Pinnochio's Revenge

I spent yesterday just doing stuff I wanted to do, I sorted out my entire stash to see what I had - amusingly everything has a project attached to it, I just have to get to it. I did a bit of cleaning to make myself feel useful and then I parked it on the couch to watch my favorite channel. There were no clowns involved but it was sort of puppet day - they're right behind clowns on my list of things that creep me out big time(a clown puppet would probably put me right over the edge). First Tales From The Crypt was on with a ventriloquist theme followed by Pinnochio's Revenge which had a hilariously cheesy plot (puppet buried with a murder victim is somehow given to a little girl) - it was such an incredibly ugly puppet I can't imagine giving it to ANYONE let alone a small child. Oh well - mayhem ensued of course, the puppet would just sort of scary appear out of nowhere and I especially enjoyed when it was whapping the nanny with a poker - you have no idea. The best was when it got ahold of a rather large knife - I can't imagine the terror of being chased by a knife-wielding psycho puppet with big cartoon hands - I so love that stuff! I got a lot done on my sweater too. David brought my car down and the light do-hicky is nothing serious they said - we are still starting to look for something though. I think we'll wait until after the holidays as January is the best time to shop for a car I think, there's a Honda dealership about 20 miles from here so I'll scout that out first. I just want to make it past the holidays with no more excitement, I've had enough for the year.

Black Friday Is Over, The Countdown Begins

I guess we start the countdown, after all that's what Thanksgiving if for, isn't it? I went to stop at AC Moores yesterday before going to my last visit and then remembered(as I was sitting in traffic) that it was Black Friday. Sometimes I think we share more with Pavlov's dogs than we care to admit. We will most likely do gift certificates and cash for the boys again this year, as we get older it gets harder and harder to buy actual gifts and the distance makes returns much more difficult. We might do a bit of shopping today, I do need a new coat, something a little

more practical than my wool trench coat. I'm looking for something with a hood I think since I don't wear a hat. Ray was going to come out this weekend but due to the lousy weather forecast (rain, snow, sleet) he opted to stay in NJ. My car is making a short visit to the repair shop, they're going to put it on the computer to see why that little yellow light keeps coming on, I'm hoping it's nothing or at least something small and easily fixed. Given the way my life is running these days that's long shot, sigh sigh sigh. We have given up looking for a car on the internet, there's so much scamming and it's so much money it's a scary thing indeed - all the things they warn about (person claims they can ship the car for free, they want a money gram, etc...) has been demanded by both people David emailed. And when asked for more information they disappear into the mist.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone, it will be a quiet one this year. We've never been ones for tradition however, so it's pretty par for the course. I spoke with the boys, they're both spending it with friends and pizzas - I think I would like that too!

The weather is very cold here, there's snow on the ground - but the wind has died and the sun is out so it's not bad at all. Vincent remains a spectator, if you drive by my house you'll see him sitting in the front window doing the house cat thing for now. He makes a much better house cat than he did a stray - he wasn't good at the stray thing at all and will freely admit it. I am alternately knitting and working, I start on call next week - they do it a bit differently here as you do days oncall as opposed to a straight week. I was a bit disconcerted at first, but I'll give it a go before I have an opinion. I think it might be more managable and certainly less stressful! David got his hunting license a couple of weeks ago but has yet to go, he's a little unsure of where and how - if Ray doesn't come out this weekend I think he'll go look and see what's what. His friend Tommy called from WV this morning, he's been his taking his Vizsla hunting where David used to go all the time. I'm sure the game lands here are just as good. We have started slowly looking for a car, mine is still running, but it's getting close to the 200,000 mile mark. David found some deals on EBay - but I think we'll poke around here first - there's such a potential for disaster and the couple he's looked into seem a bit too good to be true. I just get nervous, I need to see it first and even though you can undo it if the car isn't what you want, let's face it, it's not like shipping a sweater back. And we did get our phone fixed so we are accepting phone calls. When I called Tuesday around 1:45 David reported the service guy had JUST gotten there - I said I thought they'd promised to be at our house between 9 am and noon. David started laughing - he said it took them three days to get here, would you like me to run outside and piss him off now?? - hmm, that would be a No.

We Are Waiting For Santa And Verizon - Whoever Shows Up First

Yes, it did snow last night - not a lot, but enough to partially put out the Direct TV and for Pearl to dart around in this morning. Vincent went out, we have no idea why - all he does is runs around to the front of the house so he can huddle on the porch where all the neighbors can see him so we look like bad owners. It's still snowing so I'll probably leave a bit early this morning, the snow plows have been running all night and I'm hoping the roads won't be too bad. David has to stay home for half the day as Verizon is supposed to make a Special Guest Star Appearance. We had tried to get them here yesterday, David called before he left for work and they told him they couldn't. Then they call my cell phone to tell me they have a cancellation so I asked what time so I could call David and let him know. Well, there was no time - just "sometime today". I asked the Customer Rep if that meant David needed to run home at 10 am and then proceed to sit there ALL day until someone showed up - what time was the appointment that was cancelled? The Rep stated that information was not shared with them - I just told them to leave the appointment where it was. The only funny thing was when I got home I saw 3 missed calls - all from Verizon on the phone that doesn't work and that they KNOW it doesn't work since they're supposed to come repair it. I'm not even sure breathing is a requirement to work there.......

Verizon Customer Service??

We had a pretty good weekend, Grace and Kim arrived Friday afternoon and we just did some shopping and stuff. It was sort of a last minute sort of thing and I didn't have time to make plans, so we went out to dinner and the local indoor fleamarket. We did a quick tour of Honesdale and I got a 1947 copy of Goodhouse Keeping Crafts which includes instructions on how to make your own hammock, weaving a rug and other assorted handiworks since you know how women enjoy those sorts of things. I told Kim and Grace if they come out when it's warmer we can go to the Poconos - the temps have remained in the teens and it's a bit frosty to be taking the garden tour of the mountains. Pearl of course enjoyed herself immensely since they love dogs and she loves them and Vincent even got in on the action. David and I are just hanging out, watching the Chiller Channel ( The People Under The Stairs was on!) and doing laundry. We're also having problems with Verizon and thier customer service has not improved since the last go around we had with them, which would have been about 7 weeks ago in which it took us about a month to get phone service. Now the phone rings and I can hear you, but you can't hear me. David called last night and finally asked to speak to supervisor - he was put on hold. He gave me the cell phone and I sat on hold while he got ready to go out. Then he held the phone while I got ready to go out and I sat on hold while we drove to the restaurant. My phone finally conked out right before the waitress came - so when I called back this morning I asked the customer rep why we'd been put on hold for over half an hour and she said the supervisors aren't really around on the weekend and since they're in another location the reps don't know how long I would be hold for. I was going to ask why that hadn't been mentioned BEFORE I was on hold but I figured since the only requirement to working as a Verizon "customer service rep" is the ability to breath and say more than three words at a time I would be wasting my time and what ever little brain function was on the other end of the line. Now we aren't going to see a repairman until Tuesday (despite the fact they're located two miles down the road) and David has to stay home for half a day waiting. I love Verizon, don't you??

Baby, It's Cold Outside

We' ve opened (and closed) the door for Vincent about 5 times this morning, he wants to go out but just can't bring himself to do it. The cold weather is here, snow spits on and off and you just know it's gearing up for The Big One. Pearl of course loves it and harrasses everyone to go out. I don't mind, while she was dorking around I spent the morning cleaning out the outhouse to get a better look at it, the floor is in surprisingly good condition but the two seater part is pretty fragile. Half of the ceiling is caved and it seems to need some repair on the roof. David shored up the side to stop it from leaning - it's a spring project but it gives me the winter to think about it. I tried looking up the Bidwell School online just to get an idea of how old it might be and I'm not sure if it has any historical value or not. Anyhoo, David's brother Kim and his girlfriend Grace are here for the weekend so we'll be going out later, David already took them to the applefarm and then I met them after work last night at the chinese buffet. Pearl is busy entertaining but they've shut the door firmly so she's got to wait for them to get up so she can resume her Hostessing Duties.

Ho. Hum

I can't believe that Christmas is around the corner, can you? It seems as I get older it seems to sneak up faster leaving me more and more unprepared each year. Some people have thier outside lights up already but that is due more to the climate - people put them up now rather than waiting until it's below 2 and snowing. The temps have dropped drastically, it's now in the 30's and we've had a few little dustings - but we all know that's just a precursor to the Real Deal. The cats still go out in the morning but are back in by 7 - Vincent had a run in with something this morning so he opted to Exit Stage Left back onto the couch. Pronto. I've been messing around with my time at work, if you start at 8 am (that is only if you can get some crazy patient to agree to see you that early....) you can leave at 4:30 - I've done that two days in a row but have found it's not worth it. First off I have to leave about 7:20 to get anywhere by 8 and the other problem is things get so busy in the afternoon the earliest I've been able to leave is 4:50 so the upshot is I leave much earlier and end up getting out about the same time. So it's not really worth the effort. David has been busy, between the house and jobs he's been running about, he got his hunting license and will most likely go this weekend. Pearl will enjoy that! My car goes into the shop again, the tires in the back have a slow leak, I will never buy Goodyear tires again. They have a 90,000 mile warrantee and this is the THIRD set of tires I've been through and you don't get the replacements free, they're pro-rated and now they're leaking.

Do Bad Things Always Happen For A Reason?

Someone said that recently - and it always makes me wonder, why - why does there have to be a purpose to bad things? Does it lend them more importance or make it easier to accept? I've had bad things happen to me and I cannot give them a reason for being, it didn't improve my life or make things better or even make me think. It was just bad and that's all it was. Sometimes I think if you don't give it meaning, just let it be a bad experience you can say "wow. that was bad, but it's over now" and get past it. Not to downplay the other end of it - I've had things happen that I thought were terrible at the time - but sometimes if you lose something you realize down the road you're better off without it and you no longer have to worry about it anymore. There is no shame in giving up on a bad job and moving on - and people don't like that concept either. Not everything in life works out, no matter how much you try or how much you want it to work, the solution can lie in the ability to say Enough, it's done - you cannot fix some things. There are things in your life that should be left unfixed because perhaps, in hindsight, maybe they never really worked in the first place. So maybe the next time a Bad Thing comes along, you should leave lie where it is and go on, because it's only as important as you make it.

The weather has been very rainy lately - it goes along with my mood as of late. Things are not bad - I am just tired of being sick and it makes everything look that much worse. Part of it is getting used to being an hourly wage earner instead of a salaried one - and yes, there is a big difference - because with being salaried you can play around with your time like working straight through the day and getting off early. Here I still work straight through and all I do is make more work for myself. Liz is going to be nearby this weekend and I can't see her because I'll be oncall that day, we can't go anywhere for Thanksgiving because I just get the one day off - I feel like I moved all this way and I'm still working harder and I still get to see no one, different state same crap. Arrgh. It will get better eventually, we got hit with a lot all at once and it is starting to even out, but it'll take more than a day I suppose. I'm trying to be overwhelmed by every little thing, I knit and play with Pearl - I have looked into some groups but it comes back to the same thing. There's actually a knitting group that meets down at the library - but I'm working so I can't go to that. There just doesn't seem to be enough time anymore.

In Da Boneyard

I realized this morning while ironing and watching the TV set that perhaps a movie entitled "Ed Geins, The Butcher Of Caufield" was maybe not morning fare. I also swore to myself that if was ever standing in the middle of nowhere with no one around but my body snatching friend,who incidently happens to be holding a shovel, that I would keep my mouth shut on quittin' as it just ain't right. It's a good way to catch a shovel across the head (eekk!) with susequent Whapping (eewww) until you're on the wr0ng end of the body snatching business. Yes, I am still addicted to the Chiller Channel with no end in sight. If you get up early enough you can catch the Alfred Hitchcock hour which is always fun, isn't it? The temps continue dropping around here, it's the same all over. We get a small bout of Spring Like weather followed by winter and everyone acts surprised like it's never happened before. Same song different year. Of course it's not consistant yet, it's very cold in the morning then warms up and then back to very cold making it impossible to be dressed appropriately for more than an hour at a time. I'm about to start cabling again on my sweater, deja - knit??

That picture is actually from one of the houses we didn't go see when we were house hunting - interesting decor, isn't it? Maybe I can knit some wall paper...... speaking of which, I did restart that sweater last night. I went through all the yarn and realized there's about 4 skeins that have a different color lot, it's so slight that when you put them with the others you don't notice right away it's not a match to the first dye lot. Oh well, at least I'm very good at the pattern. My cold is finally starting to break up, I feel better this morning than I have in a while so hopefully I'll be done with it by the end of the week. I'm going to start back exercising tomorrow since I can breath and stuff now, with the holidays looming around the corner I do want to get a little ahead with my diet so things won't be quite so tragic come January. I spoke to both the navy boys last night, they seem to be doing well. I guess I'd better go get ready for work

Is It Sunday Already?

I've spent the weekend just being sick with this Stupid Cold - I've got a charming hacking cough and a runny nose. My vaporizor has become one of my most cherished possessions and my big activities for the entire weekend was a trip to Wegmans. Yi Pee. Next weekend will be my first on call day - I'm filling in for another nurse but it will be a nice test run for me - although if it doesn't work out I'm not sure what the alternative would be. I'm also considering getting my hair cut at some point, that's always a dicey thing for me. The problem with having very thin hair is you can't do alot with it or make it look thicker. It's fine if I can find a hairdresser that can work within these parameters but every once in awhile I run into an Optimist and I'm the one that suffers. My favorite was the one that had pink and purple unicorns decorating her station and dotted her i's with little hearts. She insisted that she could make my hair look thicker and I, out of morbid curiosity, let her give it a go. I left there with a helmet of hair, my bangs sticking straight up in the air due to the huge amount of hairspray, gel and mousse that had been carefully incorperated. When I got home David was in the kitchen - I asked him how I looked. He peered at me for a moment and then said "you look like you've been scared very badly" - it took 3 shampoos and scrubbing to get all of that crap out of my hair. I figure I have another month's grace of using the little scissors in the bathroom before I have to go and get it cut for real - wish me luck.

Time To Pull The Plug

I have to completely restart this sweater - there is just too much wrong with it and it cannot be saved. Aside from the fact the dye lot is not consistant I wasn't paying attention and didn't bind off the sleeves right. Last night I started frogging it and the yarn got jammed - enough already! So I'm just giving it up as a bad job and moving on, there are times in life when no matter how hard you try it just isn't fixable. Anyhoo, my Mom and Fred left yesterday morning, we had a very good visit despite the fact I was working and I've got a bad cold. David performed his duty as Entertainment Committee and they did the apple farm and the local diner for lunch. Then they went to Lowes and David took them to Wegmans, the grocery store. They had a great time there because they were having some sort of Free Sample Day and Fred now has a better appreciation of Brie. I didn't get any pictures this time around and David forgot so you will just have to make due with the Failed Knitting Project and Cheesy Jesus. The day is pretty grey - we're just doing a little shopping and then back home for me to lay around and be sick. My stupid bruises are fading, at least one of them, sigh. I take Pearl out on a leash at night and last week when we went out there was a rabbit - Pearl just took off and it happened so fast I didn't have time to let go of the leash. I lost my footing and Pearl actually yanked me over the iron railing, fortunately the only thing I suffered was a large bruise on my arm from where I hit the rail. Then last night when getting the mail in the dark I caught my foot and fell again, so I am now sporting a very large bruise on my left knee. David has threatened to put a bicycle helmet on me if this continues. I managed to do an ENTIRE week of work for the first time since I started, they were scoping for people to work the weekend but I declined. I'm already doing a day of on call for one of the other nurses and I need to get over this stupid cold - due to the fact I seem to suffer from any and all side effects of medications I'm pretty limited to tylonol and a vaporizer, hooray for me. In other news Jackson got his cell phone last night so he was teathered to the wall with the recharger but was excited to have it. He's doing well and sounds great enjoying Navy life and so forth.

Happy Hump Day

No, I didn't end up voting. It was one of those things that you don't think about until the day of. Most places vote at the schools or fire dept - so I left a little early and hmm, school was in session and the fire dept was quiet so off to work I went. You can't vote out of your district and by the time I blew back into town and discovered they vote at the senior center, there was a huge crowd and I had a dog that had been in the house all day on her own. My candidate didn't win regardless (better luck next election Ralph!!) so the country will have to be left until it's own devices until next election when I'm a bit better prepared. Speaking of blowing into town my Mom and Fred will be making a landing around noon, David has been elected head of the Entertainment Committee as I cannot take another day off from work. We'll be going out to dinner which will be fun, they're only staying overnight but will get to see the new house. Work is work, I'm still getting used to (and still hating) this hourly crap. My job in WV was salaried which meant when I was done I was done and went home. Here when I'm done I have to go back to the office - it's 8:30 to 5 or they dock your butt. If I leave my house (as opposed to the office) at 8:30 and arrive at the patient's house at 9 - they dock me for that! I pointed out that I have patients near my house so if I drive into the office and sign in at 8:30, then drive BACK to the patient, they'll be paying me double for travel time and milage, but if that's the rule I will abide by it - I'd rather drive the extra 15 miles than work for free. I'm sure I'll work it out but it is hard to get used to after my old job. It's funny how things don't look so bad when you're looking at them from a distance.

You Get What You Pay For

We had a very nice, very quiet weekend with Ray. He arrived Saturday morning and after a few cups of coffee we headed off to the bookstore. Before we left I made copies of the coupon I got online so both Ray and I had one for 40% off a book. I got a sock knitting book and a CD of Pachelbel (I'm addicted, I admit it!) - we did a brief walkthrough of AC Moore but I didn't have a coupon so I was not interested. Well, I was interested - in a very cool knitting bag - and it was polka dotted of course. But I had no coupon so no sale since I already have a few knitting bags as we all know and cannot justify full price. We went to our favorite restaurant and then back home, stuffed. This morning we went out for breakfast to a new place - it was a little stressful for the cook as the waitress hadn't shown up and he was a Jack Of All Trades and none too happy about it. The waitress did show up eventually (she had forgot to set her clock)but the cook was still not a Happy Boy. We picked up the Sunday News and Lo and Behold - a coupon for AC Moores, whoo hoo whoo hoo. David had to go to Lowes so I encouraged that behavior and I got my new knitting bag for 40% off, you can't beat that with a stick. We had dinner at out favorite italian place, I just finished calling patients and Ray's team won so it was a good day in the neighborhood. I only have one complaint and it's about the yarn I got from Big Lots - it seems the dye lot is a bit iffy which would have been a better discovery at the START of the back as opposed to 2/3 of the way through. My game plan is to make the hood very big to cover up the Not So Matching Portion of the sweater. I suppose that's what you get for a dollar a skein. Bastards.

The Candy Is All Mine.

Since we are now living on the main drag we figured we'd get trick or treaters for once in our career - so in anticipation of the Onslaught we bought a lot of candy. We didn't have a single trick or treater. You read that right, not one. So we have a fairly large bowl of candy just sitting there begging to be eaten. It took all of my willpower to have a bowl of Rice Chex this morning instead of an assortment of mini candy bars. I figure we'll just horse it down until it's gone and that will be that. The snow is finally disappearing, the temps warmed up and now the yard is a big sloppy mess which Pearl enjoys skidding around in. Ray is scheduled to make a special guest star appearance today so we have performed the usual De - Catting Ritual of his room, I also have a surprise for him. He has this thing about a singer from the 50's, Frankie Laine and has been on the hunt for a CD - and has been unsucessful. While in the Great Lakes I actually found him a couple of his greatest hits albums so that should make him happy. Work has been busy and a bit frustrating, they do things a bit differently and then you throw the computer in plus a full schedule - but I'm getting the hang of it and am finding a lot of my patients pretty amusing. I had one that did an impression of the doctor's wife so dead on I almost fell out of my chair laughing.