Another busy week....

So, let's see.... I told you about this weekend....

Well, DH got home Sunday afternoon, only to get a call from his mom saying that she would be going in for surgery on her ankle on Monday. She had no intention (nor, any way) of telling FIL that she'd be in for surgery on the day he was due back into town (from the same fishing trip). The FIL got in on Monday (with DD in tow, as she'd stayed down fishing with him for that one extra day) to find out that his wife was in surgery and SIL, her boyfriend, and her sons were trashing the house. *rolling eyes* He was considerably less than pleased. Of course, the MIL was in the hospital overnight for observation, as well. She wound up with 2 pins & a metal plate in her ankle. Must've been some nasty break!!!

Well, Monday night DD had a soccer game at 7 pm. Of course I didn't make it as I was at work. They lost 9 to 1. However, this is the first time the opposing team has EVER had a single goal scored on them. No other team but ours has managed to score any goals on this team. So, our girls felt pretty good about that. DD didn't get the credit for this goal in this game (the previous game she'd scored the only 2 goals in the game, winning for our side), but she did assist on that goal. And everybody knows that assists are as important as the goals themselves. Without good team effort, that goal wouldn't have happened. I got home about 9:45 to find that DH and DD still weren't home. They'd stopped by the hospital to see the MIL and it took them a good long time to find their way back out & back to DH's truck. (The hospital is undergoing some revamping & renovations. Again.) So, I started dinner and we ate when DH & DD got home. Got a rundown of the game, then we all went to bed. It was after 11 before DD got to bed, and well after midnight before I crawled into bed.

Tuesday.... not a heck of a lot happened, thank goodness. I was busy as a bee at work, though. I had two, hour-long desk shifts, 1 hour at back-up, and then pick-up duties at 5. Didn't get much shelving done at all. Oh, and I've had to clean up the kitchen at work each day, as it's my week for KP. *sigh* Not my most favorite of chores, but at least I can take time out of the rest of my work-day to do it, instead of having to come in early or stay late just to clean up.

Today was considerably less busy at work, but still...... Didn't get much shelving done. I've been doing a good bit of shifting lately. Lots of shelves that're starting to get too cramped. So, I shift where I can. Sometimes 3 shelves over, just to create space for 2 or 3 books. I also did my requisite desk shift & back-up shift, as well as pick-up duty again. And DH & DD are at soccer practice. I've got to get some supper made here in a few minutes, too.

Tomorrow should be about like today, at work. Nothing going on tomorrow night, that I know of.

But Friday....... Friday starts the fun. After work on Friday at least 2 of my coworkers (possibly 4) and I will be going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. One of us has only seen 1 of the movies, previously. I hope she doesn't feel too lost. I wish I'd known and I'd have lent her my DVDs to catch up. So, following work on Friday I'll be heading over to the theater for the 7 pm showing. I'm trying to convince my coworkers to dress up with me. I want to dress up, but I don't want to be the only one. I kind of wish I had short hair, I'd get out some cherry koolaid to dye my hair and go as Tonks. *grin* I don't though. If I do dress up, I won't be dressing up as anybody in particular. But I've got enough costume jewelry & sarongs, scarves & shawls to do a decent job of dressing up. *grin* I just don't want to go as a muggle. I dress as a muggle every day of the week, most of the year (except halloween). I wanna dress as a witch! *BWG*

Saturday will be the reunion dinner for my class. 10 years ago I graduated HS. I'm looking forward to this, and dreading it all the same. I don't really have a nice dress to wear, but I remind myself that this is Alaska. NOBODY dresses up except for weddings. But a part of me still wants to. Anyway, the reunion supper is from 7 to 10 pm. Dad's going to watch DD for me, so DH and I can go out for the evening. DH is less-than-thrilled about the prospects of 3 hours with a roomfull of folks he doesn't know and doesn't care about anyway. Fortunately at least 1 of his best friends will be there (married a girl that I graduated with). Maybe 2. And possibly some friends from WAY back whom he hasn't seen in a lot longer. Tickets are 50 per person, though, and we have NO idea what we'll be dining on, despite the fact that this is the nicest hotel in town.

Sunday afternoon will be the reunion picnic. DH says he's not going to this. Ok, that's fine. DD is, though. She's not completely thrilled as she's convinced she'll be the oldest child there. I say she probably won't be. It'll be burgers & hotdogs, and side-dishes & desserts provided by my classmates & I. I think I may take a broccoli/cauliflower salad that's well-loved in my family. I'm not totally decided, though. I'm greatly looking forward to this picnic. I'd love to see what everybody's kids look like, how many folks have got. I'm looking forward to seeing how much everybody's changed, how folks have mellowed or strengthened. I'm just sad that most of my good friends from HS won't be there. Some of them don't know anything about the reunion, evidently. I wish Tia was going to be there. I hope Amber will come. I'm kinda torn whether or not I want to see Melissa. I'd love to see Vicki again. I know Tia & Vicki & Melissa won't be there. I'm the only one of our group that I know for a fact is going to be there. Amber is torn about whether or not she's going to come. I hope she does. (Amber, if you read this, PLEASE COME!!!!!)

Well, that's been a look at my week so far, and my plans for the rest of it.... I hope y'all are having a good week so far.

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Let's see...... Locally.... The weather's been rather nice. We had a doozy of a Thunderstorm last night that was rocking the house just before the rain started pouring down. It rained good & long & hard and was still raining when DH went to work this morning, evidently. Dad's been grumpy about how much rain we've been getting, but I think it's a nice relief to such hot sun as we've had lately. And we went a few weeks (all of June, I think) without any rain. So now the storms have started up and I'm enjoying it, thank you very much. *wink*

Some folks have asked me what Alaska's like, and I've directed them here to my blog, so I may as well start posting a little bit more often about the general weather & such. As for today, except for the rain this morning the temp has been nice. It got to between 75 and 80 deg. today, and it felt like it.

We're still getting a lot more sunlight than dark. As most people know, the closer to the arctic circle a person gets, the more pronounced the solstices become. And, having just had the Summer Solstice a couple of weeks back, we still have strong sunlight till 10 or 11 pm, when it finally gets dusky. About 1 or 2 in the morning, it's dusky-dark (not truly dark, but dusky-dark). Then it starts getting light again shortly there-after. And we take advantage of the prolonged sunlight in the summer, with late-night fishing trips on the weekends, and even some weekday nights. With the summer as short as it is, those of us who are outdoorsy enjoy what summer we do get as much as possible. And it's supposedly very good for a good portion of the plants. Zucchini, cabbages & lettuce & pumpkins & such greatly enjoy the loooooooooong summer days, and can grow to enormous proportions. Some of us haven't yet gotten the knack of getting our plants to grow much past seedlings, though. *big sigh* Wish I had, but I haven't yet. So, no gigantic zukes for me this year.

We do have green grass in our front yard. I know that some people will wonder how much like the rest of the US, the central part of Alaska is. It's quite a lot, actually. We don't have swimming pools in our back yards (not warm enough to bother with in-ground pools, though a few folks do have the above-ground type), but we do have grassy lawns (some of us better than others). We don't have oaks & maples, but we've got a lot of spruce & birch & willow (and FAR too many poplar, which are weeds!). And birch are nice big trees, though they're not quite so good for climbing as an oak or a maple. Wild roses, fireweed, wild iris' and dandylions grow wherever they can find a spot. (And the first 3 are very pretty.) Many of us plant a large plot of rhubarb somewhere on our property. Many of us also have a wild raspberry or blueberry plant growing somewhere on our property. Whether we want it there or not. I've got some wild-raspberry plants that keep trying to come up in the same space as my sugar-snaps, as a matter of fact.

A LOT of people also keep livestock on property that wouldn't allow it in the rest of the country. An acre of property is enough for somebody who's child's got a lamb their raising for 4-H. Or a small henhouse for fresh eggs. Or that pet pig (who's really kept to breed some bacon for this year's freezer needs). And of course we can't forget that in any neighbourhood in this town you're likely to see a moose wander across your yard at 8 in the morning on a winter's day. (Almost NO child who grows up around here has NOT had a close call, coming around the side of the house to or from school & getting to face off against a moose. We instruct our school children not only how to avoid suspicious strangers, but the most-proper way to avoid getting trampled by that moose.) We've had 7 bears killed in outlying neighbourhoods around my town, this summer. This is a HUGE amount for us, but invariably there's a bear somewhere close that decides to get too hungry for a taste of a dog-musher's dogs (after breaking into the shed that store's the dog's winter-food and eatting all of it), and must be shot before it does any major damage or physical harm to folks.

Our houses look much like anybody else's. Personally I live in a modular. A "double wide" if you will. Not that you'd realize it either inside or out. We don't dress our homes all in antler & animal skins. (Not that I'm opposed to some antlers or a bear-rug, but my hubby's not that good a hunter, the last few years.) My home is done mainly in a hand-me-down country style. *grin* Though I do conceed to the winter weather by putting quilts on windows & having lots of throws & afghans around. Then again, they also serve to cover the thread-bare back of the couch as much as to warm us. *wink*

One thing you'll see a lot more of up here than in many societies around the "lower 48" (not meant to be slander, just the fact that our state is the farthest north in the union, and Hawaii doesn't count as it came AFTER Alaska and isn't connected to the mainland, so we're only refering to the 48 that came before us) is a fancy 2000 sq foot, 2 story house located on a fancy-landscaped piece of property, with a modular on one side, and a shack & surrounded by a junk-yard on the other. A log cabin a couple of places down, and a ranch on the other side of that. We don't have many neighbourhoods around here (mainly the few newer ones) with strict covenants. And even the neighbourhoods WITH covenants have a hard time getting their residents to abide by the rules. A common "lawn decoration" is that 3rd (or 4th, or 5th) car that stopped running a couple of year's back, and it's been sitting up on blocks for since then, waiting for the owner to get the money to fix the engine back up. And the wood-shed out back to provide shelter for your winter's supply, after you installed your own darned woodstove to cut down on the winter fuel bills.

Moreso, there are a large number of folks who live, quite happily, in "dry" cabins. That's right, folks who think nothing of hauling water out to their cabin for drinking & dishes & use an outhouse for the neccessary. Who take a shower at a local club or gym a couple of times a week, or at the house of a close friend. It's normal around here, and dry cabins are invariably the cheapest (decently kept) property around for young college students hoping to live on their own, single working folks, or young couples just starting out. The apartment complexes that populate many states in the "lower 48" just aren't that common up here. What complexes we have don't tend to be very large, and generally are very poorly kept up.

LOL So, I hope that gives those of you who wonder about us Alaskans a little bit of insight into our daily life.

Have a Blessed Day!

A Recipe and Thanks!

First off.... Whim & Connie, thanks for the support & the sympathy. I really felt like it would be justifiable homocide the other morning, if I went postal. *wry smile* Ironically, yesterday morning wasn't any better as the folks who are/were? planning on building a house on the lot directly across from my house came in with dirt & were back-filling the hole they'd dug last fall. Don't know if they've decided NOT to build there, and were filling in this big gapping hole for safety reasons, or what. But it was 8:30 in the morning when the loader started bringing in bucket-loads of dirt. Needless to say.... Was not too happy about that, either. 2 mornings in a row. Go freaking figure. And this morning the guys doing the lights are back, with a smaller loader, sitting in my drive, removing the metal form from around the cement footer for the light. *sigh* One of these days, I'd really, really love to sleep in without interuption. I know, with 2 dogs and a kid it's unlikely to happen, but doesn't mean I can't wish. *wink* Anyway, Thanks again, Whim & Connie, for the support & understanding.

Now, for that bread recipe you asked for Connie! It's actually one of the recipes that came with my dad's bread-maker years ago. We only rarely used the breadmaker because the loaves were so wierdly shaped, but this was my favorite of the breads we made in it.

Golden Egg Bread
Makes 2 loaves

1 pkg (or 1/2 Tbsp) yeast
3/4 c warm water
4 c all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1-1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 Tbsp oil (I use melted butter)

Proof yeast in 3/4 c water, with a pinch of sugar, for 10 minutes. Mix flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add yeast-water, beaten eggs, and oil. Knead well, till smooth and elastic-y. Place in greased bowl, and oil top of dough, and cover with clean cloth & allow to rise 2 or so hours. Punch down, shape into 2 loaves, and let rise again at least 1 hour. Bake at 350 Deg. F. for 40 to 50 minutes. Tops of loaves may be brushed with melted butter immediately after baking, or beaten egg-white/water mix prior to baking.

For an Onion-Dill variation on this bread, prior to mixing wet ingredients into the dry, I simply add between 2 and 4 (I don't measure, I just dump) dried dill weed, and about 3 Tbsp dried minced onion to flour, sugar & salt. Mix well to disperse herbs before adding in wet ingredients.

Another recipe for you... This comes from the Pampered Chef, but we didn't find it there, we got it from some friends who'd attended a Pampered Chef party then messed with the recipe a bit themselves, before passing it on to us.

Chicken Club Ring (Pampered Chef title)
Chicken Ring (what we've always called it)

3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked & shredded
4 slices bacon, cooked to crisp & crumbled (more may be used)
1 cup mayonaisse
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp minced, dried onion (or fresh minced, or a tsp of onion powder)
2 Tbsp parsley (I've always used dried, though fresh may be used if handy)
1 cup shredded cheese (a mix of cheddar, swiss & mozzarella is best, though whatever you have on hand may be used)
2 pkgs croissant dinner rolls

Mix all ingredients except dinner rolls. Set mix aside. Take either a pizza pan, or a pizza stone and elevate it to create a turnable platform. (I generally just use my pizza pan, draped in aluminum foil, sitting on a crisco or oatmeal canister.) Now, seperate your croissant triangles, and gently lay them on the pizza pan, with the longer tip dangly over the edge, and the shorter tips overlapping all around edge of pizza pan. Only about 1 inch of the croissant roll (unrolled) should be on the pizza pan, the rest of each roll should be dangling over the edge. Place about 2 Tbsp (will probably wind up being slightly more) of chicken/cheese mix on each croissant section, all the way around the edge of the pizza pan. When you've used all your chicken/cheese mix, fold long tips of the croissants up over the top of the filling, and tuck down under the other side of the segment, on inner edge of the ring you are now creating. More foil may be tucked around outter edges of croissant/chicken ring before baking to promote more even baking. Bake at 350 Deg. F. for 25 to 30 minutes or till heated through and golden-brown. Enjoy!

In the origional Pampered Chef recipe (I only posted what is on the recipe I have copied from our family friend), it also directs the cook to slice some tomatoes into rounds and place a round on the space between each of the croissant segments before baking. When ready to serve, the cook is directed to fill the space inside the ring with shredded lettuce, tomato wedges, etc to eat with the ring segments. It IS called a "Chicken Club Ring" after all.

Ok, there are some yummy new recipes for ya.

Oh, and for what it's worth. Today my hubby turned 33. *grin* I don't know if he'd like me telling the world that, but, oh well. I made him a Cookies & Cream Jello No-Bake dessert. Not what I'd pick, but I know he likes it. And he doesn't know I made it for him. He won't know till he gets home tonight. *grin*

Have a Blessed Day!

Crochet, Sugar-Snaps, and bread dough....

First off, sorry for the foul mouth this morning. I don't take well to being woken early in the morning when most sane people are still in bed, sleeping. Esp. when I'm woken by heavy machinery not 50 feet from my bedroom window. I DID manage to get back to sleep for a couple of hours, only to be woken by Dad at 11:20 as he stopped by with some items he's been asking me to take, but knew I wouldn't be able to transport in my car.

So, I'm up, I've eatten, I feel quite a bit better than I did when I wrote the last post this morning, and I figured I'd share some pictures, as it's been a while since I posted any.

First, the crochet: Here are, of course, the two baby-blankets that I have made, currently. The blue, yellow & white one has been done for several months, and was simply made as a spare and to use up leftover yarn from the afghan I made for DD's bed. The pink, purple & yellow is the one I just completed last week. Our friends with the up-coming baby will receive one or the other, once we find out the sex of their latest child. The spare will go back to storage for the next time I find out somebody's having/had a baby. *smile* (Oh, and they are folded into quarters, so I could fit them both in the same pic, they're not REALLY as small as they look here.)

Next pic is the 8 bags I currently have made. I've been in to talk to the folks that own that little gift store I'd previously mentioned, showed the daughter of the owner the bags, and left my name & number. She said her mom would probably be interested, but it's been over a week now & I haven't heard back from her as to carrying my bags in her store. *sigh* I'm considering (only slightly, though) opening an Esty shop of my own. I don't know that I really feel like doing that, though. But, if anybody sees any of these here and wants to buy one.... *hint, hint* *wink*

Thirdly, here are my sugar-snaps. Only in the last 3 or 4 days have the flowers popped out. I'm rather happy because that means I WILL get some peas off of these this year. I wish I had room for a larger plot. Also, the pots of swiss chard & lettuce that I planted a couple of weekends back look like they will produce a bit, also. All 5 plants had all of the seeds planted in them come up. Now it's a waiting game for them to get big enough to thin (or to seperate & replant a little further apart in the same pot), then waiting for them to mature enough to enjoy. My flower-plants (in the flowerbeds) are also there, but not yet producing flowers. I'm somewhat bummed. Unfortunately I need to really weed before I can post any pictures, otherwise all you'll see is the weeds & grass growing up in front of the flower beds.

Last but not least, a view of the bread-dough for a couple of loaves of my Onion-Dill Golden Egg bread. It's been a couple of weeks since I last made bread, so I figured it was time to do so again. And this stuff was so yummy last time that I wanted more. My middle sis was posting, the other day, about how she made that 18-hour really easy bread (the one that bakes in a dutch-oven preheated to 500 deg.), and was telling me I need to give that bread a try. And it DOES look really good, but I just don't feel like waiting 18 hours for a loaf of bread right now. I think I'll definitely give it a try this fall, though. When I've decided to make a pot of soup for dinner, on one of my weekends. I'm sure that bread would go VERY well with a pot of Clam Chowder, or Scotch Broth. But, for now I'm thinking ham sandwiches on Onion-Dill Egg bread. *grin*

Ok. I hope these pics somewhat make up for my bad mood this morning.

Have a Blessed Day!

F***ING DOT!

So, we got the placement of the damned street light fixed. It's no longer in our front yard, now it's on the property line between my house & my next-door-neighbour's, so that it light's both of our parking areas without shining directly in our house windows. Good, one problem solved.

Now to give the person who gave the go-ahead to start digging, a call. Because at 7:35 this morning I woke up to their big old drill truck backing up in my parking area, and at 7:50, these guys started drilling. I'll say it again..... 7:50 on a SATURDAY MORNING these guys are in a RESIDENTIAL Neighbourhood, DRILLING UP MY DRIVEWAY! And, because it's got to go through ashphalt (instead of grass & dirt) they say it's going to take longer. And once they get the drilling done, they're going to bring in a boom truck to set the "cage" down into the whole before they do the wiring & the cement-work. (1 guess as to why they call it a "boom" truck, I'm thinking.) Evidently they were given 2 months to do this job of 60 streetlights, and they're trying to get it done in less. *shaking head*

Why they didn't come in and drill the whole yesterday, during the work-day, I don't know..... Why they are doing these things 1 and 2 at a time, instead of a whole road at a time, I've got no clue.

F*CK! I'm so increadibly tired right now. It's a REALLY good thing that S. & Tay are gone for the weekend, because when I'm tired, I'm pissy, and teary, and ready to take folk's head's off. And after 10 years of being a mom, I value what little sleep I get greatly. Top it off, I'm PMS'ing this weekend. So much for a nice, relaxing, QUITE! weekend.

And, when I went out to ask the guys how long this was going to take, the supervisor was absolutely unsympathetic and commented on how HE never gets sleep as his twin little girls wake him up at 4 every morning. Good for f**king HIM! I told him how MY husband was nice enough to take our daughter fishing this weekend so that I COULD have some sleep, and here they're ruining it. And this doesn't happen more than about twice a year, me getting a weekend to myself and getting to sleep in. And it's evidently NOT happening this year, after all. This will be probably the only weekend my hubby is GOING to get to take my daughter fishing, not having any leave-time he can take for fishing & hunting this year.

And I couldn't even find any ear-plugs. F**K! It's now 8:28, I'm awake and so rediculously tired!

Another job opportunity.....

I didn't get either of the other two positions I applied for, but that's ok. I try to keep my mind on the thought that if this opportunity doesn't work for me, some day another one will. And that philosophy has stood me in good stead. I didn't really want to leave NP Branch Lib. when I did, but I needed more hours & more pay. The customer service experience I gained working at a local bookstore, and at a local craft store have served me well in my current position, and though I was unhappy for a while, I was given the chance to get the position I've got now, which was what I wanted all along (as a stepping stone to a library assistant position, but without my current position, I wouldn't have a shot at a lib. assistant position at all).

So, I didn't get either the acquisitions position, or the Regional position. *shrug* Ok. No problem. That just means that there's something better out there waiting for me. And it looks like I'm right.

One of the library assistant's from NP Branch got the Regional position, which means that HER position out here at NP Branch will be opening up. It's a Lib. Assistant 3 (only available at NP Branch because they have to deal with reference questions & ILL's as well as regular Lib. Assistant duties like Noel Wein's assistants have), pay is un-listed (which means GOOD!), it's 20 hours a week (more time for Tay, and hopefully schooling!), and it's a 7 minute (summer) walk from home!!!!!! That's the absolutely best part. I'd be HOME!!!! I'd be in my neighbourhood, in my town, around my neighbours. I LOVED IT here before, and if I get this position I'll LOVE IT here again!!!!! (Only, I'll be loving it with more money and the same benefits! *grin*)

Soooo.... Anybody for keeping your finger's crossed & sending lots of P&PT???? *grin* I really, really want this job, and I AM setting my heart & my sights on it! And I believe I've got a fair shot. I'll keep y'all posted!!!!

Blessings!

Whoop!!!! A weekend to myself!

Ok, so more like the second half of the week to myself, or so it seems.... Let's see....

DD got invited to a birthday party-sleep over for one of her hockey teammates today & tonight, and till what-ever-time tomorrow. (Though, we'll have to pick DD up from the party this afternoon for her soccer game, then return her for the sleep-over.) Then Friday, DD and DH will be leaving for a weekend fishing trip down at the Klutina River, before I'm even off work for the weekend. They won't be back till sometime Monday, probably after I'm at work already for the day.

What am I going to do with myself?!?!?! *grin* Friday night, I'm going to order Mongolian Beef & some wantons from our favorite local oriental place, and watch this season's last 3 episodes of StarGate:Atlantis, and maybe HP & the Goblet of Fire (gotta get "caught back up" in time for the next movie, ya know). Saturday I'll maybe do some baking, watch some movies, do some crocheting, do some weeding if the weather permits. Sunday.... *shrug* Who knows. I'll see what I feel like doing when it gets here. A weekend with my bed to myself (no fighting for covers), nobody fighting over what kind of music to play on the sterio, no fighting for the TV or the computer, and no sharing my oriental food!!!!! *grin*

(Can ya tell I'm a real "party girl"?!?!? LOL Just boatloads of excitement around here this weekend, I'll tell ya!!!!! *wink*)

LOVING IT!

I hope everybody else is having a good second half of the week, and thanks for all the hugs & support!!!

Have a Blessed Day!

Bad Attitudes & a Broken Ankle....

Well, the 4th wound up being a considerably less-than-completely pleasant 4th of July, that's for sure. And, in part due to the SIL's bad attitude. My SIL has wrecked more cars in her 30 years than most people own in a life-time, and yet MIL handed over her keys to SIL so that she could pick up her older son from town & bring him out to spend the day with her & her most current boyfriend. (She already had the younger son with her.) Of course, FIL quickly found out about the car being lent to SIL (who isn't covered on their insurance, and only has insurance to drive her own vehical, currently a chevy S10) and reamed MIL a new one for allowing SIL to take the car.


On top of that, MIL fell last Sunday and "twisted" her ankle as she tried to catch the 3 year old nephew as he took-off down the drive. She'd called Sunday evening asking the hubby if he'd take her over to the fire-dept. to see if they thought she should go to the emergency room. He suggested she give it a half-hour, wrapped with an ice-pack, then call him back if the swelling was still bad. She never called back, so we assumed that she was ok and had just twisted it. Fast foward to Wednesday, as we were in the house filling our plates with food, MIL showed the hubby & I her ankle and it was twice it's normal size & black & blue & green all over, and she only had it wrapped in a support-brace she'd purchased from the grocery store. My inkling right off was that her ankle was very possibly broken. *sigh* So, we suggested that she needed to have it seen, and she decided to call her younger sister for a ride to FirstCare to have her ankle x-rayed. Sure enough, she broke it in 2 places. *cringe*

So, then she called SIL and told SIL that she couldn't watch the nephew any longer, that SIL would have to take responsibility for the boy (SIL's younger son). SIL, of course, claimed that something is going on with the bathroom at the house she shares with her new boyfriend and that she can't take responsibility for her own son right now. So their dad is back to having both boys.

(Both of the nephews are technically in the custody of their dad, but he just had back surgery a month ago so he asked the inlaws if they would take the younger son, the 3 year old, so he only has to worry about the older, the 5 year old. They agreed on the condition that the boy's mom, my SIL, comes over during the day to take care of the younger boy while the inlaws work. Since SIL doesn't have a job right now. She's living with her latest in a string of boyfriends, and doesn't want EITHER of her son's around for more than a couple of hours, but for the most part she's been showing up during the day to keep an eye on the younger rather than making the inlaws pay for putting HER kid in day-care. On Monday, MIL didn't go to work because of her ankle, so on Tuesday when MIL decided she still wasn't in any shape to go to work, the SIL figured that she didn't need to bother with taking care of her own son, her mom could do it. *rolling eyes* Seeing as she's now on crutches, MIL has told the SIL that the SIL will have to take care of her own son now until MIL's ankle heals or the boy's dad's back heals, whichever comes first. My understanding was that the SIL was rather pissed that her mom went & broke her ankle & stuck her with the younger son. Again, forget the fact that the MIL broke the ankle because she was running after the 3 year old to keep him from running into the road, and twisted her ankle doing so.)

So, FIL was pissed & grumpy over both MIL's messed up ankle, and SIL's highjacking of MIL's car when she doesn't even have insurance (again). Tay was, of course, bored & pissy because neither of the nephews was there to play with. And the dog was alternating between freaking out & shivering quietly on the garage floor.

Ah well, the chicken and macaroni salad were good. *wry smile* We also got home in time last night to watch the last of the "Macy's 4th of July fireworks show" on tv before bed. One of these day's I'd love to spend the 4th with Tay in a state that actually gets dark summer nights, so she can see a good fireworks show herself. Maybe I'll try to see if we can get down for my mom's family reunion in Spokane in a couple of years. I think she'd like Riverfront Park on the 4th of July. And I'd love to see my Aunts & Uncles & cousins again. I only wish the hubby wasn't so scared to death of flying, so he could go with us & meet my mom's family. I really think he'd get along well with my uncles. *grin* They've all got the "work hard, play harder" view of life. LOL

I called the MIL on Thursday morning to see how she was feeling, and DH and I had already discussed how it would be an idea for DD and I to go over & help MIL out with heavy-lifting household chores like laundry & vacuuming & anything else she may want our help on, as a broken ankle makes it hard to do the simplest of things (like carrying one's coffee cup from kitchen to living room, as the MIL discovered Thursday morning), much less the more active household tasks. And I doubt the FIL will help much. He and MIL don't seem to have said a civil word to each other in several months now. Well, the MIL said that she didn't need any help at the moment, but thanks for offering, and I told her I'd call back on Saturday. And I did, called early and asked if there was anything I could pick up for her at the grocery store, as I was going, or any movies I could bring over for her. Wound up picking 3 of our movies that she hasn't seen yet, and she asked me to get her a movie rental guide from the store, and pick up Great-Grandma's light-weight vacuume so she (MIL) could vacuume the house. I told her I'd pick it up, but Tay and I would come over and vacuume & do laundry for her, and anything else.

Go figure that when I got there, the SIL was there, with BOTH boys, and one of their friends. And bathing both boys in MIL's bathroom, and feeding all 3 of the kids in MIL's kitchen. And evidently SIL was somewhat incensed that I'd come over and help the MIL with household chores, so she told MIL that SHE didn't need the light-weight vacuume & that I could just take it back to Grandma's house, and that SIL would be over (with younger son) on Monday and would clean MIL's whole house for her. *shaking head* Whatever. So, I got sent BACK to Great-Grandma's with the vaccume & a symbolic pat-on-the-head for being such a good girl to offer, but MIL didn't really need my help at all when her daughter is willing to step-up. I'd be happy about SIL stepping up to help, if I thought she actually was. But SIL has NEVER been one to clean-house. In fact, everybody in the family knows that MIL often goes to SIL's place and cleans for SIL, on the pretense that with 2 boys, SIL can't accomplish it herself. (Then MIL goes on and on about how good a housekeeper SIL is, though I've seen SIL's various apartments when MIL isn't cleaning for her regularly, and it's never been anywhere NEAR "clean".) In fact, when I talked to MIL on Saturday morning, before going to the store, she hadn't heard anything from SIL since she told SIL about her broken ankle on Wednesday evening. It was only after I called & said I'd be coming over, that she talked to SIL and all the sudden SIL was going to come over & do the cleaning, but Monday. *rolling eyes* Smacks of SIL being pissed at me about being "shown up", and trying to put me in my place over who's REALLY important to MIL. And it isn't me. *sigh* Whatever. DH said that if they want to be that way, I shouldn't bother even offering to help any more. He also understands precisely what his sister is doing, and rather suspects that come Monday night, MIL's housework still will not have been done except by MIL herself. I'm not going to offer to help again.

Let's see.... Thursday, I got woken at 8 by DD, complaining of a sore shoulder. She slept on it wrong. *rolling eyes* At 8:30, I got called by somebody at a 1-800 number who was asking for the hubby and refused to leave a message. By 9, Puck was nudging me in the back with his cold, wet nose, whining about how he needed to go outside. Ok, so much for sleeping any more. After watering the neighbour's yard & my flower-beds, DD and I headed in to Pioneer Park (formerly known as AlaskaLand, the closest thing my town has to a "theme park") for lunch & some girl-talk with a friend of mine from HS. I don't get to see my friends very often, so it was nice to just get to walk & talk with her. And DD behaved herself well (after a talk in the car about how often she sees her friends, but this is one of the rare times that I get to see mine, so she better mind her manners) and it was a nice day. It'd be nice to get to chat with A. without a child tagging along, though. We're hoping that when I've got that next week off at the end of July, we can get together for lunch & catch up without kids along. LOL (DD will be at hockey camp, and I'm taking the week off because it'll be a day-camp where I have to drop her off in the morning and pick her up mid-afternoon. That schedual wouldn't work well with my work-schedual, so it's just easiest to take the week off.)

Friday I spent the day bumming around the house, nothing much to do except water the yards & my flowers & crochet & watch movies. I finished that baby-afghan (no picture yet, it's not even washed yet), watched the last 3 episodes of StarGate:SG1 and "HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban". (SG:1 has now ended, as a running show, and I'm going to miss it greatly.)

Then Saturday, as I wrote above, was spent grocery shopping & running to the MIL's and visiting with Great-Grandma a bit (as I didn't wind up needing to clean MIL's house for her). I wound up, late last night, doing a draw from my Goddess Guidance Oracle cards, asking for wisdom & guidance in how to handle the anger & act toward MIL & SIL, and the guidance gained was to focus my energies on MY household, keep MY home a safe place from MIL & SIL, and let out my feelings in creative endeavors. Ok. I guess that also means I need to kind of "let it go" in regards to MIL's & SIL's attitude toward me. Harder said than done sometimes, but I'm trying. And evidently Thanksgiving will NOT be held here any longer, as I really, really don't want MIL & SIL fouling up the atmosphere of my home. (FIL kinda indicated that he thought Thanksgiving would be best held at his place from here on out, but I was still kinda hoping to keep holding it here, but as I really DON'T want SIL in my house ever again....)

Which brings us to today. I've gotta get headed out. I'm going to church with Dad, then over to his place for lunch. Then hopefully back here to veg the rest of the afternoon, do laundry, etc. I'm making a stir-fry for supper. Kinda my version of Mongolian beef, though it doesn't really turn out quite as good as does the Mongolian beef from our favorite oriental resteraunt. Ah well, it's a heck of a lot cheaper, though. *grin*

Have a Blessed Day!

July 4th, Independence Day....

Just for a minute, I want to do some grumbling & ranting. First, a question.

What is July 4th truly about??? Does anybody remember???? Let me say it. It's a day to celebrate the signing of our constitution, to celebrate the Declaration of our Independence from England, and because of those two previous items, a day to recall our Bill of Rights as well. It is a day about INDEPENDENCE.

Let me tell you what it is NOT. It is NOT a day to see who can outspend whom on fireworks, on nifty do-dads, on bigger & better grill-outs. It is NOT a day to worry about entertaining one's whole neighbourhood by spending more money on bouncy-castles & carousels than one's monthly salary. It is NOT a day to be retitled "Independent Rental Day" because they (a local store) supposedly have the best deals in town on rental equipment (including said bouncy-room & carousel, as well as giant pig rotisieries, a dunk tank, and other things) and will let you rent these things for 2 days over the holiday instead of just one.

Another radio commercial I've been hearing for the last 2 weeks (I believe it's Freddy M's, though I may be wrong) entails one guy telling his next-door-neighbour what a loser he is because the neighbour is going to have a reading of our Declaration of Independence and not $500 worth of fireworks and another $100 of fancy grilled food, like the first guy. Supposedly our kids should be encouraged to be more excited about Fireworks than learning about their country's history. (Like that takes any encouragement. I don't know a single kid who voluntarily will choose a reading of the Dec. of Independence over a massive fireworks show. Which is why I'm more likely to encourage the education than the entertainment.) The first guy in the commercial is expounding on while his July 4th celebration is SOOOO much better than the second guy's because he's spent a small fortune on fancy trimmings.

I am soooooo sick of hearing & seeing all these ads that trying to co-opt these holidays for commercial reasons rather than to celebrate our freedom & our gratitude towards our ancestors & fore-parents. It's bad enough that we're encouraged to spend month's worth of salary on Christmas gifts, now we're being told that we're bad people if we expect our children to recognize today (or Memorial Day, or Labor Day) as something other than another reason to show off to one's neighbours. It's discusting. And most especially when we're currently at war. How much more unplugged from reality are we going to get???? I don't approve of this war, but at least I recognize that there are American soldiers dying today (and I'm sure that there will be, because there's been a death a day, almost, for the past few months), serving our country, fighting in a foreign land. Maybe I wish they were home with their families grilling-out, instead of fighting in Iraq, but at least I'm not making a mockery of their fight by pretending that today is all about showing up the neighbours and trying to outspend each other.

And so, as I dig out my copy of our Declaration of Independence to read to my daughter and refuse to spend money on a bouncy-tent & a dunk-tank, I'll be thinking of the men & women who founded our nation. I'll say a prayer that none of our soldiers die today, and I hope that I'm among a great many more in our nation who are discusted by the edicts of the stores that we should retitle the day in THEIR honor, instead of honoring those who came before us.

Have a Blessed July 4th. May it mean as much to you as it means to me!

Who's up for some leftovers????

So this was dinner last night. Doesn't look very fancy, but it was yummy!!!! Homemade Lasagna. DH's favorite meal. That's 12 lasagna noodles (I NEVER pre-cook them, they always turn out very nice anyway); about 12 oz chopped leaf spinach (thawed & excess moisture squeezed out, though I shouldn't have bothered with the squeezing); a full 32 oz of ricotta cheese; a full 16 oz mozzarella; a 1/3 of a cup of milk (told ya I shouldn't have drained the spinach!); a pound of ground beef; a jar of prego roasted garlic spaghetti sauce; almost 1 full onion, chopped; a can of diced tomatoes, juice & all; and some parmesan sprinkled on top. Turned out VERY yummy! And this was what was left of a 13x9x2 pan after the 3 of us had eatten. BEFORE I'd doled it out for DH's lunch-leftovers, and DD's lunch left-overs, and the extra that is leftover even after lunches today. I think there's still maybe a 1/4 of the lasagna left if anybody wants to come over for some leftovers. *grin* It's funny because I ALWAYS put spinach in my lasagna, and DH always asks "you put spinach in there again?!?!" and yet he always enjoys it anyway. I just tell him that this is how I avoid making an extra veggie dish to go along with the enourmous lasagna. LOL With enough onion, tomato & spinach in there, we don't need any other veggies along with it.

We finally got over to see Great Grandma last night. As usual, the DH wound up fixing something for her. She's not doing very well right now, though that's to be expected. Along with Alzheimers, she has some digestional issues. Right now she's dealing with what could be refered to as a stomach bug, but it's not likely actually caused by a bug. The MIL was over earlier in the day and stood over Grandma (MIL's mother, actually) and made sure she drank 2 complete bottles of Pedialyte drink. MIL always makes sure that Grandma has a couple of bottles in the house, for days when her body starts acting up. It's an easy way to keep Grandma from getting dehydrated. Unfortunately, it's easy to tell that Grandma probably won't be with us much longer. She looks more & more frail each time we see her. She's not quite 85 years old yet, but one would swear she's 90, from the looks of her. She was doing good until about 3 years ago. As I said, she's just been diagnosed with Alzheimers, and I suspect it's a bit further along than her crack-pot dr. thinks. Add to the fact that her dr's got her on a diet of all white & wheat foods, nothing that has any real nutrition, much less fiber or anything to try to get her digestional problems under control. He's one of these Dr's who loves to prescribe loads & loads of pills, always adjusting this dosage or that, but who's patients seem to always wind up with even more problems. *sigh* For Grandma's sake and for the sake of the rest of the family, I hope Grandma passes easily in her sleep before too much more time passes. Anyway......

So, I've got to go in tonight for 4 hours, been spending the day on the computer thus-far.

Don't have any plans for tomorrow.

Wednesday we may or may not be going over to the FIL's house for barbequing. Though if we do, I've insisted to DH that we take Puck with us. I don't want to come home this time & find that he's shredded more carpetting (as he did last 4th), wrecked any more windows (also did last 4th), shredded his paws (also last 4th), or run off. He's scared to death of fire-works, and I think we'd be better off keeping him with us if we go over to the inlaws for a while. Jenny is either smart enough to know that the fireworks aren't endangering her, or too stupid to register them. We can't tell which is the case, but either way, she's unbothered by them. For which I'm VERY grateful. So, she'll be staying here, if we do go over to the inlaws on Wednesday.

Thursday I'm going to meet up with an friend from HS and we're going to spend the afternoon at Pioneer Park (formerly known as AlaskaLand) having lunch & catching up. She's got a little boy who's just a month younger than DD, but he's going to be with his dad that day, so it'll be just us 3 girls hanging out.

Friday, DH has got an appointment for me to get my car in and have the air conditioner fixed. It's a '91 Buick Regal SE, and the air-conditioner has never worked in the 6 years we've owned it. Which wouldn't be a major problem, I suppose, but it makes for some INCREDIBLY warm drives to & from work in the summer. (And the heater has never worked properly either, which may or may not be connected to the problem with the air-conditioner.) So I spend summer days driving to & from work, roasting. And winter days driving to & from work, freezing. Makes so much sense, doesn't it??? Hopefully getting the air-conditioner (and heater?) fixed on Friday will mean that I can spend summer days driving to work, freezing, and winter days driving home, roasting. *grin*

Then, next weekend we'll get our walk-way in. We didn't get that done on Saturday because we spent all day long running from one side of town to the other and back again looking for some canvas car-ports for our vehicals. Everywhere that carried the good quality kind was sold out. One of the places, though, will get a big order of them in on Thursday and DH is going to go pick up 2. Anyway, after crossing town & back at least 3 times, by the time we got home it was too late for DH to pick up that load of granite for the walk-way. And besides, after talking to his dad they decided to do it a little differently. Instead of rototilling down 8 inches and putting 2 inches of sand & 2 inches of gravel before 4 inches of granite, they're going to hand-dig it out to 3 inches deep, put a layer of plastic down (puncture it for proper drainage, but the plastic will keep weeds from growing up through the granite), then pour the granite in on top of the plastic. So, probably Friday night we're going to be digging that out.

Saturday DH & FIL will go get the granite & fill in the walk-way, and also pick up the lumber for our back deck, which is going to be put off for yet another week. *wry smile* It's always something!

It's funny, even this week off looks like it's going to be rather busy, and I'm starting to think maybe I don't mind being somewhat busy, as long as I get a day to relax every now & again. I'm certainly looking forward to meeting my friend on Thursday for lunch & an afternoon out. And while I don't think I'll ENJOY sitting at the auto shop waiting on my car to be fixed, at least I know I'll enjoy it when it's done.

Ok. I think that'll do for now.

Have a Blessed Day!

It's been a long freaking week....

So I'll start from the top.

Sunday, over at Dad's for lunch. We never did make it to church, but I needed sleep a little more than I needed to hear a sermon. DD ended up in a bad mood because she & the niece had a disagreement over which movie to watch. Resulted in DD throwing a tantrum (she's 9-1/2 and yes, she still throws tantrums) and bitching about how she hates her life and wishes she was never born. *rolling eyes* Yes. It looks like the tendency towards depression is carrying on through a third generation. Lovely.

Monday, I had to head into town early to sign some final papers so we can get a home equity loan to pay off all our bills and do some work around the house. After bills are paid we're going to have enough $$ left over to get: 2 canvas car-ports for our vehicals; a 12x16 deck on the back of the house; a front walkway consisting of crushed white granite; a new mattress for our bed; and hopefully a couple of months rent on a storage space. After signing the paperwork, DH and I went to lunch across the street from the bank before we both headed to work (me to start my day, him to continue). Of course I don't get off till 9:15 on Monday evenings, so it was a late night.

Tuesday was nothing special, my usual 6 hour day at work.

Wednesday, following work, I headed down the street to the Fairbanks Youth Soccer Assoc. soccer fields to watch DD play. It's the first game I've seen her play this season. She was in the goal for the first half of the game, and of the 7 or 8 shots the other team took, DD only let one shot through. Second half, she was playing center and doing a decent job, but the girl playing goalie let all 4 shots taken on her, through. Didn't save a SINGLE shot. *sigh* All in all, our team couldn't keep the ball down on opposing team's side of the field long enough to get a goal at all. Final score, 5-0, our loss. DD was in a nasty mood after this loss, of course. Griping and whining about how she hates soccer and never wants to play again. She'll come around.

After the game, we went to dinner at one of our new favorite resteraunts, this little oriental place called Choice Rib. Come to find out, they were featured in the "new eats" article in the paper that same day, so by the time we got there they were out of soup, chicken, and lemonaid. And running low in other ingredients & items. LOL I was kinda bummed to not get soup or lemonaid, until I found out that it was because they'd been run off their feet by people who didn't know they were there. Sounds like they got a LOT of good business out of that article, and most everybody likes their place. Good. It's a nice little resteraunt. We didn't get home till almost 9:30 Wednesday night.

Yesterday, Thusday, was an early morning as DD had a dentist appointment at 9:30. A cleaning. It went well. The hygenist said that there are NO cavities and her teeth look fantastic. I hope that if DD hears it often enough she'll realize that it's a GOOD thing for me to check her teeth over every night (or every couple of nights, at least). Ran DD back out here to day-care, stopped by the house and watered the dog & my flower-beds, then headed back to town for work. Got off at 6, of course, and came home and made stew. (All I could find in the freezer was stew-meat and burger, and as warm as it was, I made stew for dinner last night.)

This morning I had a dentist appointment (also a cleaning) at 9 am. Wouldn't you know it, I must have been half-asleep when I reset my alarm clock last night because it didn't go off at 7:40 this morning, and actually read as 2:29 am instead. *sigh* Got up and used the bathroom and when I flushed the toilet overflowed as I was trying to plunge it. *BIG sigh* Threw a towel down on it to sop things up a bit, once I finished unplugging it, finished getting dressed, and woke up DD. Made her a PB&J sandwich & gave her a baggy of raisins for breakfast. Made her lunch sandwich and ran her over to the daycare before I could even head into town for MY appointment. And it's at least a half-hour trip each way to & from our dentist. I'm seriously considering finding a dentist closer to home, but it seems more trouble than it's worth. Anyway, my teeth don't look nearly as good as DD's (big suprise), and I got the usual chewing out from the hygenist. Then I got home, scrubbed the bathroom floor, tossed the towel & scrub-rags into the wash. Now I'm sitting here eatting some toast & a glass of milk for a bit. Soon I've gotta get back off, go water my plants, and get ready to head into town. I've still gotta swing back by the bank and pick up our check for the loan before I can head to work.

This afternoon, DH is going to be meeting with a guy from DOT about that street light that they're proposing planting in our front yard. Evidently it's not the city at all, but DOT, that plans to put these street-lights up and down our streets. And the guy from DOT insists that the survey-post they put in is IN the ease-way and they're well within their rights to do what they want with that part of our yard. I'm wondering why the freak we're paying taxes on this property if they (the government) can come in and do whatever-the-heck they want with it anyway. Anyway, DH is going to point out how much more sense it would be to put the light-pole on the property line between our place and our neighbour's place, and how it will be out of the way for vehicals (snow plows as well!) and how it won't pull our property values down if placed there, and how it won't keep us up nights with bright lights shining in our rooms. And hopefully DH is also going to call the bank and get them to write an official letter about how this will hurt our property values and mess up the loan we just took out with them. I'm still of the opinion that I'll sit in that very spot on the lawn all summer long, if needs be, to keep them from plowing up my yard for a street-light.

I'm GOING to sleep in tomorrow. And Sunday, and all next week. And next Saturday and Sunday too. DD's daycare is closed next week, so I took the week off except for 4 hours on Monday evening when I've got to go in.

Tomorrow we've got to go pick up the new mattress that we're buying off of one of my coworkers who's got a brand-new (3 years old, but still in it's box) mattress that she's going to give us for $75. Ours is over 15 years old, and is a hand-me-down at that. My coworker had planned to replace the mattresses in the rooms at her B&B, just before they decided to shut the B&B down instead. So she's had this mattress in the downstairs room for about 3 years now, still in it's box, never used. They were cleaning up a couple of weeks ago, and found it. She also had heard me griping about how we needed to find a new mattress for our bed, as ours is so old that it's starting to be painful to sleep on. (Springs poking us in the back!) Anyway, so we're going to pick up the mattress tomorrow. And DH is going to rototill out the walk-way and put in a better walkway of crushed white granite (over a layer of sand, over a layer of gravel). We're also hoping to pick up the materials for that back deck, so DH & FIL can build it NEXT weekend.

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In other news.... Looks like our garden over at the inlaw's is about ready to be abandoned. DH said that although a good portion of the plants have come up, they're looking very stunted this year and are nowhere near producing. Any of them. *sigh* So FIL figures that if it's not growing anyway, he's not going to keep watering them. I can see his point, but I SO wanted zucchini and swiss chard this year.

On top of the fact that the garden isn't producing, though. SIL was home with her younger son one day (he's 3) and sent him outside to play and told him to go check out the garden. FIL got home and found that the nephew had gotten out and walked on a lot of the plants & broken some, and crushed others. *sigh* And SIL got pissed when confronted about how she allowed (encouraged, more like) the nephew to go play in the garden. She doesn't seem to think that it should make any difference where the nephew plays, and it's just a garden. *rolling eyes* Just when I'd stopped hating her and started feeling sorry for her instead, she pulls this.

I told DH that I don't figure I'll ever feed SIL from my table, and my food supply. If she has so little regard for the fact that FIL, DH, DD and I worked long & hard to put that garden in, so that we would hopefully have produce to help us get through the winter, that she's unmoved by the fact that she encouraged her child to get out there and do his best to ruin our garden & our food supply...... I told DH that if she's starving, I won't be feeding her. She can starve, and good riddance to her. I won't put my resources in front of somebody so self-centered & disrespectful of me & mine. If (when) TSHTF and she's in need of shelter & food, she won't get it from me. I'll take her sons in, because they're children and they're good kids who haven't yet learned to be as self-centered & disrespectful of all as SIL is. But the SIL will freeze & starve, for all I care. I'm sick & tired of her using & abusing me & mine, and expecting us to welcome her back with open arms when she periodically decides she needs to stop treating us so sh**tily. She only does it in order to get people (us, the family) to let her back in and start caring about her again, then as soon as she's got us back where she wants us, she starts acting the b**ch again, using and abusing till the cycle starts again. (I say us, meaning the family: FIL, DH and MIL. Though it's been a long time since I, personally, have been snowed by her. And really, MIL never actually decides to see what SIL is doing. MIL's completely blinded and thinks that SIL is faultless..... *sigh* For that matter, MIL doesn't see why FIL, DH and I are up in arms over the garden, because as the SIL said, it's "just a garden.")

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Let's see.... I haven't heard anything back about either of the two jobs. One of my coworkers (the only other circ-page who applied for them) said she got a call from HR saying that she was the only who met the barest of requirements for the acquisitions position and that they were going to make the position open to the public. She was rather offended that they didn't just call her in for an interview and give her the job if nobody else from "in-house" was qualified. I reminded her that they need to give anybody who might be qualified an option, if there's only one from in-house who is qualified. And I told her that at least she GOT called. I didn't. I'm not heart-broken, but I am a bit bummed. I would have loved to be in a position to be purchasing books for the library's collection. But, as I thought, the fact that I didn't have any office experience ruled me out for that job. Anyway, I'm hoping I do hear back on the regional job. But, nothing yet.

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Other than that, the last few days have been almost miserably hot. I know my mom & middle sis (and other folks in warmer climates, and esp. folks thinking of Greece) will think I'm just being whiny, but we've had a few weeks in a row now where the temps have been hitting well into the 80's. I know, that's not really terribly warm when you consider how hot Arizona can get, and how hot Greece has been. But, for us, it's hot. And though we've had days where the forcasters were predicting thunderstorms that would relieve some of the heat & humidity, those thunderstorms seem to go right on around us, not dropping the rain that we need.

Ok. I think that's about it for now.

Have a Blessed Day!

I HATE this F***ING CITY!!!!

So, y'all recall all the trouble we had a couple of years back when the city decided to pave the roads & put in new sewer & water lines, and they dug the crap out of my yard, and I'm only JUST starting to get a yard back????

Well, guess what.... They think they're going to try it again.

Only, NOW they want to put a freaking STREET LIGHT in my FRONT YARD!!!! I'm NOT shitting you. They had surveyors come through while I was at work today and placed a orange surveyor stake over 5 feet up from the road, and over 3 feet in from our drive-way (parking spaces), and they think they're going to plant a big-ass street light RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PROPERTY!!!!! Those idiots can think again. I swear I'll plant my lily-white ass on that very spot and not move it all freaking summer, if I have to, to keep those morons from digging up my yard yet again and planting a damned street light there!

Gods.... I'm so pissed I'm shaking! I don't know WHY they don't plant one on the property line between my house & J's. But Nooooooooo. They wanna plant one smack dab in the middle of my yard. Like hell! And why the freak couldn't they have put it in 2 years ago when they were doing the pavement and the sewer lines???? WHY wait 2 years, when we've finally got our yard coming back, to tell us they're going to do this to us again???? F**K THAT! Grrrrr.......

Anyway. Just had to rant. Because this is quite honestly VERY rant-worthy!!!!! We purchased this danged house, and granted we can't do much about the easements, but they're NOT going to co-opt my front yard for their street lights. I won't put up with it.

Hope everybody ELSE had a Blessed Day.

Weeds, Bread, and Visiting....

First off, some pictures. This first is my pea-patch. Some of the plants are starting to get to the point of being ready to grab onto the lattice. Not long now and they'll be producing peas!!!! YUM!



The next pic is my 2 rhubarb plants. They're rather small, really, for having been in that spot for the last 5 years now. Probably because I haven't been very good about weeding around them and picking the rhubarb and using it. Maybe if I used it more, it'd produce more. Then again, that theory is kinda shot when I think about my next-door-neighbour's rhubarb patch that is huge. And he NEVER uses it. At least, never EATS it. It's a decorative plant as far as they're concerned. They just don't care for the flavor of rhubarb. Silly people.




And finally is my poor pathetic chive plant. I let my weeds over-take my chives for far too long, so when I finally got out and pulled the weeds & cut the wild-grasses surrounding my chives, it was just easier to cut down my chives along with everything else. I pulled all the fire-weed, which is now invisible, though I didn't get all the weeds pulled. A lot of them just got cut with hand-shears. Like the wild grasses. And the dandylions. I didn't have the energy, once all this was done, to go find my weeding-fork and dig out the dandylions.




Ok. Well that gives you a little glimpse of the yard-work I've been engaging in a lot lately. This doesn't include my flower beds, because they're quite honestly nothing worth seeing yet, though a lot of the flowers are coming up. But they're still just seedlings, and sparsely spaced ones at that. When the flower start coming up I'll try to get a picture then.


It's amazing how yard-work ALMOST becomes addicting, when you've got something you're looking forward to enjoying. Still not completely addicting. And exausting. I'm sitting here absolutely bushed, after cutting and pulling those weeds, then raking the weeds into a big ol' pile. Don't know yet what I'm going to do with that pile of weed-rubbish. Probably just pull it into the back-yard to degrade, when I get more energy. For now, I think I'll let it sit where it is..... 3 yards to the left of that pathetic chive plant.

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No more pictures of the baby-afghan for now. I've gotten quite a bit more of it done. I'm approximately half way done with it. We still haven't heard from M&B whether they've had a little boy or a little girl. *shrug* So, that buys me time to keep working on the afghan. *grin*

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Also making a couple of loaves of bread today. It's golden-egg-bread with a touch of rye-flour in place of some of the wheat. We'll see how it turns out. I didn't use much rye, so I'm hoping it rises well. (Actually, what rye I mixed in was only as much as it took to make it kneadable without leaving stickiness all over the table. So probably less than 1 cup of rye to the 4 cups of all-purpose flour.)


DD had a friend sleep over last night, so this morning I made waffles and bacon for breakfast. Yummy sourdough waffles, though I didn't actually have any of the waffles myself. *wry smile* I'm not a breakfast person, so I didn't even eat till about 2 pm as I was making my bread. Then I ended up having the last 4 pieces of bacon made into a bacon sandwich. There's left-over waffles, though, which is nice because they wind up in the freezer to be pulled out on weekday mornings for a quick breakfast. Much better than eggos! I did have to chuckle when DD's little friend saw I was actually MAKING waffles she was suprised and says that her mom always just buys the organic ones from the store. Evidently when I asked last night if they wanted waffles for breakfast this morning, she wasn't expecting me to actually bake my own. *grin*

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And as for the visiting.... DD and I will be going over to Dad's house tomorrow for lunch. It's been a couple of weeks, so we're due for another visit. It's really working better to only go over every 2 weeks, instead of every single week. Gives DD more time between visits with the niece. The niece is still beyond whiney and quite annoying. And she doesn't really play well with others (or, at least not with DD). Doesn't make for very happy visits. But, as I said, it's better when we're only going over every 2 weeks.


We're also hoping to get over to see Great-Grandma tomorrow. It's been about 2 weeks since we've been to visit her either, and as she's not got much time on this earth left, we really do need to be making the most of it. Made even more important by the fact that she's got alzheimers and it's starting to get noticable. She still recognizes us, but she's getting a lot worse about even remembering what she's just done. Her general health is also going down-hill, and it's only a matter of time before she winds up catching a cold that she can't recover from, or some other ailment that so many elders die of. And besides, it does DD good to know the one remaining great-grandparent she's got. Gives her experience with being around people much older than her. She tries to be gentle with Great-Grandma. (Doesn't always succeed, but she tries.) And I hope that even with Grandma's failing mental capabilities, DD grasps how much wisdom lie in the minds of our elders.


Great-Grandma is my Mother-in-law's mom. MIL's dad died before I met DH. FIL's parents both died when DH was still in elementary school, and DH barely remembers them either. As for my grandparents, DD DID get to meet my Dad's mom. But DD was only 18 months at that point, and certainly doesn't recall meeting Mom-mom. Pop-pop died when DD was only about 3 months old. My grandma (Mom's mom) also died very shortly after DD was born. And Grandpa (Mom's dad) died when I was a teenager. So, again, I'm glad that DD has the chance to build memories of her Great-Grandma.


I only wish she'd had the chance to remember Grandma when Grandma was still an active, healthy woman. Only 5 years ago Grandma was making big vats of chicken-noodle soup (really almost Amish-style chicken & dumplings) that she'd portion out in containers for everybody in the family. (And this is a BIG family!) She made the BEST brownies, and an incredible "Peppermint dessert", and some of the best popcorn balls. We still make the popcorn balls every christmas (one fore each member of the family, over 2 and living in town), but now it's DH and I and DD, and DH's Aunt M. who do the honors, and Grandma presides and tries. But her hands are no longer strong enough to press the popcorn into the balls. She no longer remembers how to make her brownies (and I never DID get that recipe from her before she forgot how). And she doesn't have the strength to whip up a pan of Peppermint Dessert (and mine just doesn't taste as good as Grandma's). I was lucky enough to get Grandma's Chicken Soup recipe, though. As she doesn't write anything down (therefore her recipes are all in her head), when DD was about a year old I made a point of going over and observing her and writing down her directions for her Chicken noodle soup and peppermint dessert. DH actually says that my Chicken soup is better than Grandma's was, those last couple of years that she made it. Mainly because she'd started getting sloppy (not trying to rag on her, just stating the fact that her mind was starting to go, but nobody realized it yet, and also didn't realize that she was quickly loosing physical strength) and not straining out the chunks of fat & cartilage & bone. Though he's still admant (as well he should be!) that in her prime, NOBODY could TOUCH Grandma's cooking skill. *grin* Now to figure out how to make that danged Peppermint dessert properly!!! LOL And I DO have Grandma's Popcorn Ball recipe, as well. In fact, after writing it down a couple of years ago, I always remember to bring my cookbook with the recipe along when we make them, so that we don't have to rely on Grandma's memory.

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Ok. I think that's about it for now. Thanks for the sweet comments over last week's post. I still haven't told DH how much it hurts that he never tells me I'm pretty. Not trying to sound vain our anything, but sometimes a girl just needs to hear it, ya know??? And who better to hear it from than the man she's married to. *sigh*


Have a Blessed Weekend!

1 long weekend, no pics....

Well, the party Friday night went about as well as could be expected, considering DH and I were the only 2 that didn't get completely hammered. In fact, I was the one who came closer to being hammered, but I stopped when I realized how quickly that one drink was going to my head. LOL Yes, one drink. And no it wasn't vodka! It was a can of somethink called Sparks. Kinda had an orange crush flavor, minus the carbonation. It was about the size of one of those "Rock Star" energy drink cans (tall & skinny). Anyway, the alcohol content was about 7%, which is considerably higher than the 4 or 5% wine-coolers than I usually drink. LOL And my limit has always been one. I've yet to ever have a hang-over, but I do get drunk very quickly.

So, anyway, we got there late and the Best Man (Bruce) wasn't there. Neither were Dt & Cindy, or Steve or Jack. And it was pouring rain. Fortunately Tony thinks about that kind of thing well in advance and he'd erected a huge tarp awning over the cement pad for his future garage, and had the grill tucked under it along with a bunch of outdoor chairs & a table. All the ladies (that were there) were inside getting drinks made & pot-stickers & egg-rolls fried. I was promptly directed to let the guys get to grilling (shish-kabobs) and go hang out with the ladies. Ok, fine! *rolling eyes*

Of course we all wound up outside standing around the grill chatting & laughing and Bruce & Steve finally got their with more shish-kabobs ready for the grill, and chicken drumsticks with this kick-ass marinade that Megan (Bruce's wife) made. It was like a tomato-based marinade that was both sweet & spicy, and I never did get her recipe. Anyway, then Dt & Cindy showed up, and finally Jack. DH and I haven't seen Jack in ages. It was good to see him, but he's looking rough. His brother died this past winter in Iraq, and it really hit him hard.

Well, as is the norm around these folks, the longer we were there, the more drunk everybody got. I got only about half-way through that can of sparks before I realized how drunk I was getting, so I sat it down till the food was done & I could fill my stomach with something other than alcohol. DH of course stopped at his normal 2. And he stopped fairly early on so that he'd be good to drive when we finally left. By the time the shish-kabobs & drumsticks started coming off the grill, the rain had stopped and Tony & Casey's siblings showed up with all the kids in tow for just a bit. They only stayed for a while, though, as it was evident that most everybody who'd already been present was thoroughly intent on getting completely drunk and T&C are smart enough to not want their little ones to see them that way. So the sibs left with the kids, and the party resumed, but moved on out to the fire-pit at the other end of the yard.

Then Casey announced that she had fixin's for smores, if anybody wanted them. Which Megan and I were completely amped about, of course. LOL So, Megan and Jack and I went and cut some willow sticks for roasting marshmallows, but no sooner did we get the first one cut & peeled than Steve took it. The second one, Dt absconded with. Bruce took the third. And NONE of them had roasted marshmallows or smores on THEIR minds. I swear to god, all 3 of these guys is pushing 30 (well, Bruce is actually 35, but point being...) and when you get them as drunk as they were.... They were no better than un-controlled 5 year old boys chasing each other around the yard with sticks. They started cracking each other along the backs of the legs, the butt, and up onto their backs with those dang switches. And of course Steve insisted on mooning the rest of us so that we could see the marks where Bruce broke his switch over Steve's back-side. That was a view I could have lived without! *rolling eyes* It's funny, because supposedly these 3 are like the best of friends..... Wouldn't know it the way they were beating the crap out of each other with those sticks. Then again, maybe it WAS obvious, because as much as it hurt when Bruce broke that switch on Steve's backside, Steve didn't retaliate by cold-clocking Bruce like he probably would have to somebody he WASN'T best buds with. *sigh* Over-grown boys. Even Tony got in on the retaliatory swatting, a bit. DH was wise enough to stay on the other side of the fire-pit, though.

And I had to chuckle because DT (trashed as he was) commented about swatting me with one of the switches. I told him that if he so much as tried, I'd kill him. That not even DH gets to swat me, I sure as hell wasn't going to let DT do it. *shaking head* Morons.

DH and I finally left, stopped by Blockbuster on our way home for some movies, then came home & watered the yards here and at next-door-neighbour J's house. DD went with J&T fishing this weekend so that we could go to the party child-free, so we were watering their lawn for them while they were gone. Anyway, turns out that AFTER we left, Casey got so rip-roaring drunk that she was standing on the benches surrounding the fire-pit, singing at the top of her lungs (and very badly, from what I gather). About 1:30 she staggered into the house to use the bathroom, only to come back out without pants. At which point Tony decided it was time to end the party & everybody better go on home.

Ahhh, I'm so glad I know better than to make that kind of idiot of myself.

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Saturday we didn't get up till about 10:20 (after not going to bed till about 3 am after watching a couple of movies), then had to immediately get going to the wedding. We got there and found that some of the smaller details had been forgotten. Like candles, a communion goblet, and materials for said communion. (I've never heard of having communion during a protestant wedding ceremony!) So Tony handed DH a $100 bill and asked us to run to Ben Franklin's & the grocery store & pick up a bottle of wine & some candles & some wine glasses for communion. We did. Got back and handed the preacher the glasses (bride & groom champaigne glasses were all we could find) and wine and got chewed out (by the preacher) that it was supposed to be a GOBLET, just 1 of them, and GRAPE JUICE not wine. *rolling eyes* We were just doing as we were told by the GROOM, buddy!!! So, there went Tony's $100. Granted it was his money, but I'm sure he could have used it for their up-coming honeymoon, instead of wasting it on wine & glasses that will never get used (and likely got tossed by the preacher). Oh well.

The reception was 2 hours after the ceremony, in town at Pioneer Park (formerly known as AlaskaLand, for Mom & Shelli) in the civic center. It was incredibly boring, and DH managed to piss me off. Not 2 days before the wedding he'd been griping at DD & I about how we always seem to dress rather casually, that he wished we'd be more careful in our dress & appearances. But I've never been a person to be terribly concerned with outward appearances. He's known that for 10-1/2 years. I don't know why he's just griping about it now. So, Saturday I dressed up for the wedding in a nice new skirt, and a pretty, low-cut top. (I DO dress up when called for, but normally I try to stick to things that I'm not too concerned about staining or getting dirty). Did my hair up in a pretty, complimentary hair pin, put in earrings & all.... The only thing I DIDN'T put on was make-up because I wind up looking worse than if I don't wear it. Esp. if I wear mascara. I cry so easily that I'm always causing my mascara to run (even if it's waterproof!). So, I was dressed up nicely, not wrinkled. Not covered in dog hair. And NOT ONCE did DH tell me how nice I looked. (MUCH LESS that I looked pretty!) In fact, he almost completely ignored me for the duration of the wedding & the reception. *rolling eyes* It was only when we left the reception & started walking around AlaskaLand that he so much as put his hand on my back, or held my hand. Jerk.

Is it any wonder that I don't dress up more frequently when he doesn't bother to compliment me when I DO???? And NO, I didn't tell him that this ticked me off. If I tell him and he compliments me next time, how would I know if he's complimenting me just because he thinks I want to hear it, or because he truly means it. I can't tell you how long it's been since he's told me he thinks I look pretty in something. It's literally been years. And yet he's got NO problem griping when I'm looking grungy & working in the yard. *rolling eyes*

Anyway.

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Another late night Saturday, then got woken up on Sunday morning at 9 am by two of our neighbour's dogs. B&W (across the street from us) have 5 mutts. Wendy tends to rescue these pound dogs, and she's always got more than she can truly handle. They're poorly behaved and they bark non-stop. They've ruined the blinds & curtains & screens in her window, and I dread to think what they've probably done to the inside of her house. And Sunday morning she'd put two of the yapping-est of them outside, together. *sigh* So 9 am, and I'm awake listening to these dumb-ass dogs bark, non-stop!!!!! REALLY makes me wish I had the courage to do a little BB-gun sniping!

I eventually went over to Dad's to give him his Father's Day card and just say hi for a bit. Then headed back to NP. I had to stop in to Ben Franklin's & get the info needed for my job applications (which still aren't completely filled out, and their due tomorrow by 5 pm!). Then a bit of grocery shopping. Finally home. I made a couple of loaves of golden-egg-bread with minced, dried onions & some dill. Turned out very good!!!! And tastes delicious with a ham&swiss sandwich! And we had burgers for dinner. Watched a couple of episodes of our newest favorite TV show (Dead Zone). DD got home from fishing in time for dinner. Turns out that on Saturday she caught 3 good size grayling. DD outfished everybody else that was up there that day. (It was DD, J&T, and their daughter Jamie & her boyfriend Chad.)

Then back to the beginning of a brand-new work-week. *sigh*

So, there's my update. And no.... Still no pictures taken. Sorry. But, by the time I DO get them taken I'll probably be able to get some pics of the seedlings coming up in my flower-beds as well!!!! All 5 of the sunflower seeds I planted (WAY TOO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER!) came up. ROFL Pulled 3 of them out and replanted them farther apart, this morning.

But, now I've gotta get to work.

Have a Blessed Day!

A thing of beauty....

If you haven't already seen this clip, check it out. Incredible, awesome, beautiful.... All are words to discribe the voice this guy has!


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This is going to be a busy weekend. Tomorrow our friends Tony & Casey are getting married. I've long since stopped thinking of them as NOT married. They've been together for about 5 years now. Casey has 2 little girls by a past boy-friend, but Tony has been their dad since the moment he started seeing Casey, and they quickly moved into Tony's house with him. T&C have since had 2 more little girls together. And they're finally tying the knot. Tomorrow will be their wedding & reception.

Tonight they're having a barbeque at their home for their friends & family as sort of an alternative to any batchelor or batchelorette party. Just a bunch of folks getting together for some drinks, some food and some fun. But that means I've gotta head right over after work. *sigh* Not even time to change clothes.

Sunday will be Father's day, of course. I know we're not going to be doing anything for Father's day, as we just don't have the money. DH has to go shell out some of that non-existent $$ on a nice pair of black slacks & a nice white shirt for T&C's wedding. DH is an usher in this one. We've got another wedding to go to next month for Chris & Jennifer on the 7th, and then my reunion on the 21st. So, he'll get some good use out of the slacks & white shirt, even if he doesn't use them till next summer when he officiates for DT (his initial's & pronounced "deet") & Cindy's wedding. It's funny seeing all our friends just now getting married, when DH & I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in Nov. It feels like we're saying "FINALLY" to all these people, but in reality we got married rather young. I was 18, and DH was 23. (Of course, DD was also 2 months old at the time, which felt like putting the cart before the horse to a LOT of people.)

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Still no flowers in the flowerbeds. *sigh* I'm hoping they come up in the next couple of days. I really want my flowers!!! But my sugar-snaps are doing good. They're getting quite big already. I'll have to take a pic of them to post on Sunday, if I remember.

Hoping to get over to the FIL's place to weed & look over the garden, on Sunday, as well. I haven't seen it since a couple of days after we put it in. I'd like to see how our veggies are doing. I'm hoping that with all the rain we've been getting that they're getting big by now.

We woke up to rain againt his morning, but it's partly cloudy & dry for now. It's enough rain to keep the ground moist, but without being so much as to drown the plants. I like it like that. I hope it keeps on like that through the rest of the summer.

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I still haven't finished the afghan, but I'm maybe 1/3 of the way done with it. I need to work on it more than I am (didn't work on it at all yesterday). Of course we still haven't heard from M&B about the baby. I don't think B was due with the baby until a couple of weeks from now, but seeing as it's her 4th (and by then the babies come pretty quickly), and it's safe any time after 38 weeks.... They were kind-of expecting her to have the baby by now. I'll try to get a pic of the afghan taken & posted along with my sugar-snaps on Sunday, as well.

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I'm going to apply for 2 different positions coming open at work. One is in Regional. Which means that I must have a very good grasp of the materials available to us in our library & through our programs. I would be partly responsible (partly because there's one other person who works in regional) for getting materials out to folks who live in the bush. Trappers, home-steaders, folks in the villages, kids who are home-schooling from their parent's cabin out in the (literal) middle of nowhere. There have been scholarships to Harvard awarded to some of these homesteading kids. There are Rhodes scholars who come from cabins out in the bush. And if I were to obtain this position in Regional, I must be prepared to help these folks get the best education possible. The woman who would be my boss said that it also means having a good sense of what somebody is looking for, without them having to give me a title. Like trappers who only have room in their packs for 1 book, so it's got to be a very, very GOOD book if they're going to spend 3 months pouring over it while they're working their traplines. We'll see if it's something I've got the capabilities for! This one is listed as full-time, but seems to have hours closer to part-time. I would also have to spend 2 nights a month at the circulation desk (mentioned a little better below). The pay for this one is $17.04 per hour with benefits the same as I've got now.

The other position is in aquisitions. IE: purchasing books for our collections. I DO think I'd be good at this job. And I've got experience as a book-seller as well. So that may give me a bit of a benefit for dealing with grumpy salespeople. UNFORTUNATELY the requirements for this position include 1 year library experience (I'm coming up on 5 years) and 1 year office experience (none!) or a recent associate's degree (nope!). I'm hoping the fact that I'm good with people (it includes a little time each month helping out at the circ desk, and one must be good with people for that) and that I have sales experience weighs in my favor. Unfortunately I've got no experience (newer than 11 years old, anyway) with the programs they specify, like Word Processor and Excell. And I'm not very good with a 10-key, though I'm sure I could pick it back up rather quickly if I had some practice. I hope it really comes down to the ability to learn quickly and be upbeat & positive about it. Because I KNOW I'd do well at it, I just need a chance to learn. The pay for this job is listed as 15.56 per hour, with 40 hours a week, and the same benefits as I've got now.

Anyway, so today I've got to get over to Ben Franklin's & get some information about address & phone number so that I can fill in the appropriate boxes on the library-job apps with my experience at Ben's.

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Well, I think that's it for now. As I said, I'll try to get pics taken of my flowerbeds (lacking in flowers), my sugar-snaps, and the baby-afghan posted on Sunday.

Have a Blessed Day!

Works in Progress.... Mine & Mother Nature's

First, here is a pic of my latest work in progress (otherwise known as a WIP, in crafting terms). A former coworker/friend of DH's and the friend's wife are having another baby (this makes her 4th, his second). They're not sure whether they're having a boy or a girl. Fortunately I've got a boyish afghan done (stashed away for a rainy-day), but I'm in need of a girly-colored afghan. And this is it. I'm barely begun, and seeing as how M&B will probably be parents again next week, it probably won't be done in time. Also seeing as how it's a summer baby, I don't know that I'm going to make the usual hat-mitts-bootie set that I usually do to go along with the afghan. I may pop a couple of crocheted wash-cloths in the gift-bag with the afghan. Then he's got a current coworker who's due with a little girl in Oct. who I've got to make an afghan (and hat/bootie/mitt set) for as well. But I've got time to work on that. First things first, get this afghan done for M&B.

This second picture is certainly not the best of pictures. But, this is a small stretch of my little sugar-snap-pea plot. We had 3 straight days of rain, which really benefited our plants. My peas are coming up, and if you can tell, along the line of dark soil there (potting soil that I covered over the peas with, as I didn't have any quality top-soil) there are a number of pea-plant shoots peeking up through the dirt. There are also weeds at the bottom of the pic, but please ignore them. *grin* Anyway, this is one of Mother Nature's many WIPs, and one of the few I got to help with. More pictures will be taken as the plants get bigger and more visible before the camera.

Just thought I'd share a little bit of the works-in-progress taking place at my house over the last week.

Have a Blessed Day!

Busy, busy, busy.....

Well, we never did succeed in getting my flowers planted. Or, not all of them anyway. We planted under our bedroom window, but DH decided that digging that up & tilling it by hand was too strenous for even him. So he got the rototiller from his dad's the next night, and we dig out a good 6 inches of fill-gravel from a strip of ground along the rest of the front of our house, under the living-room & computer-room windows. Found more gravel there than dirt, so we dumped what was there into the (outside) dog kennel. Fills in some of the holes Puck & Jenny have been digging. *grin* Anyway, but now we've got a nice little 6-8" deep trench along the front of the house that we need to REFILL with top-soil (or, at the very least, fill dirt) and get planted. My peas aren't coming up yet, and neither are the flower seeds I planted under our bedroom window. (That part WAS top soil, because it was re-seeded with grass-seed by the city a couple of years back when they came through & dug it out to put in new sewer & water lines.)

I guess the seedlings that we put in on Memorial Day over at the FIL's have all died, and none of the other seeds have come up yet. *sigh* Maybe we won't get ANYTHING from our garden this year. That'd suck!

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I was woken up at 8 am this morning by a mosquito buzzing around my head. Nasty little freaks! I told DH that this is it, it's time to get a couple of those pest strips. I know the things probably put off nasty toxins, but 2 of them will keep our house mosquito-free for the rest of the summer. I'll take a little toxin over serious lack of sleep caused by constant mosquito-bzzzz in my ears all night. *wry smile*

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DD had her first soccer game of the summer on Monday. I missed it, of course, being at work till 9:15 as I am on Mondays. They lost, 6-1. DD's team suffered greatly from their lack of team-work & team-spirit. There are a couple of girls on DD's team who are of the opinion that DD doesn't know how to play, simply because this is her first season. So, regardless of the fact that she played (and played well) at school during recess all year, they refuse to pass to her. (Once she does get ahold of the ball she does really well moving it -legally!- down the field. Kid's a born athlete! Even if she doesn't know the sport well, she picks up on it quickly.) So, she was out there getting frustrated that her teammates wouldn't pass to her even when she was open. One of the girls threw a tantrum when she got to the game 5 minutes late and found out that goalies had already been picked (the coach has already picked up on the fact that DD is a good goalie, thanks largely to her experience in hockey) and that she wasn't allowed to just walk in and say she wanted to play goalie. DH said that after this girl's initial tantrum, she refused to play, standing back with her arms crossed. *sigh* Then there are the two ball-hogs who are convinced they're the best on the team, even though the "best on the team" titles really go to the two smallest of our players. (They're small, but fast.) *shaking head*

It's ironic, I see very little poor team-spirit & team-work in hockey, but a LOT of poor team-spirit & team-work in soccer & baseball. At least at these younger ages. I'm starting to be convinced that what it really comes down to is the commitment level and desire to play in the children on the team. With hockey, parents generally make darned sure (after the first year or two, which are always spent in learning to skate anyway) that their children want to play before they shell out the $$ for all that hockey gear. Kids don't generally play hockey just because it's there. By the time they've been in hockey for 4, 5, 6 years, a parent is pretty sure that this is what a child wants to do. And the child is aware of how much money Mom & Dad are spending on them for registration fees, ice-time, and gear. So, both are well aware that this is a commitment & not something to be taken lightly. Not to say that we don't have our off weeks. We sure do. But if DD starts the season gung-ho about wanting to play hockey, we make it clear to her that she better play her best. Now, if she were to mid-way-through decide that she didn't want to play anymore, yes we'd push her. But only till the end of the season. Hockey is not a sport a child can join for part of a season then decide to drop out. Too much money goes into it for that. But, if at the end of the season DD is still adamant that she really doesn't want to play again next season, we would honor that request.

Soccer & baseball (at least at this age) seems to be considerably different. Little money is spent on decent gear & registration fees. Even tournament fees are considerably lower than were the fees for our hockey tournaments. So, the commitment level seems to be considerably less. With hockey, if you child drops out mid-season, you're out several hundred dollars. (DD's hockey last year, without sponsors or fundraising, would have been in the range of $2000, including our tournament fees.) With soccer, if DD were to drop out, we'd be out about $150. And I think parents & children realise that. So, as I said, I don't feel as though the commitment to being a team-player is there with baseball & soccer as it is with hockey (and possibly football). *shrug* DD is pretty disappointed, already, in how this soccer season is looking. With 2 teammates that can't stand her, and whom she can't stand, and another who's lazy if she doesn't get her way (at the expense of the others, no less), DD is pretty well aware that their competing well in games this season is slim.

And, as much as other people say "It's not about winning...." Sorry, to disappoint, but it IS about having fun, and children who lose every single game aren't generally having fun. Not to say that it's ONLY about winning, but to keep spirits up, a game must be won every now and again. Otherwise your team quickly comes to believe that their team sucks and what's the point. Heart is lost for the game, and children drop out. So, though it's NOT all about winning, winning a game every now & again certainly helps with the general enjoyment of the sport itself.

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We've had some crazy-humid weather the last couple of days. I mean, like folks from chicago, and florida, and texas are saying that they've never experienced this kind of humidity in Fbks, AK before, that this is something they're used to down in the states, but not up here. Still no thunder-storms (at least, not that I've heard), but very humid. I left work Monday night feeling like I could probably swim from the building to my car. Crazy. We did have some of that moisture actually drop on us yesterday, but not enough. WANT MORE RAIN! LOL

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I'm back to working a full 5 day week, again. Man, that couple of weeks with an odd schedual was incredible. I decided that I'm going to schedual myself a week off, twice a year, to just relax. I mean, a week where anything I get done is a bonus. Not a week spent camping or fishing or hunting. Not a week spent franticly preparing for christmas. A week in which my primary goals include catching up on laundry & dishes & my favorite shows or movies. A week in which I'm not rushing around, but just relaxing. I felt so damned good when I went in on Friday of last week. And even though I'm still tired, I feel pretty danged good this week too. (The mosquito this morning certainly didn't help, though.) I realized that I really just need that time off every few months to unwind & relax without any real pressure to do things. And, ironically, even after all the time I took off in May for jury duty, I've still got 160 hours of leave-time available to me. And more ecruing every day. And after July 1st, I'll have 2 more personal holidays available, above & beyond my leave-time. So, there's really no reason I can't afford to take a couple of weeks off a year, just for relaxing. That's not even including what I take off for trips or doctor's appointments.

And I realized, too, how often everybody else takes time off! I've got one coworker who takes off a week every couple of months. Not every 6 months, but every couple of months. And who's takes off whole days for a dr's appointment (and she works a 40 hour week). My boss takes a week off roughly every month & a half. Other coworkers who give themselves 4 day weekends every couple of months, along with 3 week vacations in the states to visit their family every year.

I don't mean to sound as if I'm being lazy, but I've been working non-stop for the last 5 years now, most of it without leave-time available. Only the last 2 years have I had paid leave. Last year I took 2 weeks off for my surgery, but because of the surgery it wasn't exactly a relaxing 2 weeks. I need to start being nicer to myself and giving myself a chance to relax, if I really want to stay healthy.

Anyway..... I suppose that is it for now.

Have a Blessed Day!