Sniffle

Sniffle and sneeze. That's all I've been doing, sniffling and sneezing. A few whimpering moans. Nasty head cold. My daughter (aka 'mom') brought it home. It looks like the next person to get it will be 4 yr old Vyron. Its bad enough when adults have head colds, but when small kids get one, it gets really really yucky! Snot all over everything. TMI? Sorry.

Breathing In, Breathing Out

 
May I turn your attention to the rim of the fan blade. Look at that yucky oily gunk on the edge of the blade! I cleaned this fan about a month ago and just look at the gunk on it! This is what happens when you live next to a freeway. I can only imagine what the lungs look like after 4 years of breathing this air. But not to worry because we all know cigarette smoke is dangerous. And this is not from cigarettes. Snort.

The Power of the Internet (updated w/video clip)

Ya gotta luv it! The internet is leveling the playing field between businesses and consumers.

I just read this article about how a woman posted a youtube rant against the Bank of America because they raised her interest rate from 12+% to 30%. (That's over 100% increase. Can you say loan shark?) It got over 250k hits and its growing.

The bank contacted her and now her interest rate has been returned to what it was... which is still too high in my opinion.

Power to the people. Money talks and it talks loudly. Only problem is consumers, on an individual basis, don't have enough money to talk. Their money barely knows how to say 'hello' using sign language. However... banned together via the internet our money can scream bloody murder and I do believe it can move mountains. If it can't move mountains, then maybe it can lower CEO's bonuses to a reasonable level.

If you see or hear about things like this on the internet, spread the word. Let others know about the 'rant' or complaint. Damn it, we customers may just bring back customer service after all!!

A New Pet

 
 
Darius has gotten himself a new pet. He named it Rocky. Rocky's been Darius' pet for about a week now. I didn't mention it before because I wanted to see if it was a permanent relationship or not. Apparently Rocky is here to stay. Stay Rocky, stay!

Do you remember the Pet Rock craze a few decades ago? How freaking clever was that marketing!! And cost-of-sales must have been minimal so the profit margin had to have been amazing.

(Someone at work gave me a pet rock. That was my introduction to it. I remember the little box it came in was sweet and the instructions were HILARIOUS!!!!)

Darius found Rocky in the lot next to us. He had to dig and dig to get him out of the dirt, the little hero. You can still see the hole. That first day I thought it was just a passing fancy and the rock would be forgotten, but no. The next day when Darius went outside to play the first thing he did was stub his toe on Rocky and they've been close ever since.

Now I don't know squat about rocks, other than they can hurt you if thrown hard, but they must reproduce like rabbits. The second day I noticed there were already little ones hanging around. Little baby rockettes. Awwwwww (The placement of the little rocks makes it look like a foot, huh.)

And they're very well mannered. I wish I could say the same for Darius. The other day I caught Darius just in the nick of time. He was getting ready to throw some rocks at passing cars. I may have saved his life, but he doesn't see it that way. To him I'm just a party pooper. That's just the way adulthood rolls.

Morning from Hell

Kill me. Just kill me now!

There's something to be said about creatures who eat their young. No more pee on the couch. No more snot on the pillows. No more food in the rug. Do I really need to go on? I didn't think so.

Motherhood sucks and then you get to do it all over again as a grandmother. Be still my heart.

Kill me. Just kill me now!

I'm a Life Saver... I guess

It was the middle of the night. It was around 3am and I couldn't get back to sleep so I stepped outside to have a cigarette. The clanking and clicking of bottles and cans got my attention first, then I saw a man on the sidewalk across the empty lot from me. I quietly stepped back inside because I didn't want to attract his attention.

He was clearly in the early steps of his current career... collecting refundable bottles and cans. We have a lot of folks doing that around here. They have huge trash bags full of cans tied to their grocery carts that are also filled with bottles. This young man looked like he only had paper bags. Drips from cans do not mix well with paper. I think one or more of his paper bags had ripped apart.

As I peeked out of the window I saw him trying to pack the bottles and cans into his clothing. I assumed pockets were used. I waited for him to finish and leave so I could then have my cigarette. Only he didn't leave.

The next time I stepped outside, the man and his collection were in front of the apartments. Wisely he had decided to move from under the street light to down the side street in the shadows more before trying something. He had his pants undone and was putting bottles down his pants leg. I don't know how he kept them from falling out at the bottom, but he apparently did.

I again stepped back inside... hopefully without him noticing me. It would be embarrassing to know someone saw your boxer shorts. (But that's an assumption.)

I waited. I continued to hear the bottles clank. He was having difficulty solving his problem... his problem of carrying gobs of bottles and cans without anything to hold them.

Sigh.

Then a thought popped into my head. Did Life move him closer to the apts. to kind of put him under my nose... so I couldn't ignore him? All he needed was a large garbage bag. Was I suppose to give him a bag? But its 3am, for gawd sake. A stranger, no less.

Sigh.

I checked in my drawer, the drawer of all bags, tin foil, and clear wrap. I had one garbage bag left... and it was from the dollar store so it was not very strong. I grabbed it and went outside.

I couldn't understand EVERYTHING the guy said, but he did step up and get the bag. That's when he said "I don't know what I would have done without you." Just call me Life Saver. (Oh, and he had his pants back up by then.)

As I lit up my cigarette he asked if I could spare one. I told him he could have the one I just lit up. As he stepped closer to me to reach it I could see his pants better. He looked like a dancer from the Arabian Nights or something... his pants were like pantaloons. Pantaloons that made their own music...clink, clank, clunk, with every movement. The legs were stuffed with bottles.

I then left him to his own devises and I assume things went okay, because he wasn't out there this morning... nor were any bottles and cans left.

I figure the young man is in the learning stages of this line of work and last night was a demonstration between the experienced and inexperienced. An experienced collector knows you've got to have the right equipment to do the job properly. The inexperienced just think you walk around collecting a few cans. I guess one could say this man was too successful for his own good. Perhaps tonight he will be armed with a few large trash bags. At least I hope he has access to trash bags. When you are broke, even the simplist of things can be out of your reach.

His First Hair Cut!

 
 
 
His first hair cut... his first self-inflicted hair cut.

When pinned to the wall and asked why he did it, his response was "I don't know."

I call him Speed Bump now.

I Almost Lost You!!!

oh boy... for a while I lost my pc settings. I had no address bar, no bookmarks, no toolbar for gawd sake. I ALMOST LOST YOU!!!

whew... I was so tense as I tried to figure out how to undo what had been done when my daughter created her own Windows account (at my suggestion. Banging head... hard!) We don't know what happened. She just followed the instructions as they came up.

But God Bless the restore option. Fortunately for me, whatever was done got undone with a restore back several days. Lordy, lordy, lordy. When will I learn to leave well enough alone. But... things are back to 'normal' and we will happily share the one sign-in account. Totally generic.

I'm thinking I dodged a bullet.

First Day of School

 
 
Darius was not looking forward to starting school, no matter how animated we were when trying to explain how much fun it will be. (That's right. We're not above great exaggeration.) The unknown does not excite Darius.

D did not like all the camera's going off in his face, either. (both 'mom' and I were taking pictures at the same time. Few of mine turned out view-able.)

'Mom' and Vyron stayed at a friend's home to wait for school to be over. When I talked to 'mom' she said once Darius got his breakfast at school he was hamming it up for the camera. "Hey...they're going to feed me!!!" How bad can school be if they are going to feed you, I ask.

D goes to school today only, then has to wait until next week to go full time. Don't know why. It seems like a strange twist to the schedule.

Family Life

We are now just one tight family unit.

 

Very tight. My daughter and grandsons are now firmly moved in...its a tight squeeze. This pile of boxes and clothes still remain. There's no place to put anything else. Hopefully my daughter will slowly pick things to take to storage, but most of the stuff here are CLOTHES. Oh my gosh, these people, at least the boys, have too many clothes!!

Girly Girl Shoes. "I want to be a shoe model when I grow up."

 

"Do these shoes make my feet look big?"

 

"Hey... my pants and shoes match. Almost."

 

Their Favorite Play Thing

 
 
Guess what the boys like to play with the most when they are here. Okay. You don't want to guess... I get it.

Its a back scratcher.

Gobs of toys around and all they care about is "Where's the back scratcher, gramma?"

How Fast Do Slugs Move?

 
 
Not very fast. My daughter and two grandsons are suppose to move in today. However, a large vehicle still needs to be procurred to move the mattresses and dressers here (and other stuff to storage.) So maybe it won't happen today.

Neither my daughter or I are high-energy people so things are moving slowly. My daughter had come over a couple of different times to "get the room ready" (it was junky and floors desparately need to be swept, etc.) She spent a couple of hours on the pc and probably dedicated 15 minutes to grabbing a few items and putting them in a box to be taken out to the garbage cans. The box still sits there, even though she's been over a few times.

My goal is to rearrange and declutter what I can. I get distracted so easily! But I've got an excuse to use. I'm old and my unstable knee is bothering me.

I don't feel obligated to do anything, but if I get some stuff done it will just make things flow better. So... what am I doing? I'm playing on the pc creating a blog entry. Got to do the important stuff first. Once the family is here, there will be competition for the pc.

All is Well (status update)

 
Things still look good as far as getting rid of the problem(s) with the pc. Two days in a row, now. I think the danger is over.