Conversations At Our House v.29

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 | 0 Comments

... and Sy said, "I mean, you're a professional. I would think that you'd start sexing them at the other end."

As the three people talking to Sy laugh a little and nod their head in agreement, a girl comes up and says, "I really have to quit coming into conversations part way. You can't be talking about what I think you are talking about [at the counter of the local hippie/artist co-op grocery store]!"

The four of us: "Oh! We're talking about cats! Finding out what sex they are."

Girl: "Riiiiiiiiiiiight."

8 comments:

Kari said...

Sexing cats hey? Who did you say was a pro at that??

September 27, 2007 12:46 AM
Shannon said...

Wait, what other end?

September 27, 2007 9:02 PM
Sylvana said...

OK, I need a little back story on this CAOH. A couple of weeks ago a stray cat came into our yard. It was starving, had scars all over it's body, had conjunctivitus in one eye, and was infested with ear mites and intestinal parasites.

I couldn't resist!

I usually chase the cats out of my yard, but this one I picked up. It is probably the most friendly, clingy cat that I have ever met.

We took it to the vet as soon as we could to have it checked out. I think our vet was having an off day. It was a Monday!


Kari, hey! I'm so glad to hear from you. I just made a visit to your blog.

Our vet is the professional, or so I would hope. He asked me what sex I thought the cat was, and having a long history of raising animals, I was really surprised (and a bit temporarily horrified) when he told me it wasn't a male as I thought, but most likely a pregnant female!!

Oh, it was a male after all.

Shannon, our vet told us he sure it was a female based on it's head size (pregnant because it's belly was so large but the overall rest was extremely thin). I'm pretty sure that you're supposed to check the back end - not the front end!

September 27, 2007 10:54 PM
Lyvvie said...

If the poor thing was full of worms no wonder it was undersized and with a swollen belly. Are you going to keep him??

September 28, 2007 3:19 AM
Mrs. Loquacious said...

I liked the story way better without the explanation; that way, I could use my own dirty little imagination to fill in the parts! ;)

And I agree...the back end analysis would definitely yield a more definitive answer than the front.

September 29, 2007 9:44 AM
Kari said...

Aw, intestinal parasites!! That IS irresistable, lol. Did you get a new addition to your family?

September 29, 2007 1:13 PM
Michael Manning said...

Sylvana: You are linked! NIce blogsite!!:D

September 29, 2007 9:27 PM
Sylvana said...

Lyvvie, so far he's still here.

Mrs. L, yeah, that's what I thought.

Kari, I'm still not sure if we are keeping him, but it is looking that way. Our friends are in love with him, so if we decide not to keep him, he'll at least have his choice of homes.

Michael, tanks ;)

September 30, 2007 3:36 PM

Super Sy to the Rescue!

Monday, September 24, 2007 | 0 Comments

I know that I said that I would have more time to blog, but my counterpart at the library has really been riding me about a certain project; one that we have been working on for about, umm... about 3 years! Everytime I get what I think is the final draft done, she'll go through and make a bunch of changes -- unnecessary changes at that. But, now we have some necessary changes, and it is the training manual, so it really does need to get done or we'll have utter chaos.

UTTER CHAOS I TELL YOU!!!!

Besides, you all should be very nice to me. Today I saved more than a few lives.


I was getting ready for bowling and running late. I had just whisked the dogs into the house to save them from JD and his friend who were shooting some homemade bamboo arrows, with their homemade bow, around the yard. As I was getting the dogs to safety, JD's friend said, "I just shot one up and it stuck this far into the ground!" (Now mind you, our yard is so compacted from the kids and dogs running through it that I'd be surprised if Jarts would stick into the ground!). I warned them to be careful and to never shoot the arrows while the dogs were in the yard because I liked my dogs alive and without arrows sticking out of them. OK? OK.

As I sat back down at the kitchen table to bolt down the rest of my Reese's cereal before heading out the door, I caught a sight through the window out of the corner of my eye that nearly stopped my heart. JD had the wooden shield that he and SSB made a couple of years ago for Halloween raised and ready for an arrow that his friend was drawing back to launch straight at him!!!

I still don't know how I managed to not spit the big mouthful of cereal out from the shock. Instead I knocked on the window so hard that I thought the hundred year old glass would give under the force. They gave me a quick glance. JD's friends lowered the bow, and moved around the corner of the house out of my sight. JD moved forward with the shield still up. I actually had to go outside and yell at them!

"There will be no pointing or shooting arrows at people, even if they DO have a shield! You could miss, you know!"

If that's what they do when they know that I'm watching, what the hell are they doing when I'm not around? Makes me shudder. No time to think about it. One life saved, gulp the rest of my cereal, and it's on to bowling! ........

I was waiting for my turn to bowl. And as usual, due to my ADD, my eyes were everywhere (I seriously quite often have a tough time focusing on keeping my eyes on the person talking to me or to whom I am talking to because my eyes want to look at everything!). As they were darting around this time, I happened to notice that a ceiling fan was swinging. There was a large group of people sitting under it laughing loudly, so, I thought someone had accidentally hit it with something and set it rocking.

But it looked funny. I realized that it was hanging lower than normal. Upon closer inspection, I could see that the fan was hanging by it's electrical wires -- and it was ON!! I knew that I could never make it over to their table in time, so I called upon what I consider one of my greatest gifts -- my acoustically loud voice. ...OK, so most of the time people do not consider it such a gift, especially when I'm sitting next to them and burst out in excitement about something (sorry about your ears all those times, SSB!) or when I'm trying to whisper -- just really can't be done by me; but today it saved lives! Or at the very least, saved a few people from a very serious hospital visit.

I pointed directly at the fan and yelled, "The fan! The FAN! THE FAN!!!!!

It wasn't until the third time that people quit looking around the room or at me and actually looked up. Those under the fan stared at it for a bit, seemingly transfixed at the notion of what was about to happen. Then someone lunged to grab a woman. The sudden movement sent the rest scrambling frantically out of the way, just seconds before the fan fell, hitting a seating area that seemed like a breath before had been occupied by a couple of the people scrambling for safety. Sparks flew as the electrical wire became disconnected. Shattered drink glasses were spun from the table at the surrounding people and all over the floor. The fan ricochetted to another seating area, by that time cleared, coming to rest in a puddle of glass and beer.


Everyone stared at it. That was a close one! I could hear people start to murmur how it had been me that had yelled of the danger; and although no one but my team mates thanked me, I could feel the other people's warmth and kindness for me for the rest of the night. It was a nice change of pace from the scowls and grumblings that I had become accustomed to getting at league night!

And I bowled pretty damn good, too!

9 comments:

Shannon said...

I pictured your fan story in an intense action sequence in a movie- you yelling "THE FAN" in slow motion, beer, glass, and sparks flying everywhere! Congrats on saving lives.

September 24, 2007 8:48 AM
Evil Spock said...

You're a hero! The bowling alley needs to put a picture of you up commemorating the fact that you saved them a shitload in lawsuits!

September 24, 2007 1:13 PM
Sylvana said...

Shannon, that is pretty much what it felt like. It is weird, but a lot of times when you are in a situation like that, it seems like everything around you slows way down. It doesn't always help you think of the very right thing to do though - unfortunately. I'm just very glad that no one was hurt.

Evil Spock, they didn't even come over to thank me!! They could have given me some free games or something. Instead they gave everyone free drinks for "the delay of game". None for "a load in the pants" though. And some of those people should have gotten free drinks anyway since their's were smashed by the fan! Cheapskate bowling alley.

September 24, 2007 9:53 PM
"AG" said...

You just proved that ADD saves lives! And that you are a caring person.

September 25, 2007 7:26 AM
The Doc said...

Oh man, that story about JD made me think of all the stuff my brothers and I did and got away with that my mother never knew about...good times. Good, scary times. Sorry, Sy, probably not something you wanted to read about.

September 25, 2007 2:18 PM
Sylvana said...

AG, I like to believe that almost everything in life is simple a matter of perception. ADD good or bad? It's a matter of perception!

The Doc, I grew up with two brothers and all their friends. I often hung out with them as I thought girls were too silly and frilly. I actually DID some of these stupid stunts! I think that will be my next post!

September 25, 2007 9:38 PM
"AG" said...

Sy- agreed. I've mentioned before that I have undiagnosed ADD dating back to my childhood when I got into trouble for daydreaming in class. I use it to my advantage.

September 26, 2007 3:44 AM
"AG" said...

I had to come back to report that at the country fair I saw a bull become untied wherein I yelled "Bull on the loose!" and I thought of you. The bull got roped and all was OK.

September 27, 2007 1:31 PM
Sylvana said...

AG, another catastrophy averted by ADD!

September 27, 2007 11:07 PM

Superbad Weekend

Monday, September 10, 2007 | 0 Comments

We went to "Superbad" Friday night with Fry and Mo.

What can I say about Superbad? Wiki-wiki-WOW! Loved it! It was hilarious! And, just as a warning - kind of embarrassingly awkward to watch at points, especially when you are with another couple, and especially when one in that couple happens to be your boss!
But I do what I always try to do in those situations, act like it really doesn't bother me. And then, miraculously - it doesn't! And it almost always seems to put the other people more at ease too.

So, go see the movie; but try not to bring anyone that you might get easily embarrassed in front of.*

The next day we got up early to help Obi set up his booth at our local annual art fair. He has been sitting on the fence about being truly professional with his art (pottery). He is very passionate about it, but has always felt that either his work is not good enough to sell, or that the very act of selling his art is a degradation to his art. I encouraged him to do the fair and told him that selling his pieces was part of the process of being an artist. Art is a form of communication. By selling his pieces, he gets his message out to the world. I mean, why make all that art if you are never going to share it with anyone?

I'm glad that he did decide to do it. His booth got a lot of attention; and I think it was a very positive experience for him. -- Although he did seemed a little put-off when I told him that one of the pieces I was buying was destined to be a coffee mug... he saw it as a vase. Communication Lesson #1 - you can't always control how someone else translates your message. Besides, doesn't he know that I am the kind of person who would drink out of a vase? ;)

Tonight was our first night of the new bowling league season. SSB and I warmed up at home with a little Wii bowling (I think I am a little obsessive about bowling). I did fairly well for the first night back; I averaged a 122. This was the first time that we have hung out with Blue and Joe since they left the pharmacy.

We had a great time with them as usual. They have very good senses of humor and aren't afraid to be a little goofy. It makes for great entertainment. I am looking forward to the long season ahead of us.




*Also, I'd just like to say, that the cops in the movie are pretty much like the cops from my home town. Our cops would watch the kids get liquor from the local liquor store, then follow them until they were to an out-of-the-way place to nab them so that they could take the liquor without reporting anything. They'd send the kids on their way, quite often tipping us off to some other party that we could go to to get booze - usually a kegger - while they took our freshly bought, unopened liquor home to have a party of their own.

5 comments:

Shannon said...

Oh I also loved Superbad. Hiiilarious!

September 11, 2007 8:57 AM
Sylvana said...

Shannon, after hearing that it was about boys on a mission to get some girls drunk so they could have sex with them, I was feeling that I would HATE the movie. But that synopsis is misleading - (and I am not going to spoil for others by explaining ;)

September 11, 2007 11:40 PM
Evil Spock said...

God, I got busted so many time by cops when I was in high school. They confiscated a ton of liquor from us.

So thats what they did. I need to make friends with the local cops and go to their parties.

September 12, 2007 3:53 PM
Anonymous said...

I had a choice last weekend to either see this or 3:10 To Yuma. Yuma was excellent, btw. I'll have to catch Superbad on DVD, which is usually the "uncut" version.

-Shamus

September 26, 2007 1:39 PM
Sylvana said...

Evil Spock, I still don't think I'd want to party with cops.

Shamus, great to hear from you again! 3:10 to Yuma is playing at our theater right now. If it's still there Friday, I might go see it.

September 30, 2007 3:32 PM

I'm Back!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007 | 0 Comments

I can't believe that I was away from my blog for so long!

My computer crashed a few weeks ago while I was surfing blogs. I tried to fix it, but it is in really rough shape. It looks like my Windows operating system got corrupted and needs to be fixed. DAMN WINDOWS!! My computer won't acknowledge my CD drive, so as of now, I have no way of getting the backup onto my computer for repair. SSB has some ideas, so I am leaving that up to him. But without a computer, it makes it really hard to blog.

But you may be relieved to know that today I started a night supervisor job at the library, which should give me plenty of time to get caught up. There's only so much supervising that one can do in a vacant library after all, right? I have done this job as a student for 3 years - piece of cake.

Today was also JD's first day of high school. I took him out to eat when he got home from school so that I could get the low-down. He was beaming! I could tell as soon as I saw him that he had had a fantastic day. I was so relieved. I think that this day was more nerve-wracking for me than him, and to see him come home all smiles was a huge load off my mind.

SSB is back in school too. This might be his last year, unless he decides to get a certificate in industrial networking. It could mean more money for us, but I think that he's done his time in factories long enough.

I finally used some of my vacation time and had two great vacations. Two weekends ago we went camping in Grand Marais, MN. We ended up in a campground in town, which made it really easy to explore the town until late at night. We did a lot of hiking and even drove to some nearby sights. We scouted out other potential campgrounds for our next trip. Our camp site was right next to the lake, which was awesome... until the drunks started making their rounds to go yell at it. SSB was effective at scaring off a couple of the groups so we could get some sleep though. We couldn't have a campfire, because of the drought, so we had all our meals in town. Boy, do they have a lot of really good places to eat! I was stuffed!

But before I could recover, we were on our way to my brother's (Ricky) house the following Friday. He lives in the middle of Wiscosnin, about 3 hours away from us. We always have a great time with his family, and we usually eat a lot. And this time was no exception. As soon as I found out that they had a Little Caesars, I knew what we were having for dinner. Crazy Bread is awesome! We tried their wings too, which were just wings in tabasco sauce with some spices thrown in, but very good. The next night we went to the lake and grilled chicken. We had so much good food, I really thought that I was going to bust. We took out our discs and started throwing them around to help settle our dinner. Ricky asked us to stick around later than we had planned in the morning so that we could all go disc golfing - he had never gone before and really wanted to try it out. He was pretty good and we all had a blast. Fry was pretty proud when I told him that I had created a new golfer.

From my brother's house, we drove to my sister's (V) house near Madison. I hadn't seen her since we visited Shannon in Milwaukee. She had gotten divorced about a year and a half ago and had a new boyfriend to introduce to me. He seemed nice, but I really don't think that I have much in common with him, other than crazy parents - although he bowed to V and my "crazy parent" stories. I also got to catch up with my niece who will be graduating this year. Uh, and her slick, Eddie-Haskellish boyfriend. He was interesting to talk to, for the most part, but I don't think that I would want him dating my daughter if I had one. Oh well, kids need to learn things on their own sometimes, unfortunately.

All in all, I have had a great two weeks; and I am now in the privy about a little something called "Pants-off, Dance-off". I really did think it was a joke. Who knew?

6 comments:

"AG" said...

I LOVE that you used an Eddie Haskell reference! (I think you know I am a huge LTB fan.)

Nice to see you back.

September 05, 2007 7:20 AM
Mrs. Loquacious said...

Welcome back! :) Windows OS sucks, and having witnessed Hubbs enjoy the problem-free, bug-free, virus-free pleasures of the plug-and-play Macbook, my next purchase will without a doubt be a Mac.

Pants-off, Dance-off is real? Wow. I'm out of the loop. :S

September 05, 2007 10:53 AM
Shannon said...

Yay! You're back! I was afraid you'd left for good.

September 05, 2007 9:28 PM
Sylvana said...

AG, that Eddie, he was something, huh? Always getting Wally and the Beave into trouble.

Mrs L, I LOVE MACS!!! If it weren't for the damn programs that I need to run, I would only buy Macs.

Shannon, I think it would take a a lot for me to quit blogging. My sense of self-importance is far to inflated to be denied such a willing and rewarding platform!

September 06, 2007 10:42 PM
Heather said...

My dad was just telling me about Pants-Off Dance-Off. How weird...

Collin's son started high school this year too and he was the same way - he seems to really be enjoying it, thank goodness!!

September 07, 2007 9:51 AM
Sylvana said...

Heather, does your dad watch the show?

I don't think that I will be able to truly relax about it until it has been a couple of weeks.

September 09, 2007 11:02 PM

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