Luckily I didn't land on poor Muppet. It has now been a couple hours since the fall and I am really starting to feel it - Muppet was on my left side and I landed pretty hard on my right side. My arm is getting pretty stiff and sore.

Besides being slippery - this snow has also delayed the delivery of 1 Christmas gift I ordered from Target - scheduled for delivery last Friday - delayed until today - and once again delayed. I hope it gets here tomorrow or else someone won't have it to open up. The package from Texas is supposed to be delivered tomorrow too - these delivery drivers need to not be so wussy and just get up here. What ever happened to nothing stopping them - not snow, sleet, or rain.

This weather has definitely zapped my holiday spirit. I swear - if this snow keeps me from spending Christmas with family and I am stuck here by myself - I am going to be very upset. I changed my plan of heading to Texas because I didn't feel right leaving L up here by herself for the holiday and now I might end up being by myself.

OK - I'm going to take some Advil and hope this pain in my arm goes away.

De

Snowy Sunday

It just keeps snowing and snowing out there! I'm so glad I don't have to try and make the decision tomorrow about driving in to work. I spent most of today taking pictures of Muppet in the snow and dressing her up as Santa!! So - this blog will be pictures. De

Snow and Flu

Blogging has been on hold for the past few days - my Thursday snow day turned into a sick day - the flu has knocked me for a loop. I thought it was just a 24 hour bug - 48 hours later I'm still feeling like crap.

So L stayed with me 2 nights last week due to the weather - I wish I could say that things were different but they weren't. She came home with 3 "friends" Thursday night and they went out on the deck to "smoke" I made them leave at 9. When she came back after dropping them off she went in to the kitchen and banged around in there - there's nothing to eat around here. Well - there's not any of the stuff she usually eats because she doesn't live here! She wanted to know if she could do chores to earn money for Christmas gifts. Seems that 2 weeks after getting paid she has already run through the portion of her paycheck she gets to keep in addition to the extra $100 she was allotted for Christmas gifts. I think it's going to be up to Santa to fill my stocking this year!!

I ventured out in to town today - needed to mail off a box to Texas and decided to run in to Target real quick to grab some stuff before the next storm hits. I have never done shopping the weekend before Christmas around here - what a zoo. People were very friendly though and patient. At Target they had one large line for checking out and workers sending you to the check out lane that was open. Things moved real smoothly. My last stop was QFC to stock up on items in case the storm is as bad as they are predicting. When I left QFC the snow was starting to come down and the wind was starting to blow. Time to hunker down - turn on the fire - and prepare for the possibility of being snowed in.

De

No Snow

No snow yet! When I got home tonight the roads were wet form the rain - if it gets really cold again tonight all of the roads will turn into one giant skating rink. Tomorrow's drive to work could be really interesting. L called me around 6 tonight - she was on the Plateau and didn't want to drive back up to Tiger Mountain because it was snowing up there - so she is staying here tonight with the understanding that she has to leave the house when I do tomorrow morning. I told her I leave really early and she said fine. I guess we'll see what happens at 6 tomorrow morning.

De

Snow - Yeah Right!

Well - it's another Seattle Winter Storm!! Yeah - I woke up this morning hearing that the Issaquah Schools were closed - in fact almost all the school districts are closed - I climbed out of bed - looked out the window to see the winter wonderland - I saw pavement! No snow - Not snowing - looked like a regular morning. Why are the schools closed? I turned to the TV and watched as they listed the schools again - Issaquah Closed - due to the possibility of heavy snow this afternoon and concern for the safety of their students and staff. You're kidding! They never closed schools for that when I was in school - and I went to Issaquah High School! I can remember having to walk to the fire station on Tiger Mountain Road because that was where the bus would pick everyone up - they would not drive through Mirrormont. Back in my day we would hike through 3 feet of snow to the fire station - up hill both ways - just to go to school!!!!! OK - maybe not that bad but we would have to go to school. I drove to the park and ride and rode the bus in to work. I will keep an eye on the weather and keep looking at traffic cameras in Issaquah to check on any snow accumulation. If it starts looking like it might get bad I will just go catch a bus and head home.

Niki went to the Vet yesterday and had her pain patch removed. She seems OK - still not eating - the doc gave me some pain meds to give her to see if that helps her to eat - nope this was not included in the previous payments so I had to fork out another $30. I let her stay out with everyone last night and when I woke up this morning I had 3 animals curled up tight next to me trying to stay warm! Even Muppet - who is not a snuggler when she sleeps - was curled up tight under my arm. I kinda wished it had snowed a lot last night so I could just stay in bed with them.

Well - I'm gonna get started on my work so that if it really starts snowing I can get outta here. Here are some pics of little Niki and Muppet. De

Ice - Cold - Pennies

Well - the first "icy" drive of the winter wasn't too bad for me. There really weren't that many icy patches between here and the park and ride. I had an appointment after work today but decided I would rather deal with trying to get a bus home at the right time than to try driving in to work. I got to the park and ride after 624 so I figured I had missed that bus. There were a lot of people in line - come to find out, the 624 bus was late so I didn't miss it after all. On the ride in I watched Fred Claus on my iPod - I rented the movie from iTunes. It was actually a pretty cute movie. I finished watching it on the bus ride home. Tomorrow I have to make it to an appointment in Kirkland after work with Niki - so I have to get home - grab her - head back out - get to her 430 appointment. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to drive in to work or take the bus again. That will be a decision for the morning. One thing I know I'm going to do - wear more clothes!! It was dang cold out there this morning. It's been awhile since I've walked around outside when the temperature is in the teens. Definitely need to layer it up. It was so cold that BJ and I didn't walk to our regular Starbucks - which is a couple blocks form work - we went across the street and went to the one in that building.

L just called me a few minutes ago - she said she was still in Tukwilla because the roads were icy and wanted to know if she could stay here tonight because the roads up at Bama and Bepas were pretty icy. My first statement was - i guess you didn't go to work today - Nope. I told her that she could come here but that she needed to be here by 900 because that was when I was heading to bed and that she would need to get up and leave at the same time as me in the morning and I have been leaving at 600. She was all - hmmmmmm ohhhhhh hmmmmm - I guess I'll call you tomorrow. Guess that means she isn't staying here with me tonight. After I got off the phone with her a couple of things came to mind - why didn't she drive back out this way while it was daylight and driving on the side streets wouldn't be as bad - what does she plan on doing if the snow that is predicted to come no Wednesday and Thursday actually happens. The house rules are going to be the same - be here by 900 and leave with me in the morning. I am sure she hasn't thought that far ahead - planning is not exactly part of her vocabulary.

Oh - Tony you are a very funny guy!!! I got home tonight to find a package on my doorstep from Texas. I picked it up and it made quite a lot of noise - many things rattling around. I opened it to find the payment for the Apple Cup bet - which was $5 - but instead of a nice crisp bill I got a plastic bank filled with pennies!!! That's just great!! I guess I'll be taking a trip to CoinStar and turning it in for a gift card - if you choose a gift card instead of cash you don't have to pay a fee. So I guess I got a $5 iTunes card!! The funny thing - it cost him more to send the pennies than the actual amount of the bet!! That's a Husky for you - not real good in the math department!

De

First Snow

I woke up this morning to the first snow of the season. It snowed a couple of inches during the night - it stuck mostly to the grass and cars but because of how cold it was the stuff that melted on the road actually turned in to ice. It's going to be below freezing most of the week so there's not much hope for the ice to go away anytime soon. When I took Muppet out this morning she took a corner a little too fast and her feet went sliding out from underneath her - it was like watching a Charlie Brown cartoon when Snoopy goes sliding across the frozen pond. I wish I'd had a camera!! It is getting colder tonight and L's room was always the coldest room in the house so I have moved Niki to my bathroom for the night. She spent most of the day out by the fireplace but I caught her sneaking in to the other bathroom to try and eat some of the dry food that is out for Buffy. It just made my tailbone twitch thinking of eating something hard and crunchy after having had all my teeth pulled out!

De

Just Another Saturday

Niki is doing fine - she spent most of the day laying in front of the fireplace - definitely her favorite spot. she has been eating canned food and hopefully is on the mend. The poor thing is having trouble keeping her tongue in her mouth - no teeth to hold it in and with the stitches in her tongue I think she has trouble controlling it a bit. Update: No call or text from L checking on how Niki is doing.

Today Muppet went and got her first picture taken with Santa!! She wore her Christmas Coat that she got from Colleen last year - looked very cute. As soon as I figure out how to use the scanner I will scan it and post it.

Not much else to write about - some interesting things going on down in Texas today - I need to check with my family down there though before I blog about it. Not my drama to share.

De

De's Animal Clinic

Niki was able to come home this morning. I called around 7 and they said she could be picked up at anytime. I got down there a bit before 8 but didn't get to take her until after 9. As I was paying the rest of her bill - yes I had to pay even more because I didn't come get her after she had been there for 12 hours so they charged me for another 12 hour block! So - as I was paying the bill 2 young men came rushing in with their cat in a box - saying they didn't know what happened - one of the boys was crying and he put the box down saying please don't have died on our way here - he was gently shaking Milo and calling his name. They took him and his friend into a room - Milo had passed on. It was heart wrenching to watch. These boys didn't look like the emotional type let alone the cat types. They had long hair, gaged ears, piercings - - looks can definitely be deceiving. They left to go sit in their car for a bit while the doctor's were going to try and figure out what happened. It just broke my heart. I know how they felt - my baby Joie passed on rather suddenly 2 years ago -you never get over something like that.

Niki seems to be doing ok - she's pretty stoned right now! I put her up in L's for awhile - gave her some canned food with her anti-biotics mixed in - she lapped it all up! I set up her own little kitty box in there too which she used so I know she can do it all. I had put a bed in there for her put it was up too high so she is now using Muppets bed - I will have to figure out what to do with Muppet on Monday. I brought Niki out in to the living room to be with the family for awhile - she really likes to sit in front of the fireplace so I put her bed there and she has just been resting. Buffy is standing guard right by her. I just caught Buffy trying to clean Niki and had to stop her - don't want her to dislodge the pain patch or any of the stitches. I will have to move Niki back to L's room at bed time so that Buffy stays away from her.

I need to go play nurse maid - Niki needs her mouth wiped.

De

PS - When I posted about decorating I made a comment about having to make sure the cats didn't knock over the Christmas Tree! Well - Buffy got very interested and when I got home from work this is what I found.

Niki - Update

It has been a very long day today. I got Niki to the dentist at 800 and Dr Matson examined her to decide what all needed to be done. I have to say - he is the first Vet I have met that has a really good bedside manner. He walked in to the room and started talking to Niki right away and petting her and making sure she was comfortable with him - then he introduced himself to me. Niki seemed to like him and started purring up a storm. She was purring so loudly that he couldn't hear her heart beat - did you know that when you take a cat in to a dark room they stop purring? He took her in to the bathroom and it worked - he was able to listen to her heart. Then came the looking in the mouth part. Niki was not happy - you could really tell it was hurting her a lot. He did make a comment about the nasty odor coming from her mouth! That should be gone not that there isn't anywhere for the bacteria to hide - yup - they had to extract all of her teeth.

I left her with the vet dentist and headed in to work - got there at 9 which wasn't too bad - that's what time most of the department gets there anyways. I tried to concentrate on work but I did find myself constantly checking my cell phone to see if I had missed a call. At around 200 I called the vet to check up on her and was told they were just finishing up with her and Dr Matson would call me when it was done. At 245 I decided to run across the street to get a sandwich - yup - as soon as I wasn't watching the phone they called - I must have been on the elevator because it went straight to voicemail. Niki was still very groggy - enjoying the drugs Dr Matson said! When he got in to her mouth he discovered a thick mass under her tongue - so he had to cut that out and suture her tongue back together. When I went in to pick her up he showed me pictures of what her mouth looks like so I won't be tempted to open her mouth and look in. When she comes home she is going to have to be separated from the rest of the animals for 2 weeks so that Buffy doesn't lick her and make the stitches come out - makes my tailbone twitch!!

Niki wasn't doing real well coming out of the drugs so he said she needed to stay at a 24 hour care facility over night - so I paid my bill with Dr Matson (1890) and headed to Alpine Hospital in Issaquah to drop Niki there and pay another bill (deposit of 176). This cat has become the most expensive pet in the family!

Dr Matson and the staff at Eastside Veterinary Dentistry are wonderful. They took such care with Niki and kept me informed on everything that was going on. Dr Matson called Alpine Hospital to set it up there for Niki to spend the night and told me that he will call there tonight to check on her. On the take home papers they gave me his cell phone is listed in case I have any questions or concerns once Niki is back home. You can tell that they all love the animals there and that this isn't just a job. Thank You Dr Matson for taking care of Niki and assuring me that I was doing the right thing.

De

Niki

Over the past couple of days I have had to do some soul searching. I love animals - my pets have always been a part of the family - I have always said I would do whatever it took to keep them happy and healthy as if they were my own children.

Niki is L's cat - she picked her out 2 years ago when she came home from Montana - she was a rescue cat from Petco - poor thing had been there for 6 months without anyone choosing her and L fell in love with her so we adopted Niki. Like most everything L has adopted - once the newness wore off after a few months and the tediousness of having to feed, water, and clean up after her got to be too annoying for her she just stopped taking care of her. Niki has an issue - she seems to be allergic to the bacteria in her mouth - the back of her mouth swells up and she can't swallow very well so she drools on everything - cortisone shots were working for awhile but their effectiveness has worn off. Now it is time to go to the next step which is to have her back teeth pulled so that the bacteria doesn't have any place to hide. Of course you have to take them to a specialist for this - did you know there is such a thing as a Veterinary Dentist? I didn't. So - I called the specialist on Tuesday and they had a cancellation for this Thursday when they could check her out and do the procedure all in one day. I won't get the actual price quote until this morning but the receptionist said to expect it to be at least $1K.

Now came the soul searching part. I know that if it were Muppet or Buffy that needed to have something done I wouldn't even be giving it a second thought - they would be in there and I would figure out a way to pay for it. For some reason I haven't been that way with Niki. In fact - I seem to be more angry than anything else about this. I talked to someone on Tuesday who helped me put it in to perspective. Niki is L's cat - I didn't pick her out - she wasn't my cat she was L's. Once again L has gotten something and abandoned it and I am left to clean it up and take care of it and I resent having to do that. It really kind of pisses me off that I am having to use money that I don't really have to take care of a cat that isn't really mine. Then my compassion for animals comes out - it's not Niki's fault that her human Mom left her and doesn't seem to care about her - side note I did let L know that Niki was having to go in and have this done and invited her over to spend some time with her and she said she would but then never showed up. So this morning I am taking Niki in to hopefully get better. It is like she went from the cage at Petco to being adopted by someone who wasn't really prepared to give her what she needed to now being adopted/rescued again by me. So - I am choosing her this time. After today she will be my cat - she will be part of my family - and she will be loved and cared for.

I will update this post tonight to let you know how she is doing.

De

I Decorated

OK - I put up some Christmas decorations. I got a tiny tree that came with lights already on it and I strung some lights in the window in my living room. There is now a corner of Christmas Spirit in my house. We'll see if everything is still standing in the morning - Buffy has taken an interest in the tree! She has already taken two balls from the tree and rolled them around the house.

De

Good Morning!

I was just too tired last night to blog. It was cold when I got home - I was tired - so I crawled underneath my big comfy blankets - turned on Big Bang Theory - and went to sleep. Month end is just about over so I should be getting back on a regular schedule.

Yesterday afternoon I did get an interesting call from L's Bama. She called and wanted to know what L had told me about the tattoo she got. I let her know that L had dropped by the house briefly on Sunday to show it to me - that it only cost her $80 - and that's about all I knew. She told me that when L got home on Sunday she told them that it had been a Christmas gift from her friend Kellie. Bama told me that one of the few rules they had was that L could not lie to them - that she needed to let them know what was going on. Not sure what happened last night when she got home. L definitely inherited the "I'm going to tell you what I think you want to hear" gene from her Dad. My hope is that one of these days she grows up and realizes that not telling the truth just gets her in more trouble. Bama also told me that L has to be out of their house by the first week in January and that she doesn't think L has done anything about finding a place. I reinforced to her that L is not coming back to my house. I just can't do it again.

On Sunday I was chatting online with my sister - she asked me if I had put up the Christmas Tree yet. Uh no! I haven't put a tree up in my house since L went to Montana - so hmmmm about 4 years. Colleen says I need to decorate because it will put me in a holiday mood. I need to figure out a way to get motivated to decorate without thinking about the dragging the boxes out from storage - hauling them up the 3 flights of stairs - then the taking everything down and hauling it back to storage after the holiday is over. Man - I sound like a Grinch. Also - I'm the only person in the house - it just doesn't seem as much fun to decorate the house when I'm the only one who will see it. Maybe I will put up some lights and some small decorations but no tree. Colleen - will that count as decorating?

De

L - #3

L called me this evening and said she needed to show me something and would be over in about 20 minutes. When she got here she showed me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tattoo #3!!! OMG!!! They just keep getting bigger and more out there. Yup - this one covers her right hip and is an homage to John Lennon - it is a gun shooting out a flag with a peace sign and the word Imagine written in script down through it. It's in the same purple and black colors as her "sweet" tattoo. All I could do was shake my head. I asked her how much - $80. I asked how she was able to get the money from her grandparents and she told me she hasn't been home since she got paid on Friday - which means she has had her whole paycheck all weekend. Hmm - wonder how much of that paycheck she has left. I know she called me on Friday to get directions to Bellevue Square - so she went shopping on Friday and got a Tattoo today. I'm guessing about half of that paycheck is gone.

I have been working on a beading project today. I haven't made any jewelry in a long time. I started working on a piece today and just felt all those creative juices start running again. I now have all these ideas running through my head - I can't work fast enough! I want to try and finish the piece I'm working on right now before bed so I will write more tomorrow.
De

Magic

It seems that the older I get the more I seem to have lost the magic that was once Christmas. I remember 3 weeks before Christmas I could hardly contain myself - the tree would be up - the lights would be on the house - and it didn't seem like Christmas could get here fast enough. Now it seems that Christmas gets here too fast - between closing out November and getting ready for year end - trying to come up with that something special to give your family - I just don't get that magical anticipation that I had. The innocence of childhood lost to all of the responsibilities of adulthood.

Then today I got to work at 630 and the lights were still out on our floor - which I love - and I looked out the window by my desk down onto Westlake Center and Macy's. There was that magic right before my eyes! It was in the bright light of the Macy's Star lit up in the dark morning and shining as bright as I believe the North Star shown on that beautiful night so long ago. Next to Macy's is Westlake Center where the city's Christmas Tree is all lit up - looking like it had been decorated with the kisses of angels and the glitter of fallen snow. And throughout the city all the trees lining the street had white lights in them to shine all around. Standing in the darkness of my office looking down at this scene I took a deep breath - This is the magic of Christmas.

Unexpected Visit

Well - tonight's blog was supposed to be about Christmas in Seattle - I took pictures from my office building today. That has been put on the back burner due to an unexpected visit from L - these never go well. Before I start in on tonight's events I need to let you know that she called me at work today just to bitch and complain about how she has no control over her own money - how her grandparents tell her that they are just doing what her Dad told them to do - she then proceeded to make some rather disrespectful remarks that I don't think I will post here. I stayed calm throughout the conversation until that point which is when I told her that that was enough - I wasn't going to get involved and she needed to talk to her Dad and her grandparents at the same time.
This now brings us to this evenings events. She called me when she got off work and asked what I was doing - just hanging and decompressing after work - are you cooking anything for dinner - no - do you have any leftovers I can have I'm so hungry - no - Have I gotten any mail lately - yes you have two magazines here - can I come by and get them - OK. (L's part of the conversation in blue and mine in green!!) So she got to the house - got her magazines and kinda just planted herself on the couch. She dropped quite a few hints about only having 1/4 of a tank of gas - she may have to call in sick to work because she may not have enough gas to work - hope she has enough to even make it home. I didn't fall for it - I just ignored it. She then helped herself to some cereal and yogurt - as usual she left things on the counter and after she left I realized the used bowl was sitting on the couch. But before she left she called her Dad - I only heard one half of the conversation but it was mostly the same things she tells me when she calls - how she is stressed because she doesn't have control of her money - it's her money - she may not have enough gas to get to work especially seeing as she has to drive uphill both ways and that uses more gas ( hmm uphill both ways - all she needed to add was 3 feet of snow and she would have had a story just like Papa's!) Anyways - from what I could hear it sounded like Alan was trying to stand his ground and was doing a pretty good job at it too. Then the waterworks started - big tears - heavy sobs - she sounded so pitiful. I have had an opportunity over that past two years to grow a thick skin to those tears - mostly gained in the last month she was at home. Alan hasn't had as much practice so I think he gave in a little - I'm not sure - but I did hear L tell her Dad that her grandparents will do whatever he says so could he just call them. Not sure how it was resolved but she was off the phone shortly after that. Of course one thing she never mentioned to him was the conversation I overheard her having with her friend Amber and the fact that she gets paid on Friday so they can do - you know - the same thing they do every weekend. I am sure this was "code" for smoking weed or more and I am sure she has been paying for it all which is why she has no money for gas.While she was on the phone with her Dad I hung out in the kitchen and did some baking - my stress reliever! Finance Department gets muffins tomorrow!
As she was leaving she made a remark about only being able to last 2 more weeks - if she has to stay longer she will die. Of course - is she doing anything to work on getting out of there - Nope - still waiting for someone to swoop in and rescue her. Not Gonna Be Me.

I am watching Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer right now which is helping me to destress - Mom - I thought of you - I hope you stayed up to watch it. I didn't know it was even on tonight until I turned on CBS to watch a different show.

Muffins are done and I am headed to bed. Tomorrow - barring anything unexpected - I will share pictures from my office and my theory on something from Fringe on Tuesday!

De

So Sad :(

Have you ever had a favorite food suddenly not be available? I went to QFC tonight on my way home - it was time to get my favorite holiday cookies - Mothers Gingerbread Boys. They come in the bag like the frosted animal cookies and they go fast. Last year they were gone in a week! I love these cookies - they are bite size Gingerbread Boys - and just the right amount of ginger flavor. I got to QFC - went and got milk and then headed to the cookie aisle. Last year they were in a display at the end of the aisle so I checked there first - hmmm nothing. Next I headed to the cookie aisle and walked the length of it. I couldn't find them. As I was making my second trip down the aisle in case I had just missed them I suddenly stopped - looked around - OMG - there weren't any Mothers Cookies. They had been replaced by the generic QFC brand - Franz. I need my ginger cookies - it's Christmas - I have had those cookies during the holidays for the last 4 to 5 years.

When I got home I decided to Google Mothers Cookies - sometimes on the actual company's website you can look up stores in your area that carry the brand. I Googled and the first article that came up was - Mother's Cookies Abruptly Shut Down!!! They abruptly closed down production and went out of business back in October!! No more Gingerbread Man Cookies - Circus Animal Cookies - Iced Oatmeal. It's like losing a part of my childhood. I remember when my sister and I were in High School - our parents went on a ski vacation and left us home alone. Mom left us money for groceries during the week. Both Colleen and I took some of the money and bought a big bag of Circus Animal Cookies each. We hadn't told each other we were going to do that so we each got our own bag. I did find a website where you can order some cookies before they are all gone. They are filling orders right now so you need to check back on Dec 5th to see what is still available. Of Course - no Gingerbread Men and the Circus Animals have limited availability.

So no Gingerbread Cookies - I'm going to have to find a new favorite. What was your favorite Mother's Cookie?

I am going to try and stay up tonight to watch Fringe - I will blog about any Fringe - Lost connections tomorrow if I see any. If I fall asleep I do have it scheduled to record so I will just watch it when I get home tomorrow night.

De

Month End Again!

Good Morning ~ Once again Month End is here. No matter how many times I complete the month end process it just keeps coming around!! Will it ever be completely done? I will probably die and go to Heaven and God will have me doing Month End processes!! I got in at 700 yesterday morning and left at 600. By the time I got home I was just too tired to blog. Now today I pulled in to the parking garage at 615!! I don't think the other people I work with are even up at 615! I drove in today because I missed the 5:54 bus by 1 minute and didn't want to wait a half an hour for the next bus. There was no traffic this early and I actually got to work before the 5:54 bus would have dropped me off.

Seattle is decorated for Christmas and I have a view of the Westlake Christmas Tree and the Macy's Star from the window by my desk. I will try to remember to bring my camera tomorrow and take a picture so you can see the view too.

Oh - another thing I love about getting in so early - the main lights aren't on yet so I get at least a good hour without all the fluorescent lighting - I could work like this all day but someone always comes in around 730 and turns on all the lights. **UPDATE** Someone turned the dang lights on at 652 :(

Oh well - back to the Month End Process!

De

**My online radio just went out so it is really quiet now - kinda spooky**

Internet Issues

I have been without Internet Connection today - ran into some issues with the main computer and the Internet connection. See - the main computer is in L's room. When I went in there today to finish doing some straightening I noticed that there was a message popped up on the desktop - it was a warning box stating that something was corrupt. I shut down the computer and then it wouldn't start back up - I had to search through the computer desk to find the start up disc. This is the second time that L has corrupted this computer - she has corrupted 3 computers in all - my PC Laptop, her old PC Laptop, and then this desktop twice. She is like a magnet for the blue screen of death. I have gotten everything restarted - there are still a few things that need to be reloaded but at least I am able to connect to the Internet again.

Why is it that when you are cleaning things out and trying to get organized the house seems to look worse than it did before. I have been working bit by bit this weekend to reorganize the house. I pulled all of my beads out of hiding and they are now sitting in the living room - I plan on putting them in L's room which is now the office/craft room - I still need to finish cleaning out L's room. I re-organized my kitchen which included pulling some items out of storage so now I have boxes in the dining area and hand-me-down items for L sitting on top of the boxes of her stuff. It's like having half done projects laying around the and it looks like I didn't accomplish anything this long weekend.

I think I almost need to take off a week just so I can get everything organized. I also need to break it down in to small projects instead of trying to get it all done at once.

De

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is over and now it's a 3-Day weekend! I spent Thanksgiving at my in-laws house with L - this is where she is living right now. Dinner was really good!! Roast, scalloped potatoes - made with real potatoes not boxed!! I didn't even know you could make those from scratch. We had lots of desserts too - the pumpkin and lemon tarts I made, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, and an apple cherry pie. L was pretty much her same old self. She was getting ready to head out to join up with friends and Bama asked her some questions about where she was going and L ended up stomping her way back to her room. I had an opportunity to talk to Bama about how things were going with L - she's following rules - coming home when she says she's going to be - not managing her money at all. I found out something very interesting. L has been calling me out of frustration saying how she has to ask for gas money - has no money in her account to cover anything she might need to get - that it's her money and she should have some control over it. Talking to Bama last night I found out that they give L $150 allowance each week from her paycheck to cover gas - food - incidentals. So when she comes a cryin to me about how poor she is and how she has to ask for every little bit of money she's telling me a great big story. She just runs through her $150 and then is upset because now she has to try and live on nothing until her next allowance. I also found out that they have told her she can stay with them until the first of the year and then she has to move out. She has done nothing to find a place on her own - she is an 18 year old with a 12 year old maturity. I guess they set up a family meeting time with her to see if they could come up with a plan where she could work things out with me - L says she misses being at home and wants to come back - the day they were going to talk, L just went straight to her room. I told Merilyn that at this time there is nothing L could do - she is not coming back to live here.

This morning I got up at 800 and was out of the house by 930 - no I did not go shopping to hit the after Thanksgiving sales - I had to go to the Klahanie Vet and get Muppets meds. I had called Tuesday morning to get them but when I went by on Wednesday they hadn't put them together and the Vet was already gone for the day. So I grabbed them this morning - don't want her having any seizures this weekend. After that I decided to go grab a Starbucks - it was very very crowded - and they got my drink wrong which I didn't notice until I got to the car. I wasn't go back in though I just wanted to get back to the safety and uncrowdedness (not sure if that's a word!) of my home. Today is going to be a catch up on Tivo'd shows and do some chores day. Love long weekends!

De

OMG! Grocery Stores!

Going to the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving is just plain crazy!! I wasn't even planning on going but on my drive home from work today I realized I needed evaporated milk for the Pumpkin Tarts. I though - no big deal - it's only 430 - I just need to run in and grab 1 thing - I should be in and out in no time. The parking lot should have been my first sign that it was not going to go that easily. There was absolutely no parking - I went up and down a few aisles before I finally came across a car backing out. I grabbed the spot - grabbed a cart - headed in to the store. It was crowded and shoppers seemed to be off in their own little worlds. I circled around to the back of the store and made my way to the baking aisle. I wheeled my cart around other people and made my way to the evaporated milk. I grabbed the 2 cans that I needed and started down to the end of the aisle. I only got so far and then I couldn't escape - why you may ask - because of this oblivious lady who had her cart parked right smack in the middle of the aisle right at the very end. There was no way to go around her on either side of her and it wasn't like she was going to just grab something and then get going - she was looking at candles - picking on e up - sniffing it - checking the price - picking up another one - repeat!!!! She was completely ignorant of the fact that she had a back up of people trying to get out of the aisle and then another line of people trying to get in. A lady who was beside me decided she wasn't going to wait and just moved her cart between the ladies cart and the shelves - moving the other cart out of the way. The candle lady was not very happy about that - but for cryin out loud - the day before Thanksgiving in a grocery store you can't just park your cart in the middle. Once I got out of that aisle I decided there were a couple more things I could pick up as long as I was there - by the time I got out of the store I was fit to be tied!! Too many people!!

I headed toward home and stopped to get the mail - no problems there - but when I drove away from the mail boxes I came across a driver who just either wasn't paying attention or felt they should just have the right of way no matter what they were doing. The car was coming towards me and turned in front of me to pull in to a parking spot - the driver must not have liked how they pulled in to the spot because they decided to throw the car in reverse and pull right back out just as I was driving past - they never even stopped - I had to slam on my brakes just in time to avoid getting backed in to. I was like - What The Hell!! Can you not see my car - I have my lights on - you had to have seen me when you turned right in front of me!! I quickly parked my car - grabbed my groceries and headed in. Safely in my own home - away form the crazy people!!

Work was crazy today and so was my visit to the vets but I will leave those for another day. I'm heading to get into my comfortable clothes and sit back for the rest of the evening. I will get up in the morning to do my baking.

Happy Thanksgiving!

De

Fringe - Lost Connection

One of my new favorite shows this season is Fringe. It is written by the same people that write Lost - another one of my favorite shows. Tonight as I was watching Fringe I saw what some people like to call an Easter Egg - this is when the writers and/or directors put little surprises in their shows to see if people catch them. An example of this would be in the movie Toy Story when they had the tool box say Binford Tools as a kind of shout out to the fact that Tim Allen was the voice of Woody. In tonight's episode of Fringe the "Easter Egg" I saw was at the beginning when Olivia was going through the victims apartment and mentioned that he had purchased a plane ticket - when the camera panned down to the ticket it was for a trip on Oceanic Air!! If you are a fan of Lost then you know that Oceanic Air is the plane that crashes! Thank Goodness for the rewind on my TV - I saw it but I wasn't sure so I hit rewind and sure enough - the ticket was for Oceanic Air. Not sure why - but this made me laugh!! I like when I catch little things like that.

I'm going back to the show to see if I catch anything else!!

De

**Note to Mom - Brooke Burke won Dancing With The Stars!**

I'm Just Tired

Well - L came by last night to pick up some mail. She got another letter from Mikey - the friend that is incarcerated. This letter informed her that by the time she got it he will have been transfer ed to Walla Walla which is where he will reside for the rest of his sentence - 7+ more years. Let me just say Yay - she won't be visiting him any time soon! She hung out for about 30 min - she didn't have anywhere to go.

She called me this morning crying - tears of frustration. She was low on gas - needed to fill her tank - had to ask for money - was told no. I don't know all that is going on or what agreements were made in order for her to stay with her grandparents so I told her I wasn't going to get involved. She said she is 18 and doesn't need to be babysat in order to manage her money. I told her that it seemed like she did because she got another overdraft notice in the mail yesterday. This one was for the check she had sent in for the ticket she got last month. She put $124 in her account - wrote the city of Seattle a check - then proceeded to spend the money in her account before the check cleared. She tried to make it the City of Seattle's fault because it took them so long to cash the check. I asked her if she checked her account to make sure everything cleared before she spent money - she didn't seem to get it that she needed to deduct the check amount from her balance until it cleared. So now - not only does she still owe for the ticket - she has overdraft fees to cover - she is almost on empty in her car - she doesn't get paid until next Friday 12/5 - and she hasn't been working full 40 hour weeks due to staffing at work so her paycheck is going to be smaller. I asked her about that part yesterday to see if she was planning on looking for an additional job and/or a new job and the answer was a blank stare and a no. The conversation ended with me telling her that it seemed like she needed to be babysat - she said I don't want to hear things like that - I told her that maybe she needed to talk to someone else then because I wasn't going to be very sympathetic. Not sure how much of that last line she heard because she hung up on me.

I am scheduled to go to her Grandparents house for Thanksgiving - not sure how that is going to go. I advised L that she needed to get her grandparents and her Dad on the phone with her at the same time so they can make sure they all understand what has been agreed to and what the repercussions are for not following the agreement.

This on top of having one of those - I Hate My Life Days - has not made for a good nor productive Tuesday. I drove in today and just want to head home - crawl under the blankets - and sleep the rest of the day.

De

Twilight Movie

I saw the movie Twilight yesterday. My review may upset some people - I thought it was just OK. I felt you could tell that it was a small studio low budget film. There was also so much more in the book that they didn't have in the movie. It seemed like the first half of the movie spent more time showing the scenery than actually telling the story. I got my Twilight fix from the movie but it left me needing more - I may have to read the book again. I hope that with this movie is doing so well they will have a bigger budget for the next one and it will be better. If you have seen the movie let me know what you thought of it.

I am seriously addicted to watching the Shiba Inu Puppies on the net. They are so cute and I love to watch them play - rough house - sleep. It is just relaxing - calming - especially with the economy the way it is - it's a nice free past time that helps you to forget everything else. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam

I am at work this morning - almost emailed in sick as I'm not feeling 100% - but 3-day work week right before month end I have too much stuff to do. Not to mention the fact I need to collect on my Apple Cup bets!!

De

Cougar Pride Baby!!!!!!!

Cougar Pride!!! Apple Cup Winners!!!!!

I have to tell ya - I woke up this morning at 11 and I wasn't feeling very well. I watched the first quarter of play and then I fell asleep. I woke up with a little over 2 min left in the 4th Quarter. Oh man - score 10 - 7 and the Cougs needing to make it down the field. We didn't and it was now up to the defense to stop the Huskies with enough time left over for us ot try and make a good play. We got the ball back with 54 seconds on the clock and I really thought the game was over. Who would have thought that this years Coug team could move the ball down the field - have it together enough to line up and spike the ball leaving 2 seconds on the clock - get that kicking team on the field and tie up the game!!! 2 exciting OTs later and the Cougs win the Apple Cup!! The best video clip will be Coach Paul Wulff skipping and leaping out on to the field like a little kid after the winning field goal!!

I won 4 bets on this game!!!!! $5 each from Tony, Divina, and David!!! Bj will be picking up the tab for my Starbucks Breakfast on Monday!!

A very exciting Saturday!! Bragging Rights for the next year!!

De

Short and Sweet

Tomorrow we are having an Apple Cup Tailgate Party in Finance - all day grazing! I am bringing Cougar Gold Cheese and I made my traditional WSU Sugar Cookies! Fun Fun Fun! I will be wearing my Cougar Jersey and just showing my Cougar Pride!!

I have really been enjoying getting to work early - I get through all my emails and get started on work before anyone else gets there. Then - I get to leave for home while it's still light outside. I have been able to get a lot done at home which is really nice.

Not much else to write about today!

De

Apples Apples Apples!!!!

Day 3 of wearing the Crimson and Gray!! I wore my T-Shirt today that says - Warning: Hard Core Cougar Fan! You have to be hard core to be seen in your school colors these days. Looking forward to this weekends game is like looking forward to watching a car accident! So horrible but you just can't look away. I will be sitting at home watching the game. I need the Cougs to win for Cougar Pride and for my bank account - I have 3 Bets at $5 a piece and a 4th bet for Starbucks.

To get in the Apple mood I made homemade applesauce tonight. It was easier than I thought it would be and it tastes really good. It was easy for me - I dug out my Pampered Chef Apple Peeler-Corer-Slicer which was a God send. I don't think I would have had the patience to peel and slice all those apples by hand. For dinner I made a meal I remembered from when I was little - Hamburger w/Gravy over mashed potatoes. Tastes just as good as I remembered.

Haven't really heard from L much this week. She ran in and out Monday night to grab her work shirt that she had left here on Saturday. I spoke with her briefly today - she called me on her break - I was working so it was a short conversation.

All In All it was a good day - no drama and I got to cook when I got home!

De

**Apple Cup Trash Talk of The Day:

Bow Wow To Washington (sung to the tune of Bow Down To Washington)

Bow Wow To Washington

Bow Wow To Washington

Heaven help the slobs at Washington

Their falling on their knees at mighty Washington

The boys have come to play, but only for the pay

They never sign the dotted line without a Chevrolet

Oh subsidies the cry at Washington

They never win a game without a referee

And over the land the greasy band will leave a trail to Washington forever

Too Cute - Too Funny

I heard about this website on the Internet but didn't realize how incredibly cute it was until I started watching it today. If you just need to put a smile on your face just watch this!

The Bottom 10 came out today on the ESPN Website - UW Huskies are listed as the absolute worst team and WSU is second. So if ESPN thinks UW is the worst team why are they picked to win this weekend?!?! ESPN has dubbed the game as The Crapple Cup - it will help settle one of the nations hot topics - Who is worse Huskies or Cougs!! It's great to have national coverage - wish it was for being one of the best teams and not who will end up at the bottom of the pile.

And Now For Some Jokes!!

Q: What do the Huskies and Billy Graham have in common?
A: They both can make 60,000 people stand up and yell "Jesus Christ."

Q: What's the difference between a litter of puppies and UW fans?
A: Eventually puppies grow up and stop whining.

Q: What does the average UW player get on his SAT's?
A: Drool.

Q: Why did they have to cancel the Christmas play at UW last year?
A: They couldn't find 3 wise men and a virgin.

Q: What does it say on the bottom of Coke bottles at UW?
A: Open other end.

Stay Tuned For More Apple Cup Humor!!
De

Bender Has Been Suspended

My favorite morning show in Washington is the Jackie and Bender show on KISS 106.1. Last Friday Bender was pulled out of the studio by Big Boss Becky and we were later informed that he had been suspended for something he had said or done - he wouldn't apologize on air so he was going to be suspended. I spent part of the weekend seeing if I could find out any information on the Internet. Yesterday morning I anxiously awaited the explanation for the suspension.

Yes . . . . . . .Bender has been suspended . . . . . . . . . . he is suspended 65 feet over the Mayflower Truck in the Top Foods parking lot in Edmonds 21900 Hwy 99! Every year right before Thanksgiving Jackie and Bender do a food drive called Thanksgiving on The Mayflower. One of the personalities spends 24 hours a day on top of a Mayflower Truck trying to get the truck filled with donations. This year they don't have much time and with the hard economic times that have hit our area they wanted to make sure there was a lot of buzz surrounding this event. So - Bender is suspended 65 feet above the truck until tomorrow morning at 730. If you are in the area please go to the Top Foods in Edmonds and donate some food. If you can't get up there you can go to jackieandbender.com and donate money online. I'm glad it is just part of this stunt. I was starting to think I was going to have to change radio stations. Jackie and Bender just wouldn't be the same as just Jackie.

Now - as the Seattle Times has put this week - Counting Down To The Rotten Apple Cup! This was their top comment:

1. The Rotten Apple Cup Comment: What happens when bad meets worse? An intriguing game of terrible, we hope. And, by the way, which one is bad and which one is worse?

According to the odds makers in Vegas WSU is worse. They have the Huskies favored by 8 1/2 points. Unbelievable! The game is in Pullman - we have won a game this year - . .. hmmmm that's all I can come up with!

Let The Apple Cup Week Festivities begin!

De

Time For an L Update

I got to spend some time with L this weekend. You know what - not much has changed.

She stayed with me on Friday night so that she could follow me up to La Conner on Saturday. Well - I should say she crashed here on Friday night. She came by around 700 - stayed here until she could hook up with a friend - she was waiting for a message - she indicated to one of her other friends that they were waiting for this persons neighbor to come home. I'm guessing they needed him for either weed or alcohol. She headed out around 900 - said she would wake me up when she came back in. I got up at 800 in the morning and she was crashed on my couch - nope she didn't wake me up - said she got in around 100 but I don't believe that - why? - well I fell asleep on the couch and headed to my room around 1230 and didn't fall back to sleep until sometime after 100. She got up Saturday and started right in complaining that there was nothing to do - I had told her we weren't leaving for La Conner until around noon so I don't know what she was expecting. She headed out to see a friend and came back around noon. Now - per the previous blog - we didn't set out for La Conner at 1230 we ended up leaving around 145. We got gas and headed on up.

We got to Nana and Papa's around 315 and by 330 L was already being rude and complaining - let's see - the Internet didn't work on her iPod touch - she was starving - when was dinner going to be ready - she came up there for dinner why wasn't it ready. She then got on the phone with her friend Bri - whom she was to hook up with later in the evening - and I'm not sure what they were talking about but I had my suspicions. Let's see - how many people are going to be there - what? I', not sharing my shit with that many people - you know me - I said I would share with just a couple but I'm not sharing with all those people. Where are we going to go - where are we going to stay the night - there's a party out at Alki we could probably hook up with people out there. Dinner was then ready and I have never seen someone wolf down a turkey dinner so fast. We were still eating when she was done and already back on the phone with Bri letting her know she was about to leave. Nana cut her some pie - she ate it and out the door she went. I swear - you would have though I had forced her to come up to their house - I let her know she was more than welcome and she was the one who made the choice to come on up.

I can answer one question about her conversation with Bri - they ended up having nowhere to stay last night. How do I know - well that would be because my cell phone rang at 400 this morning and she said her and Bri were sleeping in her car and it was really uncomfortable could she come in and sleep on the couch - uh L how do you plan on getting in - I thought you could unlock the door - a little difficult seeing as I am still at Nana and Papas - Oh yeah, I forgot you stayed there. . . . . . click. I found out later that she called her Grandparents after me and they ended up letting her and Bri in to their house to sleep.

Not much has changed - she is still rude - the world should revolve around her - and when she doesn't make plans it is someone's job to bail her out.

De

Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone

And we thought my life and Blog might get boring now that L is not living with me anymore. Enter. . . . . . . . . . . . Muppet!!

Yesterday when we were getting ready to head up to Mom and Dad's house Muppet decided to make a little excitement. I was loading things into the cart and clearing out some of the garbage that had accumulated. Muppet went down to the other end of the Condo building to relieve herself. I was keeping an eye on her - put a few things in the garbage bag - look up to make sure was still on the grass. I looked away for a split second - looked back up and she was gone. I ran down to where she had been and there was no sign of her - I could see some wet paw prints where I had last seen her but they didn't lead anywhere. I started calling for her and looking around. L drove up at that time and I told her I had lost Muppet - we both started looking. We walked all over the complex calling for her - I went up and down stair to other units because she gets confused and goes up the wrong stairs sometimes. I walked along the sidewalks in front of the complex and asked other dog walkers if they had seen her. Two of my neighbors - even the mean old grouchy one downstairs - helped to look around for her. We searched for 45 min to an hour and could not find her. L and I were standing by my car and I was crying - thinking someone may have taken her - worried that she was lost and would have a seizure because she didn't have her meds. All of a sudden we heard one small quick bark - definitely belonged to Muppet. We both took off looking around for her again. I went down by the dumpster and went up the stairs to the units by there. There she was - sitting at the top of the stairs not moving just sitting like she was waiting for me to find her!! I was so relieved and hugged her and then told her to never do that again because she had scared the crap out of me. Sometimes that dog can be so stupid and irritating - she had been there the whole time - didn't make any noise when I was calling for her and didn't come running. It was like a game of hide - n - seek that I didn't know I was playing!

Lesson - Muppet doesn't get to be outside without a leash anymore!

De

This is Muppet - I am not the stupid one - Mom is! I did what Mom's always tell there children - if you get lost just stay where you are and wait for Mom to come and find you. It's not my fault that I was at the top of the one set of stairs she didn't come up looking for me! I just sat up there and watched her walk all over the place calling my name - I stayed put just like she said! I was very happy when she finally found me though! I was getting a little nervous and I couldn't stop shaking once she was holding me. I don't like getting lost. Why do all the sets of stairs have to look the same!! If ours were somehow different I wouldn't keep going the wrong way!
I am glad to be home though!

Muppet!

Incarcerated

I am sitting here trying to think of something exciting and/or profound to write . . . . . . . I'm drawing a blank! Today was a pretty normal day - no drama!

L stopped by briefly tonight to pick up some of her Senior Pictures. She got a letter in the mail yesterday from our of the guys she hung around with about a year and a half ago - one of the Kirkland rats. You're probably thinking - wow an actual letter I thought kids these days only communicated via text or Internet. Well there is a reason why it was in letter form - you see this friend of hers - Mikey - is a "guest" at the Washington Correctional Institute in Shelton. He will be there for the next 9 - 12 years. You see - Mikey wanted to be accepted by this group of guys he wanted to hang around with so one night in 2007 while driving around with these "friends" he decided to jump a guy - stab him - and take his iPod. He stabbed a guy who was walking home - this person survived - after he stabbed him they drove off but then decided to come back and see if the iPod was still at the scene. It wasn't but the cops were there waiting for them. L's attitude concerns me - she still feels like oh poor Mikey. He sent along a form for L to fill out so she could be put on his visitor list. She filled it out and is sending it back along with a letter and pictures. I guess at least he's in jail for 9 years so it's not like he's going to be hanging around any time soon.

De

RIP Charlotte . . . . . . . . . . . .

She had to leave us - she was really starting to creep me out. She was getting fatter and juicier and just hanging there over my door. L stopped by tonight to pick up some mail - when I opened the door for her she was standing over to the side and staring up at Charlotte. She moved quickly into the condo! When it was time for her to leave she opened the door and was standing there talking to me - I said don't let Charlotte getcha and she squealed! She then went and got our trust creepy bug killer - a spray bottle of kitchen cleaner. She sprayed Charlotte and soaked her but Charlotte just crawled up the wall and went into the crack between the siding and the roof. L headed downstairs and I had to get Buffy - who had made yet another break for it. Buf wouldn't come in so I had to reach out and grab her - just as I grabbed Buf and pulled her into the doorway and was standing up Charlotte dropped down right in front of me and hung there in the middle of the doorway. She dropped - I screeched - L squealed. I closed the door - grabbed my cell and called L. I told her what happened - she told me to smack her with two shoes - I told her to get her ass back up here and do it - she told me to do it quickly - What happens if I miss her and she drops on me. I opened the door and Charlotte wasn't there anymore - I was about ready to get really creeped out when I saw her on the ground - squish and gone. When she dropped from the ceiling she was so close to landing in my hair - I now have the heebie jeebies and keep thinking I feel spiders crawling on me.

Gotta go check the covers onthe bed to make sure nothing is hiding in there ready to bite me! :)

De

The Battle of The Anti-Bodies!!

I think my body might be winning! I am feeling a little better tonight - either my body is winning or else the Advil I took is wonderful! Hopefully one more good night sleep will do it.

I was talking to someone today about L not living with me anymore and it suddenly hit me - if L isn't here anymore what am I going to write about. I need to start doing some exciting things or else I will get boring and you - my readers - will get bored! Nothing excited happened today - I will keep my eyes opened tomorrow so I have something to write about.

I do have my own little Charlotte living above my door - well maybe I should say I did have my own Charlotte. No - I didn't kill it. She showed up last week and I have been keeping an eye on her - every time I go to leave the house and every time I come home I check to see that she's there and I make sure I am not standing directly under her when I unlock and open the door - I don't want her jumping down on to me. I contemplated knocking her down but I don't do well with spiders that are up high - I just get shivers up and down my spine thinking about how it is going to crawl down what ever I am using to knock down the web and bite me. Tonight when I got home Charlotte was in her regular spot - when I left to take Muppet out to go potty she was there - we were only outside for 1 minute and when we got back up to the door . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte was gone. Dang it - not that I'm sad or going to miss her - but I don't like it when I know a spider was there and now it's gone. Where the hell did she go? Is she in my house - is she just hiding - did she jump onto me without me knowing. It is giving me the heebie jeebies!!!! I will let you know if she shows back up. She better not be laying eggs somewhere.

De

Just Another Monday

I was going to write about my day - nothing much happened and the cold is still trying to gain control of the body - but then I watched what has to be the funniest show on TV - Big Bang Theory! I know I have written about this show before but tonight had to have been the best episode of the season. I laughed out loud at least 3 times during this 1/2 hour show. I'm telling you - if you haven't watched this show you really need to!! Sheldon is hilarious and Penny is great.

I went to Costco after work today - I picked up some of the Butternut Squash Ravioli that I had at Lyd's house on Saturday - Prego Spaghetti Sauce - Canned Pumpkin - a Chicken for Dinner and for sandwiches this week. I was doing so well - only get nutritional items - and then I heard them calling - little tiny voices saying - we're so sweet - we're so gummy - we're so tasty - we know you like to bite our little heads off when you're stressed - I couldn't resist - I purchased a big bag of Gummy Bears! I also found a couple Xmas gifts too - not going to say what they are or who they're for!!!

I am going to head to bed and hope my body kicks this colds ass while I'm asleep.

De

News At 11 EST

The 500 News was preempted due to a much needed nap! My body is working furiously to fight off the first cold/flu of the season - it may be losing the battle. Here are the tops news stories from this weekend:

1. L called me at 800 yesterday morning - yes I said 8! From the gal that was usually just heading to bed at that time on weekend. Luckily I had already been up for a few hours so she didn't wake me with the call and I was able to think. She had some questions about how much I paid each month for cable, Internet, and power. I had to look up my bills on line for the cable and Internet because I am billed for them plus my home phone on one bill each month and I didn't know what the break down was. When she asked me about the power I said - well, if you leave the lights and TV on all the time and bump the heat every time you get a chill it will run you about 80+ a month! She responded with - OK so 80+ on the high end - I won't be leaving everything on. Hmmm......once it becomes your own money you understand why the parents were constantly turning off the lights behind you and telling you to go put on a sweater. Yes Dad - I finally understand!
2. WSU Football - Dads Weekend - Arizona in Pullman. I was so excited! No - we didn't win - but we only lost by 31 points!!! Our opponents may have scored 59 points but we scored 28 points! So we weren't shut out and we ended our streak of losing by 50+ points! Apple Cup in 2 weeks! Aren't you getting excited!
3. Last night I went to Lyd's house for dinner and then we went to a jewelry party at Bonnie's. The jewelry was really nice but a little bit too pricey for me. I did take one of the catalogues home though - not to purchase items later - but to look at the designs because I think I can make cheaper knock-offs for people for Christmas! Now that I have an extra room I am going to get out all of my beads - take stock of everything I have - and get back to designing.
   
4. I met L for lunch today. we met at Target first - I needed to pick up a few things. we then went to Ross - I told L if she could find a cheap pair of black pants I would get them for her for work. She found a pair for $10 - can't get any cheaper than that. We then headed to Red Robin for lunch. It was a nice day - no arguments - she was very polite and actually pretty nice to spend the day with. I got a hug in Target and then when she left I got an I Love You! She is going to come with me this coming Saturday to have an early Thanksgiving Dinner with Nana and Papa.

Those are the top news stories of the day - now to De for the weather! Rain - Rain - and More Rain - with a little bit of Rain!

This is De with the De and L 1100 (EST) News - Good night!

Coming Up On The News At 5!

1. Spoke with L Saturday morning about items that need to be budgeted for.
2. WSU Football Game
3. Jewelry Party with Lyd
4. Meeting L for lunch this afternoon.

Stay Tuned for these stories and more on the News at 5!

De

Yay Friday!!!!!!!

I think that pretty much sums it all up!

De

They Are A Blessing

My In-Laws are an absolute blessing - I'm sure not many people who have gone through a divorce can say the same - I am very lucky. L has been staying with them for almost two weeks now. She is following the weekday curfew - has been getting up on her own - getting to work on time - pretty much following the rules. Today I found out that they are working on getting her to realize what a budget is and that you have to think first before you buy. How are they doing this you may ask - What I understand from talking to L this morning is - yesterday was her payday and she had to give her whole check to Bama and Bepa. If she needs money she must talk to them and discuss what it is she thinks she needs and what she is planning on spending the money on. What an absolutely wonderful idea. We all know if I had tried this with her it would have been a very ugly scene. I truly hope L takes this opportunity to learn how to manage her money and to see what it takes to stretch a paycheck to last the whole month. I am so grateful for the Householders. I honestly believe this is a blessing in disguise.

Tomorrow is Friday! This week started out slow but Friday is finally here. I was up early again today - wide awake at 430! I didn't get right up though. I laid in bed - watched the news - and played with Muppet. It was a very relaxing way to get up and start the day. No jarring alarm - no rushing around so as not to miss the bus. When I take Muppet out that early it is so quiet . . . . .no sounds coming from cars or other condos . . . a little eerie but also peaceful.

It is just about bedtime for me!!

De

****Enjoy this pic of Lindsay with Ann Curry from the Today Show****

Being A Part of History

History has been made - Barack Obama has been elected as our next President. Yay!! The Washington Governor's race didn't go as well for me. I find it unbelievable that the results weren't even close - that Christine Gregoire won a second term even though during the last 4 years she put our state in to debt by 3.2 Billion Dollars!! I think if she were the CFO of a private company she would probably have lost her job by now. Sometimes I just can't believe the voters in this state - then again these are the same people that voted in 3 more levies that will raise taxes and the same ones that keep re-electing Greg Nickles as the Mayor of Seattle. Man - I think I need to move!

I am still having issues with the time change. I was up and out of the house by 600 this morning and at work with the computer on by 630. I got so much done in the first two hours this morning with no one else in the office - it was quiet and actually relaxing. I was off work by 300 - it was actually still light out! I got home and took Niki to her vet appointment - her mouth sores are back - so she got another cortisone shot. Dr Hougham is going to talk to an Animal Dentist and see what our options are. She doesn't need to be put to sleep - we just need to find a way for her to be comfortable. I swear - this is the house of misfit pets - kinda like that island of misfit toys in Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - maybe Santa will bring Niki a new mouth - Muppet a new brain - Buffy a new ...actually Buffy doesn't need a new anything she needs some of her energy to be removed. Dear Santa . . . . . . . . .

L called me this morning during her morning break at work. She just wanted to chat. We talked about how she's been - work - she said maybe we could get together this weekend and she would give me a call. It made me smile!

I was going to bake tonight but my energy high from earlier in the day has gone away. I am getting sleepy and may just head to bed soon. OMG - up early - early to bed -I think I've become my Mom!!!

De

Election Day

Not much to post about today. I was up early this morning - headed to my polling place and voted before work. There was a line before the doors opened but then we broke into different lines based on our precincts - i was 3rd in line for my precinct. I signed in - got my slip of paper - went to the electronic voting booth - and placed my vote. It was all very exciting!

Then it was off to work. I am doing very well on getting my month end items completed - I am actually a little ahead - knock on wood!!

This time change has thrown my internal clock all out of whack. Getting dark so early makes me sleepy! I don't think I am going to be able to stay up until they announce who won the election. I guess I will wake up tomorrow morning and find out who the next president is going to be. I am sure we won't know who the next Governor of WA is for awhile though - which is the race I am anxious to find out the outcome of.

Heading to bed -

De