Tag, you're IT!!!

Well, it looks like Juanita got me. Here we go...

Idiosyncrasy
n. pl. id· i·o·syn·cra·sies
-A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncracies.

1) My TP must be loose end over the roll.

2) I like my sandwiches cut in half. And it must be on the diagonal :)

3) I ADORE James Taylor.

4) I hate white socks and white panties....booooring!!!

5) I still, at age 37, watch MTV's Real World and Real World/Road Rules or Battle Of The Sexes Challenges...i know, i know...time to hang my head in shame!!

Hmm. Ok, that wasn't too fun, but it's out there now. Therefore, I now tag Kirsti, and Kat so that they can share in my pain! Do it up!! Anyone else care to join in?? Hmmmmmm?? ;)

~Suz~

Heehee!!

Ooops!

I know i'm supposed to post more camping commentary from two weekends ago but this week has been very busy for me with updating the QuickBooks for two of the business entities, cooking meals, going to Mom's to do laundry on Monday and squeezing in some knitting! Crazy, crazy! It was to the point tonight as Deb and i were watching 2 hours of TV together that i finally lost it and went all silly on her. I think it started with me scaring the crap out of the cat by moving both of my feet very quickly within inches of her and it sent her literally a foot and a half into the air! It cracked us up so much we just went down hill from that point on. I was threatening to throw my back-scratcher at Deb across the living room and she was caught off guard as i threw a popsicle stick instead and then as she bent to get that i DID throw the back-scratcher...she got me back with the popsicle sticks and then held my back-scratcher hostage until the ripest of moments and then she chucked it back at me and we giggled our heads off at each other. I told her that it's very clear that i need to get OUT OF THE HOUSE for a little bit tomrrow!

So we have a short list of needed items from Kmart or Wally World and will head over there after Deb gets back from work and doing the banking in the morning!

I've managed to get one of the business entities caught up on QuickBooks until today!! Whew! It was only behind by 3 months when i got it!! UGH! The other business is caught up to the end of June so i have a bit more to get us caught up but that one was behind by 4 months or so. It's been time consuming but i'm hoping that now everything's caught up that it won't be so bad each month! The next day or two will be busy with preparing Vendor Statements and Affiliate Payouts and extra cooking over the weekend while the bosses are away. I've got to make sure the Inmates..errr Interns are fed and comfortable! I've got split pea soup and spaghetti planned for two separate nights and a nice Noon Brunch on Saturday. Other than that, there's a bit of Chicken Fajita Casserole leftover from tonight's dinner.

In knitting news, yes i have been knitting...and actually i've been knitting on my niece's poncho but i've not really posted any pictures of it yet. It sort of snuck into a picture of me and Jess at the campout, you can't miss it really...it's hot pink and neon green for goodness sake! But maybe you'll get lucky and i'll take some pictures of it tomorrow after our Kmart outing and after Tim comes down and we install this "VersaCheck" software and get it up and running and ready to print...who knows how long that could take!!

Well, happy night all. Deb's getting ready to toddle off to work so i should wrap this up so i can see her off for the night.

~Suz~
(omg, did you see that?? a post with NO pictures! GASP!!)

Witches In The Woods 2005

As most of you know, we left home and adventured into the great outdoors for the Annual NIPA Campout from July 14th-July 17th, an event which Deb lovingly calls: "Witches In The Woods".

We packed up all of our gear and headed for the Indiana Dunes State Park's - Youth Tenting Area where you can still rustic camp among the trees without hinderance of cement slabs for loud RV's. Ahhh, Nature! Mother Earth. Gaia! The best gift in life; to be among your trees, feel the earth under my feet, feel the breeze across my cheek, be cooled by the rain, smell the campfire and hear the birds and other nature sounds as i go to sleep each night and as i wake each morning. There is nothing that beats this, NOTHING!! This is how i choose to relax and refresh my energies.

Thursday afternoon began with us setting up our tent first. We got first dibs on a spot for our tent and dining/rain shelter. We had already chosen it months ago on our own "scouting mission". Other early birds started to filter in and set up their woodsy homes, Deb helped me set up the tent and shelter and then she went on her way to pick up her check, do banking and run home for firewood while i finished setting up the airbeds, bedding and table areas. After i was done i got to sit back and knit while i watched other people work...ahhh, how sweet it is!!

Patricia set-up to our South and eventually a Rotunda and Vestibule were set up between our tents where shelter was taken during the rain, games were played and there were some good shaded conversations as well. Past that tent, Jay and Vicky set-up their little home for the weekend...and a bit past them, Tim set up his space for him and Cheyenne...


Conversation & Gaming Area.



In the back area, Ann & Lynda set up their house-tent and Linda Sue set up her dome that she shared with Laura...



Thursday evening was laid back and easy with lots of good conversation around the campfire and a little drumming to end the night. I think this was the night i went in while drumming was still going on, i like to fall asleep to the night noises and the drumming at least once during the weekend, it's very relaxing and soothing.

Friday morning broke with - COFFEE-, new arrivals, new tents going up, new conversations, greeting some friends we'd not seen in a year, and wondering where some other friends were?!


Ann serving coffee...................... & Jay N Vicky - Waking up!

After a bit of - COFFEE - and some muffins and bagels, Jay broke out the Kubb Game and i decided to learn how to play this year!


Jay playing Kubb............................................Patrick's turn.

Dan sitting in the Web - being the line judge, Greg & Deb playing.

The second set of Kubb pictures actually must have been taken on Saturday because the Web is woven on Friday night at Opening Ritual...it's a "tradition" with our group. Opening ritual begins with a chime that lets everyone know it's time to gather, we walk toward the cleansing bowl forming a line, dip our hands in a bowl of herbed water to symbolize cleansing, walk into the circle clockwise and ground and center ourselves for Ritual to begin. Circle is swept, carrying allof the negative energy out of the circle and past us then the circle is cast by calling forth the directional elements East - Air, South - Fire, West - Water, North - Earth, asking them to join us and then facing Center and asking the Spirits and Lord & Lady to enter and join us. Our Opening Ritual is about community building and friendship and so we weave a web as we get to know each other. A circled rope is staked down on the group, we gather around it with one person starting - they say their name & something significant that is new this year and then they take the yarn and wrap it a couple of times around the staked rope and toss the yarn to someone else...eyes have almost been lost and children have been trambled trying to get to the yarn because the next person has to say their name and their new thing in their life AND then repeat the first person's name and item before they toss the yarn to the third person...and this process goes on until every person has done it, darkness has fallen and a Web is Woven. The Web is left staked down in the middle of camp for the duration of the weekend as a Web of Protection and the circle is not opened, it is left until Closing Ritual on Sunday at Noon.

Ok, i'm going to leave you off at this point...heading into Saturday morning of the campout for my next post. Happy Day everyone!!

~Suz~

Ok fine!...Here

Here are a few pictures from the camping trip last weekend...there are more on the Flickr account and more i've not put up yet.


Alex is my friend Kele's (Revia) nephew. And this is Alex before he got dirty...so this is about 10 minutes from when he arrived to camp!


What Alex looked like pretty much the rest of the weekend.

I tried to start taking pictures of camp as it started to grow. Some of the earlier pictures are uploaded on Flickr and here is Friday morning when some shade/rain shelters are going up. Or maybe we should just call it Patrick's Gaming Pavilion?


Deb (the wife) and Greg(Tdstraighjacket) chatting as always!!


So, here's our camping home...

...notice Dean on the right setting up another tent?


I swear he's trying to confuse us!! Their tent is almost exactly like ours!!

Here's a picture to show the back area of tents that are set up...

...believe it or not, 2-3 more tents get added to that area eventually.

Ok, so there's a bit of the photos for you all to look at. I'll post more later and eventually i'll need to post more of a "story of the weekend" type post...but for now we are off to Mom's to do laundry for the day. Which means...knitting!!! YAY!!

~Suz~

Sheesh!!

Apparently 3 of my readers are lost without me. ROFL!!

Well, ya know...hauling all of that camping gear is exhausting and it's tiring on me watching Deb do it. ;D

And then Monday we had to go out to my Mom's and do laundry because it was an exceptionally dirty camping trip since it's not rained much here...the sandy/dirty soil was in everything. Laundry took most of Monday and then we had to come home and figure out what to cook for the inmates that night and then the rest of the night was spent processing 40 boxes and 10 packages for shipment on Tuesday and then i had several outgoing today and 20+ going out tomorrow and we STILL need to go to the grocery if anyone wants dinner tonight!!

We had a doggon boil order on our water today and i forgot and made coffee with it like a nit-wit. UGH!! 3 cups later my Mom called to remind me...uhh, a bit late Mom, but thanks!! ;)

So anyway, i did manage to do some knitting over the weekend, trying to finish up Syd's poncho...but a lot of time was spent chatting with other people, learning to play a new game, playing cards with some friends, drumming/chanting around the campfire and stuff like that. I think i took more than 50 pictures with the digi cam...no worries i swear i won't post them ALL here! But i did take pictures starting shortly after we set up on Thursday and then on into Friday and Saturday of our expanding tent-village...we ended up having close to 50 people turn out this year and i can't believe the event has already come and gone...that means summer is winding down!

I'll write a longer post over the weekend when i'm not so busy trying to catch up with work stuff and reading Harry Potter and The Half Blood prince, now that Deb is done with it and came out of the bedroom crying...SIGH!!!

More coming soon...

YAY!!!

GONE

CAMPING!!!!!

Will reluctantly return on Monday...

~Suz~

Yawn...

I'll be in Quickbooks Class again today so someone knit a few stitches for me so i don't feel left out!!

Have a great day Dear Blog Friends!!

~Suz~

Busy, Busy

The weekend was a whirlwind starting with Dad's surgery on Friday...

Saturday we went with Kris & Andrew to the Renaissance Faire in Bristol, WI. That is such a horrible drive! UGH!! Chicago traffic sux!! But here's what we saw on the way...


The Sears Tower as we zoomed past!!

When we finally got to Bristol it was a very long walk for me and quite hard. If i'd have been smart i'd have had Deb drop me off at the front gate, but noooooooo!!! Once I made it up the huge hill in the parking lot and past the front gate, i grabbed the nearest bench in some shade. It was so doggon hot and i was clearly over-heated. So i just sat and rested and deb brought me water to drink. I told them to go off and play while i sat and people watched. Here's a few of my favorite pics from the day...


Playing hide and seek in the trees.





All in all it was a lot of fun!!

Sunday we were able to go visit Lesa at our new LYS!! YAY!!! WE each received a free project bag and latte. Mmm, the lattes Lesa made were good! Thanks Lesa, we'll miss you at the campout this weekend...but your new job is so cool!! ;)

Here's some pics from the LYS:


Lesa, happily knitting. A new friend, Sue, knitting & Kele Crocheting!


A smile from Deb!

And now today and tomorrow i'm off to all day Quickbooks classes.

See ya later!!

He Survived...

We got to the hospital just a bit too late to see Dad off into surgery and found my Step-Mom-Lynn, very anxious in the waiting room all alone. I don't think she's ever been so happy to see us. The poor thing was a wreck, but mostly because my Dad was a wreck going in, second guessing his decision to have the surgery done from the time he woke up this morning at home until they wheeled him off. I wish we had been there to give him a kiss and some encouragement going in, it might have helped him to know other people were there waiting for him and keeping his wife company. Surgery was estimated to take 2 hours. I told Lynn to plan on 2 1/2 and then at least an hour for recovery. He went in around Noon and didn't get out of recovery until 4:45pm. The doctor came in after surgery and said it went well but took a little longer because my Dad's bones were very thick and strong and he apparently has lots of very strong muscle tissue...i'd take that as a compliment for my Dad. Right?

We found out from the first nurse that they were speculating as to why my 58 year old Dad was having hip-replacement at such a young age...did he fall and break it? had he been in an accident? Nope. He has arthritis in it and couple that with his active hiking life and all the walking he does at the Ford Plant for work, and all of the cartilage had disintegrated. Poof. Gone. No Mas!

Dad decided against the epidural because he didn't want to accidentally wake up from the sedative and hear a whining saw or something...he wanted to be out cold. So he was very groggy and hoarse when they brought him to his room. He was complaining first that his ass hurt and then he changed his story to his lower-back...but that was after he was able to call up two doses of morphine, so who knows what it really was....his HIP, maybe?? They have him on his back with only a slight elevation to his head and with this block-like pillow between his legs...he let fly a few choice curses, just like the sailor he is/was. He kept blinking his poor eyes when they brought him into the room and i asked him if the light was bothering him- they must have taped his eyes shut during surgery and he was complaining that they were dry and really hurting him but i noticed he was having a lot of trouble getting his left one opened, like it was gummy. I had given him water and he dipped his finger in it and rubbed it on his eye but it didn't help....and then Lynn got a towel and wet it with warm water from the bathroom and he tried that. We mentioned it to the nurse several times but she was more involved with setting up her portable PC workstation and taking down my Dad's whole family health history along with his personal information like phone and address....and i'm thinking, "BITCH, my Dad's in pain and his eye hurts don't you people get this information from his primary care physician before he even fucking checks into this joint??!!?!?!?!?!?!!!! And i was thinking this all while i was reading this wall hanging with their pledge of "prompt & adequate" pain management for all thier patients. Hmmm. I'm not convinced. Maybe i'm just protective of my Dad?

Since we had to go to my Mom's for me to install some RAM in her PC, i decided to move us along between 5:30-6:00pm. i figured if we left, my Dad might sleep and that's probably the best thing for day one.

We're off to Ren. Faire tomorrow with Kris & Andrew. Church on Sunday and then maybe our newest LYS, I hope!? Monday & Tuesday I have all day Quickbooks classes. Wednesday will be packing for camping and then we are off to "Witches in The Woods" as Deb likes to call it, not to return until Sunday the 17th. So the next week will be a whirlwind and i'd like to fit in another visit to my Dad somewhere, but who knows?

Try not to miss me too much if i don't get many more posts in between now and the 17th. I'll try my best. ;)

Oh, wait...that's not all...while my Dad is recovering from his surgery, "Dennis" is headed toward his condo in Florida. Nice, huh? Here we go again!

And in more bizarre news...Lynn was telling us while we waited today, that the people who bought my Grandpa's (my Dad's-Dad's) house, think that my Grandpa is haunting the house. The neighbor that lived next to my Grandparents contacted my Aunt asking if she has a picture of my Grandpa because the little boy wakes up during the night and sees an old man walking around in the dark. Additionally, items have been moving around in their house. Cool, huh? So, i'm going to talk with Kris about it more because she belongs to the Indiana Ghost Trackers and they like to go and check things like that out. I think i will see if the people would be willing to have a small group come into their home to check it out for activity and then Kris suggested that i go and bring something of my Grandpa's that he would recognize and invite him to "come home" with me. He can come here and move stuff, i wouldn't mind.

Ok, now i really am done. :)
~Suz~

Stressful Day

IT's 5:30am and i can't sleep any more.

Deb and i had a HUGE row before she left for work last night. She got pissed about something dumb and got in my face and raised her voice. I got very angry and said some hurtful words i now regret. She left for work without saying goodbye; i didn't tell her i love her and i cried myself to sleep. I woke up only an hour or so later and couldn't leave things as they were so i tried calling her only to hear her cell phone ringing in our living room. I tried calling her at work and was told she wasn't there. I didn't leave a message. She called me an hour later to apologize again, she had tried before she got ready for work but i was too hurt and angry to accept it. I told her i had called to tell her that i love her...she said she wasn't told that i called...but then, i really hadn't left a message either. She said she loves me too. I still feel really crappy about our fight.

I don't know if that's why i can't sleep, or if it's because i'm really anxious about today...

My Dad is having major surgery. He's never had surgery before. He's been a relatively healthy man his whole life. He is scared out of his mind! And that makes me scared too. I've not seen him but maybe twice or three times since Christmas, life gets busy as we get older and time goes by so fast. We used to stop by his house more often when we were out that way every day having been in the same town caring for my brother's children. But ever since that part of hell has gone away, we just don't have the time or make the time to take the drive out there. I hate the traffic out their way and avoid it like crazy. We only have one vehicle, so that adds to the time limits of going for a visit. Dad & Lynn sometimes stop by here if they've been out this way to the Dunes for a hike, but that's not been for a couple of months now. Since then they've been to the Tetons for their yearly excursion (ditching us all for Father's day, you may recall from an earlier post?)...and just last week they were in Memphis for a family wedding...so no 4th of July party at their house and we'd have missed it anyway with Deb working.

We're planning today to have Deb take a nap when she gets home from work and then for us to head over to the hospital to sit and wait with my Step-Mom, Lynn. I think all of us other kids work daytime hours and Lynn's Mom might otherwise sit with her but she's in a different hospital at the same time recovering from her most recent symptoms of congestive heart failure...needless to say, Lynn could really use the support today and i need to know that my Dad is going to be ok.

I'm really wondering how my 58 year old Father is going to handle hip-replacement surgery? This man, who I remember in my youth...under his 1970 Nova in our garage-trying to fix it himself, building an additional bathroom in one of our homes, bailing out flood water, laying tiling, building shelves, hanging wallpaper, painting siding, playing softball with his work buddys, fixing old TVs and stereos he'd find out in the trash and then selling them for side-work, cutting down trees in our yard, putting on a new roof, planting gardens, taking us camping, leading hikes, holding up a tent during a huge thunderstorm up in Colorado while the rest of us slept, decorating the outside of his home for Christmas as if he were Clark Griswold himself...always tinkering...always going on day trips and hiking adventures...will now be motionless for a while. He has no, "sit-down" hobbies, he's not much of a reader other than the newspaper.

Deb and i have asked him if he'd be interested in gathering up old slides and 8mm movie reels and giving us a show or two at some point during his recovery. Now that i'm older than 12, i think i'd have a much better appreciation for all of the slides and footage from when he was in the Navy during Vietnam. I'd like to hear his stories again and see if now that i'm an adult, we might get some other stories out of him? We've done a bit of research to find that his ship was involved with shooting down some enemy planes, so i'd like to know more about that and how it felt to be a part of that...what his specific job was on those days. Maybe digging out all of the stuff would get him interested in putting it ALL...and there's a LOT...on DVD somehow and that could be his recovery hobby? We're talking, footage from ship deck, equator crossing rituals, local footage in Perth, Australia and Hong Kong...and those are just the places i remember off the top of my head, that's not to mention family stuff from the Mountains in Northern, CA...were i was cute and little in my red snowsuit...and footage from Long Beach and wherever else my folks lived while he was stationed out West.

An interesting side note: My Dad still has and uses stereo equipment that he bought while he was in Hong Kong in the late 60's/early 70's. Turn-table, tuner, reel-to-reel player & reel-to-reel recorder/player...all encased in some gorgeous wood...their 4 matching speakers with amazing lattice work across the front...some damaged by reckless children playing. I remain innocent of that, i'm sure!

Well, i've rambled for almost an hour and it's helped a bit. I'll check in tomorrow with an update. Have a great Friday everyone...i'll be in Dyer, IN-sitting in a hospital waiting room...knitting. and then after all is well with Dad, in Griffith installing memory in Mom's PC...i'm such a good kid!

~Suz~

Dear London

My heart and my thoughts are with you...
on this very somber of days.

~Suz~

America...

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Fourth of July to all of our citizens and to our brave men and women who are protecting our country!



~Suz~

Guess who got a bath...

...and NO, it wasn't me!

Pooooor Luna! But she had some greasy stuff on her back by her tail and by golly, she was due!!


Take note of the tiny wound by my thumb, i'm sure it will hurt like hell tomorrow! But it's the only injury from this event...so not too bad!


It cracks me up how she walks around shaking each paw as she steps.


She doesn't know where to go or what to do because she's pissed at both of us and won't actually sit down yet. ROFL!!


Look at the skinny, wet, "ratlike" tail. It's practially dripping.


Feverishly licking to make it dry?


Skulking about all mad and stuff.


Letting Deb brush her.


I think she's glaring at me!

I hope she doesn't smother me in my sleep tonight while Deb's at work. But hey, at least she'll smell like baby powder!!! Mmmm, fresh kitty!!

Ok, i'm done with the torture photos!

~Suz~

"OHHH, CANADA...

...Our home and native land, true patriot love..."
Ok, ok...it's not my home and native land but...
Happy Canada Day!

To all of my Canadian Blog Buddies and Knitting Friends out there!!

Been busy this morning working on adding in blog buttons that i've been hoarding until my Flickr Account rolled over into July and i had bandwith to use again. YAY!!! I didn't want to save some of my blog buttons on my account and some on Deb's. She'd be over there scratching her head wondering what they were. ;) So now if your happy blog has a little button and i remembered to save it, it should now be implemented, finally. If you make a blog button, toss me a note to let me know and i'll save it and add it on. And if you make blog buttons...could ya make me one?? I dunno how and clearly haven't taken the time to figure it out yet.

I also did some organizing in the sidebar to make it look a little nicer. Can you see the difference? Or no?? I really should try to figure out how to use that other side, but again...i've not taken the time.

Other than that, the first time lasagna seemed to be a hit last night and both interns are still alive. It's good to know that even my experimental cooking has not killed them. Normally Friday is "order-pizza" night, but i asked the Gents if they wouldn't mind having left-over lasagna tonight and pizza tomorrow if they are around...otherwise i'll have a ton of left-overs and our fridge and freezer are chock-full-o'stuff already.

In knitting news...there is no knitting news. GASP!!! I did NO KNITTING yeasterday nor today so far. I know, shame!

I think this afternoon will be busy with working on Quickbooks again, with coworker/Tim, for the Bossman. We set up some new companies yesterday and who knows what's going on today. I also have to finish up the Excel Report Sheets for Vendor Sales and email those out to the vendors, so i've got some work ahead of me.

I'm over-and-out!

Blog on!
~Suz~