January 31, 2014

Is It Wednesday?

Today I was sitting in the recliner, doing some handicrafts and watching TV.  Lilly was on the couch with the dogs, petting and playing with them.  All of a sudden, there was a little commotion, and Lilly yelled out, "Maddie!  What are you doin'?!?"  It's very common for Lilly to be a chatterbox all day long, so I just ignored it.  Then Lilly said, "Mom!  What's Maddie doin'?!?"  So I looked up from my handicraft to see what was going on, only to see Maddie sitting on the couch right behind Lilly, just a-humping away!  The confused and bewildered look on Lilly's face was priceless.  I immediately yelled, "MADDIE!!!...Lilly, get up!!!"

Lilly wanted to know what Maddie had been doing.  I took several moments to try to collect my thoughts.  But Lilly kept pressing me for an answer, so I reluctantly told her that it was called "humping".  Of course then Lilly wanted to know why Maddie had been doing it.  I didn't really know what to say, so I said that Maddie was just trying to mate.  Lilly said, "You mean she was trying to MARRY ME?!?"  I laughed and said no.  Then Lilly worriedly asked, "Am I pregnant?!?  Am I gonna have puppies?!?"  And I said, "NO, NO, NO; it doesn't work like that".  Then Lilly inexplicably said with relief "Good thing I'm the wife"!

Several minutes passed, and I was hoping the ordeal (along with all of Lilly's questions) was over.  However, evidently the more Lilly thought about it, the more traumatized she became.  Finally, she asked me with a serious tone, "Mom, is it Wednesday"?  I replied, "No; you know it's Friday".  And Lilly said (frowning, with her eyes as big as saucers), "Because Wednesday is Hump Day".

I almost fell in the floor laughing.

Earlier this evening, we were sitting around the living room laughing about what Maddie had done to Lilly, and Lilly said, "Hey, we oughta call Maddie 'Humpty Dumpty'"!

And I thought I was gonna die laughing again!

LOL!!!  XD

Jamie's New eBook is Available on Amazon Now!

Jamie has had this book written for some time now, but I've never taken the time to type it up and format it for him.

Since school has been closed most of this week because of the snow and ice, I finally took the time the other day to get it done.

We published it on Amazon last night.  Here's the link:



January 30, 2014

No School Again Tomorrow!

Well, they've officially cancelled school again tomorrow!

Dad called me earlier today to give me a report on how the roads were, and he said they're still pretty terrible.  The main roads are OK, but the side roads are awful in most places.

Jamie made it to work fine again this morning.  He'll be going in to work his normal hours tomorrow (7:00 AM to 3:30 PM).  Today, I was surprised to find out that Lilly's gymnastics class would be open.  So since I knew that the main roads were fine, we decided to make the trek and go.  We needed to get out of the house anyway.  We didn't have any trouble at all making it.  But I could tell that overnight, all the puddles were going to re-freeze back into ice in lots of places.

I got up a little after 8:00 AM this morning, and when I looked at the thermometer, it said it was -2 degrees!  Sheesh!

This weekend is supposed to be rainy and warm, so it should make all of the snow and ice disappear.  Dang, I can't wait for Spring!

While me and Lilly were in town for her gymnastics class, Jamie told me that the lunchroom manager had called me to let me know that there wouldn't be any school tomorrow.  Jamie said he thinks she said that she needed me to come in next week, but Jamie said that the call was breaking up, so he couldn't tell exactly what the manager was trying to say.  And he didn't bother to try to find out for sure.  So I think I'll be working next week, but I don't know when or what time, since Jamie is a doofus and didn't bother to try to find out for me.

That's OK, my cell phone is a lot better now, so I can just send the lunchroom manager a text message tomorrow or Sunday, asking her for sure.  Stupid Jamie.  *sigh*  Oh, well.

Yeah, I can send and receive text messages on my cell phone now.  The buttons all seem to respond like they're supposed to now from what I can tell.  And I can make and receive calls.  The only things that are wrong is that both the front and inside screens still have water droplets inside them (like a car headlight that's gotten water inside of it, so it makes it look all misty and water-droplety, and it's never able to dry out).  The front screen doesn't work at all, which doesn't matter (I mean, it lights up, but all you can see is water-loggedness).  The inside screen is OK except that the water droplets are all along the bottom of the screen.  So I can live with that.  And most of the time, the ring is just a very short, crusty static.  Once in a while it rings normally.  And it will still vibrate.  So maybe if it's in my pocket, I'll be able to feel it.  I think I'll hopefully be able to limp along with it until my contract is up on March 20th.  Then I think I might look into getting a Tracfone.  I think it would be a lot cheaper for me in the long run, since I don't need a smartphone, and I hardly ever talk or text very much.

Anyway, in regards to taking better care of cell phones, I'm gonna have to start paying attention more to what I'm doing.  I get easily distracted, and it's kind of hard for me to juggle several things at once.  My mind likes to stay pretty much on one track.  And if I get distracted, I will almost always forget something.  Maybe I have a touch of ADD!  :/

Speaking of ADD, I don't know what me and Lilly will get into tomorrow.  Lilly didn't go outside to play in the snow today.  She petted the dogs (which we are keeping mostly inside since it's been so cold this week).  And Lilly did a little painting today.  Oh, yeah, and she also begged me to let her sew something.  So I got down Mom's old sewing box and asked Lilly if she wanted to sew a Barbie pillow (because we don't really have very much scrap fabric laying around to amount to anything).  Lilly looked in the sewing box and discovered a long strip of shiny, cream-colored satiny leftover material that Mom had used to make the belt of my old Renaissance Fair costume (it's OK, you can laugh, and yes, of course I still have the costume).

So Lilly determined that she wanted the Barbie pillow to be about 3 inches long.  (The strip of fabric was already maybe an inch wide).  And strangely, she insisted on using black thread, which she wanted to be visible.  Whatever.  So I cut the strip of fabric, and threaded Lilly a needle (making sure to tie it in place, and tied a big knot on the bottom, so the thread couldn't pull out of the needle anywhere).  I knew if there were any sewing mishaps, then Lilly would just get pissed, throw it down on the floor, and give up.

So I handed the threaded needle and strip of fabric over to Lilly for her to sew.  I asked Lilly "Do you want a thimble?"  She looked at me and said "What?"  I said, "It's so you don't poke your finger with the needle".  And Lilly said "I thought that was for Monopoly"!  I thought I was gonna die laughing!  She didn't use the thimble.

Lilly did about 2 stitches and got pissed because one of her stitches was crooked.  I told her to calm down and give it to me so I could take the crooked stitch out for her.  She reluctantly handed it over to me and pitched a fit because she thought I was sewing it.  I assured her that I was not.  I handed it back to her, and we had to go back and forth several times; her messing up, and me fixing it, until she was satisfied.  So she sewed 2 sides of the little Barbie pillow before giving up, and handed it over to me to finish.  So I sewed up the other long edge, stuffed it with cotton balls, and finished by re-sewing the short edge that Lilly had done, but needed reinforcing.  I got it done, and proudly took it back to her (she was in her room listening to a CD and doing some activity books).  She liked it, but then she wanted to pretend that it was a maxi pad.  So I left her to her business.  :P  *sigh*  Nutty kid!  LOL!

Anyway, I still haven't gotten the newspaper yet this week.  We usually get it on Wednesdays, and here it is Thursday night, and it still hasn't come.  I guess the newspaper route drivers can't really get around in all this ice and stuff, so they're probably postponing the delivery.  Oh, well.  And I've only gotten one piece of "Old People" mail so far this week.  This little gem:

I think it's awful the way they try to disguise these things as super-important to try to trick old people into responding.

I mean, take a closer look at the envelope, with my comments included:

See how they sneakily try to fool old people with their trickery?  It's awful.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go so I can hurry up and fill this out and send it back because I've only got 5 days to do it!  Thank God they gave me a second chance -- the first one they sent must've gotten stolen out of my mailbox!

(Yeah, right...just kidding)!
BAM!  Straight into the trash, where you belong!  >:D

Heh heh heh!

January 29, 2014

Icepocalypse!

School was closed again today because the roads were still awful.  Yesterday, my brother started making his way home from his workplace down in Holly Springs, and the trip which usually only takes about an hour and a half, took him over 4 hours because the roads were so bad!  There were cars abandoned and in the ditches everywhere.

Jamie did make it in to work today.  The only other person there was his boss.  Jamie got there at 10:40 AM, worked for about 5 hours, and then came on home.  This was the picture that he took on the 4-lane while he was on his way to work this morning:

Jamie said that this snow is not the powdery kind; it's very icy and slick.  That's what's causing all the problems with people not being able to get around.  He said he had trouble making it out of the parking lot at his workplace.  The fastest he was ever able to go was about 45 to 50 mph, but most of the time, he had to go much slower to be safe.

I know the northern part of the nation is making fun of us in the south because we seemingly lose our minds if we get 1 inch of snow.  But what they don't take into consideration is that we're just not equipped here in the south to deal with very much snow.  We don't usually get a whole lot of snow, so it's not financially feasible for us to have a lot of equipment like snowplows just sitting around collecting dust for 360+ days a year.  We have some big trucks with scrape-blades on the fronts of them to help clear the roads, and they do lay down salt and gravel on the worst, most dangerous areas.  Also, the south is very moist, so the snows we get many times are more like ice -- like a slushie you get at a convenience store.  And when it lays on the road and melts a little, and then re-freezes (this morning, it was only 5 degrees), then the roads just basically turn into a skating rink.  And no vehicle can make it well on ice.  It can be very easy to slide off an icy road into a ditch, even if you are extremely careful.  That's another thing.  We southerners don't really have a whole lot of experience in driving in snow and ice, because we hardly ever have it.  And we also have quite a few "tough guys" in 4-wheel-drive vehicles who drive way too fast and go nuts on the roadways, making it treacherous for the other sensible, nervous drivers who are trying to be careful, whose butts are already clenched as it is.  Not to mention that the south has a whole heck of a lot of mountains, steep hills, winding roads, and hairpin turns.  We also have a lot of trees, and a lot of shade, and all of this combined causes the snowy and icy conditions to stick around for a long time.  So it could be well above freezing in some areas, but a shaded hairpin turn on a mountaintop that never gets any sunshine hitting it might still be cold enough to stay a solid sheet of ice for days.  So all of those factors combined is what makes it so difficult for us in the south to deal with snowy and icy conditions.  It's not because we're stupid.  We're just not equipped to handle it, and we have different circumstances down here than they do up north where having a ton of snow all the time is the norm.  

Anyway, school will be closed again tomorrow, but it is supposed to be open as usual on Friday.  So my full workweek in the lunchroom got screwed up.  Oh, well, what can you do?  I'm just glad that now my work schedule coincides with Lilly's school schedule, so I don't have to worry about what to do with my kid whenever school is out for any reason, because I'll always be able to be there for her myself, which is of the utmost importance to me.  My crappy old boss at the bank was largely unsympathetic when it came to me needing to be out of work to take care of my kid.  Once she asked me huffily, "Can't you get a babysitter?!?"  This, coming from the woman who had a live-in au pair for her son.  >:{

And in cell phone news, I tried my water-logged phone again this morning, and it still sucked.  But after messing with it, I was able to determine that I could probably send a text message if I really had to.  So maybe it's improving.  I don't really want to have to buy a new cell phone if I don't have to.  So back in the bag o' rice it went, and I'll probably try blow-drying it some more this evening.  :/

Sheesh!

January 28, 2014

Snow Day!

Well, it started snowing, so they closed school at 9:30 this morning.  All I got done in the lunchroom was making 120 big ol' cookies, helping wrap up the chicken biscuits for breakfast, taking a little break for a few minutes to swing Lilly over to the Elementary School, and then making about 10 deli wraps, before they announced that they were closing school, and we had to stop everything and quickly go home.  School will be closed again tomorrow for sure, and who knows; it might even be closed Thursday too.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Jamie came home early too, and him and Lilly and the dogs played in the snow a whole bunch of times today.

Here are a few pictures around the house that Jamie took (before my camera battery died):

When I got home from the lunchroom this morning, I made some brownies, a pan of cookie bars, and then I made a pizza casserole for supper (but best of all, we didn't have to take the pizza casserole anywhere with us in the floorboard of the car, for once)!  ;)

I tried out my water-logged cell phone again (after leaving it in the bag o' rice since yesterday evening), and it still sucks.  It will turn on, but then it goes berserk and takes on a life of its own, like it's possessed.  Apparently it even went so far as to call Dad all by itself.  So Dad called me on my home phone to see what was up.  He suggested that I try blowing my cell phone with the hair dryer on a low heat setting for 10 to 15 minutes.

Well, I blow-dried the phone on about a medium heat for 20 minutes (just to be sure), tried it again, and it still sucks.  So back in the rice it went.  I'll try the hair dryer some more tomorrow, until I can be sure that it's really screwed up and won't straighten out.  (I don't expect it to straighten out, but who knows).  Anything's worth a try at this point.  So if my phone still sucks in a day or so, and the roads are OK enough to make it to town, I guess I'll just have to break down and go to the stupid cell phone store and buy a stupid new cell phone.  I did do some testing, and discovered that my phone will receive phone calls and texts (whenever the battery is in it, and it's turned on, of course -- which, when I have it in the rice, I have the battery out of it), but as far as me being able to call out or text, I can't, because almost none of the buttons work properly.  I'll press one, and it almost always either won't do what it's supposed to do, or it won't do anything at all.  And at times, the phone will just go generally berserk on its own and act like I'm pressing buttons when I'm not even touching it at all.

Anyway, this time I get a new cell phone, I'm having insurance added to my plan.  That way, I can be sure that nothing will ever happen to my phone ever again.  (If you have insurance = nothing will ever happen.  If you don't have insurance = your phone will plop into the nearest body of water every 3 seconds).  Stupid crap!  You think they'd make all cell phones to be waterproof!  >:{

Anyway, speaking of texting, Jamie texted his boss a while ago to find out if they would be working tomorrow.  Jamie's boss texted him back, saying that he would be trying to make it in around 9:00 AM.  So I guess Jamie will try to get to work then too.  He usually has to be there at 7:00 AM, so hopefully the roads will be clear enough by then so he can make it all right.

I kind of dread being cooped in the house up with Lilly all day tomorrow.  She came home on the bus this morning at around 10:45, and since then, she has driven both me and Jamie absolutely ape-sh*t crazy with her *&^%$#@ ADHD.  Right now, she's in the living room floor, scooting around on her butt on Jamie's old skateboard, and coloring her hair with magic markers, and I don't even care.  As long as she's at least semi-quiet for a few minutes, then do whatever!  Just don't burn the house down!  >:/  (Geez, her meds need to be upped something fierce)!  >:{

And speaking of meds, I'm pleased to report that I got my "crazy pills" refilled yesterday, and thanks to Obamacare, they only cost me $10.  One of my other meds regularly only costs me $4 per month, and my other med is FREE (thanks to Obamacare), so the monthly total for my meds has gone down from $180 to just a paltry $14.  PRAISE THE LORD!!!  :D

At least something's going right for once!  ;)

January 27, 2014

Crap! I Washed My Cell Phone In With My Laundry! >:{

DAMMIT!!!  I have the worst luck with cell phones.  First, one accidentally slipped out of my pants pocket and plunked down into the commode full of pee a while back.  And after that happened, I've been limping along with one of Jamie's crappy old cell phones until I can get an upgrade.  Well, my upgrade date is 3/20/14, and what happened this afternoon?  I was distracted and in a hurry, and put my pants with my cell phone in the pocket into the damn washing machine!!!  I realized it after the washer had been going for a few minutes.  Damn!!!

I know the phone is most likely unsalvageable, but I scraped around the kitchen to see if I had any rice.  All I could find was a stupid old box of boil-in-bag Uncle Ben's from 1972 with 3 packages in it.  So I emptied all 3 bags into a big Ziploc bag, took the battery out of my phone, opened it all up, and made sure it was all covered with the stupid rice.

I had to take Lilly to dance class this evening, and when we got back, I tested the phone just to see what would happen, and it made a weird buzzing/hissing sound (and I wondered if I was about to get electrocuted).  The "Verizon" screen came up (of course), but nothing else would.  That makes me so mad.  How can it clearly say "Verizon", but nothing else?  Uhh!!!  >:{

Anyway, I guess I'll leave the stupid phone in the sack o' rice all night long, and try to turn it on again in the morning (even though I bet it won't work).

And I guess I'll be making a stupid trip to the stupid Verizon store sometime tomorrow afternoon to get a stupid new phone for 9 trillion dollars.

But this time around, I think I might consider investing in insurance, since I evidently can't keep my stupid phones out of water sources!  >:{  Uhh!!!  I'm so mad at myself!!!  >:{  DANGIT!!!  >:{

January 26, 2014

Tales From The Grocery Store, Volume 10

Today's adventure in the grocery store began when I rounded a corner and started rolling my buggy up the "ethnic/international foods" aisle.  I was totally surprised to see that they had set up a brand-new section for English foods!  (At least I think that's what the products mostly were; the section wasn't labeled yet like the other sections are, like for "Kosher" or "Indian", etc.).  My jaw dropped open in a big smile as I stood there and awe-inspiringly eyed the selections up and down!  Unfortunately, the camera on my piece-of-crap cell phone doesn't work, so I couldn't snap any pictures of it.  But what did I spy on the top shelf?  None other than this hysterical product (I got this pic off the internet):

LOL!!!!!!!!!!  XD

I thought I was going to die from laughing so hard inside!  I texted Jamie to let him know what I had found, and he replied back OMG, BUY IT!  I told him NO, that it cost $4.94!

I did want to buy at least something from this neat new 'Euro' section, however, but I wanted it to be something that I was pretty sure that we would like (that way we wouldn't waste our money if the 'Euro' food didn't quite match up to what our 'Murican fat/sugar/salt-loving tastebuds are used to)!  ;)

So I ended up purchasing this li'l bag o' interesting-looking cookies (excuse me, *ahem*; *sticking pinky finger up into the air* -- biscuits and wafers) that are from Germany:

These cost $3.28, but I splurged a little and got them for us anyway for a fun, interesting 'international' treat.

I texted Jamie back to let him know that I wasn't leaving the new 'Euro' section emptyhanded, and I told him that I had picked us out some German cookies.

He jokingly replied back "Heil Cookies!",

and then "Nazi Nabisco",

and then "Iron Cross Cookies",

and then "Concentration Camp Cookies"...

...but my favorite was his last awful zinger -- "brought to you by Blitzkrieg Bakery"!  

O__o

All really awful, but of course he was only joking!

Anyway, when I got home from the grocery store, I broke into my bag of new-found German cookies biscuits/wafers, and since I'm American, of course I had to eat one of each different type all at once in order to try them all out!  :D

Of course, just like the products we have here in America, the "cookies" that are pictured on the bag look a hundred times better than the *actual* "cookies" that are inside the bag.

Here's a picture of what they actually look like, compared to what's on the bag (just for funsies):

They were all really yummy!  :D

It's funny to me though, how overseas, they have little "American Food" sections in some of their stores, and it's really fun to see what they sell as "American Food" over there.  I saw these pictures on the internet recently of "American Food" sections in English stores, and got a big kick out of it:

Isn't this fun for us Americans to see?!?  One website said something like "Is it any wonder Americans are so overweight?  Just look at what they eat!"  LOL!

This is not all the food choices that we are limited to!  LOL!

I don't recognize the dark-colored bottled drinks on the shelf above the pack of Pepsi in the first picture.  But that doesn't mean they're not somewhere here in America!  Maybe it's a Northern thing.  (?)  And the Borden Eggnog next to it?  I've never seen that either.  The only time we ever have eggnog in the stores is around Christmastime, and I think I've only maybe taken one little sip of it once or twice.  I don't even remember what it tasted like.  I didn't think it was all that great; it was just OK.

Marshmallow Fluff?  I think in some places up north, they make a kind of sandwich called a Fluffernutter (which I believe contains both peanut butter and this marshmallow fluff stuff), but the only thing I've ever known Marshmallow Fluff to be used for down here in the south was for making fudge at Christmastime!  :)

Another thing I thought was funny was the Goober Grape peanut butter & jelly mixture all in one jar.  I've never tried that stuff, and I don't know of anybody that buys it!  Even we make fun of it in our town!  LOL!

And are those boxes of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda to the right in the second picture?  If so, it's weird to me that they would sell something like that!

I've never even tried Reese's Puffs cereal, and my Mom would never buy Lucky Charms cereal for me when I was a kid because she said it was nothing but pure sugar!  I never even tried Lucky Charms 'til I was probably in middle or high school!  :P  LOL!

The Aunt Jemima pancake syrup and the Quaker Instant Grits in the third picture cracked me up too.  I'm born/raised/live in the south where grits are really prevalent, and I've only tried grits once or twice in my life, and each time I ever tried them, I thought they were nasty!  I don't eat them!  LOL!

And the box of Hamburger Helper in the second picture made me laugh, because any time we've ever eaten it in our family, it always makes us all practically sh*t in our pants!  LOL!  I had to stop buying it!  It tastes pretty good, but the aftermath isn't worth it (unless you happen to be constipated and need to 'go')!  LOL!  I can just picture some daring, intrepid British soul purchasing a box of Hamburger Helper off the American Food aisle in Tesco, taking it home, excitedly cooking it up, eating it for dinner, and immediately getting the sh*ts the next day; cursing Americans and their lousy squirt-inducing products!  LOL!  (Don't worry, Brits; it makes most of us squirt and get heartburn and indigestion, too)!  LOL!!!

So I'm sure as fun as it is for Americans to see what's on the shelves overseas in their "American Foods" store aisles, it must be just as fun for Europeans and Asians to see what's on the shelves in American stores' "International Foods" aisle!  (I'm sure the Brits are probably smirking at the can of "Spotted Dick" on our shelves, just like we are)!  And they're probably also looking at my excited little purchase of Noblesse biscuits & wafers and having a good laugh, because they're probably about like Pop Tarts are to Americans -- really not a big deal!

LOL, so funny!  :D

January 25, 2014

Sugarless Haribo Gummy Bear Reviews Tell Tales of Toilet Terror

This is one of THE FUNNIEST things I've seen on the internet in a long time!  XD

Grab yourself a drink and a snack, kick back, click the link below, and prepare to read all of it and laugh until you hurt!!!

Bathing Suits Already? Seriously?

Me and Jamie and Lilly all piled up in the truck earlier this evening (because it warms up a thousand times faster than my car does) and went to town.  I needed to run by the pharmacy and pick up my "crazy-pill" prescription refill, but unfortunately, they were closed when we got there.  They close at 5:00 on Saturdays and I didn't realize it.  I assumed that they closed at 6:00 on Saturdays.  We got there somewhere around 5:15 or so.  And they're totally closed on Sundays.  Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to go on Monday.  I'll just skip my "crazy pill" tonight; that way I'll be able to take my last "crazy pill" on Sunday night, so I won't be "crazy" on Monday!  ;D

Anyway, the trip to town wasn't completely in vain.  Lilly wanted to go to Wal-Mart to get herself another little notebook to write in, and I wanted to get a plain gray or black baseball-style cap to wear sometimes in the lunchroom.  I assumed that the lunchroom would force me to wear hair nets, but they never have told me to, and surprisingly, they don't provide them.  (I've just been wearing my hair pulled back in a clip).  Some of the ladies that work there wear hair nets, but some of them just wear plain baseball-style caps (with no designs or writing on them), and they string their ponytails through the hole in the back of the cap.  If I had a choice (and thank God I do), I wouldn't want to have to wear a dorky ol' hair net.  I thought it was secretly funny one day this week when all of us lunchroom ladies were sitting around taking our afternoon break; one lady was bragging about the great deal she got on hair nets at a grocery store one day.  She said that they were on clearance for 25 cents each, so she bought them all, and now they don't carry them anymore.  I just smiled and nodded, but inside I was secretly giggling!  Well, anyway, the only suitable cap I could find in the whole Wal-Mart store was crammed way back on a shelf in the men's department.  So I got it.  That way, if I wake up one morning and my hair totally sux and won't cooperate to go up in the clip like it sometimes does, I'll have the hat to fall back on as Plan B.  Jamie found himself a neat hat too.  And in addition to Lilly's notebook, she also found the newest Kidz Bop CD that she's been dying for, and a new little funny book to read (I have a secret unwritten policy that I will never deny Lilly a book whenever we're out shopping anywhere.  I made that decision when Lilly was just old enough to start asking for stuff in stores, and I feel like books are important, and not something to ever say "no" to).  Anyway, then we all realized that we were completely out of anything chocolatey to eat at home (I haven't been to the grocery store yet this weekend, and we had just eaten up the rest of the cookie bars that I had made), so we each picked ourselves out a little something chocolatey to eat this evening.  I'll have to go to the grocery store tomorrow and re-stock up on everything and make new cookie bars and stuff.

Anyway, on our way up to the checkout, I was rather alarmed (but yet, somehow not really surprised) to see BATHING SUITS on the racks EVERYWHERE!
I mean, holy schnikes, it's only January, not to mention the fact that it's been below freezing like, practically every day for weeks!  SHEESH!!!  Many people whose New Year's resolution is to lose some weight have probably only lost a few pounds so far, and the last thing they need are *&^% 'itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny-yellow-polka-dot-bikinis' shoved in their faces everywhere they turn!  I thought to myself "What's next?  Are they gonna put out the Halloween decorations next week?"  Stores are getting way overly ridiculous that way.  It's almost disgusting!  Gee whiz!

And back just after Christmas (it wasn't even January yet), Wal-Mart already had the Valentine's Day stuff out on the shelves (and it was that way in the grocery store, too)!  What the heck?!?  It's just ridiculous.  I mean, by the time you're just starting to think about getting ready to purchase yourself a new bathing suit come late spring/early summer, they'll already have the Christmas decorations back on the shelves again, and no bathing suits in sight!  SHEESH!!!  >:{  It's so stupid!  Bass-ackwards 'store year' versus the actual 'calendar year'!  Meh!  >:{

January 24, 2014

Wow, I Had To Work Again Today!

Yesterday I was so exhausted that I basically collapsed as soon as I got home.  I ate some leftovers for supper even though I wasn't very hungry (I haven't had much of an appetite since I've been sick with this head cold, and can't really taste much of anything anyway).  Then I took a hot, soaking bath, and ended up going to bed at 7:30 PM.  When I woke up this morning, my shirt was completely drenched in sweat.  I mean, no joke -- when I peeled it off, there wasn't one single thread on that shirt that wasn't entirely saturated with sweat.  It was like I had just taken the shirt out of the washing machine -- it was sopping wet.  I've never sweat that much in my life.  I did have a blanket and two comforters on the bed, but I was also still pretty sick, so I'm not sure if I just got too hot, or if maybe I had a little fever or something.

At any rate, I felt quite a bit better when I got up this morning.  I took a nasal decongestant pill, and two Advil before going in to work this morning.  And thankfully, I didn't even need to take a quarter of an anti-anxiety attack pill since I'm getting more and more used to my new job in the lunchroom.  So that's good.

Today I only had to make 24 deli trays since we had 16 left over that I had made the day before.  Today was the best I'd ever made the wraps.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of just exactly how to do it.  Yesterday they sucked a little, but it wasn't really my fault; I think the tortillas weren't totally finished thawing out, because many of them stuck together, ripping holes in them, rendering them useless.  I had to toss out maybe at least 8 of them, and it sucked.  But today I made up my mind that I was gonna rock those wraps, and I did.  Go me!  LOL!  I'm not entirely satisfied with my saran-wrapping routine, but I don't really know how else to do it.  The manager showed me how she does it on the first day I was there, but I can't duplicate the way she does it.  Oh, well, at least they're wrapped up good, so I guess that's all that matters!  :/

After I finished making the wraps, another lady told me she would pack them into the containers along with their raisins, brownies, chips, and then label them, so that way I would be free to slice the ham.

SLICE THE HAM?!?  So I had to learn how to use the meat slicer!  Several of the ladies were nervous about me cutting my fingers off, but after looking at the rig, I seriously don't know how anybody could do that, unless they were completely stupid and hellbent on consciously chopping their fingers off.  I don't think it would be a very easy thing to do.  Anyway, there were 2 hams that needed to be sliced into sandwich meat slices (1/2 ounce each slice).  One of the ladies showed me how to run the rig, and adjusted it until she figured out that it was cutting 1/2 ounce slices.  Then she let me take over.  You really have to keep messing with it in order to keep it going just right.  It's not like you can just throw the ham in there and it automatically does all the work for you.  Luckily the machine is automatic in a way, in that it will keep going back and forth on its own, without you having to manually use your hand to jerk it back and forth.  But when the ham gets about halfway sliced, it's not as heavy, so you have to start pressing the handle down so that it will keep on slicing, instead of shaving it.  So it's a little bit of a pain in the butt, but not horrible.  And you have to stop the machine after so many slices and weigh a slice of meat to make sure the slices are still 1/2 ounce and make adjustments to the machine accordingly.  Luckily, that task didn't take too awful long, and I wasn't the one who had to clean the *&^% machine after I got done!  :)

Next, I asked the manager what I could do next, and she let me help her with bread.  First, I had to slice a million sub rolls (just one slit down the middle, not all the way through) for the meatball subs that will be served on Monday.  That went pretty quick, and then the manager let me help her with the garlic bread.  She already had the loaves made, and all we had to do was finish baking them, and when they were done, we took them out of the oven, brushed them with garlic butter, sliced them, and sprinkled parsley on them.

I didn't get to finish helping with all of the bread, because soon it came time for me to man my serving line.

Today was the first day that I didn't get completely worn out through serving all 4 of the groups that come through.  The server's job is to put the main food on the plates (which today the 2 main choices that I served were either 1) Baked Ziti, or 2) BBQ on a bun).  But it's up to the kids to scoop up whatever else they want onto their plates (which today's choices were either Baked Beans or French Fries).  Well, I keep forgetting to keep an eye on food that the kids serve themselves, so several times today, the kids had to holler at me (nicely, of course), that they needed more fries.  Maybe by next week I'll learn how to keep an eye on it better.  It would be awesome to have 2 more arms and eyes -- maybe that way, you could do everything that needs to be done all at once, like it needs to be done!  :)

The most embarrassing thing that happened to me today was that a boy asked me for something, and I couldn't hear or understand what he was asking for.  I had to ask him to repeat himself like, 6 times, and I felt like such a schmo!  I was so embarrassed about it, I forget now what it was he was even asking for.  I apologized and tried to explain that "sorry -- it's just so loud back here that I can't hear!"  I was so super-ultra embarrassed.  Kids and some teachers coming through the line will sometimes ask me for "to-go" boxes, or extra helpings of this or that, and I seriously can barely hear them.  I think it's just a crappy mixture of 1) it really is loud and echo-y in there, 2) the kids and teachers don't speak up (probably because they don't want to seem like they're yelling at me), and 3) I'm so short that I can't really even see over the serving line (I have to tiptoe a little to put the trays on the top of it for the kids to grab).  So that sucks.  I guess I'm gonna hafta learn how to tune in and listen up a little bit better.  And apparently I'm assuming since I'm the "newbie", I got stuck with the "big" serving line, which appears to be a lot busier/more kids come through it than the other lady's serving line.  :/  But that's OK, because I guess it really is the best way to learn.  Trial by fire.

I'll have to work every day next week, too.  But I'll have to get there at 6:30 AM instead of 8:00 AM like I had been doing.  I'm not really looking forward to that.  I'll have to drag Lilly with me and make her sit in the lunchroom until it's time for her to go to her own school, at which time they'll let me drive her over.  The reason they're making me come in so early every day next week is because they're doing some kind of experiment with breakfast.  I don't fully understand, but all I know is that the manager (and her manager) said that if they can get at least 50 more kids to get breakfast, then it would make it worthwhile.  (To provide the breakfast earlier, I suppose).  Why, I don't know, since breakfast is free.  (Unless their $2.05 lunch price is the reason why breakfasts are "free").  So I guess deep down inside I secretly hope their experiment fails, because I really wouldn't want to have to go in at 6:30 AM every morning!  I mean, it just throws such a bad wrench into my morning where Lilly is concerned.  But if I have to do it, then I guess I'll just have to suck it up and do it.  :/  Or if their weird breakfast experiment works, then maybe they'll make some of the other ladies that are already there that early fool with it.  But I have a feeling they'll make me get involved.  :/  Oh, well.

That's another thing.  I don't really know what the deal is.  I mean, when I signed up to be a "sub", I assumed that I wouldn't be working very much.  I mean, they told me that I would be working whenever someone was out sick, or out for an appointment, or whatever.  And I was also under the impression that the workday would only be 3 1/2 hours long.  Maybe they're working the dog out of me as a way to kind of get me trained up; I don't know.  I mean, I don't really mind the work, but I guess I'm just a little confused.

Oh, well, whatever, once I get that first paycheck, I won't be looking a gift horse in the mouth!  :)

January 22, 2014

I Just Got Called In To Work Again Tomorrow!

Well, just a little while ago at about 8:15 PM, the lunchroom manager called me, asking if I could come in to work again tomorrow!  I said sure!  It will be the same time frame as it was the other day, and I'll be doing the same thing.  I looked up the menu online, and the two main choices I'll be having to serve are Cheeseburgers, or General Tso Chicken.  Jamie said "Dang, my two favorite things!"  LOL!  (The lunchroom ladies are allowed to eat whatever they want from the lunchroom, but are not allowed to take any of the food home).  But that's OK, because the food doesn't seem to be even half as good now as it was when I used to be in high school!  It was actually secretly pretty yummy then; we just thought it was nasty!  :)

My nose is still sneezy, stuffy & runny, and I've been coughing some, but I rested all day, so maybe I'll be all right.  I took a nasal decongestant pill a while ago that was the same kind that Jamie took while he was sick, and he said it worked well for him.  So maybe I won't have the sinus pain and pressure and stuffed-up nose like I've been having for the past few nights.

Boy, they weren't kidding when they said they'd be needing a lot of subbing in the lunchroom!  Well, that's all right...I can certainly use the money!  :)

Deana's "Old People" Mail of the Day

Here's the latest edition of "Old People" Mail that arrived in my mailbox yesterday:

I wonder what they would do if I actually showed up?  It just says it's for "adults".  And I'm technically an "adult"!  Ha ha!

I wonder since the meal is free, what the choices are?  Probably just a grilled cheese, or maybe one of those little bitty packs of crackers off the salad bar with a small glass of water.  LOL!

I wonder if you could show up, not even sit down, and just immediately ask for your complimentary meal To Go?  LOL, what if that's what everybody signing up for this thing did!  Nah, they probably force you to sit there and listen to their drivel, or they won't pay for your meal.

What if they allowed you to order whatever food that you wanted off the menu, and everybody in the whole room ordered the very most expensive thing?  LOL!  So you're wondering how to protect your retirement income, well here's a tip:  Don't buy everyone's dinners!  LOL!!!

January 21, 2014

My First Day of Work in the School Lunchroom!

Well, I survived!

Wow, what a day!  I'm totally worn out!  It went fine, though.  When I got there, they showed me where everything was, and then put me to work making 40 deli wrap plates.  After that, I had to serve on the lunch line, and that was EXTREMELY HECTIC!  They have a total of 4 batches of kids come through (with breaks between each of them).  It was really hard to keep up the pace!  At one point, I ran out of chili and wasn't hardly able to get a new pan out in time, so that messed me up just a little.  And I accidentally dropped 4 hamburger buns in the floor, so that sucked.  But I guess I did everything else pretty much fine.  I also helped out doing other random tasks too.

After lunch was served, then we had to start cleaning up.  It seemed to take forever!  Then it started snowing, and they announced that they would be letting school out a little early because of the 'inclement weather'.  So that kind of sent a wrench into things.  I had Dad rush to my house to the bus stop to meet Lilly, but it turned out that I ended up making it home in plenty of time to get Lilly off the bus myself.  I called Dad when I was on my way home around 2:30 to let him know that I would make it in time to get Lilly off the bus after all.  He was already at my house and just ended up having to turn around and go back to his place!  :/

Anyway, the lunchroom manager told me many times that she was extremely impressed and very happy with how well I did.  I told her to just call me whenever she needed me again, and she whipped out her calendar and asked me if I could come in every day next week (at the same time, and doing the same thing)!  Of course I said sure!

I am secretly glad, though, that I don't have to go back 'til next week.  I'm exhausted!  I'm not used to being up on my feet all day busting my hump!  But it's a good kind of tired.  Plus, I'm still sniffly, stuffy, and sneezy thanks to the cold I caught from Jamie.  Thankfully I felt OK enough today to make it just fine and not appear to be sick at all.  And my nose miraculously didn't run, and somehow I didn't have to sneeze through the workday.  I've been sniffling and sneezing it up since I got home, though!  It'll be nice to have 5 days to recoup before getting back at it again.  I have a feeling I'm going to sleep like a log tonight!  :)

I was a little nervous this morning before I left home, and ended up having to take a quarter of an 'anti-anxiety-attack' pill, which got me through well for several hours.  I could have probably used another quarter-pill after the first one wore off, though, so maybe when I go back next week I'll have one handy, just in case.

Anyway, I think I'll try to hit the bed a little early tonight.  I don't know if they'll have school tomorrow, or if it might be on a 2-hour delay, since the roads are wet from the snow we got earlier, and it's only going to get colder and possibly freeze tonight.  But who knows, it may be fine, and it might end up just being a regular school day.  We'll just have to see.  

But so far, so good with the lunchroom job!  :)  I can't wait to get used to it...my back and feet are tired!  Whew!  (It still beats working at the stupid bank, though)!  ;)

January 20, 2014

Man, I'm Worn Out!

I finally just now have been able to sit down, and it's after 7:00 PM!  I'm worn out!  I've been going full blast all day!  :/

Today school was closed for the MLK, Jr. holiday, so me and Lilly slept late.  Lilly woke me up sometime around 9:00 AM asking me to make her some breakfast.  When I woke up, I discovered that my throat was sore, my nose was stuffy and sneezy, and my body ached a little.  Stupid Jamie ended up getting me sick.  He's been sick for probably about a week now, coughing and sneezing out into the open air all over the house without ever bothering to cover his nose and mouth, even after I told him to.  He makes me so mad.  Now here it is the day before I go to work in the lunchroom, and I'm sick.  So in the morning, I'm going to just have to suck it up and maybe take some Advil, pretend to be perfectly healthy and act like I feel great, and just pray that my nose doesn't start running, and stifle sneezes all day.  Damn!  >:{

So anyway, I finally drug myself out of the bed around 9:30 AM and made Lilly some scrambled eggs.  After a large cup of coffee, I started my laundry.  I got a few loads of my colors done over the weekend, but I still had more to do, and never even got around to touching my giant mountain of whites.  While the laundry was going, I made a big pan of chocolate chip cookie bars, since Jamie had just finished gobbling up the last of the ones that I had made the week before.  They don't last long (and it sux), because when Jamie gets ahold of the pan, he'll take and saw himself off a huge chunk of it with a knife, and the chunk of cookie bar that he gets usually measures about 5-inches X 5-inches square.  And he does that each and every time he gets himself another helping.  >:{  As I was mixing the cookie bar ingredients, I poked down some toast.

This whole time, Lilly stayed in my face, pulling and tugging me in every direction at once and commanding my full attention constantly (which is her typical behavior).  Finally, she settled down a little bit when she decided to build a fort in the living room.  I didn't care, because if it kept her occupied and relatively quiet (and out of my face), then the mess is worth it to me.

After the cookie bars got done, and I put in another load of laundry, then I took the screens out of the screen door that were torn up and started working on figuring out how to replace them.  Lilly insisted on helping me with the project, which is OK, because I want her to learn how not to be dopey and helpless like her daddy.  But Lilly insisted on trying to do it completely by herself.  So I humored her, and she quickly got pissed off and decided she didn't want to do it anymore, tossing down the tool, and returning to her fort.

I ended up having to take all the new screening out that Lilly had attempted to do, and do it all over again, but that was all right.  I'd never done it all by myself before (I'd only watched Dad do it), so it was kind of new to me too.  The first screen I did turned out OK, but as I was putting it back in the door, I noticed that it had a little cut in it where I guess my little rollie-tool had slipped once or twice, thereby slitting the screen slightly.  It's not horrible.  I was a little disappointed, but maybe it will hold up for a while.  And if it rips more and needs to be replaced, well, at least now I know exactly what to do.  The bottom screen I did turned out perfectly, and I was really proud.

By this time, crammed all the laundry in the dryer and turned it on.  Eventually it got done, but when I opened it, the clothes were still pretty wet.  In my eagerness to get the laundry all done as fast as possible, I had crammed the dryer too full.  So I cleaned out the lint trap, re-set the dryer for a longer amount of time, and started it up again.

At this point, Lilly was bored, and begging to go somewhere.  She said she either wanted to go to the park, or Wal-Mart to buy a new toy.  Today was a decent enough day to attempt to go to the park, but Lilly eventually decided against it, because she said if A) nobody was there, or B) only boys were there, or C) only babies were there, then she wouldn't want to go.  I actually needed to pick up a few little things at Wal-Mart anyway (and had originally planned to go later after dropping Lilly off at dance class), but I agreed to go ahead and take Lilly as long as she bought whatever toy she wanted with her own money.

So after we got dressed, off we went to Wally World.  Lilly picked out a Monster High doll, and a Barbie doll.  She had $33 in her Hello Kitty pouch, and I figured out what the total would come to (including tax) and it was $33.11.  So I told her I would give her the 11 cents.  Then we picked up the few little items that I needed and checked out.

When we got home, I started fixing supper.  We had to be at Lilly's dance class at 5:00 PM.  And Jamie gets home from work by 4:00 PM, so we tend to eat supper kind of early compared to most other people.

I had half a big pack of chicken tenders left (I got the big pack cuz they had been on sale), so I made some chicken tacos.  While they were cooking, I got the laundry out of the dryer and started folding it.  Some of it was still slightly damp, but it wasn't too bad.  Most importantly, I had to wash the outfit I am going to wear to my very first day of work in the lunchroom tomorrow!  Since I had dried everything together in my haste (towels + clothes too) I discovered that I would need to lint-roll my work outfit for tomorrow, but that's all right; I've got a lint roller.

I only had time to fold a few things out of the dryer, because it was getting close to time to have to leave for Lilly's dance class.  Lilly was able to eat 2 chicken tacos, and I was able to eat 1 of mine, before we had to head on out and go to dance.  So, as has become typical fashion for us, Lilly took her plate with half a chicken taco left in the car with her, and I took my plate with 2 chicken tacos left and sat it in the front seat next to me, along with my customary glass of Dr. Pepper.

I ditched Lilly out at dance class and headed straight to the pharmacy.  I had received my new medical insurance card through the mail the other day, and needed to get one of my prescriptions refilled.  So I took my new insurance card to the pharmacy, along with the prescription that I needed to get refilled.  I gave my new insurance card to the chick behind the counter, but she was having trouble finding me in the system or something.  She ended up having to call Blue Cross Blue Shield to find out how to get it straightened out.  First of all, Blue Cross Blue Shield somehow had my birthdate wrong (they said it was January 7th, when it's really January 8th), but most importantly, the prescription code on my insurance card had an "L" where an "X" should have been.  The pharmacy lady asked if they would be mailing me a corrected insurance card, but Blue Cross Blue Shield told them no; as long as the pharmacy had it fixed correctly in their system, then it would be fine.  So whatever.  I told them that I wasn't in a big hurry for the refill, and that I could come back and pick it up in a day or two.  I thanked them and apologized for the trouble.  I love my pharmacy.  They are really awesome, nice, and extremely helpful.

Then I got back in my car and headed back down the street to Lilly's dance class.  I was finally able to relax in the car for just a few minutes and eat another stupid chicken taco (even though by then it was cold, but still pretty yummy, if I do say so myself).  :)

And of course I took a picture of my sad, lonely dinner plate sitting on the passenger's side of my car:

Jamie didn't go to dance class with us this evening since he needed to work on replacing the blown bulbs of the rear left turn signal and backup lights on his truck.  So he got to eat his chicken tacos in the comfort of the living room while watching TV.  Hmph.

Anyway, I knew I needed to eventually get out of the car and go in to the dance building, because I needed to pay the remaining balance for Lilly's dance recital costume.  So I went in, paid for the rest of the costume and had a seat.

They have a closed-circuit TV thing where you can sit and watch your kid in their class on a TV screen.  So I sat there in front of the TV and watched Lilly, since I didn't have anything else to do.  I was actually really impressed.  Well, for one, Lilly's the oldest kid in her class, and she's head and shoulders taller than them (she's tall anyway).  So it's kind of funny.  But I watched her, and she actually moved very nicely.  Her movements matched her teachers' movements precisely.  And I'm not bragging or saying this just 'cuz she's my kid or anything, but she really was seriously the best kid in the class.  It probably has something to do with her being a year or two older than the rest of the kids in her class, but I was still impressed with her.  I had two class options to put her in when she first started (either the younger kids, or the older kids), and I opted to start her out being with kids that were a little younger than her, because I wanted her to start out feeling confident.  I felt like if I had put her in a class with older, more experienced dancers, then she might feel a little intimidated, and like she couldn't do as good as the others.  Anyway, when we got in the car and started to head home after dance class, I told Lilly that I had watched her on the TV, and that I was really impressed with the way she did, and that I was proud.

Then Lilly wanted a small chocolate Frosty from Wendy's.  So we drove out there and got her one.  And since Wendy's is so close to the school, I took a notion to drive on up there and see exactly where it was that I would need to go in the morning.  I've never been to that High School's lunchroom before.  Lilly knew exactly where it was, and she helped me find it.  It was really easy to find.  And I was glad.

I originally thought that I would just take Lilly early to school with me and drop her off at the Elementary School before I went on down to the High School to work in their lunchroom.  But now I think it would be best if we just put Lilly on the school bus in the morning (like we always do), and let her ride the bus to school like usual.  That way, I can finish getting ready and go by myself, without having to worry about getting Lilly to school too early or too late, and without having to fight the lines of traffic and worry about it.

I'll be at the school working from 8:00 AM 'til 3:00 PM tomorrow.  So hopefully I'll be getting off work early enough to make it home to meet Lilly at the school bus stop in time.  The school bus usually comes home somewhere between 3:40 and 3:45 I think.  Surely I'll be able to make it home by then.  But if not, I've got Dad on standby & all I'll have to do is just call him on his cell phone, and he'll meet Lilly at the bus stop for me.  :)

Anyway, Jamie's getting Lilly to bed for me now, so I can go take a nice hot bath, touch up the gray roots of my hair (ha ha) and get myself ready for tomorrow!

I'll let you know tomorrow how my very first day of work went!  Wish me luck!  :)