Thursday, March 27, 2008

Hard Times....

We all know the USA is in economic meltdown. Its no secret. But other than the fuel prices, you never really notice how close to home things can be. I mean, out here in the country, I'm sealed off from many things. I don't see the streets of houses for sale...I don't notice a lot of things. Yeah, its more money for groceries, but I'm frugal anyway, so I don't see it too much. My point is, it hit real close today.

The DH, whom we all know is a Truck Driver, called this morning with some news. The head of his department had been fired. Not layed off...FIRED. Why? Budget. Money is tight, and they are cutting costs where they can. The screwed up part? He had no notice. This guy is sitting in his office yesterday, and in walks the owner...

"Hey man, thanks for your hard work, but you no longer work here."

"What?"

"Yep, you're fired. Budget constraints. We're sorry, but we have to let you go. You can pick up your check on Friday. Have a good day, and good luck."

There ya have it. That fast, that sudden...DONE. This guy did nothing wrong. But in their mind, he was a luxury they could no longer afford. And in this same department, they are firing 2 drivers. No, DH isn't one of them, but bet your ass he is securing another job for himself as we speak. Actions like that make you question the company and its tactics. It makes you wonder, keeps you on edge, and that is way too much stress. So he has called around, and is getting apps in the mail ASAP. Getting out before the suprise falls on us....can you blame him?

I guess I just think its incredibly rude for a company, any company, to expect a 2 week notice of its employees before leaving, yet they waltz in and shitcan them with no warning at all. Rude to say the least.

First Ride of the Season

WOOHOO!! I FINALLY got to ride the bike yesterday!! Let me go back a few days and explain.

Obviously, with Easter dinner being held here, that meant the bike had to be moved out to the garage. No problem. I told the DH, take off the trickle charger, and put it all back together in case the weather cooperates and I can ride. His response? "The tags are expired, you need to get that done before you ride"....DUH.

Now, DMV is closed on Mondays. So I had to go to Carthage anyway, and I decided to go on Tuesday. But what would be my luck? The system was down, and no, you cannot get your sticker today! DAMMIT!! So I grudgingly came home, enjoying the sunshine and 62 degree F weather. Well, being the rebel that I am (although not as much as I used to be) I took the bike out anyway. I couldn't let the afternoon completely go to waste!! Where did I ride? Not far...hell, I was in my Carhart coat, and slip on shoes...lol. But I RODE and it was awsome!

So then comes Wednesday. I thought "Screw it, I'm riding to Carthage to get the sticker".....Of course, the DH wasn't thrilled..."Your not legal"...pffftt...I know the backroads, and I've got the registration papers on me, don't care!! MUST RIDE

And ride I did. Ok, so it was only 50 out (I'm being generous). I put on the chaps, sweatshirt, heavy coat, and boots/gloves. The sun was shining, no wind, gorgeous day!! I rode the 15 miles to the DMV, awsome, got the sticker, even better, and buzzed around town for a few. Went and fueled up and came home...HOLY CRAP IT WAS FREAKIN GREAT!!!

But, do you think the weather will cooperate for the rest of the week??? NOPE. Do I care? NOPE....I got to ride yesterday, and it was perfect!!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Long Weekend

Well, another weekend, and another holiday down. What started out as having Easter dinner at my MIL's house (as usual) ended up being Easter dinner at MY house. My MIL landed her butt in the hospital due to fluxuating blood pressure, so my SIL and I decided we would take over the project. And, since I have the bigger house of all the kids (a curse, as you can see) it was decided that we have it here. This would aleviate my MIL from any stress or strain. So, 20+ people (5 children between the ages of 3 and 7, not to mention one infant) all in my house. Four dishes measuring 9x13, a crock pot, and numerous other dishes filled my kitchen counters and table. The table had 4 leaves in it, extending it to over 8ft long. Plus another buffet table measureing the same length in the back room, and a card table in the front room. Everyone started arriving around 1130, with dinner starting at 1230. I finally got everyone out by 1800, only (I think) because the DH had to leave for an 8 hour run north. I was lucky enough to have the dishes done, food put away, and DH out the door by 1930. Talk about exhausted!!

I guess I should also mention that we spent all day on Saturday in Quincy at a basketball tournament for our 7 year old nephew. We got there at 0900, with the first game starting at 0920. It was 3 on 3, and the tourny was for kids of all ages, starting with 6 year olds! Anyway, each game was 15 min, with either one or 2 hours in between. So the DH and I were able to leave and get the necessities for Sunday. We didn't get home til 1800, and still had to get things set up around here. We were in bed by 2200, which was fine, and then up on Sunday at 0630.

Whew!!

I spent yesterday (monday) finishing the cleaning...vacuuming up little candies, putting the tables and chairs back to normal, and fixing the furniture back. So all is right in my world now...thank goodness!!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Musings and reviews....

Ok all you people in Bloggerland!! Once again, random thoughts and the occassional line of ranting is brought to you by....ME!!

Lets start with the movie I recently watched. Pirates of the Carribean, Dead Man's Chest. OMG, I love that movie!! I love all of the Pirates movies, and Cpt. Jack Sparrow is just....well....dreamy! Sound funny? YES! And what about that oh so hot William Turner??? Holy crap, I'd let him eat crackers in my bed any day!!! But what about the movie?? Just as good, if not better than the 2 before it. Love the story, love the scenery, love the ending!! I laughed, cried, and was completely enthralled through the entire thing. In fact, it (like the other 2) is worth watching again and again!!

Lets now move on to the book I'm reading. You guessed it, another Anne Rice book. Blood and Gold, the story of Marius, one of the oldest vampires in her chronicles. His story is beautiful, dangerous, and timeless, just as he is. In fact, all of the New Vampire Chronicles fill in the blanks so-to-speak. We wonder, during the first series, how some of these individuals came to pass. And with each reading,....Armand, Pandora, etc, we learn their story. Its awsome!! And I need not go back over the fact of how wonderful the writings of Anne Rice are. Her eloquence, and discriptiveness are impecable!!

So, what else?? Weather!! Yes, the weather is warming. HOWEVER.....there might be snow this weekend...GGGRRRR. I am SO ready for Spring!! I have seeds ready to plant, (which reminds me, I should get them in a starter pot), I have a motorcycle sitting in my den just begging to be ridden, and I have rose bushes waiting patiently to be uncovered. sigh

Yesterday I took my dogs out for their "romp". I started with my 2 Giant Schnauzers, and off we went on the 2 mile trek. On the way back, my male was all wound up....about what, I didn't know. So he was running to the creek, then back to me, etc. I didn't see my female, so I followed him to see what his issue was. There in the creek, at a bend, was my female with an Opossum. Now for those of you who have never seen one, let me explain. They look like an overgrown rat. Long snout, furry (grey/brown/white), and a tail that has no hair. Quite ugly, in fact. When threatened with a bigger animal, they "play dead", emitting a smell of rot, that is supposed to repel the preditor. Its quite effective. But don't let them fool you, they can be very mean. They raid the chicken coop, or if you have small animals out (puppies/kittens, etc) they will try to get those, too.
ANYWAY, there was my girl with the 'possum in the creek. She was looking at me like, "now what?". So I gave her the "bite" command and she instantly grabbed it and ran off. My male, however, wasn't so brave. First, he looks to my female as the Alpha, and will in no way intrude on her prize. But he isn't very "worldly" so this new 'thing' not only wasn't moving, but stunk. He didn't know what to do. My girl, however, was all about carrying this repusive thing around, so very proud of her catch!! Eventually the male decided he would bite at it, and see what would happen, but he lost interest quickly.

Now of course, I have pictures of the whole ordeal. Do you think I will post them here?? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Why you ask? Because I don't need the animal rights activists sueing me, or harrassing me on the plight of the poor Opossum. Telling the world how I take great joy to the point of taking pictures of this poor, suffering animal. So no, I will not post them here. If you want to see them, send me an email, and I'll help you out.

Moving on. The two dogs abandoned the animal, and we went home. However, I then had to get the other 2 out. My Mastiff and JRT. Now you would think that the Terrier would have jumped at the chance to check out this 'thing'. Nope, Max could have cared less. The Mastiff on the other hand, was amazed. He sniffed, barked, nudged, and pawed at it, trying to figure it out. I was laughing at his antics, the whole while marveling at how this 'gentle giant' could be so protective and curious at the same time. His body language was that of a Conquerer, but his bark was of curiosity. I studied him, making mental notes of his developing personality. Keep in mind, this 135 pound dog is still a puppy. He is only 15 months old (1 year, and 3 months, for those that can't do the math) and still has about 2 years of mental growing to do. He is such a sweet boy, and so damn strong.

I don't know if I have a rant today. I might later, but at the moment, I am relatively content. I think I will get the egg carton out, and try to start some seeds...maybe, maybe not. lol

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

The under 30 crowd....

This was sent to me via email (lol) and I'm not sure who wrote it, but it is SO TRUE!!!!

The Spoiled Under 30 Crowd If you are 30 or older, you will think this
is hilarious !!!! When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their
tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up;
what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning .... Uphill
BOTH ways .. Yadda, yadda, yadda.And I remember promising myself that
when I grew up, there was no way in heck I was going to lay a bunch of
crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got
it! But now that...I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but
look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I
mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a dang Utopia! And I hate to
say it but you kids today- you don't know how good you've got it!

1. When I was a kid, we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know
something, we had to go to the dang library and look it up ourselves.. In
the card catalog!! (Do you even know what a card catalog is? Didn't
think so!)

2. There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a
letter... with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street
and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

3. There were no MP3's or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you
had to hitchhike to the dang record store and shoplift it yourself! Or
you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ
would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

4. We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody
else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

5. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your
drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick
it up and take your chances, mister!

6. We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and " Asteroids" and the graphics were horrible! Your guy was a little square! You actually had
to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or
screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game
just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!
Just like LIFE!

7. When you went to the movie theater there no such
thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall
guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't
see, you were just screwed!

8. Sure , we had cable television, but back
then that was only like 15 channels and there was no on-screen menu!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!
And there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on
Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL
WEEK for cartoons!

9. And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to
heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a fire ... Imagine
that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing
or a pan with HOT oil and real popcorn kernels and shake it all over
the stove forever like an idiot.

10. When we were on the phone with our
friends and our parents walked-in, we were stuck to the wall with a
cord, a 7 foot cord that ran to the phone - not the phone base, the actual
phone. We barely had enough length to sit on the floor and still be
able to twirl the phone cord in our fingers. If you suddenly had to go
to the bathroom - guess what we had to do..... Hang up and talk to
them later.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have
got it too easy. You're spoiled!!You guys wouldn't have lasted five
minutes back in 1980! Regards,The over 30 Crowd

I had to laugh out loud when I read this!!!
_________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

The use of words

I just wanted to blog a bit about the use of words. As you all know, I am an avid reader of Anne Rice. In reading her 'new' Vampire Chronicles, she takes different characters (some old, some new) and basically writes an autobiography of each one. I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms, and in a way it is. But she is the author, and although she is writing it down, if you really get into each character, it is they who are telling/writing the story. They write of how they came to be. The few short years leading up to their receival of the "Dark Gift". My point is, each character is different, yet they use a profuse amount of descriptors. If you were to pluck each one of them out of the book, sit them down and say "describe this chair", they would take a whole page of writing to do it. In the end, you would walk away feeling as if the chair were alive, soft, sensual, and in desperate need of your touch. You would be in love with the chair.
I find this intriguing, and after a long day, very relaxing. I admit, some days I am so anxious to know what is on the next page, I tend to skim through. But most evenings, as I lay in bed trying to wind down, I become entranced with the words. Words that, if not used in a sentence, I would need a dictionary to understand. No, I couldn't take that word and give you the definition, but I could use it properly.

I think this type of discritiveness is a lost art. We are so busy IMing, texting, and rushing to get things said, we lose the beauty of language. The written word is so powerful, and yet it has been lost with time. I am just as guilty as anyone, and can only hope to one day write so beautifully.