Another Wandering Adventure...

Deb had a day off on Sunday, and we had decided to get up early, have our breakfast and head out toward Chain O'Lakes State Park to check it out for future camping adventures. I woke around 5am did my usual trip to the loo and then headed to the recliner for a bit more of a snooze. I remember hearing Deb's alarm go off, but then i clearly drifted back off to sleep to the sound of the local news. A while later i woke up and heard Deb say - from the kitchen - what i thought was, "Mmm, that's some really great juice."(but later she claimed that she said something about bacon??)...after hearing what i thought was a juice comment, i looked over on the table next to the recliner to see a small glass of juice...oh! how nice!! I drank the bit of orange juice and it was indeed quite nice. I drifted back off to sleep. Another bit later i woke up to find a cup of fresh coffee where the empty juice glass had been. Hmmm. Wow, a girl could get used to this! I took a few sips of the very hot coffee and drifted back off again. Another short bit later i was startled awake by my cute, brown-eyed - butch, delivering my bday breakfast. YUM!! A lovely omelette stuffed with; sautéed onion-green pepper & mushroom, crumbled crisp bacon and colby/jack cheese. Mmmm. The rest of the plate was filled with Deb's fabulous breakfast potatoes. Ohhhh, heaven!! I have no idea how she makes those potatoes, i could never duplicate them, they are amazing!! That's all i know.

After our wonderful breakfast, we got ready to hit the road. Got dressed & refreshed, gathered up extra sweatshirt, pillow for behind back (just in case), knitting bag, and purse and headed out the door. We stopped at a local gas station to purchase a map stricly for Northern Indiana so that we could plan our route better. We decided to take Route 6 all the way across through Westville, Walkerton, Bremen, Nappanee, Syracuse, & Ligonier and then to turn South on Route 9 at Albion until we came to the Chain O'Lakes Entrance. And off we went!

We often take drives like these to go and check out other campgrounds. It makes paying for our Yearly State Park Pass worth the $28. We like to wander our way along different roads looking at houses and yards, Deb's eyes trained to seek out Antique Tractors - my eyes, newly seeking out the local Yarn Shop!! I really enjoyed seeing all of the calves and foals along the way as we drove through Amish Country. I often forget how hilly Indiana is in places, it makes me long to be back in Massachusetts. The area really is in great need of rain. Many of the corn fields we saw had plants that were only about 2 inches high so far, i don't know if they'll make it to "knee high by Fourth O'July" as the saying goes.

When we arrived at Chain O'Lakes, we got the park brochure from the Main Entrance Gatehouse and began to explore the grounds. The park is much larger than the Indiana Dunes State Park that we live near. We drove around past all of the lakes, checked out their cabins, noticed that they have boat rentals, and headed for the campground to check it out. Denied! They would not let us in to drive around during the Holiday Weekend when they were full to capacity! If we wanted to check out the campground we would have to park in their auxiliary parking lot and walk in. Well crap. My mobility being what it is, that's impossible. i offered to stay behind and knit if Deb wanted to walk in and look around, but she thought that would be no fun without me. We did get to look at a few of the sites along the edge and we were able to determine that there are plenty of shade trees, which is always one of my camping criteria since i am a pasty-pale-easy-burn kinda gal. (We did not however, know until today that they do indeed have our beloved 'primitive' camping sites - which are always cheaper and farther away from loud generator-using-mobiles that annoy my peaceful- camping-state-of-mind!! So, YAY !!!!)

After being denied at the campground, we continued our drive through the property and stumbled upon the Nature Center. It was very busy and crowded with lots of people so i opted to mill about by the parking lot while Deb went in. I got out to stretch my legs and read a sign that was posted about "White-Tale Deer" and then i actually fiddle with my cell-phone and figured out how to take outdoor pictures (not that i know how to put them online or anything...) and i took a few closeup pictures of some different wildflowers and of some birdhouses and the funky sky that was looking like rain. Then i went back to the car and was able to knit about 6 rows or so before Deb came back all happy and smiling. She had managed to find some brochures which proved that our back yard is not totally run over with poison ivy!! There is a bit, but not as much as she was dreading. So now she can happily go out and mow the back and not have to worry about becoming an itch monster! She also came back with a handy pamphlet on the wildflowers, i only wish it contained color photos of the plants rather than pencil sketches, but it's better than nothing. According to the pamphlet, the lovely purple, pink & white flowering wildflower plants that we were seeing scattered along the roadside is plant called "Selfheal". It really is lovely, especially in the places where it was the groundcover from the road up a hillside and into the trees. Really wish i'd have had a camera for that view, bummer.

After the Nature Center we wound our way around near the beach and picnic areas which were very lively with families enjoying the fresh air of the day. We were quite lucky to have actually found one lone, empty picnic table and we parked the car and decided we would go and sit a while and enjoy the fresh air while chatting and while i knitted and Deb crocheted. We no sooner had settled ourselves onto the picnic table with our bags and it started to rain. Oh bother! So, since we were both getting hungry, we just got back into the car and decided to head out of the park. We paused only long enough to figure out which route we wanted to take and then off we went. We decided to take 9 to 33 and head toward South Bend where we could stop off at the South Bend Chocolate Company for some Chai and Chocolates and a bit of yarn work. (Hmm, little did i know until searching for this link that there are so many other locations!! Fabulous!) We altered our driving course a bit when i remembered that there is a Chocolate Café with more space and more seating located in downtown Valparaiso not to mention that there is also a LYS somewhere there as well and i wanted to find it!! So we took Route 2 out of South Bend and headed on...Alas, by the time we arrived at the covetted chocolate shop, with it being Sunday evening, it was closed and i'm sure had we found the LYS it too would have been closed as well. We drove around a bit looking for the LYS and never did find it but since that time i've learned that it's within another shop AND either next door to the chocolate shop or 1-2 doors away!!! YIKES!!! Needless to say, there will be another outing before too long.

So, on to the current/first knitting project...i'm making a poncho for my niece Sydney. I know, i know, "a poncho" you say? "Those are on their way back out!"...but i was slow to jump on the poncho wagon and so i'm catching up, so sue me! Sydney's favorite colors once again in case you missed the other post where i got that info out of her, are hot pink and neon green and black. So i had picked up three skeins each of Caron Simply Soft Brites in "watermelon" and "limelight" as the colors for her poncho. I've never worked with Caron yarns before and even though it is acrylic, it's working up very nicely and is very soft to the touch. I'm trying to follow a pattern i found on Lion Brand's website but when i first cast on for the largest of the sizes noted on the pattern, it just didn't seem like it was going to be big enough so i cast on double the amount and it still doesn't seem like it will be big enough for her, last i knew she was wearing girls sized 12 clothing...so i'm hoping it works out!! I'm making a decreasing stipe pattern starting with the hot pink...large stripe of hot pink, very thin stripe of neon green into decreasing large stripe of pink until the pink and green is of even width stripe and then it will go into larger stripes of green with tiny stripes of pink. There is a placemat pattern in the little "how to knit" magazine that i picked up at Hobby Lobby that uses the same striping type pattern and it really looks neat...so i'm hoping it looks neat in a poncho form!! I swear i'll find a way to get a picture of finished item before it gets given away!!

Well, i've been away from my knitting for far too long so i best head back before little elves come and unravel any bit of it. Thanks for stopping by Dear Reader and enjoy your afternoon!!

~Suz~

Inside the Actors Studio

Inside the Actors Studio questions:

Great Idea!! I found this on one of the knitting blogs that i'm oh so addicted to reading and so i snatched it right up and decided to post it here. (Note: That's Will Ferrell as James Lipton in the pic i stole too). So here they are...

1. What is your favorite word? obsequious

2. What is your least favorite word? no

3. What turns you on creatively, emotionally, spiritually? Creatively: a new stash of yarn. Emotionally: Music, anything that makes my heart remember. Spiritually: Being outdoors and in nature.

4. What turns you off? People who never look past the surface.

5. What is your favorite curse word? It's more of a curse phrase...oh for shit's sake.

6. What sound or noise do you love? Morning Doves.

7. What sound or noise do you hate? Loud bass music.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Librarian.

9. What profession would you not like to do? Nurse. Too gory.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? "That church you were in during the early 90's was certainly a cult, i'm so glad you left and i'm glad that you realized it's all about Mother Earth."

Well, go on then, your turn! So what are you waiting for?

~Suz~

Birthday Evening...

I'm having a bit of the birthday blahs... just a bit i think, not too bad.

Deb's at work and since we were both up until 2:30am this morning (last night) i didn't really see too much of her today as she usually sleeps more than i do. She was going to make me a nice brunch and even went to the store and bought everything that she needed but then when she got home she asked if it would be ok for her to cook it for me tomorrow before we go off on a driving adventure...how could i say "no"? Of course i'd rather her get a bit more sleep and feel better and less groggy for going to work!! And besides, we'd both really agreed to celebrate our birthdays next weekend while we're camping...i'm even going to bake us a carrot cake to take along...from scratch - with NO hand mixer, cuz i killed it in December making the frosting for my Mom's Red Velvet Birthday cake.

So, i've showered and gotten into my freshly out of the dryer comfy clothes and i thought i'd blog off a bit before settling back in with a cup of hot chai, the new knitting project and several Sandra Bullock movies...so i've already dusted off the -VHS/taped from TV/with stinky commercials- copy of Practical Magic. Will watch that one first and then i think i'll sandwich my store bought VHS copy of The Net between that and [my Yuletime gift one year], Hope Floats. That should round out nicely...one action based surrounded by two more "chick-flicks".

Well, off i go...Happy Evening Everyone!

~Suz~

I've Cast On...

Yup, i sure did!

Lap Blanket Number 3 got finished in a huge hurry last night after buying some new knitting supplies and yarns while at hobby lobby. Thanks goodness i only had 6 rows of it left to crochet!

But let me backtrack a bit...

Dad & Lynn stopped by yesterday around Noonish with birthday gifts in tow. A heavy box, wrapped up for Deb and a card and a card for me. They didn't stay long and Deb wasn't back yet from her early work release so i waited for Deb to get home to open mine so we could do it together...Deb LOVES her new gift...a battery charger for our old vehicles. I'm assuming, so we don't have to somehow get to Dad's house every time we need to borrow one or Dad doesn't have to drive to our place when he'd like his back! Very good idea - Dad & Lynnie!! My gift was...in the card...'nuff said!!

So off we went for a bit of a drive and to Hobby Lobby so i could spend some of my bday gift. Heehee!! Drove through the Indiana Dunes State Park's new botch job of a redo on their campground...it didn't look quite so bad on it's opening weekend, with the trailers and some tents in there, but it's still too much pavement for us! YUCK!! And certainly not worth $23 per night....no freakin' way!! Especially when we can camp 4 miles up the road for $15/night and have a more secluded spot...but i digress...on to Hobby Lobby...

I made a beeline for the yarn and knitting supplies department. Deb found the Red Heart gray that she needs for her lap blanket and was off to the wood working area while i spent forever in knitting. I had in my basket this lovely Readers Digest Knitters Handbook for about $20...and then Deb said, "But what if you don't like knitting?" She just doesn't understand!!! After she went off to the woody area, i put the book back...hugh sigh...but then i had another book in my cart, The Knitter's Bible , but soon i put that one back too. (Although i see now that i'm linking them with Amazon, good thing i put them back...cheaper on Amazon!!) I settled on a $3.50 little beginners magazine and finally rolled my cart toward the needles and things. I was wanting to get some circular needles, the only thing my Mom didn't have in her knitting collection. I finally decided on investing in pieces to build my circular needle set so i got "Knit Mates Cable" and two sets of "Knit Mates Needle Points" in sizes 2 and 6 (US). I also bought the accesory kit for coupling cables & making flexible knitting needles with the tips and cables. After finally making those choices, i then had to decide on yarns for Sydney & Julia's (in pink) ponchos that they know nothing about. Heehee!! (My nieces, by the way!) I managed to ambush Sydney last weekend when my Mom snuck her over for a visit and asked her about her favorite colors...hot pink, neon green and black...go figure! Got the pink and green yarns and will add black fun fur or something to the trim when done. Found a really fun varigated yarn for Julia that includes her favorite red with yellow, orange and a magenta...hmmm, looks a lot like last lap blanket, "Autumn Delight"!!! - Which is Brown, Red, Orange and Goldish Yellow circa 1975. No wonder this specific varigated caught my eye! LOL!! Will finish that off with some type of fun fur also.

Took forever looking for Deb in Hobby Lobby...i walked all the way over - across the whole store to the wood section. No Deb. Walked up toward the front of the store looking in each aisle as i went. No Deb. Went back to yarn section. No Deb. Went back to front. No Deb. For crap's sake!! Walked one last time to edge of front main aisle and peeked down toward wood section. No Deb. WTF?!!! I mean sure, the store is big, but c'mon!! Finally i camped out by the registers. And then i realized that if for some strange reason she actually had her cell phone on her instead of sitting out in the car or worse yet, at home...i could call her and see where-in-THE-hell she was?!!! I called. It rang. And Rang. And Rang. And finally a voice, sort of whispery...:

"Where are youuuu?" She said.

"I'm at the checkout waiting for you.", I replied.

"I'll be right there!" She said.

And about 30 seconds later Deb appeared.

I said, "Help me, i'm standing by all of the Jesus Freak stuff!"

Which made her laugh and off we went to check out, basket full of goodies!!

We got outside to see that a storm was rolling in...dark to our South and West (toward home). We grabbed some dinner from Arby's and then i got my birthday DQ - blizzard and we started heading for home veering off of the main road and into the woods of "The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore" where we spotted only one critter hobbling across the road, his masked face turning toward our headlights only for a split second, but we were able to still hear some lovely birds and frogs (my beloved frogs!!)...before the wind kicked up and it started to rain. The storm was actually blowing out over Lake Michigan so it didn't last too long. We decided that we were glad we did not camp THIS weekend. We're going next, instead!

Ok, so back where i started...got home, finished "Autumn Delight" lap blanket. And then decided to be brave and jump into knitting Sydney's poncho instead of crocheting it. So i got the new little 'how to" magazine out, realized i still knew how to "cast on" and how to "knit" it was "purl" i never knew. So i cast on some stitches according to pattern and it didn't seem like enough, so i added more...twice as many...and started to knit, got that row done and looked at how to purl. Hmm. I'm lots slower going that way. The knit row goes very fast. The purl row very slow. It's quite funny. I ended up doing about 10 rows and finally went to bed around 2:30am. It's looking quite nice if i do say so myself, i'm quite proud of myself. Sure wish i had a digi to take some pics so i could post them and share!! Sorry!!

The whole time i was working with yarns, Deb was online for the first time in weeks...so she went to bed when i did as well. She's still sleeping and of course i woke up an hour ago to run to the loo and decided i couldn't wait to sit and blog for my handful of readers (thank you all!!)...but now i think i might go prop myself up in the recliner for a bit more of a snooze...since i did only get 4.5 hours of sleep so far. Hope the needles don't call out to me...

More later!

Ammendment to post: I forgot to mention that the circular needle tip won't screw on to one of the sides. Grrrrr!! Frustration!!! So i've got to take the cable back to Hobby Lobby and get another one!! How annoying!!!

~Suz~

Happy Birthday to me as of 4:14am.

It's WHAT time??

4am.

Can't sleep.
Sinuses achey.
Wife snoring.
Cat needy.
Brain whirling.
Wondering how all the cool people get cute little 'button' links to other people's sites?
Can someone 'splain while i go pass out in the recliner in hopes that sinuses will drain??

Thanks!

~Suz~

The Psycho's on Rosie's Blog need to get their own damn blog!!

In case you didn't know, Rosie O'Donnell has a blog. I'm not going to put the link in this post as an attempt to help save a bit of Ms. O'Donnell's sanity and because i think she has enough traffic to her blog as it is...not that i have much traffic to send to her, but i digress...

As a fan of Rosie's, i stumbled across her blog several weeks ago, but i understand that it got a little more press as she was doing media events to promote her movie, "Riding The Bus With My Sister", which was a very enjoyable movie - i give it 4 tissue boxes. Since the blog has become more public and more people have been visiting it, more and more whack job's have been coming out of the woodwork and taking it upon themselves to bitch-n-moan about and down right ATTACK the things that Rosie is blogging about. Folks, Rosie's blog is not a forum for personal discussion...it is her personal thougths and feelings, which as a human being she is entitled to have AND she should be able to have these thoughts and feelings and to blog about them to her HUGE heart's content. It's HER DAMN blog, NOT yours - you MORONS!!!!! Didn't your mother ever teach you, "If you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all?" Why not try something like, "Hey Rosie, interesting post today, my view is not the same as yours but thanks for giving me something to think about." Instead of flat out being beligerant and rude and telling her that she sucks or whatever it is you psycho's have to say about her...and on that note, why make remarks that are aimed at Rosie's person instead of the post of the day. Must you attack everyone you don't agree with instead of having a discussion? Clearly politics and religion are 'Hot button' topics, especially these days...do us all a favor and go seek out some type of Political Forum or Religious Forum where these things are talked about ALL the time and quit jumping all over Rosie's Damn Blog!!!

Some moron posted the following in Rosie's Comments section 12 times under various names!!:

Tom Cruise’s comments to Billy Bush on Access Hollywood about Brooke Shield’s use of Paxil to conquer her postpartum depression. Tom actually states: These drugs are dangerous. I have actually helped people come off,’’…’When you talk about postpartum, you can take people today, women, and what you do is you use vitamins. There is a hormonal thing that is going on, scientifically, you can prove that. But when you talk about emotional, chemical imbalances in people, there is no science behind that. You can use vitamins to help a woman through those things. For years, I always defended Tom Cruise’s heterosexuality and sanity, but I have to say, today, he really pissed me off. There is nothing that makes me more angry than celebrities doling out half-assed medical advice. Vitamins? I take vitamins which does nothing for my mental state. Also, is Tom now a neuroanatomist and I missed the summary of his dissertation and research findings in In Touch? And, how in the hell is he helping these women “come off” Paxil? Where is the Tom Cruise treatment center? I can’t imagine turning to Tom Cruise to help me with any sort of medical problem. I hope this story gets blown up, because this is truly a celeb abusing his status and forcing misogynist lies and myths upon the ignorant American public. Brooke Shields better kick his ass. And, yet, this comment explains why Katie Holmes’ face is breaking out. Tom’s probably getting her to “come off” Proactiv and forcing vitamin E down her throat. Katie, get out before it’s too late. This man is a total nut. May 26th, 2005 at 2:45 pm

And then people wonder why she turns off her 'comments' section.

That's all i got right now, i'm just irritated.

Ramble on...

~Suz~

Birthday Time!!

Today is Deb's 36th birthday...my 37th will be in 3 days.

It's that Gemini time of the year again. YAY !!!

Monday evening we went over to Mom's. Deb set up her DVD player while i made us all dinner. We had a really nice visit, some great conversations and i got to confiscate Mom's knitting supplies. I'm quite excited to re-learn how to kint, but i have a lap blanket to finish off and three ponchos to make before i pick up the needles.

Going to cut this short so i can do some more work before Deb gets home. Hope everyone is well.

~Suz~

"Welcoming" passed...

Yesterday Deb and i attended the Congregational Meeting at our church for the first time and we've been members for three or four years now. We felt the time was immportant to go as the vote was being held on "Welcoming Congregation"...it passed with 53 yea's, 2 nay's and one abstention.

Welcoming Congregations is a distinction within the Unitarian Universalist Churches, a church that has gone through the outlined programs & held the prescribed discussion groups and workshops can then attain this distinction if the congregation so votes. What this specific distinction means is that the larger population of the church has been educated, thought about, discussed the benefits of visually declaring publicly that our church is a welcome place to members of the GLBT community who are seeking a spiritual home. "I thought Unitarian Churches all welcome gay people?", you might ask. They do, but not all gay people know that and if the church has a rainbow symbol by it's information on the UUA homepage and one out on their sign in front of their physical church building, then people will know FOR SURE that this church is a safe place for them.

I'm so proud of my Deb. She was approached about spearheading this project more than two years ago and she got the ball rolling with one other person, reading the workshop materials and preparing the original proposed outline that was presented to the Church Board. Once all that hard work was done other people came in and sort of insinuated themselves onto the project and instead of offering to help Deb and the other gal, they kind of shoved them out of the way and took over...Deb was very hurt and upset for a while, to the point that she didn't want to go to church events any more, but slowly she has come to realize that it doesn't matter who's in charge of the project - it just needs to get done. I just wish the people who had hurt her would be big enough to admit that they sort of shoved her aside, especially when she has already gone to each of them individually and apologized for having hurt feelings toward them, but it seems that will never happen. I guess some people just don't possess the humility to admit when they are wrong or to realize when they've hurt someone's feelings.

I'm thrilled to know that our congregation has passed this important measure and that at least the children growing up within the safe walls of these Unitarian Churches who actively Welcome and reach out to the GLBT Community, will come to learn and have a better appreciation and compassion for people who are diverse. It was interesting to note that there were several sets of parents who chose to join a Unitarian Universalist Church for this very reason, so that their children would be more open minded. Many applause to those parents!!!!

I don't know what else to say about this topic, just that i'm very happy...your turn now.

~Suz~

Soon to hit the hay...

It's been a long few days. Poor Deb has not had much sleep in days due to her funky work schedule. Thankfully this next week she works all days until Friday and then a 4pm-Midnight shift. Much better than this past week. Whew!

Deb is sawing some MAJOR logs on the couch in the living room. I tried to get her to go sleep in bed, she looks so uncomfortable, but i think she's waiting for me to go too - which i will after i post this.

We had my Dad & his wife Lynn over for dinner this evening. Which means our apartment is the cleanest it's been in months. I'm loving it!! I mean, there's still some clutter spots due to our lack of space, but they've been condensed and cleaned. All is well.

Deb got home this morning and got 2 hours of sleep and not even good sleep because work called her 6 times in that time period. I asked her why on earth she took her phone into the bedroom?!!! Sheesh! Deb's intent was to get up and go out and put her new lawn mower to use before we need to call in a bunch of goats...but then she realized that she had to make pizza dough for the dinner, run to the farm stand for some produce and come back to assemble the pizzas. She did all of that and never did manage to get her shower in.

Dinner was wonderful. I made a nice big salad, Deb made two pizzas - a white spinach one and a regular one with sausage, mushroom, pepperoni & fresh basil. YUM-O-Rama!!! Dad & Lynn brought beer, wine & apple pie to round out the meal. I had one small glass of Tabor Hill Red and i was about to nod off so i had to switch back to iced tea.

We had a nice little visit and then off they went as Deb was falling asleep in the recliner. I had her move to the couch and she'd been there ever since about 6:30pm until just about two minutes ago when she came into the kitchen, said 'hi' and was doing something behind my back....i was affraid to look so i have no idea!

Well, that was our exciting day here. I'm off to read a bit more of Mists Of Avalon and then close my eyes for a few hours.

~Suz~

If i could be...

Tag! I'm it.
Kirsti tagged me .. so how could I not participate?. Here's how it goes: I pick five of these "If I could..." sentences and finish them, then after I'm all done, I tag 3 more people to do it.If I could be a scientist...If I could be a farmer...If I could be a musician...If I could be a doctor...If I could be a painter...If I could be a gardener...If I could be a missionary...If I could be a chef...If I could be an architect...If I could be a linguist...If I could be a psychologist...If I could be a librarian...If I could be an athlete...If I could be a lawyer...If I could be an inn-keeper...If I could be a professor...If I could be a writer...If I could be a llama-rider...If I could be a bonnie pirate...If I could be an astronaut...If I could be a world famous blogger...If I could be a justice on any one court in the world...If I could be married to any current famous political figure..

1.) If i could be a musician...I'd weasel myself into the musical circles that James Taylor runs around in and worship at his feet.

2.) If i could be a gardener...I would have an amazing herbal garden.

3.) If i could be an athlete...I'd donate 80% of my hideously over-inflated salary to Cancer Research.

4.) If i could be an inn-keeper...I would have purchased the ArrowHead Inn up in Saugatuck, MI when it was for sale and i'd be blissfully happy running it with my wife.

5.) If i could be a librarian...I'd purposely promote all the books that have been threatened to be banned or burned in this country!

Tag! I'm passing this on to: Brian, Kris & MandG !!! It's all Kirsti's fault, blame her!

More later when i get out of bed for real!! I woke up to run to the loo, called Deb at work to make sure she was doing ok at the tail end of her midnight shift and just had to sit down at the computer with a bowl of cereal! I'm going back to bed now.

~Suz~

TGIF

Like it matters, i work from home...LOL!!

Deb got home around 8:30am. We chatted a bit about her night at work and made our grocery/Walmart list. Now she's napping until 11am and then i'm to wake her so we can be about our errands: banking, lunch, Super Wally World.

Seems the shop manager where Deb works, the one who was supposedly talking of walking out on May 31st, got put on suspension yesterday by the district boss. Since he packed his things when he left on said suspension, Deb doesn't think he'll be returning - especially since his intent was to quit anyway and then to sue the company for the undelivered bonus check that he was promised at hire. I'm guessing that he doesn't realize that since the shop was "bought-out/taken-over" by another company since his hire, he shouldn't really have been expecting that supposedly promised sign-on bonus, but whatever. This will have been the second "shop-manager" since the shop opened last November. Deb's hoping that now that this man is gone, her schedule which had been the same since November and was just jazzed up this week will now return to normal - day shift. This week sucked with her working; day shift - Monday, 4pm-12am - Tues & Wed. and then Midnight-8am - Thurs & Tonight. UGH!! She's really feeling the effects of the jumbled sleep pattern. She keeps saying she's too old to do this kind of swing-shift work...i'm mostly concerned about her health and well-being, but i'd be lying if i didn't admit to it annoying me when trying to work my home "work" hours and plan meal preparations. So, fingers crossed that things return to normal.

Deb's all giddy because she finally got her overtime pay for the first two weeks of the new company and it showed up this week when she was planning to spend about $150 on a new lawn mower...yet another task that she normally takes care of for our landlord in lieu of some rental deduction. Besides, she likes doing yard work and puttering about. The secondhand mower she bought last year had been left outside during the winter, under the upper decks - but outside nonetheless and something chewed into the gas tank. So, she's actually going to build a little storage "shed" under the stairs that lead up to the upper unit balconies so that she can house the mower and her bike in there instead of us hogging up all of the space in the laundry room with our extra crap.

Tomorrow we're planning on having my Dad & Lynn over for dinner. Deb's making home made pizzas. A white-spinach one and then a red sauce supreme. I'll make a nice salad. Dad & Lynn offered to bring wine & dessert. So it should be fun! We're looking forward to it. We were joking with Lynn last night though about not having anything to talk about since we visited with her and our friend Kris just last night, but i'm sure we'll manage to come up with some things that we forgot to talk about.

I should wrap this up for now. It's about time for me to wake Deb up and for us to begin our errands.

Ciao for now...

~Suz~

Thundering

I LOVE thunderstorms!

I needed to roll over onto my side at about 6am and was coherant enough to hear the thunder in the distance. Mmmm. I cozied back under the fresh sheets, drawing them up around my neck and felt the cool breeze from the slightly opened window gently caress my cheek. Luna nested around and finally settled into the bow just above my hip and flicked my backside with her tail, probably to let me know that she was annoyed that i moved and made her move too. Another clap of thunder, a bit closer and i drifted back to sleep...

8:50am and the business line, our only landline, that my boss has in our aprtment is ringing. Oh crap, he can just leave a message. The phone finally stops ringing and then starts again! I get up in a huff and go into the livingroom to answer it.

"Good morning" i say in case it's the bossman or a customer service call.
"Is Deb there?" the voice on the other end says, "It's Denise."
"She's sleeping" i say. "Well, we're mostly awake now, let me go get her", i say.
"I'm sorry to call but Fred told me to" Denise replies.

I hand the phone to Deb saying, "It's Denise".

They talk. Phone call ends. Deb's in the bathroom just off our bedroom.

"Could you please ask them to change your contact number to your cell phone?" i ask. I didn't think it was an unreasonable request.

"They want a local number" Deb says. "And our cell phones are not local".

"Oh", i say. "Well, is Fred's number local?" i ask.

"No" she says. "He lives way out in whereveritishelives."

"Exactly!" I say. "So it shouldn't be a problem to change your number to the line that goes directly to you then, rather than the line that my boss has put in here. "It's a simple request" i comment.

"Whatever, Suz" i get back.

Which irritates me to no end. Then i say something snotty and her voice raises and the exact words are now lost to me these few hours later. She said something like, "change this!" and slammed the bedroom door shut. I said, "Fuck you." And started to sulk.

Sigh!

I got out of bed, made my side of the bed and got dressed about 5 minutes later. She came in from smoking, we walked past each other without a word like two big snot-heads! Stubborn idiots! I've done some work, made coffee, read some blogs, ate my yogurt and half an apple and now i'm writing. Deb's snoring, i can hear her into the kitchen. I'm sad that we argued over something so dumb and that we said hurtful words to one another. A day that started out so lovely and with such refreshing promise went straight down the shitter in seconds flat.

I called Deb's work and asked Pat to change Deb's contact information. Pat rattled to me Deb's cell phone number as the contact info she had, and i told her that Denise had called my bosses line and not Deb's cell and asked if Pat could please simply remove my bosses line from Deb's record? She said she would. My simple request taken care of, thank you.

My Dad just called having computer trouble, asking if i can come out and fix it for him - he hasn't been able to get his email in two days. The same man who 8 years ago would repeatedly ask me if me using his phone line to connect to a local AOL number was going to make his phone bill higher, my how times change. He really hasn't taken too much time to search the web; he emails, he looks up the weather at his condo in Florida and at his favorite vacation spot in the Tetons, i even think he's connected to some Navy message board to try to connect with old buddies - other than that, not too much else. My slowly graying father; an avid hiker and all around outdoor enthusiast who spends tons of time with his wife working on their lovely yard - landscaping and tending to a small garden along the south side of their house, cleverly planted among the landscaping rock and plastic each year to avoid the need to weed - will undergo hip replacement surgery in July just after they return from their yearly trip to the Tetons. I have a feeling he'll get to know the web a whole lot better then. ;)

I think i'll go take Deb some coffee and offer a nice apology for being snotty...

~Suz~

Off Kilter

The rythmn of my day is always out of whack when Deb is on a different shift. I dunno why exactly, it just is...

When Deb works day shift, we're usually to bed between 10-11pm and up around 6am. For the past two days, she's worked 4-12am and so we've gone to bed between 12:30-1:30am and up around 8:30am. I know i can very well go to bed at the usual 10-11pm and i will if i'm tired enough - trust me, but i like to wait up if i can. It's nice to be up so that Deb can vent about her day at work if she needs/wants to and i can share about mine and then we can cozy into bed together, cuddle for a bit and then roll our separate ways. LOL! There have been times though when i have given up trying to wait up for her and i go in and drift off to sleep and never even hear her come into the apartment, get a snack and watch a bit of tv, or crawl into bed.

The past two days rythmn has been off in that i don't get an early start in 'work' related items. I usually get up and have some coffee and fruit, get the FedEx orders processed and packaged right off the bat and that has been the same, it has to be. I would usually progress onto other work matters...check the message board for any new items posted from the bosses that i should tend to, work on current projects, etc. With Deb home though we've been having our larger meal at around 2-3pm instead of 6-7pm...then she packs a lighter meal for work...so that's a stoppage in my work day flow. I sat back down to do work around 3pm today and that lasted until about 5pm when i decided to visit some blog buddies which lead to a new message board area (it's all M and G's fault!! ;) and the next thing i knew it was 7:30pm!!! I did a bit more work, rotated laundry and then Mom called at 9pm and i talked with her and DanTheMan until about 9:35pm and then called Deb at work to say hi and now here i am again!! My intent is to do some more work tonight, but that remains to be seen.

I've got many random thoughts going around in my mind to blog about, real content not just my daily crap. Oh and hey, i almost forgot...i took this online IQ Test earlier and was quite pleased with the outcome:

********
The Classic IQ Test
What's Your IQ?
Congratulations, Suzanne!Your IQ score is 136

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others. Your Intellectual Type is Visionary Philosopher. This means you are highly intelligent and have a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a variety of different ways. Like Plato, your exceptional math and verbal skills make you very adept at explaining things to others — and at anticipating and predicting patterns. And that's just some of what we know about you from your IQ results.

Here's the link if you're interested in taking the quiz: IQ TEST
************
I made a small meatloaf tonight so Deb can have some to take to work tomorrow. She's been such a doll helping with housework these past two days that i changed the bed linens - all by myself- finally from the flannels that i adore to the pretty percale that she prefers in warmer weather - sweetly sprayed with my favorite linen scent from Bath & Body to soothingly lull us to sleep tonight. Mmmm. Bliss.

I really need to figure out how to get pics off my phone and onto a pc or i need to invest in a digital camera soon. I'd like to be able to include some personal pics and pics of my crochet projects in my ramblings...

...Hours later - i've added some old pics to my Flickr account so at least people can see who's behind the Scatter. It's after midnight now, Deb should be home soon so i'm finally going to peel myself away from this machine and go relax in front of the tube.

Until next time...

Some days "scattered" doesn't even cover it...

The feline child, Luna, is softly meowing her fool head off and i don't know why. It's not annoying in the least since when she first came to us, she hardly "spoke" at all. It's cute to hear her noises now. I'm just trying to figure out what is making her feel the need to spout off?? Oh for a real voice with human words. I've got the bedroom window open, she likes the sunshine and to sit up against the screen a bit, not too long...just long enough to be nosey. today there seems to be some sort of construction on the block behind us, i think i saw a steamroller or something. Maybe the unusually louder noises are bothering her? I went into the bedroom a few moments ago after running to the loo and noticed the wicker laundry basket empty, which is rare, so i decided to grab a clean towel and put it in the bottom for Luna so maybe she'd nest around and take a nap or something. Cat in. Cat out. That was fun. Then she sat on the floor staring high up on the bedroom corner as if she was looking right at something and ok, we have some of these annoying bumpy/stucco type apartment walls and ceiling so there are some spidery webs that i've tried to dust and have clumped together until i decide to drag the vacuum to that side of the room...but there's no residents in said webbings? Kris, care to come over and check for ghosties in that corner? It's my next best guess of what she's staring so intently at.

So i'm back in the kitchen at my makeshift computer stand: ie skeleton tower sans case provided by bossman/neighbor-coworker sitting on floor, HUGE older apple monitor from same sitting on wobbly camping roll-up table, black keyboard donation, misc. compaq mouse donation - Me sitting on cooler full of votive candles, which isn't anything new - it's comfy to my wide-beeeehind. Old, ancient - even, bowed card table sitting next to me holding a variety of items:lukewarm coffee, pens, cell phone, TP for nose blowing, "Excel for Dummies" found at the UU Rummage Sale, Deb's cereal bowl from this am, my empty yogurt container, one unopened granola bar, partially burned votive candle - unlit- in new scent i'm unsure of "waterlily & jasmine" too similar to "roses" for me, i think, four alphabetized piles of bossman's business cards that i'm working on putting into Excel for him, A-E completed last night, empty water bottle, two seed packets Deb had to have, one kitchen towel with mooses.

I will be so thrilled when tax checks come and we can purchase new pc and i can be back in the livingroom at the desk! (Hmmmm, cat's now quiet...dare i go spy on her?...spoke too soon, nm)

14 ladyboss book orders are processed and packaged and ready for FedEx Joe to arrive.

I'm so frustrated with this cold! Jar Candle order arrived on Thursday and i'm dying to lite one but am undecided on which to burn - so many scents to choose from and i can't smell a damn thing!! I know what most of them should smell like, but there are a few scents in there that i've never had in my inventory before either in jar or votive sizes so i'm curious to know if i'd prefer to burn one of those vs. the Ginger Bergamot one that i adore...and besides, what's the sense in me burning one when i can't even smell it anyway, that's the whole point!! UGH!!

Lap blanket project is frustrating me too! Was gifted lots of FREE yarn from our friend Sue, many thanks to her! Upon receipt of said yarns - about three grocery bags full, Deb and i chose our colors (yes, the butch has taken up crocheting, it's quite cute!)...most of the colors are not any i would ever buy, however i tend to purchase more girly colors, so having been given some that could be used to produce lap blankets that are more manly or neutral in coloration is a good thing. Buuuuut, if not carefully combined, said colors could be hideous! So i set out to make a plan with the first batch: a chocolate brown, a mustardy gold, a vibrant orange and an even louder red...sensing a theme? I'm calling it "Autumn Delight". I decided on a shell stitch and set to work, two rows of each color and then switch. Brown, gold, orange, red. Brown, gold, orange, red. Brown, gold, orange, red. Brown, oh shit i'm almost out of gold!! Grrrrr!!! Bad planning dope!!! So now...do i email Sue and ask if by any chance she has among the two-three huge boxes of yarn she had donated from someone for our projects-any more of the gold? Do i just take the swatch left and go out and purchase some similar...which, by the way would halt this specific project until the weekend - i have no objection to starting a new project and leaving one unfinished, it's my hallmark afterall!! Or, do i simply start substituting in another color and hope that either the recipiant is color-blind, doesn't notice, or uses it as a lively conversation piece in their geriatric conversations? Opinions please?!!!

Whew! It seems that the other building tennants/non-coworker type have finally decided to turn down their obnoxiously loud - thump-bump-bump-inmyheadandchest-hideous "music??" Thank goodness or i was soon going to be forced to go locate the iPod. For now i will enjoy the soft breezy noises coming in the open window and the light tap-tapping of my fingers on borrowed black keyboard. And i should finally be done rambling and be off to work on bossman's business card project.

Off i am, off i go...

~Suz~

Yes, that's correct, i've started typing this post at 1:34am. UGH!

While browsing a few of my favorite blogs written by other people i made note that it's been a while since i've actually written anything over here. I'm warning you now, i don't think i'll be musing about anything i've found of interest in the news recently...i think i'm gearing up for a bit of a ramble.

So, on i go...

Obviously i can't sleep tonight. The Nyquil has not helped any and neither has the tylenol PM that i added on top of that about an hour ago. Apparently my body has decided to make an example of that diet pepsi with lime that i started drinking with dinner and didn't finish until just about 10pm. That's what i get for having caffeine so late in the day after having been off caffeine for two weeks.

Deb is snoring away, snuggly tucked in with feline nearby, neither of them missing me. Such is life.

So, last week Tuesday, i went up to Chicago with landlord/bossman and upstairs neighbor/coworker to meet landlord-partner/ladyboss for a lunch and a "Team Meeting". My first time having been invited along so i was excited - yet anxious as i had not been into the city since Autumn 2000, purposefully. I made it in without much anxiety taking over. I concentrated on my crochet project so that i really didn't have much time to think about it. Lunch was very nice, the waiting was not so. Lots of things were talked about, most of which i don't understand yet, but i'm sure i will in the future. I just tried to go with the flow and asked questions if i felt the knowlege directly affected my job performance. So basically, the summer interns will begin to arrive on property starting May 24th with the arrival of our Irishman, Matt...and then i'm not quite sure of the timetable for Mandy and Jonathon's arrivals. I was asked if i would be interested in providing one home cooked meal each day for the interns. Sure! I'll be cooking anyway. Grocery budget to be dispense. Should be fun! It will be interesting trying to figure out how to adjust my cooking with one Vegetarian added into the mix. Hmmm. I was also asked if i would be interested in taking on the bookepping tasks. Hmm. Interesting. Little did they know that i had three years of accounting in high school and had intended on pursing an accounting degree when i first went off to DePaul in the Autumn of 1986. However, at that time of my life i was homesick and not a great student...and even though i then did attend school four other times, once again to DePaul, my major had changed each of those times. So now it seems i am coming full circle, with the offer to be put back into school and schooling paid for, i'd be a fool to pass it up.

So, this is where my time has been spent since my last post. Nursing a horrible cold(i can't taste or smell anything - i've never had that happen before...scary!!), seeking info on local business type schools, working on an excel sheet full of business card contacts for the bossman, processing orders for ladyboss and trying to keep up on household chores.

It's no wonder i can't sleep tonight. My mind is racing.

Well at least with Survivor & The Amazing Race finished i've gain two more hours each week. ;)

I'm going to go try to sleep again...wish me luck!

~Suz~

Defacing Mary

Defaced Mary

Did this story make it out of Chicagoland and out across the country?

Sometime during the last few days of Pope John Paul II's life and the Papal events that followed, a stain appeared on a Chicago underpass. From the photos that i've seen, i think it's off the Kennedy Expressway at Fullerton Avenue, a route i know well as i used to drive it often from Indiana to attend classes at DePaul University.

Someone decided that the stain looked like the Virgin Mary and as word got out people started flocking to the site. People came in droves to take pictures, light candles, pray, leave notes, etc. There were so many poeple that eventually Chicago's Finest had to close off the underpass, which i'm sure was a logistical nightmare for traffic since Chicago traffic is horrible anyway. (insert lyrics from James Taylor's song - "Damn That Traffic Jam" here) IDOT said the stain was simply created from winter salt and slush runoff from the Kennedy Expressway above, clearly this is true.

I thought it was completely insane that all of these people were coming to pray and take pictures of this stain, but then again, if that's their thing...more power to 'em.

Today, some Yahoo decided to deface the "Mary", and he defaced the stain with a phrase that in my opinion would look better scrawled across the White House, but i digress. "Big Lies", the man wrote in black shoe polish and in one gesture took away a figment of hope for so many.

I don't get it. I didn't get the whole thing from the beginning. It was just too strange to me. However, i'm not about to go out and deface something just because i don't believe in it. I just wonder...doesn't this man have anything better to do?? Sir, get a hobby!!!

ABC7Chicago.com: Man charged in Virgin Mary defacing

Warm up Chicagoland!

Today started cold and gloomy.

What happened to my Spring?

Mayday has already been, spent with friends who danced the Maypole after Ritual, followed by a fun potluck coffee-hour. What a good time! It should be warm, it's MAY for goodness sake!! We should be loading our truck...errr, i keep forgetting that's broken...we should be loading up our beater mobile car with our camping gear and heading to the trees. Greenery. Lovely in bloom. Filling in the spaces so we can't see too deeply into the woods any longer.

Deb is home sick today. Freaked me out when i woke up and she was still in bed next to me, when she should have been at work. Last i knew she was up at 5:30am to shower, so at 7am when she was here, it was a shock. I think she's having sympathy ick. LOL! I've been on an herbal detox for the past 9 days - 5 days left to go. She's taken to drinking nothing but water and herbal tea, like me. She broke down and had coffee today, though...i was jealous. Mmmm, coffee. She's eating tons of fresh fruits and veggies steamed, chicken and fish, whole wheat only, brown rice, just like me. No sugar. None of my beloved ice cream. No cookies. No Nothing. And i've been ok. I read that the first few days you might feel rotten because your body is burning off toxins...well i think that's what's happening to Deb and why she's feeling lousy today. She started eating the detox foods a few days after i started, so it's getting her now.

Well, the upstairs neighbor/coworker/tech guru is here and he wants to take the skeleton-pc that he's given me on loan until we can buy our new one, so i guess i need to run for now.

Off to the grocery. Toodles!!

~Suz~