IT'S COME AND GONE

Well, it (CHRISTmas) is finally over for another year. I am relieved and bored and perplexed and just a bit worried. Thank you Pi-day Dave for the crock pot and the electric sweeper. They are both really cool and I really like both of them. I am excited to try them both. I bought myself two books "An Inconvenient Book" by Glen Beck and "The Forgotten Man". I think it will be awhile before I finish them. Did any of the rest of you get the third installment of Moms book of family pictures? I talked to her on the phone on Christmas and she was worried that no one got them. I told her that I got mine, but she wonders if anyone else did. so if you have received yours in the mail or otherwise gotten it, will you please let her know. I love those books, I just wish that I and DH had more photos for her to use. I feel kind of like the left out or lost sheep, I have no children and nothing of note to show for my life. It is a really lonely feeling. When I'm gone who will even notice? When I am old and decrepit who will take care of me, or will I just be put in a home to molder my remaining years away? It is a unsettling thought. All I do is work and then come home and take care of Raymond and the pets. Work, feed people and others, do what little chores I have energy for, sleep or rather TRY to sleep) and start over again the next day. Oh I forgot I also try to pay everything , at least a little of it, every paycheck. I got up today at 5:30 A.M. to get ready for work. I sat down in my chair in the living room with my toast and Dr Pepper, no caffeine in it, set my breakfast on the table, bowed my head to say a blessing. Next thing I know it is 9:00 A.M. Whaaat? So much for getting to work at 7:00! I called in and said I wasn't coming in today. We have been super busy before Christmas and even have been getting overtime. Now we don't have anything to do. Yesterday K and I cleaned out the lockers(Fridges) and did dishes, We both left at noon. Today we had a little more to do inasmuch as we had to make 2# of honey butter. Like that will take 2 people 8 hours to do. We can use vacation hours if we want to, because we only need to come in when needed and we can leave when done. I am not going in tomorrow either. I am worried about my job status however because I have no Vacation time left at the moment, so I will not get any pay for the days I don't come in or for the hours that I do not work. I will get holiday pay however. But there is not enough work for eight hours a day. I don't think anyone is coming in tomorrow. I am a worry wart, so I think I will get the reputation as a lazy person that has no work ethic and thus be fired for not working my full 8 hours a day during these slow days until January 2nd. This is far from the truth, but I am not as willing to work myself to exhaustion as I once was, it has never gotten me anywhere but sick. It is a pain to live my life as a drudge without any acknowledgment of my slaving away or any advancement or rarely even any compliments.
I really have a sleep problem, today after the falling asleep fiasco at breakfast I still slept until around 12:00 noon. I then revived enough to get dressed and take out the garbage and retrieve the newspaper and mail. I then fried us up a steak (not a very tender one) and zapped a couple of potatoes. I really didn't get energy until about 5:00 or 6:00 P.M. This is not an uncommon sleep pattern for me. I am now wide awake an energized. but it is after midnight. Why does this happen? Something must be wrong with me. I have always been a night owl but it is getting worse. I like to be awake late at night, but I have no desire to be anywhere but in the house at this time of night,. A night owl, but not a party person. sigh! I am sorry that this missive may be a little (or even a lot gloomy Gusish, but I do not have anyone else to talk to so unfortunately you poor folks get the fallout. I hope I can be a little more cheerful next time.

GROCERIES

Went shopping today, total amount spent. $225.00. Ouch!

CHRISTMAS RUSH ET EL

Boy oh boy, are we busy at work. I am so happy that I only have to work in salads, and not hot foods. We have been getting huge orders for ham dinners with funeral potatoes and veggies, turkey dinners with dressing etc, chicken dinners with potatoes and gravy and veggies, chicken cordon bleu with rice , and massive amounts of baked potatoes like 13 50# cases of baked potatoes in 1 day. Thank heavens I and the other salad area people only have to do things like 9 Mexican pizzas (7 layer bean dip) put on large 16"round plastic trays. 20 fruit trays or more, same amount of veggie trays, relish trays, fruit kabobs, acini de pepe salads, deli pasta salads, various dips such as shrimp,crab, or onion dips and th most tedious of them all ham or turkey salad filled cream puffs. We don't make the puffs, we just have to cut them all in half and fill each one with ham or turkey salad. These take forever. Next Thurs we have an order for 84doz of the beasties and that is half of the size of the original order. This is for one order only and we had four pages of other orders for that same day when I left work Fri. They can add on to those orders until Wed evening. HELP! Also this last week I have had the annual car inspection, registration, thing to deal with. Last week I took said car in to get the emissions and safety checks done. Well just as I left to go to the car check place, snow decided to come down in buckets full so I waited in the waiting room with several "Field and Stream" or Race car magazines to read whilst I waited for the car to be examined. Now I don't know about you, but those magazines are not exactly my cup of tea. I had brought with me a circle it puzzle mag to entertain myself. I waited for at least an hour, only to find that I failed the safety test because my brake lights and turn signal lights were not working. now I know that cars in Utah do not come with turn signals, but mine did and I used them all of the time. I had to get them fixed, which I did on Tues. Then I went to the inspector place to have a new certificate made up stating that the car had been repaired and was now acceptable. I waited an hour during my so called lunch hour) to get the new certificate. The computer server crashed and they couldn't get my new certificate printed. There went my "lunch" hour. Yesterday I finally got back to afore mentioned inspection station to get everything squared away. That is the exact time that it decided to snow. It was a record of 2.5 inches of snow in one hour. The exact hour that brilliant me decided to take the car in. I had planned on going grocery shopping after car was a squared away. It didn't happen, instead I drove home. About 5 min after I got home the snow stopped! I haven't gone grocery shopping in over two weeks so it looks like I will have to go Mon evening after work! I did do 4 batches of laundry Sat besides, unfortunately I did not get the floor swept or mopped. Last Sun the young men brought the sacrament to Ray and the Elder that brought it said "Oh it looks like you have been cleaning". I said " no I need to do some cleaning." I think it looked like I had cleaned because DH had put the dishes in the dishwasher( this is an all day job for him) so that is why the house maybe looked a little better than usual. I was a bit embarrassed, but also a little amused at the poor man (he looks 18, but is a least a returned missionary and one of the many college students couples in the ward) not very tactful. Oh well I do the best I can and I have not poisoned anybody yet. This week will probably be equally exciting.

JUST STUFF II

Hi everybody! I tried to post something last night but there must have been some Gremlins having a party on the internet because my computer was doing strange things and I couldn't get on blogger to write anything. I have been sick the last 2-3 weeks with a nasty and persistent cold. The week before Thanksgiving I was out Tues,W,and Th with a fever and cough and stuffy nose. I finally went to the Dr. Thurs. but all he did was ask me if I had gotten the flu shot. YES. He gave me a Rx of Psudoephedrine and an expectorant and sent me home. I hate P because it makes me feel worst than the cold. I went to work on Fri of that week but I probably should have stayed home. The problem was I had used all my sick days. I felt awful because of the drugs, but my fever was gone so I went. That is a nightmare week for takeout because of Thanksgiving parties and such, so I missed most of the "fun" (hooray!). Last week I worked Mon and by the time I got to work on Tues. ( I was on time) all of the take out for Tues and Wed was done. I worked a total of 2 hours and then went home until this morning. Th and Fri were paid holidays, but I only had 4 hours of vacation time left, so Wed was an unpaid holiday. I got a lot of rest over the weekend and feel quite a bit better now. I still can't breathe much and every once in awhile in am seized with a horrible coughing fit, but I can finally taste some of my food and am getting some sense of smell back. I hope this isn't an omen of how the winter will be! I did manage to sweep the floors and even cook a meal or two fancier than a can of soup or a TV Dinner. I planned to put up the Christmas tree, but it is still waiting on the back porch to be set up. All I have to do is take off its shroud and plug it in. Instant Christmas tree, all I add is ornaments, which never did get on it last year. Sigh. I am caught between getting me a digital camera or a pair of glasses (to see out of not drink out of) The camera would probably be cheaper. I have been looking at eyeglass frames and some of them run at $500 WITHOUT the lenses. I will probably get glasses but the cheapest ones I can find that still are presentable. Speaking of Christmas presents, does anyone know what the Lang boys need or want, this includes David of course. Send some suggestions my way. I have some ideas of what to send Dave but the boys are another story. Help me please!

MY SAT AND SUNDAY

Hey Alf's boy, your pictures tell the story. Sat I work up at 7:30 WITHOUT the alarm. What a bummer. I put in a batch of laundry, then convinced myself to go back to bed; (it wasn't that hard). I had a sore throat and icky body aches. I got up at 9:50 and then I had to hurry and get dressed and get to the eye Dr. to make sure my new contacts were fitting well and that I can see. They were and I can. I took $60.00 out of the bank for spending money. Promptly $30.00 went to gas. I bought 2 maple bars for our breakfast and went home. I put laundry in the dryer, fed the dog and the cat and myself and DH. Read the paper then went back to sleep for 2 hours. I paid bills online. I went grocery shopping. Spent $168.00. Came home and put away groceries, with DH help. Cooked a frozen pizza, well I told DH when to put it in the oven. It cooked in ten min., but it took DH 30 or more min, to cut it up put it on a plate get my pills and call me to dinner. It was ice cold then. Oh well. I watched TV and finally went to bed at some early thirty time in the morning.I finally took an aspirin instead of Tylenol or rather I took one aspirin and one Tylenol, That is essentially what Excedrin is only one of each is cheaper and is the same thing, along with caffeine which I did not take. This morning I got up about 7:30 and put in another batch of laundry and promptly went back to bed. Church starts at 11:00 but that is often to early. Go figure. I made it in time for RS at 1:00. All during RS meeting I was looking for my wallet so I could pay tithing. I went through my purse several times and couldn't find it. PANIC. I was having visions of my blank checks being forged and sent out all over Provo. The last I had seen it was at Smiths when I wrote a check for the groceries. I am afraid that I didn't pay much attention to the lesson. It was about Joseph Smith and it was really good but I am sure I would have gotten more out of it if I had been less distracted. I said a silent prayer that I would find the wallet after church. I DID, it had fallen out of my wallet when I took it out of my purse and it was laying at my feet the whole time. WHEW!! I made dinner of pork ribs (Boneless and no BBQ sauce) apples (raw with raisins and craisins) and a side of teriaki noodles with veggies. I watched "Gunsmoke" reruns until "The amazing Race" cam on. then I did some indexing on the computer for the church. That is the tale of my weekend.

CHECK THIS OUT

I haven't done much of interest this week. The week was pretty routine and boring. Halloween DH and I went and got flu shots, went to the post office to mail some bills, then we went to McDonald's for 2 Oreo McFlurries and 2 med Fries for a treat. The treat cost $8.13. We could have gotten 2 quarter pounder with cheese meals for just a few dollars more. Fri when I came to work. Samoa Lady and Former MTC Head cook were at at it again ragging about how Bob was cutting the pineapple. Me and FF had showed him how to cut it like we had always done it, and she was having a fit about it. We wasted too much "meat" cutting it the way we showed him. Her way is much better, and is muuuuuuuch slower and (thus better in her eyes because then all she has to do is cut fruit all day thus avoiding all the other work). Those two women from the MTC and everyone else who works there work until there job is done, and then they sit the rest of the day. They make sure too stretch out what they are doing as long as possible so that is not enough time to do anything else that day. This has been going on for years at that place. Some of the people from Morris and Cannon were transferred over there last Nov. Thank heavens I wasn't, but unfortunately some came to the Morris center with me and FF. Our old manager at Cannon center went there (MTC) April 2006 to straighten up the people over there and make them work. So far they have really dug in their heels and are making life miserable for her (and themselves). I pointed out to her that food is cheaper than time, but by then she and Former MTC lady had dug in there heels. We now have the former MTC chef, who is afflicted with the same syndrome that they have. He was telling us it had to be cut that way. Two or three weeks ago we were given the instructions from manager and chef that it didn't matter how we cut the fruit (except the faster way was better) and that all that mattered was that the food items contain all of the ingredients in the right amount of weights and were in the right containers. Now they are send a mixed message again. Itis very annoying. We are expected to have an open mind, but only 2 of us are. The We were also told there was no supervisor because all of us are of the same pay and power rank, but Former took it upon herself to appoint Samoa as the supervisor even though has no responsibility in the kitchen at all. Bob is a mentally disabled man. He is about my age and holds down 2 jobs in order to support his wife and 5 children. He is limited in his abilities and can only handle certain tasks. He can cut the pineapple the way we showed him, but cannot do it her way because or the way they handle the knife. She was going on and on about it and at one point asked him if he wasn't ashamed leave so much fruit on the rind. Trying to shame him for wasting so much, She said I and he should treat it like we would in our own homes and not waste so much. Well guess what, I would cut it the same way in my home, if I ever used pineapple. which I can't stand.Well I managed to keep my cool but I fumed all morning and then I ached from head to toe all afternoon. I still ache, like a train ran over me! Former had a sore knee so she spent all dad in the kitchen sitting on a stake of milk crates because her knee hurt. I stood all day and always do and both knees ache, my hip hurts, ankles and feet feel like my legs are slowly falling onto them, sort of like the bent feet of a paper doll, my neck is sometimes in a cramp and wont even turn, my head hurts and my stomach either growls with hunger or cramps with IBS. But I get my work done and half of the time do work in other areas that need help. I never could understand how lazy slackers get away with it and people like me slog along, with nary an acknowledgment of their work. I just don't get it. Today I had some hamburger that I needed to cook, But not much else to work with. I was thinking of a Taco Salad or Nacho thingy. I decided to try making it with what I had. It turned out really good so I thought I might share it for anyone who might like it
IMPROV NACHOS
1 Pkg of Taco seasoning
1 lb of ground beef
1 can of diced tomatoes with sweet onions
1 pkg of Tortilla chips
Frozen corn (super sweet)
Shredded cabbage (coleslaw) or shredded lettuce
Shredded Colby/Jack cheese
Onion sour cream dip or sour cream

1. Brown ground beef
2. add Taco seasoning and follow directions on package
but instead of adding water add the tomatoes and frozen corn.
3. Simmer 5-10 min, may need to add a little water.
4. Place tortilla chips on individual salad bowls or plates.
5. Top with, in order mentioned, Ground beef, cheese, cabbage,
and onion dip. Enjoy


OV NACHOS

JUST STUFF

I had a pretty uneventful week this week. I did go and get a flu shot on Thurs, alone with my fellow salad area workers BYU offers them free to all facility and staff so we all went over to the health center and got one. The next day I called in sick because I felt hot and nauseous. Unfortunately K had already called in sick and A was leaving for vacation that day. So I became unsick. I told the manager that we had all gotten flu shots the day before. When I came into work, A said that K was sick, and that she was really tempted to call in sick, but didn't because she thought that she might get in trouble for calling in sick the day before a vacation (She almost always does call in sick the day before a vacation or when a family member is doing something special, She is Polynesian so any body is related.) Anyway we had a good laugh when I told her I called in sick also, but when I found out that K was sick, I came in (I really was sick and spent my time on several bathroom visits) although I never threw up or other unpleasant things, I just felt like I was going to! Today I woke up at 7:30 A.M. and wasn't the least bit sleepy. Wouldn't you know it. I can sleep in but what do I do I wake up before dawn, in a bright eyed bushy tailed state. I had an appointment with the eye Dr. at 10:15 A.M. and when I got there, and in his office he asked me what he was seeing me for today. I just laughed and told me the he was doing a certain eye test and asked him if he forgot what it was for. He admitted that he had, and that was why he had asked me the question. Thank heavens other people are as absent minded as I am. Tonight the weather man on TV reminded us twice that we were going off of Daylight savings time tonight. The only thing wrong with that is we are not going off of it until next Sat. It will be interesting to see of he retracts that instruction on tonights 10:00 news. I went into the grocery store at noon and left at 2:30. How that happened is a mystery. Maby we did go off of daylight savings time after all, but it was at noon and not at midnight.

WHAT THE.......

The other day DH really sent me for a loop and scratching my head. It was late evening and I was really thirsty. He had the kitchen blocked off so he could put away the dishes in the dishwasher and put in new ones. He used a small portable shelf thingy on wheels to move it across the entryway to keep the dog out. Don't ask I don't know why either. I handed him the dog dish, asked him where my drinking glass was(in the dishwasher) and asked him to get me some ice water. About a half hour later he came into the living room bearing the used dog dish in his hands filled with ice water. I couldn't believe my eyes! I asked why he was bringing me a drink of ice water in the dog dish for crying out loud. He says "You handed me the dog dish and asked for some ice water". By then I was so thirsty my tongue was dragging but there was no way I was going to drink ice water out of a used dog dish. I explained that I was the one who wanted the drink. I finally went through the barrier and got my own. That man really thinks in odd ways, to say the least, or I am too obtuse to realize he was implying that I was a female dog.

WHATS GOING ON HERE?

I can't figure out what is going on here. Yesterday I was expecting the heating cooling company to come and service the furnace and put the cooler to bed. Nobody showed up, or even called. I called them up when I got home,(after DH informed me that they neither called or showed up). The receptionist informed me I didn't have an appointment with them to come and service it. Now I don't know about you, but I don't just pick a date out of the air and write down on the calendar that I have a repairmen or service person coming sometime between 12:00 and 2:00 for the he!l of it. I didn't make it up for Pete's sake. Usually an appointment for a repairman type will require a day off to be home that day because they never give you a specific time. If DH wasn't home or I was a single person I would have had to take a vacation day. They scheduled a new appointment for this Sat between 10:00 and 12:00. The explanation I got today from the person calling to confirm the appointment was that they had had a temporary person at that time and that she had recorded the appointments in the book but had not put them in the computer. DUH! I wonder if she was originally hired on as a temp or if she quickly became one because of the improper recording of appointments. This is the same company that several years ago sent a service man to set up my cooler, which is on the roof, and he was in the crawl space working on the furnace instead, and when I came home I opened the door to come into the house, took one step and fell into the crawl space through the open trap door! Today I came home and called my eye doctor to see if my new contact lenses had come in. They were supposed to be in sometime last week. The desk person went to look up to see if they were there, Surprise surprise, they weren't. He said he would call the company that they were ordered from and find out if they had sent them. Well they hadn't sent them because, for some reason the fax didn't go through, so now it will be next week before they come,that is if the fax went through this time. Aaaaaargh!

I WOULD HAVE ENOUGH MONEY IF..........

I didn't have to eat, get medications, drive a car, stay warm in the house, see, walk without pain, clothe ourselves, and keep all the taxes paid!!!! I just got back from the grocery store and it cost me $168.00 and this is for 2 people. I knew I was in trouble when I had 3 items in my cart and already had $30.00 worth of groceries in my cart. I had one bottle of generic Tylenol (500 count), one bottle of contact lens solution and one package of dental floss. By the time I had added bread, butter, milk, juice, pop, one pkg of meat. several pkg of frozen veggies, ten TV dinners ($1.00 each) ,laundry stuff, dish washing stuff,windshield washer fluid, a little bit of candy and cakes, 4 potatoes, some canned veggies, some cheese and a few misc things there I was, well at the above mentioned amount. I have car registration taxes in Nov (I hope no repairs to go with that), property taxes, I still owe around $900 for my tooth bridge repair, I am getting a new pair of contact lenses and glasses, Molly (the dog) needs her teeth cleaned and a medical test to see if she has a certain medical condition, I haven't paid for Rays oxygen service yet this year, and the list goes on. It is a constant struggle (nightmare). We never go out, hardly buy new duds or shoes. Maybe, once in a Blue Moon we go to McDonald's or Mimi's, to eat . Thats the extent of our entertainment. As you can tell I am just a wee bit frustrated. I have been really tired this week, I am going into hibernation mode, So everything is twice as hard to cope with, especially getting up in the morning. Well I sure hope we see that baby soon. hope all goes well with everyone.

YOU KNOW IT IS BAD KARMA WHEN..........

You get to work and find that you have your pants on backwards. That was the first sign that yesterday was not going to be a good day. We had a huge Fridays orders were three pages long, That meant that we needed to start them Thurs in order to get every thing finished by Fri. Well I started making Acini de Pepe salad (Frog Eye Salad). We needed to make 13 5# salads. That equals 65# of salad. I cooked the acini de pepe (pasta), made the sauce and prepared the rest of the ingredients. I put the sauce into the locker to cool and went to lunch. When I came back I made a shrimp dip. I needed 4 pints, the recipe was for 1 pint so I 4x the recipe, panned it up and it only made 3 pints. Fiddlesticks!. I had to make another pint. By then the salad was ready to put together so as I was whipping the whipped topping (fake whipping cream) as I put all the ingredients together. All 3 &1/2 cans of mandarin oranges and 3&1/2 cans of pineapple tidbits, the pasta, 4# of mini marshmallows, and the sauce. "Hey that sauce looks funny, how come there is all that sugar in the bottom of the pan,it should have dissolved". I tasted it. Yikes! It was SALT. That wouldn't be to bad if I hadn't mixed it in with the fruits,marshmallows, and pasta already. The whipped topping was still whipping. I was really p!$sed off with myself. I had to throw out all of the 65# of ingredients, except for the whipped topping. Just then the chef and manager came back from lunch, and when I told them what I had done, they weren't too upset, in fact the chef apologized for not telling me that he had moved the sugar bin to the pantry, and replaced it with rice. Anyway he helped me redo the the salad. I didn't get out until after 6:00P.M. When I checked out I discovered that I hadn't checked back in after lunch and had worked the whole afternoon for free. I really didn't work for free, but I had to write down a time clock correction in the black book. I was almost afraid to drive home for fear I might get in an accident on the way home. So always check to see if you have your pants on front in front. sigh!

Opps!

I don't know what happened to the last post. It got big somehow. That is not how it looked in the draft. Hope you can read it.

EYE,EYE,EYE AND THERE SHE BLOWS!

Last night I woke up around 10.P M. and my left eye was watering and stinging like mad, and I couldn't see hardly at all. It was like I had Vaseline over my eye. I immediately panicked, as per normal. The next morning (today), I called my eye doctor and came in to see him. As I suspected I had scratched my cornea. Don't ask how or when because I don't know the answer. I am now wearing a "patch" on my eye until tomorrow evening. I don't get the fun of looking like a pirate for two days, thank goodness, because the "patch" consists of a soft contact lens put in my eye until tomorrow evening. The Dr. put in an antibiotic eye drop, put in the contact lens, than another eye drop. It still hurts though.
I can relate to the meltdown problem myself. I have had several in the last several weeks. The best was about 2 weeks ago, when a smart a$s on call woman and her crony the head cook in the kitchen confiscated our recipe book from the Cannon center that Karen and I had copied for the take out salad recipes. We have both been in the salad area, and in charge of that area. The on call lady and the snoopervisor (her own word for herself) had come in at 4:30 one morning and cleaned our the salad area drawers. including the above named recipes which were in a binder and in plastic sheet covers. When we needed one of the recipes to make something the had been ordered, the binder was gone. I asked them outright if they had seen it, and course they denied it. I went in the back room, where they were cleaning, and took out every book and binder that they had so neatly put in boxes. I then went through all of the papers that they had neatly put in boxes. I didn't put them back neatly either. in fact they were all over the room! I finally found the recipes in THE TRASH CAN, STILL IN THEIR PLASTIC SHEET COVERS, BUT NOT IN THE BINDER, IT WAS EMPTY! Gotcha!! I got talked to, but they got caught in a lie and stealing besides. They can neither one (not even the head cook) tell us how to do our work. They didn't no how to do it anyway. Miss on call had been in salad area last year in the Morris center, but quit . She kept harping on how we did our veggie trays. We didn't soak the baby carrots in water, we didn't put all the broccoli and cauliflower in the tray with the buds up (no tails showing,like who notices!) all of the celery sticks were not the same size and some of the ends had a shredded looking cut. The cucumbers were not thick enough or too thin. THEY LOOKED LIKE CRAP. I couldn't take it anymore. Finally they got a clue and told Miss on call to stay out of the salad area, and the snoopervisor was told she could only work in hot foods. I however do not have to stay out of hot food (darn). Last Monday the chef took the day off and the snoopervisor also had the day off. So I got the job. All went well and all the food went out hot, done on time, and as the customer wanted. In fact the only food that has come back from the customer was some Alfredo sauce made by above named snoopervisor. She thought she would take a "short cut" and make the Alfredo sauce with a chicken gravy mix and yellow cheese. When the food came back the Chef, who helped her make it, said, "I don't know what that is, but it is not Alfredo sauce" For those of you who don't know what Alfredo sauce is, it is a white cheese sauce made with butter, flour, milk,sour cream, cream, swiss cheese and Parmesan cheese. No chicken and No yellow cheese. I stand vindicated!

MOPPING & SHOPPING

I had the day off and I actually got around to mopping the kitchen floor. My housekeeper fired me because " OSHA does not allow us to clean dog urine because it contaminates the equipment, and we have to buy all new equipment". This is after more than two years of coming biweekly and cleaning said dog urine off of the floor. This is the dog that had kidney cancer and could not control her urine.I mopped it up several times a day. In other words it was no new situation. She said that after I resolved the problem she would be happy to clean our home again. I wonder if I wrote her a letter and said "The problem is fixed the dog is dead." If she would then be willing to come clean again. Anyway, I decided to clean said floor. First I sweep it, then proceed with the mopping. I have one of those Swiffer type mops. I think it is called Ready Mop with disposable mop pads. Well I soon discover that it doesn't have any real dirt removing power. I had one of those Swedish mops that was supposed to have removable and replaceable mop heads. Well I finally got the mop head off, but I couldn't get the replaceable one back on. Apparently some plastic doohickey broke off and rendered the mop useless. Now to plan B.
Go to grocery store and buy a good old fashioned mop with a replaceable rag top. One that can screw onto a wooden handle with a hole with screw treads in it that will allow a mop top to screw on or screw off of the handle. Also some good old pine sol and a bucket. This was around 5:30 P.M. I grabbed my purse and got into the car. Look out Maceys (the grocery) here I come. Two hours later I come back with a mop, an extra mop top, and $100 of groceries. I bring them in for Raymond to put away and he was flummoxed. He had no idea I had even left the house. He thought I had been in the kitchen the whole time mopping the floor. After the groceries were put away, the dog fed and us fed, about 10:00 P.M. I finished the floor. That just goes to show much I am noticed around here!

Musings

Don't worry Wyo Sis you didn't scare Tabitha to death. She had been suffering from bladder cancer for almost two years. I had just started her on her third round of medicine about a month before , The vet was surprised she was still alive and doing so well. I don't think it was the cancer that killed her, more like a heart attack or a collapsed wind pipe or some such. anyway it was a double whammy.
Hey I know I am talking to myself. My husband, bless his heart, is about as talkative as a post.And he isn't much emotional help either. I think he has some form of an autistic type problem, that has gone untreated and unrecognized all of his life. It get lonely a lot. I hope in the next life he will be able to express emotions and comfort. The only thing we have in common is the gospel and intelligent minds. He is even a gasp DEMOCRAT and a UofU graduate. What was I thinking!
Work has go better this week. There isn't as much work to do and thing are more organized. All of the equipment, pots and pans and other items are out of the way and have found there new homes etc. Chaotic environments bring out the worst in me. I do not like things out of place at all. My house looks chaotic, but I know where things are and nobody is messing around in my space and moving things around. Even Raymond's "nest" of papers and shoes and other paraphernalia is OK because I have given up trying to get him to clean it up. It is his security blanket, and me trying to straighten it up really upsets him, so I just leave it.

THIS AND THAT

Hi you all. I have been reading your blogs and agreeing with you on most things. I certainly agree with Wyo sis and Alfs boy and hillbilly sis & their difficulties. I to am having trouble with a bad flare up of depression, even though I to am taking a heavy duty antidepressant, although I am beginning to wonder if maybe I need a stronger one. About a half hour after DSR visited me with the shoes ( I love them) my dog, Tabitha, the Sheltie that looked like Lassie, made a weird noise in the hall, and by the time I got there she was dead!. Two weeks later DT closed their doors for good. Since I was working at Morris center, the cafeteria that feeds the DT students, I ended up without the usual assignment of being a kitchen cook. I already knew that the center was closing and that all of us there would be reassigned and that we would all have jobs, which I do. I am still working there along with all the full time staff that was already there, but we are only making food for take-out. We had been making food all along for take out, but we had to do that along with our regular cooking duties to feed 3 meals a day to the little students. The only problem is now we have to do Morris centers take-out, and Cannon centers Take- out which makes the amount of food about 2-3 times as much as we usually had for take-out. Take-out is the on campus Deli type place where students can order food for ward activities for ward parties etc. It is also open to the public. I like doing it. especially since I am in salads instead of in Main dish(hot meals).We did however get a new manager and Chef. Our Chef and the MTCs Chef traded places. We got a new manager and our old manager moved up to the front office to work on our computer ordering program. This is the second move since Nov 1st for me. I wish they would have moved FF Lady and our Head cook also, but you can't have everything. There have been some growing pains and overall testiness the last few weeks. I am not taking kindly to some of the squabbling among the cooks, and such. Unfortunately I have not been at my best behavior lately, but the new manager and chef have told me I am doing good work and that they support me 100%. I just wish that support came with so responsibility like supervisor or something. I am tired of being the "pick up the pieces, and make everyone else look competent person" Sigh!
We have not been "Eminent domained" but the hospital is eying all the houses south of it between "Freedom" blvd and 500W as future real estate on which to expand their property. Since we are in the said area, we will eventually be bought out. The hospital has already bought up all the property west of us between 940-880. They are preparing to tear down all the houses that they own there and should be doing that fairly soon. They are building a parking lot there!. They already own the house next to us, but the neighbors that sold it to them are still living there. We and 34 other properties have all gotten together and jointly hired a Realtor to represent us and are in negotiation's with the hospital to buy our properties at one set price. Each property will get the same amount for their properties as the other one will. This is where we are at now. DH and I are looking to buy a condo or townhouse. Preferably one that is equipped for handicapped people and is especially in an area for people 50 and older. I have no idea when this sale will take place. With my luck It will be at Christmas time and we will be house looking and moving in the dead of winter.
#82 seems to developing into a fine athlete. How someone frim our clan ended up an athlete amazes me. It must come from his mother. Go Braves! Go #82. I can relate to Asher. How long is it till school is out. Those of us who work for schools,which seems to be the great majority of us. are always gearing up for new school years, or wishing for holidays or vacations or gearing down. We are always in a flux. For people like me who long for stability in life and peace and acceptance and rest, we somehow got in the wrong profession for that.
Hillbilly sis, maybe you need a different sleep medication. The doctor gave me one to try. I have held off until a week end to try it. I took a half of a pill last night (Fri) so that I could see how it worked on a day I did not have to get up and go to work. I didn't take it until 3:00 A.M. I woke up at 8:00 then I was so sleepy by 1:00 that I went back to bed and slept until 5:00 P.M. That didn't work, although I certainly slept well! back to the drawing board!

I don't know what to say

The Title of this says it all. I want Dave and his sweet boys to know that I loved his wife and their Mother more than I can say. I hope that you understand that I do and did love her and you even though I didn't visit with Alleen and her family as often as I should have or could have I still love them. I am glad that some of my family could be with you in Salt Lake at his time of need. I have resolved that I will do better in the future at helping and supporting you and other family members. I have issues with driving that prevent me many times from physically coming to visit as I should. Please know that I pray for you and love you.

ACHES AND PAINS

Well I went back to the Dr Wed to see about my knee pain and the blood tests. Apparently my blood work was excellent, every thing normal to excellent. No high cholesterol, no high blood sugar, no kidney malfunctions, no anemia, no thyroid problems. no liver problems. But , much to my surprise and astonishment I had High Blood pressure. That one came as a surprise, seeing as three months ago it was a normal 120/80. Go in for a sore knee come out with high blood pressure! Those two body parts aren't even in the same ballpark! So I now know I have osteoarthritis and high blood pressure to go with depression and IBS. The only one that is a dangerous condition is the blood pressure thing, If I cannot get it under control I could be at risk for heart attack and stroke!! I have already started a Rx for the blood pressure problem, and have lose 10 pounds on the first week of treatment. (It is a diuretic) The Dr. said I only need to loose 5#, but the will be almost impossible because I have weighted the same for years, give or take a few pounds. I gained 10# in the last month to six weeks, and that is when my knees flared up. I guess that was all water weight. I generally neither gain nor loose weight. I need to see him in about 6 weeks. Of course Mom had all kinds of vitamin advice for me. And whatever I do I should never ever touch SUGAR the evil and terrible cause of all sorts of terrible things. BS. I am relieved that I can eat pretty much as I have except be careful with salt, Which I crave. I have been going nuts at work with stress and frustration. The Morris Center, where I now work, will have not students to feed as of Aug 29. The school is closing DT, but no one is sure what the Morris center is going to be doing. The cannon center is being rebuilt, but the old one is still functioning so who knows what will happen. Also the MTC is part of our responsibility also. Plus Cougereat and catering and other dinning services. I could go anywhere. They promise that there will be jobs for everyone. But where will that be? There is one person there that drives me nuts. the notorious FF Lady. She gets excited and nervous about things and tries to do all of it instead of thinking before she starts. The last to weekends I have worked (F or Sat) . Both weeks I have had to stay and fix her mistakes in order to make sure that the orders go out correctly. A week ago Sat( my sixth day in a row working) I had to come in at 6:00 A. M. (This in and of its self is a pain because I usually come in at 11:00) to help get the take-out out. She had started every ting and had breakfast done. Unfortunately, she had not used the correct meats for some of the items. She left at 9:00 A.M. and there was still the breakfast mess to clean up and a few take out orders to finish up. At 10 I was ready to leave, and the receiver that was taking the food to take-out catering asked me if the BBQ Chicken should weight more than the BBQ Ribs. I looked at what the order was and there was supposed to be 50 servings of chicken and 35 servings of pork. That meant that there should have been 13# of chicken, and 9# of ribs. I took them and weighted them and there were 23#! of pork and 10# of chicken. I guess they were wrong. One was 3# short and one was12# too many. Well it was easy to fix the ribs. I just took out 13# of meat and put it in the locker to be used later. However I needed to cook 3# more of the chicken and sauce it before it could go. So out comes a pot , in goes more chicken, cook it, add sauce, put in a new takeout pan. and send it on its way. Then clean the pot again, and the counters. Then go home. Total disgust! This Fri I came in at 8:00. Again she had breakfast done and lunch also, or so she said. She also was working on takeout. Both Fri. and Sat. and was there ever a mess! I saw on look of the kitchen,with eggs from one end of the kitchen to the other, went an asked the manager if I could go home for a couple of hours because I was having intestinal problems, (the IBS) and could I go home for a few hours. I promised I would come back at 11:00 which I did. Things hadn't improved much except that the eggs were cleaned up and lunch was now being served. Many of the orders for Sat were to be sent out cold.(Yum cold refried beans) Well they were so mixed up I couldn't make heads or tails of it. It took me half of the day to figure out where we were. In the middle of it all the hostess came in and asked me where the food was for lunch, they were opening both lines for some groups that were coming in and they didn't have food to open it. How should I know, I didn't have a thing to do with it. She made it and it was done at 8:00 or so she said, unfortunately she made only enough for 100 people and we were supposed to have 250 people, which indeed we did have. She never looked at the updated count list. I am glad that the chef had come in for a meeting that day. It was his July 4Th holiday and he was off. He figured out what to make and made it thank goodness. FF was somewhere, but not watching the line. Right after lunch she went home, leaving me to clean up lunch, figure out the takeout and get it out. It took both me and the chef awhile to figure out what was being cooked, what day it was for and where it was. He then went home, and I got to finish up the mess. This time when takeout came to get the items, they were short one pan of cheese sauce. I had to make 2 more gallons of cheese sauce to go with the chicken cordon bleu. More dirty pans, rushing at the last min. and re cleaning the pots and cabinets. I got out of the kitchen at 5:00. ARGGH! FF wasn't working sat and neither was . I hope I got every thing straightened out of the Sat takeout so that the cooks were able to get there work done in a smooth and timely manner. And I wonder where I got high blood pressure from.!

2+2=

Tonight( at work) I started out with a pork chops with rice and chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes dinner. By the end of the evening it had turned into a turkey with rice and fried chicken with mashed potatoes dinner. Our menu was for 255 people as was the amounts of meat we had for the menu. All the meat comes in on Fri morning for the weekend meals. On Fri evening (unbeknownst to me an e-mail came in informing us that the count for Mon dinner was going to be 350. Well we already had the frozen steaks in the freezer an the pork chops in the frig. Anyway we naturally ran out of both steaks and pork chops. We did have some "Chicken fried Chicken" on hand in the freezer and some fully cooked turkey breasts in the locker. I kept a good lookout and managed to have some of each entree read to be on the line by the time they ran out. I is really annoying when extra mouths to feed are added at the last minute. in as much as we really have to scramble to find substitutes to serve people. I as I usually think, felt like I had not done my job well. Fortunately, the students thought otherwise, and complemented me on getting the food out and keeping the line stocked with food. It was good to hear how well i had done because in my mind I had completely dropped the ball because I didn't have enough food for everyone that was one the menu and I really couldn't do anything more than I did. But I felt like I hadn't done it right Why do I think this way?

BACKFIRE!

Well, I'M here again. I am suffering some backfire from my propensity of trying to get to the bottom of things. A week ago Thurs. I ran into a snag at work.Flip Flop Woman, a fellow cook at Morris has been telling me all these tales about M the head cook. all the time she goes on and on about Ms faults. I admit I kind of like to hear the tales because I don't particularly like her and because I like to talk sometimes. Flip Flop has also told me to my face that I need to get over some of my quirks, such as liking the dish towels we use at work to all be folded neatly and stacked a certain way. I also like the food cooked right, tasting right, and looking right. FF leaves at 4:30. But I stay until close, I am the dinner shift supervisor. Well several times T the manager has not liked the appearance or the taste of the food that FF has made. but by the time T checks it out FF has left and then T asks me what happened and if I tasted the food or checked it out before it went on the line. I have not tasted it on a number of occasions I have to admit I have not. Well I promised that I would check out the food before it goes out. I take my job seriously, maybe too seriously, and I really hate to have the food be wrong. The last straw was when FF had made some Chimichunga sauce. I had not checked it out. It Was like water. I have never seen such a poor example of sauce in my life. Fortunately FF was still there, one of the servers asked me about it, and I knew it wasn't supposed to look like it did. I myself had made it many times and it definitely didn't look like hers. I asked FF about it, but she said it was supposed to be thin, because that is the way thy served at at ***. Well I argued with her that it wasn't how it should be. I finally got T to check it out. I was not acceptable and FF had to fix it, saying I followed the recipe. The next week I came in at my regular time and FF was making it again, and she was not the one assigned to do it, but there she was making it again.She thinks that she has to make every thing on the menu as fast as she can. leaving nothing for anybody else to do. I hate it, because I don't go to work to stand around for 8 hours. she says she just has a good work ethic and she can't slow down just because others might need to work. Well , making the food edible or making it fast are not necessarily the same thing. It is not a good work ethic in the food industry if all you care about is throwing it together as fast as you can. She will go and finish up the food that someone else has started, making that person feel worthless. Well back to the backfire part, FF asked me one day if we had run out of food for dinner the night before. I told her we had not. Then she told me that So an so had been talking about the dinner the night before and how we had run out of food. She then told me that M said "I guess I will have to come in on T,W, and Th evenings to help out then. That really burned me up. I went to So and so (even though I didn't think they had said it.) Well they were mad because they said they had never said that. I told them that I thought they didn't but the cat was out of the bag. They took affront, and I told them that I believed that they hadn't said that. The one that is my helper at night walked out and then said she was going to take the next day off. Well then I went to t and confessed that I had messed something up, and she went and brought a back. T told me the FF doesn't know what she is talking about 3/4 of the time. she just has to talk. I made up with A and we are better friends than ever but I know who the gossip is. We FF and I are not on very good terms now and I feel like an idiot. Every time i try to make things better they blow up in my face and I feel guilty and ashamed for weeks. Why do i do this to myself? By the way FF had actually put two conversations together and turned it into one whopper of a story. The truth of it was So and so were just having a simple conversation about how the day before had gone. M was indeed coming in on T,W,Th evening to help serve on the lines so the hose in the dining room could keep up on their jobs. We are 79 people short of staff. We have 86working (mostly all students and part time) and we need 79 more. No wonder I am tired all the time. Next week , July 4th week, we will be having 2200 people for breakfast and dinner. O goody. That is more than the MTC feeds and they are overstaffed and have a bigger kitchen! Any suggestions on how I can handle such situations should one come up again, and I know one will. I have already found out that FF is a gossip, so I wont listen to her again. but what else can I do? It sounds like you are all in various states of busyness and running around trying to get it all done.

Just a note

I am busy but alive. I had the day off, but I also had a headache, sore throat and my knee is still very sore. Will make another post soon. Love you all

Bees Knees and sore feet

I am back from the Doctors visit. It seems the I have Osteoarthritis in both knees. The advice (What else). Loose weight. That is probably not going to happen. Take ibuprofen, 3 times a day. See if I can get some decent shoes that will give me better support etc. Ray has cellulitus in his foot again. This is the third time he has had it. It is a serious infection of the skin, which can come from a bang on the leg etc. I hope we can get it tamed. I guess I am going to have to start examining him every night, because he never complains about pain, that is if he even pays attention to his body at all. Many a time I have noticed something was wrong, usually after he has been ill for days, if not weeks. I have often got him medical help just under the wire. I don't understand that about him Why?

Phone tag

Now I know why emergency rooms are full of people without emergencies. I tried on Mon morning to make an appointment with the doctor. I was put on hold with a voice interrupting every min or so with "We appreciate your patience, we will be with you as soon as an operator can help you." This went on for 25 min. I finally gave up and got ready for work. On Tues I got a "real person"right away, but none of the Dr. I wanted to see.(there were 3 I liked) were booked up until the first of July!!!!, I finally got an appointment for Friday for both Ray and I. His right foot is swollen and sore and my left knee is almost impossible to use some days. This is not something you need when you are on your feet 8-9 hr a day on tile floors. OWW W! I finally got my Rx in the mail for my antidepressant. It is a good thing since I was on my last one and that is only because I have been rationing them by not taking them on the last two weekends. The antibiotic I am supposed to be taking has not gotten here even though it was"Sent" by mail on May 31st. I have had 2 "overrides" of seven pills each until it comes. I think it was never sent or that it was stolen from my mailbox. We had to put in curbside mailboxes last year, as opposed to having them on our house. Bad idea on the post offices part I think.

HI!!

Hi I will send more (hopefully tomorrow). I am not in the best of moods lately. but if you want me to post something I will try tomarrow!

Dpuble Trouble

I am a few days late on this but here goes
2 names I go by: LaWana thats it I don't have another one I go by
2 things I am wearing right now: 1 A "lounge" shirt 2 Sandals
2 things I want (or have) in a relationship. 1 Conversation 2 love
2 of my favorite things to do: 1 Sleep 2 Eat (Same genetics as the rest of us).
2 things I want very badly at the moment 1. A vacation 2. Enough hours accrued to take one for the next 6 working days
2 pets I have: 1 2 Doggies, 1 Cat
2 things I did last night: 1. Read Family Blogs 2. Went to bed.
2 things I ate today: 1. Spaghettios 2. Moose Tracks Ice Cream
2 People I just talked to last: Mike and Cindy our neighbors
2 Things I'm doing tomorrow. 1. Going to work Calling my brother-in-law
2 longest car rides. 1. To St. George and back to see the temple open house (all in one day) 2. To SLC from Rexburg with my roomate and her soon to be fiancee (I had to use the Bathroom from IF on and they wouldn't stop!!!)
2 favorite holidays: 1. July 24th 2. Easter
2 favorite Beverages. 1. Dr. Pepper 2, Ice Water.
2 things I watched today. 1. Bob Barkers 50th year anniversery show that included a $1,000,000 dollar prize that wasn't won. 2. Shear Genius

5 Things

OK here goes five things I like about myself/or the day
(1) I had the day off (for DH and I to visit the dentist)
(2) I had dinner with DH at the senior citizens (ELDRED CTR)
(3) My hair is growing longer and I like that it has natural waves.
(4) My housekeeper came today and cleaned the house.
(5) The sun was shinning
More coming soon, I love that we have two more bloggers now. Wish Hillbilly Sis had or could get on my blog

Freeing Act

Well here I am again. It always seems like I just write and than I am behind again. Hey lil bro did you read my last entry? I hope all is well with your family. I have tomorrow off, but called in sick today because I had achy joints and felt like I was going to throw up. I didn't,(throw up) but at least I was at home feeling sick instead of at work feeling that way. My crazy schedule is working out alright for now. It is kind of weird working three or four days and then having one or maybe two off in between. So far this last four week rotation I have worked every Sat and one Sun. I work Friday and Sat again this week but have Sun and Monday off. My graduating class at SVHS is having its 40th reunion this Aug. I am not going but I did send a $10 check to Robert Child for the "Book" they are giving to the graduates at the reunion. It gualled me to send the check to RC because as you know I have a long standing rememberance of what he called me back in the day that has never left my mind and whenever I hear of him or see him that rude thing comes to my memory. So on a whim when I wrote the check I put on the for line"to the man who said I looked like a squashed t--- (SVHS)reunion book" you will have to guess the T word because I am not sure what kind of censorship is on this blogger, if any, but it is another word for for poo. DH says he will never cash it. I really don't care if he does or not because that is one of the most freeing things I have ever done. I got rid of a 40-45 year old hurt that quit possibly has been a long time in my mind causing me grief. It goes to show what a careless comment made be a stupid teenaged boy can do to someone. Of course it also goes to show how utterly useless it is for the receiver of the comment to carry it in their mind for nearly half a century.Add to this many other careless or on purpose (as his was) comments and criticisms to life's list and it becomes totally overwhelming. Add to this the internal criticisms I give to myself and it is no wonder I have confidence problems. I am getting better now however because at the job I have now (since I have been transfered to this new position) has no witchy women (or men) to yell at me but instead has a very kind and encouraging man as the kitchen supervisor (chef) I have become more like the person I like to be. I have discovered that I have good leadership and management abilities and not only that I like to supervise. I am a lot less stressed when I can be the one in charge. The is the same amount of work to do as there was at the Cannon center, but it doesn't stress me nearly as much as it did there because the person in charge of getting the food out on time (me) doesn't panic and freak out when something has to be done. Instead I can see that it gets done and make sure every thing goes as smoothly as possible. If something goes wrong or something is missing that we need I can find a solution or ask for help without being threatened that I'm doing something that infringes on "the bosses" territory.It is much nicer to be in the presence of competent nice people. I certainly hope this good fortune continues. Sagehen I have enjoyed the pictures you sent of the kids at Easter. I wish I had a camera so I could take some of my own to send.

Randomness of Thought

Well I guess I will start with Happy Birthday Dear Sis, as usual I am late with the Birthday greeting. I worked last Thurs -Mon so on Tues of this Week all I managed to do was sleep. I hope it was a happy one. You are so good about remembering mine and even sending little presents to me. I am not so good about that, but I still love you just the same. I have been having a little confusion about what day it is lately. I have such a crazy work schedule that I get confused. Recently Karen complained about headaches and such happening on Thurs or Sundays. Those days are usually the worst ones for me also. At work Thurs seem to be more confusing then most and on Thursdays I myself seem to be on my low energy point of my work week, except for when I have a seven day work week ending in Sun, then Sunday takes the prize! Well last week my work week STARTED on Thurs ( after having Wed. off to make up for working the Saturday before). So I didn't know if it was Mon or Th. On Sun it was both Thurs and Sun. and on Mon it was like a Mon and a Friday! I have had 3 days off this weekend in a row even, except for the 31/2 hours I worked last night between 6:00 and 9:30 to make the refreshments for the DT invitational dance last night. I really think they were odd refreshments for a big whoppty do semi-formal dance. I mean little smokies in BBQ sauce, Egg rolls, Hot chicken fingers and churros. What happened to cookies and punch? Talk about bad breath and stained dresses. Oh also hot fudge dipping sauce for strawberries and other yummies. Chocolate and BBQ. excellent finger food to go with fancy dresses! Of course the way kids dress nowadays maybe semi formal means new jeans instead of old raggy ones. This next 4 week schedule is even crazier than last months schedule. I have 5 days this next week to work, Sat off then I work in three day increments with a day off in between except for one work week of four days on and one week with 2 on and 2 off an then I don't remember how many on. Right now Raymond is in the process of folding the clothes. Note the in the process part, most of the time all of the clothes sit in the dry clothes baskets until we need to wear them or until we don't have any more baskets left to put the dirty ones in. Anyway he has been waylaid by the cat deciding she wants to nap in my underwear drawer, and the dogs need to go potty and he needs to go potty etc, so it may be another week before the clothes get put away although maybe not because we don't have anymore empty baskets left. The other night I went into the bathroom, and after turning on the light I was quite taken aback because the sink looked strangely odd. it contained a sleeping curled up cat. I guess she was thirsty, because she only drinks from the facet when the water is running and no where else. I turned on the facet and she eventually got out and got a drink. She doesn't mind getting wet at all which is also an odd thing. We all got a good laugh on Thurs of this week. Our manager came out with a pan of cream cheese and cranberry sandwich filling that had been partially used to make sandwiches for all of the BYU vending machines and for sale in various eating establishments around campus. A man named ALAn has a crew that makes the sandwiches in the mornings. She had the chef take a taste and he took a big spoonful and very quickly spit it out. The recipe is cream cheese, sugar and craisins. It had SALT instead of sugar in it. no wonder the people getting them had complained about them. That is why the person making the product should ALWAYS taste it before serving it. Well I guess I had better get going on some of the chores that i need to do or another day will be gone and I will be unhappy with myself fo not doing more than I did.

WHAT TIME IS IT?

I'm having time issues. Yesterday I was supposed to be at work at 11:00 p.m. For some reason I thought it was at 11:30 I was supposed to be there. I got up at 8:00 and made myself my usual toast and Dr.Pepper and a cocktail of pills. Anti depressant. antibiotic and anti acid. I sat down read the paper setting the timer (I use the oven timer for an alarm clock because it doesn't stop ringing until I get up and go into kitchen and turn it off) for 1 hour in case I drifted off to sleep! I did fall asleep, meanwhile DH got up and went to the bathroom to get himself ready for the long day of resting. I woke up at 11:15 and DH was still in bathroom doing what ever he does that takes 2 hours in the morning. I knew I was in trouble, there was no way I was going to get to work by 11:30. He finally emerged and I got ready. By 11:45 I was dressed except for my blouse. Ring ring.It was work calling to see what happened. I was supposed to be there at 11:00 not 11:30 OOPS! by the time I got there it was noon. Yesterday was the first day of the pay period so I am already 1 hour short. Now they are springing daylight @^$&*(()&^% savings time on us three weeks earlier than usual. Just what I need. I already decided last night that there was no way I was going to church today, seeing as I had to be back to work tomorrow . I am just to exhausted after 6 days of work and only one day off until the next work week. I have Wed. off and then my next day off is a week from Tues. I will have to goo shopping tomorrow after work because c'est moi forgot to check the dog food bin and it is almost empty and won't last until Wed. I read an interesting op ed the other day in the paper re: Daylight savings time. The writer was right up my ally with her opinion. She stated the obvious that no time was saved. all it did was cause inconveniences to those of us who are of the "I don't get up in the morning before the sun does" persuasion. We are just able to get up when the sun is also up and now we have to get up in the dark again, and children have to again go to school in the dark ( of course wearing dark clothes because no one would think of wearing anything but black navy or gray to school) and risk getting hit by cars because it is now dark outside and besides why would a child actually walk in a crosswalk or a car actually stop at one for that matter? So now parents have to drive their kids to school again, before they themselves go to work. All this so that when people get of work they can go play golf or something . It is a royal pain in the neck. She suggested a new nomenclature to use for the times. Since DST is now on 8 months of the year and "standard" time is now on only 4 months of the year maybe it should be standard time between March and October and daylight wasting time between Nov and Feb.That makes just as much sense as daylight saving time doesn't it? So what time is it really?

SURPRISE, it is me

Well, I guess I will try to write a little something. I am a slacker I admit when it comes to journal writing. I do it very inconsistantly, always have. I really enjoy the other peoples blogs however. I am terrible at typing . I barely passed my high school class. I haven't improved on the computer keyboard at all as far as speed goes. plus now I have an infinite amount of ways of screwing up and pushing a wrong key that sends my entry into cyber " lost in space" never to appear again, at least not on my computer. Then I have to laboriously retype what I just wrote. This week has been the week of the Rx refills. Last Sat as I was getting ready to go grocery shopping I noticed on my list in tiny little letters a Prescription that DH needed filled. Mister silent but if I write it in tiny little illegible chicken scratches and remain mum it will magically be filled before it runs out. NOT. First he didn't call the doctor until After 5pm on Friday, I called the pharmacy, and asked if they had received it. Of course they hadn't. So he had to wait until at least Mon to get it. I called the store on Mon and of course they didn't have it in. I called the doctors office also and the Dr hadn't even looked at his messages yet. This ment that DH would have to wait until at least Tues after 9;00 p.m. to get it because I work until 8:00 or 9:00 I called store on Tues Morning. and they had it in. After said phone call and about 5 min. before leaving for DH informed me the he had called in 2 of his Rxs that morning (Mon). They were also out starting Tues. They were at a different store than the other one. I asked he what ones he needed the most because there was no way I was going to two different stores after 9 at night. Tues I picked the 2 that he had ordered Mon morning on Tues evening. On Wed after 9:00 I picked up at the other store the original I called after 5:00 on Fri pills. I got him all filled up with his pills finally. NOT. On Thurs morning as I was leaving for work DH informed me that he only had 2 pain pills
left. Well that did it. He now has no pain pills (Tylenol) left because I didn't go get any. I asked him why he didn't tell me sooner. "I didn't notice until now." Well he can wait until tomorrow after work which is after 7:00.Arrgh! Yesterday we had this huge dinner which took hours of preparation. It was the finale of our week emphasizing "healthy" food choices .It included fancy Asian foods such as sushi, hot and sour soup, cobia, a fish that I had never heard of on potato pancakes and topped with vegetable slaw, Tri tip steak with veggie salsa. and the piece d'resistance RAW tuna. The desserts were whimpy angel food cakes or merangues toped with fruit. (I hate fruit fillings or fruit topped cakes or cookies). Fill them with frosting or custard. If you must have fruit desserts. Make them cobblers or pies. Lots and lots of chopping etc. I really like veggies and stir fries so that was good. I like some Asian soups also. This soup had no "and sour" It was just plain hot & hotter. The steak was good. The sushi ICK. The Raw Tuna NO WAY JOSE. will I ever eat raw fish. I don't particularily like cooked fish. I like canned tuna, fried or boiled shrimp, crab and lobster, Cod nuggets and citrus salmon (which we make on our menu). That is it. After the meal was over and we were cleaned up and ready to leave, the FIRE alarm went off. We had to leave the building immediately. So there we are waiting for the firemen to come check things out , a doz or so tired souls waiting outside their place of work for clearance so they could hurry up and get their work finished and go home. Some of us were sitting on the edge of the receiving dock waiting for clearance to enter the building so they could get their things and leave. If there had been a real fire we could have burned up because the dock is the building. After about 15 min all was cleared and we were allowed to go back in. I got 15 more min. on the clock than I would have otherwise. I got home about 9:45p.m.I can relate to being a dabbler in the crafts. I often "get the urge" to try something new like knit a sweater or something. I often start something, but don't finish it, at least while it is still "in style" sigh It has taken me 2 hours to write this blog. I really will try harder to update this more often Hip Hip Hooray to Lil bro and the new baby coming.

TV ADDICTS> UNITE!

I decided to list my favorite TV Shows for each day of the week. I just seem to really enjoy the TV. It is almost a necessity for me. I grew up in the same TVless household as sagehen and the rest of the people that read my blog. I so love to read, but not as advidly as Wyo SIS was. I think a DVR would really be a good idea for me. MON..................................Wife Swap, Supernanny TUES.................................House THURS...............................Survivor FRI....................................Nanny 911, Trading Spouses
Sat...................................................Bonanza (from 3:00-8:00) SUN..................................................The Amazing Race, The Apprentice,Without a Trace Wed.................................................No favorites here I also have others I choose from when my favorites are preempted for such things as some awards show or another. FOOTBALL,a "NEWS Special, or the dreaded reruns or "ON HIATUS". I Like a lot of shows on BRAVO, TLC, USA (MONK), DIS HEALTH, TVLAND, COURT TV, GAMESHOW NETWORK, etc. I tried to make columns in this posting, but I must have hit a wrong key or something, because I couldn't get the!@#$%^&*computer to type it that way no matter what I did. So this posting will stand as written. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY YOU ALL!! :-) Wed.................................................No particular favorite

TAG TAG YOUR IT

Well, I guess I have to list 6 things about me that are weird. This will give me a chance to write about something other than work. Thanks Sagehen. I really can't play the game because as far as I know only three people read my blog and I am supposed to tag 6 people who read my blog and invite them to enter the game.

1. I am weird in the fact that I think it is the "normal" people are the weird ones.

2. I, like sagehen, spend most of my time in my mind and it truly is full of interesting thoughts and ideas. for example the Utah legislature is again proposing that the speed limit on I15 be raised; to 80mph on the "less inhabited" areas of the freeway. My thinking is it was only a few years ago that they raised it to 70mph because "most people drive that speed anyway". At that time it was 55 mph hour. Now, of course, everyone is driving 85mph. The next story on the news was about two accidents in Ogden Canyon that shut the road down this evening for a few hours. The announcer then said We will tell your the cause of the accident next. I said to DH they were caused by excessive speed of course. I was right. We are socked in with very heavy fog at night from the Idaho border to Southern Utah County because we have had an extremely strong high pressure that has blocked any storms for the last two weeks trapping all the gunk in the valleys. People are weird.

3. I can't decide on a favorite color. As a teen it was green, in college it changed to red I also lean strongly toward lavender and/or purple. I am now leaning toward green again and tan is creeping up. I guess my favorite color is regrevenderan.

4. I am also a strange combination of OCD and sloppy because I love to have my towels and washrags etc organized a particular way, and many other things I am particular about. So particular that if DH moves something, even from a seamingly disorganized pile I can tell immediately that it was moved. i ask him how come it was moved and if we had a visitor while I was at work etc. It must bug him a lot that I quiz him whenever He moves things.

5. I am left handed, but also use my right hand to do things. I can hand sew with a needle and thread using either my right hand or my left. I cut with a knife with either hand, if I use a paring knife, it is right handed, carve meat left handed. Use scissors, right handed. Write or eat left handed . Crochet left handed . Throw a ball, neither hand works. Use a ladle, left handed,But I always spill because the pour spout is on top. Scoop ice cream left handed, but awkwardly ( the pushbutton part is always in the ice cream). Mugs always have the writing on the wrong side. I embroidery right handed. All sewing machine attachments are for right handed people but I can manage to use most of them. Pancake turners left handed. Hand held can openers right handed. Potato peelers left handed. Weird

6. I am always beating up on myself because I never seem to accomplish anything "fun" or relaxing because I have to get all the work done first before i can allow myself do the fun stuff. since I almost never get the "Chores" done the fun things fall by the wayside. Even when I was a young girl I would make myself do the ironing or the dishes etc. before I could sew or embroider, thus I never got much "fun" stuff done. Even today I have to force myself to "have fun" and then feel guilty, because there was something else that should have been done first. Often I procrastinate for months and even years. beating up on myself all the way, but not changing the way I think or do things. WEIRD

7. I hate working with background music of any kind, I absoulutly hate noise of any kind, the louder the noise level the more stressed I get. I can actually feel the stress the louder it gets. QUIET PLEASE! Music is just another sound to add noise to the mix.

As you cansee I am one mixed up crazy woman.

More of the same

Well I am back from work. Out of the 4 Sunday meals on the menu. the one we had today I like the best because it is the easiest to do. Roast Turkey ,Ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole and carrots. FYI Wyo Sis et all I cook as much as possible ahead, which means that between 11:00 and 4:30 I have to cook 2 complete Dinners (They always get 2 choices of entrees and fixings,per meal). Last Tues was a nightmare because the two entrees were breaded pork chops and chicken royale, both of which require grilling. Plus the chicken requires a sauce which is a cream sauce with mushrooms and green onions. Also mashed potatoes and gravy, rice pilaf, stuffing and veggies. We also have to worry about cooking a hot food bar that consists of some kind of starch, usually a pasta and sauce choice, a rice choice and or a potato choice, 2 veggie choices and a protein choice (usually a meat choice, a lot of times we can use leftovers from lunch or the day before but we don't always have any). Most of the time we don't have 2 choices that require grilling which makes the dinner easier to prepare. However the fact that there are no students signed up as kitchen help for dinner shift on the TTHS shift at all it puts just a bit of pressure on
me to get it out on time. If the breakfast, lunch cooks ( notice the s in cookS plural, not singular) help me out some by cooking as many of the things that they can for me ahead a time it helps. Sometimes they have takeout to do so they can't help as much, but sometimes I have takeout to do also. Last Tues they had no takeout to do and an easy menu but they didn't cook one thing ahead for me, not even a pot of boiling water to make the potatoes with (they are instant ones). I made it, but I ended up using a receiver to grill the chicken and "pan up" the potatoes and gravy. receivers are the people who work on the dock "receiving" orders etc. taking the takeout food to the takeout building, fetching and carrying etc. Anyway I hope we get some help soon. I guess the young people of today do not want to work at hard phtsical lobor and for less money than a test monitor who gets more money and can pretty much sit down and get paid to do homework while "working". I can't say I blame them.

They are BACK!

I have been really busy at work. I have been the one and only cook for the last week! no students have signed up to help. Well the same group of MWF students have signed up except for the one who worked from 10:00 to 2:00. So I have no help for most of te day. TTHS has no takers so far. Flip Flop lady is still out. So I have been really under pressure (of my own making). Thats all for now.

It is the new year again. It always surprises me that the years go so fast, yet so slow. Well I am another year older and closer to retirement. Although in my case retirement will literally mean RETIRE A MOMENT IF AT ALL. I will probably have to work at least part time until I die. Wyo sis, I am glad you finally found my blog. I did not know if you would like the fruit or not. I love pears, but DH doesn't. I am glad that they got there and that I guessed right. I myself love to get nice yummy edibible things for gifts. I never have to worry about where to put them. I have already started out the new year with a mess up. I didn't go to work until 11:00 because that was when my schedule said I was supposed to. Imagine my surprise when I got there and all the help was eating lunch and there were no students in the cafeteria because We don't open until tomorrow and I was supposed to come in at 7:00 a. m. at the latest! OPPS! All we were doing was cleaning ICKKY! I got to clean the grills, but at least I wasn't stuck with the ovens WHEW! That is all we have been doing for the last 2 weeks. Since I work till close already I get my fill of kitchen cleaning. CRAP! I hit a wrong key somewhere and lost the rest of what had typed. (This is the third time I am telling this) My special part time person quite today. I am really not surprised since he is one of those people that thinks he knows everything, has no patience, or work ethic or sense. He wants to be paid a lot, run his own business and not have to work up because he already knows it all NOT! That leaves me as the only cook for dinner, since flip flop lady will be out for at least three more weeks. Conrad the chef said When I am there I work and get it done. but he has no one to work for me when I have a day off. I guess I am doing a good job after all :-). anyway this is my entry for today. The first one was the best but I got tired after three tries.