Syllogism

Conversations At Our House v.38

2010-11-16T14:05:00.002-06:00

SSB: Did you want to work out on the Wii Fit before you go to bed?
Sy: No.
SSB: Are you sure?
Sy: Yeah. Maybe I want it to ask about me, to know that it misses me.
SSB: It did ask about you before.
JD: Yeah that was disturbing.
Sy: [as Wii Fit] "Hey, SSB. It's been awhile since Sy has logged in." It says suspiciously.
JD: Yeah that's it.
Sy: I wonder if you stay away too long if your Wii calls the police to report you as a missing person.

Conversations At Our House v.37

2010-10-22T21:48:00.002-05:00

[online trying to figure out how many people the University of Minnesota Field House holds]

Sy: mmm...says here that the track was built by Mondo. [in a neanderthal voice] "MONDO!! Mondo build track--"

SSB: [reading over Sy's shoulder] "Olympians Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Suzy (Favor) Hamilton--"

Sy: Wait! "Favor"?

SSB: Yeah, Favor is her "nickname".

Conversations At Our House v.36

2010-10-20T12:59:00.006-05:00

[talking about Christine O'Donnell's confusion over what the first constitutional amendment actually says.]

Sy: They spout off about protecting the constitution and they don't even know what is in it. They know: Freedom of My Speech, We All Get Guns, the Law of Northern Aggression, ... and after that they just start throwing in some of the Ten Commandments. And they don't even really know those either.

Speaking of that, turns out I didn't know the Ten Commandments very well myself. I was just reading the various versions of them and most have something in there about not coveting your neighbors slaves and that your slaves get the Sabbath off. Really? Commandments on how to deal with slaves? Like it's OK to have slaves.

You know, if God is supposed to be omniscient and omnipotent, why was Jesus so different. I mean, there seemed to be a serious generation gap there.

SSB: God was all like, "Oh geez, they've really got this wrong. Now I'm going to have to go down there and straighten things out."

And then they killed him and he said, "Oh, yeah really should have seen that one coming."

Sy: Yeah, God says, "Oh, this talking to just a few people with just a voice in the sky really isn't cutting it. I guess I need go in to get this job done. I'll need to be careful to not spook them. I'll have to go as one of them. I should be sure to --"

"LEEEEEEEEROY JENKINS!!!"

"Goddammit Leeroy!"

Teenagers...

2010-10-13T02:06:00.006-05:00

We've had our exchange student, Pedro, for two months now. So far it is going well, in fact it is almost spooky as to how easily he shuffled right into our household. It is almost as if he had training. He gets along well with JD, in fact they do some things together. Pedro even tries hard to take an interest in the things that JD does. Now if I could just get JD to make an effort to return that consideration.

The only problem that we have had with Pedro is that he has been pressing the issue of going into the Twin Cities with a boy from school. We even sat him down and went over our ground rules for going out:

At all times while away from the house you must be accessible by phone.
For every outing we need to know where you are going, when you intend to be back and who (full name) you are with.
As long it is in the city limits (would take you no longer than 5 minutes to be back home if needed) you can go without pre-approval but you must leave us a message ASAP.
Anything out of the city limits (would take longer than 5 minutes to get back home) requires our pre-approval.
Being in a car without an adult/experienced driver is OK during the day and within an 8 mile radius of home.
At night and out of that radius an adult/experienced driver is required, unless we give specific approval.

I consider these simple, reasonable rules. These are rules that our son has, although I am a little lenient with him since I know his routine so well that I can guess where he is if he doesn't show up at home when he normally would. Pedro is just setting his routine, so I have to make him adhere to this a little more strictly. But he keeps pressing this Twin City thing. He wants to go into St. Paul at night with a bunch of teenagers.

Nope! I could never see me allowing my own son to do that, why should I allow Pedro? I told him that I have an obligation to his parents to send him home in one piece. He says that he understands, but then keeps asking anyway.

Another problem I have with this request is that we don't know the boy. He will not come over to meet us either. I did get to see his and his friends' driving habits and I have to say, I totally feel vindicated in my decision! They drive like a bunch of assholes. This boy also either is really flighty, or he is a real dick. He will invite Pedro to do things then not show up, he'll leave without him, or he won't let him know what is going on until it is too late. In either case, he's not really racking up the trust points with me, that's for sure.

Part of me feels that I should allow him to go for the experience, but then, I work with people who have just gotten out of high school and so far all of the ones that I asked said that their parents didn't let them go in the Twin Cities without an adult driver either. Seems like I am not alone; although I'm not sure that me being alone on the matter would matter that much to me. Right now I have a strong instinctual feeling that I should not let him go, and as those of you have followed my blog for awhile know, that feeling -- The Force, as I like to call it -- has been very, very good to me. So I will listen to it, even if it doesn't really make total sense. Problem is that it is hard to convince other people that they should listen to it too, since it doesn't make total sense at first. But I can be formidably tenacious, so I usually prevail.

I'm thinking that when he turns 18 in a couple of months we will re-visit the rules; but until then I am going to trust my instincts.

My Dream Home

2010-07-18T14:35:00.002-05:00

I love efficiency, especially multipurpose items and spaces. I have been telling my husband for years that if we ever built a house, I would want a ship builder to be on our architectural team.

Well strike that. I want THIS guy!

About to Shove a Horn Up Someone's Ass

2010-07-17T07:48:00.002-05:00

During the spring and summer I like to get up early, before everyone else is up and about making noise, so that I can enjoy the only peace and quiet of the day. My dog is up and ready to go out and enjoy the same thing. He loves to sit quietly in the yard and listen to the birds sing and smell the flowers. We both suffer from stress and he suffers from anxiety, so this is our way of ramping up our relaxation meter so we can deal with our days.

Well, we used to. Lately, every morning at 7:30am our neighbor's kid starts playing his trumpet.

Yes. TRUMPET!!

The loudest, piercingest friggin' instrument that I know of.

And with all the windows open.

And for 30 minutes all he plays is scales. Then it is another 20 minutes of short, crappily played pieces of compositions. Nothing all the way through, just spurts of chopped up crap.

Right now I am a whole 60' lawn and two rooms away and can still hear it clear as a bell even though all our windows are shut. My jaw is aching from the clenching from the stress. My head is literally throbbing.

I would say something, but this kid is not always up to productive things; plus how do you tell a kid that even though he is devotedly practicing he still is utterly annoying?
And then there is the father. He comes over every morning to play with him. He's a semi-professional trumpet player with a very rocky past. Very rocky. He's divorced from the mother and sometimes disappears for months at a time. This is something that they can do as a bonding experience and something to perhaps get this guy on the right track. I would ask him if he could come later, but even if he says sure, it may be that he will find it more difficult to consistently come over at a later time and will just end the tutoring.
I don't want to take away their time together when it is such a meaningful time they both could use.

But despite all this, I can guarantee one thing, if I am tired and trying to sleep late and they wake me up with that racket, I will bee-line over there and shove their horns up their asses!!

Conversations At Our House v.35

2010-06-26T11:17:00.006-05:00

[Discussing the "Twilight" phenomenon]

Sy: I think that women love vampire stories because it speaks of the most exciting type of love. Like, "I know that you are dangerous and bad for me, but I love you so much, I'm willing to take that risk and sacrifice myself to be with you."

SSB: I want to see the story of them later in life when they have a bunch of kids and he's an insurance salesman.

Sy: That can't happen because they are vampires. They can't stay in a place too long because they don't get old. Like Casey Kasem.

SSB: So can they be killed, can they die?

Sy: Well they could be torn apart, and burned. Also, I think vampires need to eat.

SSB: What? You mean you have to feed vampires? I suppose you're going to tell me next that you have to clean up after them as well. [referring to a stupid comment made during our city's chicken ordinance meeting where someone said we shouldn't allow chickens because the owners might not realize that the chickens would need food and water and to be cleaned up after. Really?? Come on ignorant chicken haters, can't you come up with something better?]

Sy: Do vampires poop?

SSB: I wonder if that would make good fertilizer. We could have a coop of chickens and a coop of vampires...

Sy: I should go to this TwilightLexicon blog and ask the lady there if vampires poop. She's an expert; she would know. I bet that would make great fertilizer -- high in nitrogen...
I could write: "Do vampires, as the book "Everyone Poops" implies, actually poop?"

SSB: I'm sure they'd love you for it. They'd ask, "Why did you have to spoil all the romance with your poop talk?"

Sy: "Because I'm Sy. That's what I do. I need to know these things."

Just Pouring Over Some Books, Officer.

2010-06-15T13:09:00.010-05:00

The key phrase in this story is "condiment-related crimes". Does that come with a special unit?

Cops bust woman, 74, for pouring mayo in book drop from Yahoo!News
Mon Jun 14, 9:27 pm ET

BOISE, Idaho – Police in Idaho think they might have solved a yearlong condiment crime spree. Authorities said a 74-year-old Boise woman arrested after pouring mayonnaise in the Ada County library's book drop box is a person of interest in at least 10 other condiment-related crimes.

Joy L. Cassidy was picked up Sunday at the library, moments after police say she pulled through the outside drive-through and dumped a jar of mayo in the box designated for reading materials.

Cassidy was released from jail and faces a misdemeanor charge of malicious injury to property.

Boise police say Cassidy is under investigation for other cases of vandalism that started in May 2009. Library employees have reported finding books in the drop box covered in corn syrup and ketchup.

Holey Cow!!

2010-06-13T14:18:00.004-05:00

I was trying to get some laundry done yesterday when I ran in to a slight road block - no detergent. I have really sensitive skin and delicate clothes, so I can only use certain detergents - Dreft has been my detergent of choice for some time. Well Dreft is really expensive, so I usually only purchase it from Sam's Club. Well, it was still really expensive - $25!!

I have been reading No Impact Man after watching the movie (I highly recommend both) and have since been even more convinced that I should try laundry detergents better for the environment, and hopeful also better for me. There are quite a few recipes online for baking soda and bar soap (or in my sensitive case - baby shampoo) detergents that are supposed to be just as effective as the industrial chemical detergents I have been using. For tougher loads, you just add a little Borax (that's a laundry booster powder, not the guy that goes around acting like he's from Kazakhstan). So I get 8lbs of baking soda to go with the 10 bags of kettle chips I already have in my cart. And don't forget the rechargeable batteries and fair trade coffee! I now have my mega McGruber list (my husband and I used to refer to these as our McGyver lists -- as in those crazy scavenger lists that McGyver would create in order to solve a problem -- but I thought "McGruber" was probably more inline).

On my way home I was passing by the university experiment farm and I see something that makes me doubletake and gasp. There is a hole in that cow!!
No.
OH, HOLY SHIT YEAH! THERE IS DEFINITELY A HOLE IN THAT COW!!!!

I raced home and Googled "why is there a hole in that cow" (cuz that's how it's done), and I get back this:

I'm sure most of you could have gone your whole life without seeing that. But I know you are dying to know if the baking soda worked...

Like a charm. :)

I've Had a Brazilian Things To Do

2010-06-04T10:51:00.004-05:00

I thought I would get more time to blog with the new job, but things just seem to come up and fill the void.

My son has suddenly decided that he will join everything in school. Although I really appreciate finally seeing ambition sparked in him, it also means that I am lugging him all over Western Wisconsin. Next year looks to be even worse as he has even bigger plans for his final year in high school.
Can you believe it? He's going to be graduating next year! We have absolutely NO money saved either. My big plan for the rental properties helping to pay for his college came up empty when the myth of property values only increasing was busted. Thanks Bush. Deregulation really does work! (note sarcastic tone; cause you know that the people in the Gulf of Mexico are living deregulation right now -- but that's another post...)

My parents came for a rare visit to see my tulips in bloom. And the early hot weather almost left them with nothing to look at! Luckily we got some cool weather right before they came and the ones that were left hung on long enough for their visit. We also took them to the MN Landscape Arboretum. They had tons of tulips left there.

And I was going to go to the arboretum this Saturday to see all their peony in bloom, but that plan was shot in the ass when a bizarre thing happened earlier this week...

My husband got a call asking us about our next door neighbor. Apparently she put us down as a reference in her application to host an exchange student. After my husband told the woman how great our neighbor was, the woman asked if we would take an exchange student. They had a student whose host family had backed out at the last minute. He said that he'd get back to her.

I was, as usual, ready to leap into the adventure; but SSB was, as usual, a little more hesitant to take on the challenge. JD, our son, was excited yet nervous. We decided that I would call her and ask her some more questions.

The woman was practically signing me up as I spoke to her. She was a very positive, energetic person and it was hard to say no. She said that she actually still had four boys to place and went over each of them with me. In the end, I couldn't say no. We decided to take the Brazilian boy that she had originally asked my husband about. His letter to his potential host family sounded like something that my son would write, and the parents letter sounded like something we would write about our son. Sounded like a perfect fit.

We've always talked about getting an exchange student, but never got around to looking into it. This just dumped into our lap. It was Fate. And when Fate throws something like this my way, I don't think too much about it, I just do it. It is generally a great gift.

Besides, I figured that we'd have all summer to get our house in order. And that put everyone at ease.
Then I got a call from the exchange woman asking if we could set up a time this weekend to meet at our house so that they could look things over and take pictures.

WHAT?!! Ugh! My house is in shambles because it is growing season and I have mud and planting stuff everywhere. Plus there are tons of home improvement projects that we have been putting on hold. We have a huge hole in the plaster in our stairwell that we have been living with since we bought the house. The ceiling in the hall upstairs still has water damaged wallpaper hanging from it from before we bought the house. I never completed the trim in the bathroom after we tiled. The house exterior had never been completely painted since I got injured at work so it is half green, purple & blue and half white in no pattern that makes sense. Our front steps are falling apart. Our screens on the porch are still shredded from the hail storm about ten years ago. In other words, our house is a mess!! And don't even get me started on my son's room!

So I am scrambling to put a ginormous bandaid on everything. I am almost finished painting the front of the house so at least when they take a picture it will look nice. You can actually see the carpet in my son's room now. SSB cleaned the porch - WOW, does it look nice! And now I just have to do EVERYTHING ELSE!

Wish us luck :)

PeepShow 2010

2010-04-07T15:46:00.004-05:00

Peep chefs in a grueling cook-off. Peeps have to be extra careful not to get too close to the hot equipment as they have a low roasting point - mmmm.... roasted Peeps...

BTW: this was put together by a coworker, but I knew you'd like to have your annual PeepShow fix

I Know I Promised, But...

2010-03-31T19:52:00.002-05:00

OK. I know that I have said some very scathing things about word verification in the past. AND I said that I would NEVER resort to it.

However...

WV has been making amends with me as of late. Offering up some pretty silly words to make me laugh, and trying to be all easy going... it's hard to resist.

Then there's that damn spam. I was using moderation here to combat it, but I don't check this blog enough times in a day; and I personally love to see instant gratification. And WV promised it would play nice for me and my friends.

So, I am going to give WV a chance. I'm a sucker, I know. I should be stronger, I know. But just look at how it tilts the letters in those crazy words just right. *sigh*

But, be a good friend and let me know if you think WV is out of line. Maybe it's out doing stuff behind my back, causing you guys all sorts of grief and making me look like a fool.
I'm counting on you.

And thanks for not making me feel all cheap and easy for giving in.

WV Word of the Day

2010-03-26T00:27:00.005-05:00

"Bitches Get Shit Done!"

2010-03-12T16:15:00.002-06:00

I am ecstatic because I just got one of my credit cards to drop 11% off their finance rate.
Yeah, their rate was truly outrageous.

When they answered the woman said, "I hope you know that Xcard truly values you as a long standing, excellent customer."

I said, "I sure hope so, and I hope that you are willing to prove it because right now I'm not feeling it. Our rate is completely unacceptable and I am requesting that you reduce that rate."

"Oh, let me take a look at your history...Well, it looks like you have had this rate for some time; but I'm not sure why since you have excellent credit."

"I know I do. We are great customers. Our rate should not be that high. Especially since your company is sending me stuff telling me that because we are such great customers they are willing to offer us a fabulous transfer rate. Why don't they just give me that rate on what I have on the card now?"

"I could get you to a specialist that could help you with your rate. I'm sure that we can get your rate lowered for you."

"Well, if you can't make my rate reasonable, I will do whatever I can to pay it off in the next couple of months and close that account."

"Let me get you to that specialist."

Wham, bam - 11% lower than we had been getting charged, effective immediately!
They already make enough off from us, they really don't need to be so damn greedy!

How Lohan Can You Go?

2010-03-09T18:12:00.005-06:00

Lindsay Lohan is apparently suing for some big bucks over the E-Trade commercial aired during the Superbowl that has a baby asking another baby if "that milkaholic Lindsay" was there with him. Lindsay Lohan, of course, immediately assumed that they were talking about her.

Lindsay, if even you assume that they are talking about you, how can you claim defamation of character?

Oh, wait...what? She's suing for exemplary damages? As in, she's suing because they are cashing in on the reputation that she built?

For real, Lindsay?

Oscars Goes Avatard

2010-03-07T20:09:00.004-06:00

I have to say that I am disappointed in the Academy's decision to allow "popular" contenders into the awards. I feel that the Academy's stamp on a movie has always been an indication of the quality of the movie. We already know what's popular!

Avatar is my biggest gripe. There. I said it. It was OK as far as movies go. I love the fantasy world that Cameron creates, but that is basically where the magic ends. I didn't feel that the story revealed anything special or new. I didn't feel that they spent enough time on character development for me to feel especially close to any of the characters. It felt like a movie whose theme and story has been done to death. The only thing new about it is the specifics of the environment. That is it.

Avatar's only real claim for an award might be in technology. And even then, eh. When I saw it I wasn't entirely convinced that it was real. It didn't feel real to me. It still felt animated - or maybe like a dream; not a real environment. When I saw Jurassic Park over 15 years ago, it felt real! So, is Avatar really that advanced? I don't think so. I think that it was cool, but not so ground-breaking as everyone would make it out to be.

Academy Awards should not be given out to movies merely because they are popular. I've been around enough people to know that most of them like cheap, flashy garbage - that's why Walmart is so popular. I think that the Awards should be reserved for movies and people that show something special or new. They should go to movies and people that make you feel something so strong that you just can't get it out of your head. Movies and people that keep you talking about what they have done on an intellectual and emotional level.

My favs this year are Inglorious Basterds (what an interesting alternative ending to WWII!), UP! (that movie was tight!), The Hurt Locker (the character development was amazing), and District 9 (this movie still has me talking). A movie that should have gotten in instead of Avatar was Moon. There was basically one actor in the whole movie and he was AWESOME!! I can't get that movie out of my head. A true great. See it. You'll thank me -- unless you're an Avatard.

Now Playing

2010-02-16T23:30:00.005-06:00

MINI.
NINJAS.
What else do you need to know?

It's Official. I Am AWESOME!

2010-02-11T19:50:00.009-06:00

Part of my parting duties at the job that I am leaving is to notify companies that we work with that there will be organizational changes. Today I contacted the company that we hired to advise us on Medicare accreditation matters to let our representative (who also happens to own the company - he made us his special project :) know of the changes and ask if he felt certain title changes would cause conflicts of interest that might put us in jeopardy. He said that my solutions to the problems were fine -- and since I wasn't going to be working there anymore, would I like to come work with him?

Yeah, another job offer! It's making it hard for me to believe that the economy is in such dire straights.

He said that he was always impressed with my skills in the field and would very much like to bring me on board. He had in the past actually alluded to the possibility of my running a Midwest branch of his company to save him from having to run up here so much (from Florida). But at the time I wasn't sure if he was serious, or just trying to compliment me on the job that I was doing to get our pharmacy accredited.

This information leaves me both giddy with the knowledge that I truly am great at what I do; and it makes me angry that my boss made it impossible for me to stay at a job that I love doing.

He's My Hero!

2010-02-08T01:38:00.002-06:00

I thought I loved Ralph Nadar, but he's got nothing on Rahm!
Yes, I know that this is an SNL skit and not really him, but the stories that people tell of the real Rahm aren't far from this portrayal!

GO RAHM!!!

It's Not You. It's - Oh Wait, It IS You!

2010-02-01T22:54:00.002-06:00

OK. So my boss did not take the news well. She tried to play it off like it was no big deal and she never needed me anyway, so what if I leave. One of my coworkers said she was acting like a person who just got dumped and is now trying to make it like they were really the one who ended the relationship. She kept snapping at me every time I turned around. So I snapped back, as usual. I hate it and am just about ready to call it quits right now.

So, I quit going to work for a couple of days. I had quite a bit of vacation built up and thought I should probably finally take some of it!

When I came back, her whole attitude seems to have changed. She is much more respectful of me and is actually coming to talk to me, not bitch at me. Maybe she just needed a couple of days to realize that she could deal with this a little better - after all, it was that attitude which led me to find another job in the first place! And she really doesn't want to know why I'm leaving. I tried to tell her, but I think she knows my opinion of her as a boss is not a good one. I tried to warn her that I wasn't the first, and won't be the last, but she wants to live in denial.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Yet another reason that I'm leaving.

Oh, and for all of you with bad bosses - you need to see BAD BOSSES. My boss - 27 out of 28!

When Can I Start Not Working

2010-01-26T10:13:00.004-06:00

I talked to HR at my soon-to-be new job today. She went over the basics such as hours I will be working, the time my shift starts and ends, my probationary period, wages...

Then she told me about my sick time - 5 hours every two weeks, personal holidays - 36hrs this first year, vacation - I can't even remember how much of that I get, and the mandated furloughs - I need to take 8 days in the next two years.

Then she asked when I would like to start.

Can I start not working now?!

But seriously, I can not figure out when I should start. I would love to start next week, but I also want to give two weeks notice. BUT, my boss is very unpredictable and reactive, so I'm afraid that there is a possibility that she might just fire me out of panic. I have thought that I could start now because I would still be able to make myself available for training for awhile -- but then I'm afraid that my new job might have a problem with moonlighting, even though I'm doing it right now for them. AND my boss is planning a vacation in a couple of weeks where she is supposed to go for a whole week. Right. She did the same thing last year though - started out as a 2 week vacation, then slowly whittled down to three days. And she wouldn't have even gone for those if I hadn't cornered her and forced her to go.

SO what I did is call HR at the soon-to-be new job and asked if it would be OK if I started right away at their job, but continued working at my old job for awhile just to get everything settled - since I'm not even sure how much more training I would have to do. She said that shouldn't be a problem, but that she'd need to contact my soon-to-be new boss to see if that would be a problem with her (I can't really see that being a problem - I've already talked to her about it, and I've worked both positions for their benefit many times in the past).

I'll find out this afternoon, and then I can talk to my boss.

Wish me luck!

2010 Whirlwind

2010-01-24T01:25:00.005-06:00

It's been a very busy time for me. Right before Thanksgiving I was asked by a past employer to interim for a position that had suddenly gone vacant. I knew that this was going to happen since a good friend of mine had held the position and had told me he was planning to move out of state to be with his girlfriend who had gone to grad school. I accepted the interim position and have been working my full-time business manager job during the day and serving as library supervisor at night (as well as running around trying to find renters for two vacant apartments!!).

Well, of course the job was open for hire, and they really wanted me to take it. In fact I had been offered the position two years ago, but ended up turning it down due to some major commitments I had made at my current job (switching wholesalers and getting Medicare accreditation); among other things going on in my life. But I wasn't going to turn it down twice. I've worked there on and off since 2001 and love all the people. I found out Friday afternoon that I got the job. So, I will be switching jobs soon. I go in on Tuesday to take care of the paperwork. I already do the job so there's not much in the way of training to take care of.

So, yay for me!

This really couldn't have come at a better time. My current boss has progressively been treating me more and more badly. She resents me for my capabilities and the work I do - even though she asks me to do it! I believe she is threatened by me - even though there is no way that I can take her job away! Instead of feeling really smart for having such a capable person to help her run her business, she has gotten to the point where she is undermining a good portion of what I need to do to get my job done and she is outright cutting me down almost every chance she gets. Not a healthy place to be, and I'm too old for bullshit.

The Internets Are Magical

2009-12-19T11:07:00.001-06:00

Just a couple of weeks ago this bag was just a picture on the internet, now it is sitting in my living room with my bowling ball in it. Weird. I feel like the kid in Willy Wonka that gets the chocolate bar from the television set. The bag was just as pictured, only better! I couldn't see on eBay that the bag had silver piping!
Frickin sweet!

Fun With Haggling

2009-12-03T19:59:00.009-06:00

I love to bowl. I may not be spectacular at it, but I love it anyway. I have had my own ball and shoes for years, but have been using a backpack for a bag since I could not seem to find the perfect "Sy" bowling ball bag. Well, I found it! On eBay.

I must confess that the only things that I have ever purchased from eBay were Buy-It-Nows. The bowling ball bag that I found said $34.90 Or Best Offer.

Hmm... "Or Best Offer", magical words that sparked something in me: I must have this bag -- at a great price!

After a little offering and counter-offering, I am the proud winner of the bag at $20.10! It was so much fun haggling! I can see why whole cultures insist on it!

It should get here some time next week, but here is my collage of the eBay pictures:

It's a little smudgey, but I am confident in my ability to clean it real purdy! And it'll go real nice with my shoes.

My Ticket Out Of Crazy Town

2009-11-13T19:22:00.003-06:00

I got a call from the library today asking if I could come back to the job that I had turned down a permanent position for back in 2008. I had turned it down back then because I had so many projects going on at my current job that only I would be able to finish and the fact that the library position would be a night position, ensuring limited time with my son during the school year. This position was eventually filled by a good friend of mine, KD so again, it was still a win situation.

Well, KD is now resigning because he is moving with his girlfriend out of state; thus, the position is open again. I am very tempted to more seriously consider the library job as my son is doing much better in school and my current boss is DRIVING.ME.CRAZY!!! SERIOUSLY!!

I have managed to train in a couple people to do at least some of the things I do there so it wouldn't be too devastating for the company, and we finally got a second pharmacist (who is now thinking about leaving because the boss is driving her crazy too)... she drives everyone crazy, really. I've tried to talk to her, but she just re-reasons situations and people's reactions to fit what she would like to think. She just refuses to see that she is driving people, good people, away.

I knew that KD was planning on moving to be with his girlfriend, I just didn't know he was doing it so soon. When the library called, I already knew that I would say yes to temping the position while they prepared to fill it, but a second chance at the position just opening up like this and dropping into my lap may be a sign. It may be time to move out of Crazy Town.

Princess Sy

2009-11-03T10:12:00.002-06:00

I saw this costume at Target and for whatever reason really wanted it. I dressed up for Halloween and went out visiting friends. I chose a larger size so that I could wear warm clothes underneath - which was good because it was freezing Halloween night! My son likes to go to the Renaissance Festival and I figured that this could double for going there too.

This Is How I Will Die

2009-10-28T23:03:00.003-05:00

As I was out in the street in the dark mowing leaves last night I thought to myself, yeah, this is how I am going to die.

Mostly Annual Pumpkin Party

2009-10-03T14:47:00.004-05:00

Today I went to JJ's Mostly Annual Pumpkin Party. I haven't seen her in over a year, so it was nice to catch up with her and see how her Not So New Now Job is going. I off course brought my now Mostly Famous Pumpkin Pie, and with it I decided to make my Creamy Italian Soup that morphed into a Spicy Chicken Stew. YUMMY!!

Sy's Mostly Famous Pumpkin Pie

Spicy Chicken Stew

SSB carving his pumpkin.

My pumpkin and JD's pumpkin.

Soup Stand-off

2009-09-13T15:08:00.003-05:00

I was reading a bloggers story of a food stand-off when they were very young and it reminded me of my own food stand-off.

It involved pea soup. My younger brother and I both tried it, spit it out, and refused to eat any more. My parents didn't tolerate waste of food. We were to sit there until we ate every last bit. 7 hours later we were still sitting there, obedient to the punishment, but not about to eat that soup! We were practically sleeping at the table as it was about midnight. They wrapped up our bowls, told us to go to bed and we would have to eat it for breakfast.

We sat down at the breakfast table the next morning with our heads hanging, not looking forward to another day sitting in front of those terrible bowls of soup. My parents retrieved the soup from the fridge, uncovered them and plunked them down in front of us, "Now, eat it!" We looked at each other and silently resolved to give it another try. We picked up our spoons and dug in... or we would have if they had not meet what seemed like concrete. We jabbed our spoons at the soup a couple more times, never even making a dent in the now hardened soup. My dad looked over at my mom, trying not to laugh, and said, "Oh, just get them some cereal!" We never had to eat pea soup again!

Currently Enjoying

2009-08-29T00:09:00.003-05:00

If you enjoy this video, check out The Guild series. Hilarious.

Because Mashups Are Fun!

2009-08-20T09:32:00.001-05:00

Lolrus

2009-08-09T19:51:00.005-05:00

Well traveled meme that SSB & I stumbled upon Friday.

Conversations At Our House v.34

2009-07-27T23:12:00.003-05:00

[On on way home after buying Quizno's Sammies for dinner]

Sy: They need to make these Sammie baggies bigger or come up with a Sammie funnel.

SSB: They make em cheap, but then they make the workers try and pack them into tiny bags. They've got to be losing money.

Sy: [ignoring SSB] Oh! I know just how the design would be! Look! ... You're not looking!

SSB: Yeah, yeah. I get the idea.

Sy: But you're not looking! It's brilliant!

SSB: [ignoring Sy] Maybe they could just train monkeys to pack them. They have tiny hands.

Sy: Yes. THAT'S what I want touching my sammie.

SSB: They'd wear tiny gloves.

Sy: Why can't we just have children do it like every other country?

Conversations At Our House v.33

2009-07-23T23:08:00.001-05:00

[Folders commercial comes on TV]

Sy: Folgers sucks ass!!

SSB: They can't hear you, dear.

Sy: That's OK. The neighbors can, & maybe now they won't buy Folgers.

Conversations At Our House v.32

2009-07-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

Sy: I saw a picture of Patrick Swayze the other day on one of those ragmags.

SSB: The one where he's got the earpiece?

Sy: Yeah. He's not looking so good.

SSB: Well, he's got cancer.

Sy: I don't remember celebrities dying so much when I was growing up.

SSB: Maybe it's because most of your celebrities were muppets.

Sy: Yeah, I guess they don't die, do they.

SSB: Jim Henson died though. I think it was cancer. Maybe from working with all that foam.

Sy: Ah. Muppethemiola.

That's Life. This Is Walgreens.

2009-06-01T22:54:00.001-05:00

I can't wait to enjoy the savings!!

1 comments:

Lyvvie said...: More practical for those of a certain age, but not all that optimistic.

Love the new look!; June 19, 2009 9:16 AM

Wolves Rule!

2009-05-27T23:01:00.000-05:00

I like wolves, you like wolves, who doesn't, right?

But hot holy hell! Three wolves?! I nearly wet my Zubaz when I laid eyes on this mystaculous delight. What kind of mad genius designed such a heavenly creation? Surely it is far beyond the scope of mere mortal humans. It must have been created by super-intelligent aliens, or there really is a God. But there is only one question I really need the answer to -- where can I get one?

Three Wolf Moon T-shirt on Amazon.com

A taste of the praise:

Dual Function Design, November 10, 2008
By B. Govern "Bee-Dot-Govern" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.

Clicky here for the best of the praise.

And why not indulge in a song?

WOLVES RULE!!

5 comments:

Michael Manning said...: Sylvana: You are fascinating and fun! :); May 28, 2009 2:14 AM

Sylvana said...: Michael Manning, like WOLVES? ;); May 29, 2009 3:37 PM

sideshow bob said...: You are so 3 Wolf Moon.; June 08, 2009 9:39 PM

Michael Manning said...: Hi, Sylvana! Just stopped over to say Hello and see what you've been up to! :); June 08, 2009 9:54 PM

Sylvana said...: SSB, so sweet!

Michael Manning, I have been gardening! Almost all my spring chores are done, tho so I should be able to post here soon!; June 10, 2009 12:35 PM

Garden Season

2009-05-19T08:22:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year when I spend nearly every bit of my free time getting my garden up to speed. I have been busy building raised beds for my vegetable gardens (got to get those damn veggies planted before Obama outlaws gardening;), buying plants, weeding, making a brick floor for my gazebo, and making a brick privacy wall for our patio (a few summers ago SSB and I spent a few weeks tearing a chimney off a friend's demolished house for the bricks). My work hours are flexible, so if the weather is nice that day, I call in late for work and spend time in the garden instead. I do this throughout spring every year. It's one of the work perks I enjoy the most.

If you would like to see what I am up to in my garden, go to my garden blog and check out the pics. Good stuff, I guarantee.

I mean, if you are into that sort of thing.

1 comments:

sideshow bob said...: I love the second photo...that's some nice shootin'!; June 10, 2009 9:20 AM

Lovebugs

2009-05-04T08:48:00.000-05:00

2 comments:

Michael Manning said...: A FUN photo of the cat and puppy! :); May 05, 2009 12:17 AM
Sylvana said...: Aren't they cute? Our doxie was a little sleepy in this photo because the cat was giving him a nice relaxing massage.; May 08, 2009 11:51 AM

I Survived!

2009-04-21T08:51:00.000-05:00

The visit from my parents went well. Hardly any arguing at all.

2 comments:

Mrs. Loquacious said...: Congratulations. This is a difficult feat to accomplish. ;); April 23, 2009 9:59 AM
Michael Manning said...: Yes, it can get strained during the last day. But it gets better with time! :D); May 05, 2009 12:18 AM

Scary Phone Call

2009-04-16T09:08:00.001-05:00

I got a phone call this morning at 8am. I thought that it was either JD asking us to bring him something to school (maybe his chapstick ;) or it was someone from work (which RARELY happens, even when they really should).

It was my dad, and my heart jumped into my throat he sounded so sad. He started out asking me if I got his message yesterday. It sounded like he was going to cry. I thought, OH NO! SOMEONE DIED! I got choked up and prepared for the worst.

Nope, he just wanted to know if we'd be around this weekend, because he thought they'd come for a visit.
Like tonight. In about 9 hours.
Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

3 comments:

Mrs. Loquacious said...: Gahhhhh! I hate calls like that. Thinking that something may/may not have happened to my parents usually brings me to tears, so I avoid thinking about this topic at all costs.; April 16, 2009 10:59 AM
Sylvana said...: Mrs. L, I'm terrible during sad movies or the news because I can easily imagine the people in the story being people that are close to me!!; April 16, 2009 3:10 PM
Michael Manning said...: Glad it wasn't serious!; May 05, 2009 12:19 AM

Karma's A Bitch So I Don't Have to Be

2009-04-14T09:11:00.000-05:00

I went disc golfing on Sunday. As we were driving on the second hole, I heard what sounded like a disc whizzing toward the back of my head. Before I could turn around, I heard it thunk into a tree. The tree was about ten feet directly behind me, and there was a jackass about 100 feet back grinning sheepishly and waving from our hole's tee.

What the hell! We are on this hole!

We finished the hole as quickly as we could and decided to let him play through. When he finished and approached, I almost gave him a very loud, angry piece of my mind.

But I withheld since I was with a friend and didn't want to embarrass him. He later said that he would have been OK with it. He would have just wandered off and acted like he wasn't with me.

Fair enough. But I was glad that I didn't say anything. Jackass's first throw on the next tee, the one that we let him play through on, he treed his disc into some pines!

Ha! Suck that Karma, Jackass!!

0 comments:

Conversation At Our House v.31

2009-04-07T09:13:00.000-05:00

[JD came home earlier than expected today]

Sy: Hey, I thought you had jazz band and tennis after school.

JD: No jazz band because we had a concert last night. And they are having a match in tennis with only the best 30 players.

Sy: Where are you in the line-up?

JD: 50 out of 70.

Sy: Well, that's not that bad. I guess you just need to practice more.

JD: Actually, I could be better, but I don't know because I've never done a ladder match.

Sy: What's a ladder match?

JD: It's where you challenge a better player, and if you win, you take their spot on the ladder.

Sy: OH!! Like Highlander! Except you don't cut off their heads!

JD: Uhhhh...sure.

1 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Deathmatch Tennis. I like it! There Can Be Only One!!; April 08, 2009 7:04 AM

Music Man

2009-03-29T00:23:00.000-05:00

JD has always been very musically inclined. He would drum on things when he was really little (not just bang on things, you could definitely tell he was following a rhythm). We were given a drum set when he 2 and he occasionally played. When he was 5 we purchased a piano and started him on lessons. He was writing his own music for the piano by 6. His teacher was impressed with the speed at which he could learn music. He has an ear for music, as they say.

When we sent him back to school after homeschooling for several years, he wanted to get into band. They didn't have piano, and percussion had been filled the previous year. His choices were trumpet, flute or saxophone, and they normally didn't let starters on the sax. He initially chose the trumpet, but immediately gave it up once he started practicing. Far too loud and sharp for his sensitive ears (and ours!). He was going to chose the flute next, but I told him that he would be much happier with the sax. "Besides," I joked, "if your Plan A fails, you can always play your sax on the streets for money." His teacher was fine with him starting on it since he had so much music previously. He wasn't so sure -- after all, look at all those keys!!
After one week, he was hooked.

We took him saxophone shopping a couple of months later. We went to several shops but they were all too brassy sounding and overpriced. Then we opened the case of a well worn used sax at Music Go Round well within our price range. It was scratched up and even a little dented, but JD's eyes lit up, "I want to try this one." The clerk cleaned the mouth piece and gave him a reed. The horn had a wonderful deep, earthy tone. I asked JD what he thought. He smiled at me and hugged the sax.

I convinced him last year to do Solo and Ensemble, a statewide competition for band and choir. He liked it so much last year, he decided to do it again this year. And he did so well last year (even though he miraculously learned his piece the week he was to compete because he just didn't practice before then) that his director urged him to choose an "A" piece; you can only go to state championship if you do well with an "A" piece.

Now, I have always told JD that he'd better get used to things not going quite right, because there'd be no getting away from that; he inherited it. And this time was no exception. His director told him Tuesday that he just found out that he was missing a whole movement in the sheet music that JD must now learn before the competition on Saturday (3 days away!) and his sax quit working on Thursday due to some repairs JD was supposed to have gotten done over Spring Break, but forgot. We had to send the sax in for repairs, causing him to miss his final lesson before the competition.

And I have always told JD that no matter how crazy things might seem to get, they always tend to work out in the end; he inherited that, too. The shop got the sax back to him that same night and the director felt so bad about the music that he cleared some time Friday afternoon for him. And he's going to state!

Great job, JD!

4 comments:

Michael Manning said...: Sylvana: I am so appreciative of your comments over at my site. JD sounds gifted. Sight reading was always very, very difficult for me. But for a child who has a suportive parent as you are is rare! This is something he will be forever grateful for his entire life!!! lol to you! :); March 30, 2009 2:11 AM
Sylvana said...: Micheal Manning - he has always been fairly advanced in a lot of ways. He certainly keeps things interesting!; March 30, 2009 10:24 PM
Lyvvie said...: Sweet, Sweet Validation with a side of pwnage! Awesome. You must have felt brilliant and well you should.; April 06, 2009 1:42 PM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie - last year part of the reason that he learned that piece in less than a week is because I played drill sergeant. This year, it was all him. In fact, I haven't even heard the piece except through the walls and floor of our house. He wants to perfect it before we get to listen to it.; April 07, 2009 8:41 AM

Coincidence?

2009-03-22T17:13:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching Australia, I mean the credits were still rolling, when SSB asks if I got his email yet. I start to log into my email, and as always I check out the headlines on the main page before heading into my inbox. I see "Biker Brawl in Airport Leaves 1 Dead". Weird. So of course I must clicky. And then I am reading this:

Bikers brawl through Australian airport; 1 dead
SYDNEY — Warring bikers brawled through Australia's largest airport Sunday, beating one suspected gang member to death and brandishing metal poles "like swords" as they rampaged through the main domestic terminal in front of terrified travelers.
Police said a group of suspected gang members was ambushed as they disembarked from an airplane.

"A fight ensued, the fight moved through various parts of the terminal," said Police Detective Inspector Peter Williams. He said 15 men were involved in the violence, which rampaged from the ground floor up one level to the departures hall before most of the men fled.

Williams said one man died in a hospital from head injuries after the brawl, which appeared to bear out warnings of an impending biker war in Sydney.

"They came running through picking up the big metal barrier poles and swinging them like swords at each other," witness Naomi Constantine told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"I saw one of the men lying on the ground and another man came up with a pole and just started smashing it into his head," she said.

Four men were arrested, Williams said. The others escaped, some of them by hailing taxis, local media reported. No charges were immediately laid.

Police did not identify the gangs suspected in the violence.

Authorities fear a gang war is brewing in Sydney following string of drive-by shootings and an explosion last month outside a fortified Hell's Angel's clubhouse.

Well, it seems that not much has changed in Australia.

(Here is the email that SSB sent me, speaking of interesting news stories.)

5 comments:

Lyvvie said...: I'm sending this to Malcolm....; March 23, 2009 9:34 AM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, I was thinking about you guys when I was reading it. It just seems like something you might see in a Guy Ritchie film. Weird, a little scary and definitely funny.

Hope Malcolm is up on his sword fighting :); March 23, 2009 5:12 PM
lindsaylobe said...: Sylvana – the biker wars which have surfaced anew will finally be met with a policy of zero tolerance _ new state laws to more effectively deal with this ongoing national problem.
Best wishes; March 26, 2009 5:47 PM
Sylvana said...: Lindsay, I hadn't heard of this war until this article, but it sounds similar to our gang wars.; March 27, 2009 8:32 PM
Michael Manning said...: Sylvana: Just today here in Scottsdale, Arizona where I live we had Biker Celebration Day. Quite a different event. But we have this problem in select cities as well! Very sad, indeed.; March 30, 2009 2:13 AM

All New Look

2009-03-16T02:36:00.000-05:00

I was really getting sick of my old template, so I have been working on new one. This is a tweaked freebie from a template site - it had an integrated title header that I had to change in a photo editor to the title of my own blog. That only took a few hours! First I had to figure out the photo editor since it was new to me - another web freebie: GIMP 2. Thanks SSB, it is AWESOME! Well, once you get it figured out that is.

I will be working over the next week to get the other bugs worked out of it and add back in some more personalized things. Until then, bear with me and let me know if there are any problems that you notice so that I can add them to my list.

In any event, I think it will be great!

9 comments:

Mrs. Loquacious said...: I love the new souped-up template! :) It's feminine and clean, making it very easy to read. Great pick!!; March 16, 2009 4:32 PM
Sylvana said...: Mrs.L, thanks! It was hard finding one that fit me and this blog, and didn't have a bunch of problems.; March 16, 2009 6:25 PM
sideshow bob said...: Bring out the Gimp!; March 18, 2009 8:18 PM
Shannon said...: Love it!!; March 19, 2009 10:40 PM
Sylvana said...: SSB, thank you! I have so many projects to work on!

Shannon, every time I see it I like it more and more.; March 20, 2009 9:50 PM
Michael Manning said...: Sylvana! It was nice to see you over at my site! Hey, this is a nice template; I looked around. Time to get caught up with your recent posts here too. Have a great weekend! :D); March 22, 2009 3:06 AM
Sylvana said...: Michael Manning, thanks, I will. I'm grilling!; March 22, 2009 1:27 PM
Heather said...: The new look is completely fab! I love it!!; March 23, 2009 1:20 PM
Sylvana said...: Heather, thanks. I've always been a fan of your blog design.; March 23, 2009 5:08 PM

Movie Marathon

2009-03-01T21:26:00.000-06:00

I've gotten a little bit of time to do some fun stuff - like watch some movies.

Wall-e -- ADORABLE!! It is a farily tight plot with a little social warning thrown in.

Ratatouille -- LOVED IT! A movie about being a foodie. And Janeane Garofalo? Never would have guessed it was her, even though I thought I recognized the voice.

The Butterfly and the Diving Bell -- extremely interesting. I love true stories and ones that are done from unusual perspectives. This is now my favorite movie about strokes. (My favorite movie about cancer is Wit)

X-files: I Want to Believe -- I am a big X-Files fan. I once drove through an ice storm to get home in time to watch the X-Files. This was like a long episode, so if you like X-Files, you'll like this.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop -- it was as it would seem, a goofy comedy with not much substance. Paul James is funny, I always like watching him in action.

Slumdog Millionaire -- there is a reason it won awards. It is a very good movie. I would recommend it to my friends. I love the fearlessness and smart-assedness of the main character; and how it prevails throughout everything that happens.

How To Lose Friends and Alienate People -- very good movie, smart and funny. I LOVE Simon Pegg, and this one even had Kirsten Dunst. Simon usually plays a loser in love with a great girl and the lengths he'll go through to win her back after blowing it.

Hamlet 2 -- a very strange, fun movie. And how could you not want to see how they come to a song called "Rock Me Sexy Jesus"?

Coraline 3D-- I now can't hear or say this title without starting to sing "Sweet Caroline" as "Sweet Coraline" thanks to Shannon. Loved this movie. Loved the story. And I just found out today that Neil Gaiman lives nearby here in Western Wisconsin. I was wondering why there would be rumors of Tori Amos looking for property in this area. Why the hell would she want to live in Western Wisconsin? I mean I love Wisconsin -- but not necessarily the most inspiring place to live. But then, Neil made Coraline and it was fabulous. Must see in 3D.

W -- Josh Brolin IS GW Bush, unfortunately for him. Although to hear him describe his character, you'd swear he thought he was making a comedy. It was very hard to watch. It was like re-living the last 8 years, feeling like the makers of the movie could have changed things, made things better, stopped it all from happening. It's a good movie though, if you can stomach it.

2 comments:

sideshow bob said...: Max Payne!!!; March 08, 2009 2:35 PM
Michael Manning said...: The last movie I saw was Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. It's rumored to be his last as an actor. It was quite good, very heart-rendering! I think he'll just direct now.; March 22, 2009 3:08 AM

The Economy Finally Hits Me

2009-02-22T23:31:00.000-06:00

I know that the economy is crap, has been crap, is getting crappier by the day -- but to tell you the truth I didn't feel it until today.

Cost Plus is closing all the World Markets in Minnesota!! AHhhh!!

I almost cried. But, then it would be too hard to find the things that I'd like to get 40%+ off. I will let the comfort of my savings and acquisition of all these goodies console my grief.

I have been meaning to get the blue rimmed goblets and the stovetop espresso maker for some time - no time like 60% off time. The espresso maker works great too.

The green mortar and pestle and the infusion tea cup were 60% off. The carved stone appetizer service forks and the stainless steel dip cups were 70% off. And the beautiful glass candle stick holders were 75% off.

All these great savings and I can barely enjoy it.
Well, at least the ones in Wisconsin haven't closed. The nearest one, Madison, is on the way to my sister's house; so looks like I will be visiting my sister more often!

3 comments:

sideshow bob said...: Sucks!

Double sucks!!!; February 22, 2009 10:30 PM
Shannon said...: My heart would break if all the Cost Plusses (?) closed in Vegas. It would be sad day- you have my sympathies.; February 25, 2009 8:41 AM
Michael Manning said...: Hang on, though! My friends at ASU tell me by the 3rd Quarter we will start to rebound!; March 22, 2009 3:09 AM

18 Years

2009-02-12T20:35:00.000-06:00

WOW! SSB and I have been together a whole 18 years!! In some ways it seems like we have been together forever, but in a good way.

We had made plans to have a fun-packed weekend -- but we will be dog-sitting instead. Our older dog had a tumor removed on Wednesday and we are on chew-watch. He's far too nervous a dog for the "lampshade", a his vet calls it. I got a peek at his chart and in the "Warning" box was written "Caution: NERVOUS!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

4 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Congratulations!!; February 13, 2009 7:18 AM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, thanks. And we're keeping up our anniversary tradition -- we can't go out and celebrate. Zero needs watching and just to be sure, I got a stomach virus. Blah!!; February 14, 2009 5:19 PM
Shannon said...: Congratulations! I hope you guys make it out to celebrate at some point, and your dog gets better.; February 25, 2009 8:40 AM
Sylvana said...: Shannon, we still haven't celebrated yet, but our dog is much better. Benign granuloma.; February 26, 2009 9:59 PM

Because there are only so many Nog Days...

2009-01-10T22:04:00.000-06:00

4 comments:

Lyvvie said...: You could freeze some, with heavy cream and have egg nog ice cream for the next three-six months!; January 14, 2009 10:08 AM
Heather said...: Mmm...egg nog....{drooling like Homer}; January 14, 2009 7:37 PM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, frozen nog is good as well, but nothing beats fresh nog!

Heather, noggy goodness!; January 14, 2009 9:22 PM

Neil Patrick Harris

2009-01-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

I was over on Heather's blog Matted Spam reading her list of songs that get stuck in her head, when I read the fascinating words - Neil.Patrick.Harris.

Neil Patrick Harris in a song list? What the hell does Neil Patrick Harris sing? At first I thought, perhaps there is another Neil Patrick Harris? Maybe there is a band that named themselves Neil Patrick Harris? It's totally plausible. I could see NPH totally digging that.

But NO! It's the real deal! The real NEIL effin PATRICK HARRIS!
SINGING!!!!
And it gets better. It's a whole wonderful, magical, hilarious operetta!
Thank you Heather!!

Note: This take a bit to load and is a 45 minute show, BUT IT SOOOO WORTH IT!!

4 comments:

Heather said...: It thrills me when I turn people on to Dr. Horrible!! YAY!! I'm glad you liked it! I think it's amazing! We made my family watch it on Christmas Eve and they were lukewarm in their reception of it. Don't understand how I ended up being related to them!! ha! Hope you have a great 2009!!; January 07, 2009 9:28 AM
Sylvana said...: OMG Heather! This really started off my new year right!

I emailed it to my family and friends.; January 07, 2009 9:05 PM
Michael Manning said...: Sylvana: Sending you all the best for your weekend! :D); February 08, 2009 1:30 PM
Sylvana said...: Michael, thanks Michael!; February 15, 2009 8:40 PM

New Year

2009-01-04T00:31:00.000-06:00

Wow! A whole new year! And what a great 2008 I had!
Celebrated my 17th anniversary with my awesome husband, SSB!
I had to turn down yet another fantastic job offer.
Planned a trip for the family to go overseas.
I completed a wholesale switch at work.
I got my taxes done in APRIL!! Earliest EVER!
Celebrated SSBs graduation from college.
Whipped our pharmacy into shape for accreditation.
Traveled overseas with the family for over three weeks using only carry on!
I met Lyvvie and her fabulous family.
I got my family passes to Stonehenge's inner circle!
Obama won!! and I helped.
JD, my wonderful son, turned 16!!
Our pharmacy got accredited!
And I got my best bowling game EVER!

I decided that I needed to celebrate all that awesomeness with a party. We invited a dozen people over to ring in the New Year. I made SO MUCH FOOD! And everyone brought food as well -- we're still eating it! I made apple brie flatbread, humus, bruschetta, pico de gallo and we had mixed olives, Pepperidge Farm cookies, mixed cheeses and crackers, various wines, various beers, and various ginger ales and ginger beers (I found the best ginger beer outside of Scotland -- Main Root Ginger Brew. Absolutely fabulous!). Guests brought falafel, salmon cakes, buffalo wings, salsa, tzatziki, praline pecans, and various other goodies. [You will be able to find recipes for all my offerings in the "Sylvana Recipes" drop-down in the sidebar].

One of our guests, Obi, is always worried that he will break our wine glasses, and I hate to have him drink out of plastic cups, so we had gone on a special mission to find unbreakable wine glasses. Mission accomplished at Target. They have a whole line of wonderful acrylic "glass"ware, located with their real glass counterparts. Picked them up for $2.99 each! When he arrived, I showed him the wine glass. He was really excited. I decided to demonstrate it's unbreakability to get rid of any doubt, so I whacked it on the piano bench. His wife yelped and nearly fell over she was so startled; she thought I had a real wine glass. Hilarious! Obi said the look on her face was priceless. See, I've given them a memory that they can cherish forever. And the acrylic wine glass really is tough -- not even a mark on it!

Since we have been too busy to show our trip pictures, we doubled the party as a slide-show party too (by demand, I swear!). We discovered that the Wii is also great for showing slide-shows on your TV. The resolution was far better than the DVD that we burned for the same purpose. Wii's are awesome.

Happy New Year Everyone!!
And for you, here is a slide show of our travels in Scotland. More to come...

2 comments:

pastamasta said...: Wii's are indeed awesome, as the 7 pounds I've lost since buying a Wii Fit board prove! (A fair sight cheaper than a gym membership, too.); January 07, 2009 10:43 AM
Sylvana said...: Pastamasta, Congrats! I keep fluctuating on the weight part, but the yoga has improved my strength and tone. I love the way that it can let you know if you are balanced for better performance.; January 07, 2009 8:08 PM

What A Week!

2008-12-20T02:41:00.000-06:00

Sunday was my BEST BOWLING EVER!!! I got a 192, 151 and a 167 for a 510 series!! And all that doped up on Benadryl!

All my renters are paid up.

And we got accredited! I just got the email today. There are still things to do, but our certificate is in the mail. That is such a relief! Our consultant was so impressed with my accomplishments that he asked if I would consider going into the accreditation consultant business.
I rock at my job.

2 comments:

lindsaylobe said...: In the past 4 years (with a lot of hard work) you have accomplished far much more than most people would even dream about - congratulations ~!!
Best wishes; December 30, 2008 3:55 AM
Sylvana said...: Thanks for the congrats Lindsay. I am hoping to have a calmer year in 2009.; January 01, 2009 9:42 PM

JD Turns 16!!

2008-12-14T22:28:00.000-06:00

Yikes! I can barely believe that my little guy is now 16 years old!

And you know what, neither can most other people. When they hear I have a kid, they are thinking that I have a lower single digit. They usually say something like, "You have a kid? Awww! How old?" When I tell them, their expression changes from puppy-dog-dreamy to WTF.

We had another bowling party for JD. The kids LOVE it and it is a way to get a bunch of kids together and not in our house.

JD bowling

JD's final game of the night. His first turkey and his highest score ever!

The cake.

It was a great night. Even one of the parents stopped by and joined in the festivities by passing around an embarrassing picture of her little guy (one of JD's guest in a Pikachu costume). I like JD's friends, and their parents!

4 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Happy Birthday!! Glad to see it was tons of fun with added cake! HUGS!

Can't wait to see pikachu.; December 16, 2008 1:34 PM
Shannon said...: Happy Birthday, JD!; December 17, 2008 8:27 AM
pastamasta said...: Damn... your bowling skillz are madder then mine by some distance. Practice session coming up, methinks.

Happy Birthday to JD...!; December 29, 2008 5:22 AM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, the boy got a hold of the picture and crumpled it up before I could get it. But it was adorable!

Shannon, he's grown several inches since you saw him in Milwaukee!

PastaMasta, nice to see you out and about again!; January 01, 2009 9:47 PM

Conversation At Our House v.30

2008-12-13T19:15:00.000-06:00

[Walking back from a working lunch at which we had discussed various procedures that still needed to be implemented or address for the accreditation process, SSB and Sy passed a guy walking a dog]

SSB: I like the coloration on that dog.

Sy: It's brindle.

SSB: Sounds like a character from Lord of the Rings.

Sy: Or something with peanuts in it that you eat at the holidays.

SSB: Like an Infectious Disease Log?

Sy: [gives an ewww face, then laughs]

SSB: Mmmm! Nothing like a Pepperidge Farm Infectious Disease Log to celebrate the holiday season!

3 comments:

Shannon said...: I just got a comment from you on my blog- how funny we're reading each other's blogs at the same time.; December 15, 2008 10:05 PM
Shannon said...: Sounds like a perfect treat at an office holiday pot luck to me!; December 15, 2008 10:07 PM
Sylvana said...: FREAKY!!; January 01, 2009 9:48 PM

Finally, I Have NOTHING To Do!

2008-11-23T15:57:00.000-06:00

I have all my rental properties rented and we have had our accreditation audit (we did well of course, because I was in charge). That leaves me with a little time on my hands. Which led to me finding a couple of guys with even more time on their hands!

[This video can take a while to load, but it is SO worth it! Just pause it while it loads, then run it in all it's uninterrupted glory!]

2 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Whoever says knowing how the trick is done ruins the magic, hasn't seen that.; November 24, 2008 11:25 AM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, yes! I found it to a thoroughly amazing and entertaining video.; November 24, 2008 11:00 PM

The Obama Dream Cabinet

2008-11-05T23:42:00.000-06:00

SSB and I have already started to project a "Dream Cabinet" for Obama. Now, we began it as a serious endeavor, but then it just became way too fun to dream! So, forewarning, some of these picks are not so serious; you guess which ones.

Secretary of State:
Bill Clinton
He's fantastic at foreign policy, and he' s pretty good at affairs to ;)

Secretary of the Treasury:
Warren Buffet
He's got a lot of money. We think he knows something about making it.

Secretary of Defense:
Colin Powell
He has the temperament, knowledge of the military and experience with war to do this position justice.

Secretary of the Interior:
Al Gore
Who can get more people behind protecting our resources?

Secretary of Agriculture:
Willie Nelson
He does Farm Aid.

Secretary of Commerce:
Google guy
We can't remember his name. Sure we could Google it, but thought "Google guy" sounded better anyway. We think he knows a thing or two about building a business; from absolutely nothing to WORLD DOMINATION!!

Secretary of Transportation:
Norm Coleman
We figure we could take a moderate Republican or two out of the Senate to open up a couple of seats. They would have to be from Democratic states to help ensure that they would be replaced by Democrats/Independents. Besides, we think he did something with the light rail in St. Paul.

Secretary of Education:
Tommy Thompson
He did a great job funding alternative learning programs and helped make sure Wisconsin was tops in education in the country! Go Wisconsin!

Secretary of Health and Human Services:
C. Everett Coop, a.k.a "Admiral Muttonchops"
Along with his easily identifiable style, he actually knows a thing or two about health services!

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development:
Jimmy Carter
Habitat for Humanity!

Secretary of Homeland Security:
Dog the Bounty Hunter
His job is to hunt down fugitives.

Attorney General:
Patrick Fitzgerald
He has built his career on fighting corruption. He did a fine job in the Plame and Libby case -- and at times when it was still very dangerous to a person's career to go after people in the White House.

Secretary of Energy:
Roscoe G. Bartlett
He's a House Republican and owns a Prius!

Secretary of Veterans Affairs:
Max Cleland
... well, we were looking for a good Republican candidate for this position -- but we couldn't find one (except McCain 2000, who may, or may not still exist -- and we need him in the Senate anyway). All the ones that actually have helped veterans are Democrats.

4 comments:

Shannon said...: Would we need to refer to "Dog" as "Secretary The Hunter?"; November 06, 2008 2:59 PM
Michael Manning said...: I've wondered what Duane is up to and have read his book. If anyone could capture OBL it;s "The Dog"!; November 11, 2008 1:02 AM
Sylvana said...: Shannon, yes. I think it helps maintain a little crazy that we need to intimidate ill-willers.

Michael Manning, we certainly have the talent that we need right here in America -- it is just a matter of finding it and matching it up with the need.; November 12, 2008 7:07 AM
Shamus O'Drunkahan said...: Not so sure about Warren Buffet. I mean, he's all about drinking and the beach and having a good time and we really need somebody who will... oh wait. That's Jimmy Buffet. Nevermind.; November 12, 2008 9:34 AM

OMG!OMG!OMG!

2008-11-05T01:38:00.000-06:00

It is as if in one night all the electoral damage done by the last two elections has been corrected. It is as if in one night there is undeniable truth that this country is finally shaking free of its horrible oppressive past. It is as if in one night there is not only hope renewed for America, but for Americans, and the world.

Congratulations, and THANK YOU!, President Obama!

1 comments:

Shannon said...: I KNOW!!!!!!; November 05, 2008 12:25 AM

Ray of Hope

2008-10-25T16:10:00.000-05:00

It was pointed out in a recent email to me that I have been very noticeably absent from my blog (thanks, Lyvvie!)

Part of it is the mountain of projects at work.
Part is the mountain of projects in my business.
Part of it is the mountain of projects at home.
Part of it is my stupid computer fighting me every time I try to do ANYTHING on it!
But, a huge part is my obsession with the presidential election.

Now, I get a pretty worked up at every election, but there is something very different about this one for me. I truly see a shining ray of hope for America.

Going into this election, after the primaries, I wasn't that interested. I didn't know that much about Obama, but many people that I respected seem to like him; and I had always not only liked McCain, I admired him. In fact, I thought what Bush did to McCain and his obvious heroic record was not only shameless -- it was EVIL!! I appreciated McCain for sticking to the high ground during that primary, even if it resulted in his not getting the nomination. I felt that this election appeared to be a win-win. And when he nominated Sarah Palin, I thought, well now it really is a win-win-win situation. I thought either Obama or McCain would probably make a good president, and if Obama won he would be the first black president, and if McCain won, she would be the first woman vice president.

Then the winds of change blew in.

Over the course of the weeks following the conventions, I learned more about everyone; and I have to tell you -- I became increasing concerned about the welfare of this country. It went from being a fairly even choice to an inspiration vs instigation run for the White House.

Little by little that admirable exterior that McCain held was chipped away as he sold it for his chance to finally realize his life-long dream of being President. He did show signs of resistance along the way. Don't feel that I thought he went down without a fight. But ultimately he has been reduced to a grinning puppet for the RNC/GOP.

And Sarah Palin? Not a win. The more she has shown of herself, the more concerned I have become about the future of the country. I had a renter like her -- delusions of grandeur. "Yeah, so I was wondering if I could build a sunroom off the back of the house." I highly doubt it, and ABSOLUTELY NOT! Although I appreciate the self confidence that it must take to truly think that you are totally capable of easily accomplishing things that you really know nothing about, I have much greater appreciation for people who know themselves well enough and are honest with themselves and others enough to say, "Sorry, not my forte." Seriously, if it's not an outrageously inflated sense of abilities then it must be that she has such a low opinion of what it takes to run America that she would think that living close to Russia and signing some payroll checks would more than qualify her for the job. Either way -- not good.

And as she got more and more confident, she became more and more concerning. She is stabbing McCain in the back on many issues which has him back-peddling to keep some semblance of continuity in the party. And the way she leads a rally is alarming. The RNC calls it rallying their base -- they're base alright, and she knows just how to play them. Fear will lead them, and she is a great horror story teller. She certainly scares the hell out of me!

As far as McCain goes, you can clearly see that this is a bit alarming to him as well. He has had the decency to scold his own crowd when they have gone overboard and were getting out of control. I commend him for that, but I have to say, I haven't seen much of it lately. He is a man unsure of which path to take. It is clear he is not comfortable (or at least, was not comfortable) with the things that Palin had been stirring up in people. But the "maverick" seems afraid of taking control of his own campaign. His indecisiveness and conflict with his own campaign make him appear erratic and at times more than a wee bit senile. Not a good projection when you are trying to convince people that you are steady with all the answers. He can't even figure out his own campaign!

Then there is Obama. The only thing that I knew about Obama as this race started was that he had easily won in Illinois due to some scandals with the other candidates and that he had somehow pulled a victory from sure-thing Clinton. I was actually upset because I had enjoyed the Clinton years and was all ready for another round. I was not ready to accept Obama, for sure.

Then I heard him speak.

He really is an inspirational figure. He has the ability to talk about real problems that we face without sounding negative; which is a problem that has plagued many Democratic presidential nominees. He makes you feel like there is hope and that we are great, without pandering to you or blowing smoke up your ass. He uses inclusion instead of division to get support for his ideas. I truly feel that he has the ability to bring us together in unity to solve problems that we face today. And I get a strong sense of intelligence, fairness, humanity, discipline and toughness from him. Plus, he is one cool dude!

His running mate, Joe Biden, is a great Robin to his Batman, too. Very knowledgeable, a little goofy, unintelligible at times, but his heart is definitely in the right place. And he really, truly supports Obama.

But what is even better than having such an awesome person running for president is the fact that despite the RNC's best efforts to discredit him, America recognizes Obama's greatness too. Hope lives. But although Obama does have a comfortable lead in most polls, I can not rest easy knowing that anything could happen in the next week. SSB and I have already volunteered to drive people to the polls, and we are planning to canvass next week -- something that I have NEVER considered doing in the past!

And although I do lean Democrat, it is important to note that I am an independent and I do not always vote Democrat. I supported Ross Perot and Ralph Nadar (a personal hero of mine), not to mention Tommy Thompson (before he stuck his head up Bush's ass, anyway). I support Obama, not because he is a Democrat, but because I feel he is the real deal. He will be not just a good president, he will be a GREAT president.

4 comments:

sideshow bob said...: You know, John McCain and Sarah Palin have been saying some pretty nasty things about Barack Obama lately.

And I couldn't agree with them more...I couldn't disagree with you, I couldn't agree, with you, more than that you are the most patriotic, god-fearing person in the world.

But seriously, that woman is evil. EVIL, I tell you. Making women pay for their own rape kits crosses the line from regular old villainy into cartoonish super-villainy.; October 26, 2008 1:51 AM
"AG" said...: Very eloquent post. I agree.; October 26, 2008 5:02 AM
Shamus O'Drunkahan said...: I'm an indie too. I only hope the polls are correct. But there are a lot of really dumb people out there. And they can't see past race or rumors.; October 26, 2008 8:37 PM
Sylvana said...: SSB, I get sick of hearing how negative BOTH parties have been. I really do not see negativity from the Obama campaign. In the last week we have gotten phone calls from both campaigns. ALL of the McCain calls told us how frightened we should be of the terrorist loving Obama. The Obama calls said we all need to come together to bring the change we need for this country -- so don't forget to vote! And in the last week or so we have gotten dozens of campaign droppings on our door step. The McCain ones are just like their phone calls and the Obama ones are just like theirs.
I have yet to see or hear a truly negative ad from the Obama campaign.

AG, awe thanks, I was going for eloquent rather than the rabid bear option.

Shamus, I know. Though every time I start to get hope that this country is pulling out of the ignorance hole it has fallen into, I am unpleasantly surprised to find it digging it deeper. :(

BUT this election HAS to be different!!; October 29, 2008 9:06 PM

Sylvana Slide Show - ICELAND

2008-09-16T10:18:00.000-05:00

Thingvellir National Park

Geysir Park

Gullfoss

Marshmallow field

Seljalandsfoss

Skogasfoss

dry pond by glacier

Svartisfoss

Oraefajokull (glacier)

glacier flow

glacier flow with JD and SSB

glacier creeping over smooth mountain

ancient lava field

butte and lake

Vik

Icelandic farm with glacier

Icelandic farm

Smokey Bay

cool silos

8 comments:

"AG" said...: These pictures are amazing! I love the moody skies. I can also sense how quiet it must be there. The marshmallow field is wonderful. It all seems so removed and peaceful, but tell me, is there a McDonald's behind you while you took these?; September 17, 2008 4:49 AM
Sylvana said...: Most of these pictures were taken away from the city and although we did see a few American restaurants (Pizza Hut and KFC - actually there might have been a KFC behind me while taking the silo picture) I don't recall ever seeing a McDonald's. They are VERY fussy about things, so if they did have a McDonald's I'd bet it would be the best you ever had.; September 17, 2008 8:03 AM
lindsaylobe said...: wonderful slide show -many thanks !; September 24, 2008 12:55 AM
Sylvana said...: Lindsay, my pleasure!; September 24, 2008 10:27 PM
FLUBBERWINKLE said...: Beautiful shots. Can't wait for the other countries.; October 02, 2008 3:33 PM
sideshow bob said...: Mmmmmm...Icelandic bottled water!!!; October 25, 2008 2:25 PM
Kari said...: Hey!! I haven't checked your blog in so long!! :D

I love the pictures of Iceland, absolutely gorgeous!!

Lol, I also wanted to ask you if the Icelandic women are really as beautiful as I have heard them to be.; October 30, 2008 11:23 PM
Sylvana said...: Flubberwinkle, I have to break Scotland down into chunks since I have SO MANY pictures from that country.

SSB, I knew you'd like Iceland!

Kari, glad to see you still checking in! And yes, they are beautiful.; November 14, 2008 10:28 PM

I'm Back!

2008-08-30T11:48:00.000-05:00

We got back from our trip last week Tuesday. I have been so busy trying to get back on track at work and my business that I haven't had time for much else. And my computer was still in dire need of attention as it had quit working again. I decided that it was a power cord issue, which it was, and now my computer is happy and functional again.
Yay!

But I still have to go through the 5,027 pictures and video of our trip!
We would have far more, but we were trying to conserve our card space.

Our trip was fabulous! We spent 5 days in Iceland, 13 days in Scotland, 4 days in Ireland, 1 day in Wales, and 2 days in England. Really like 4 vacations in 1. We even got to meet a fellow blogger in Scotland, Lyvvie, and her family. We had a fantastic time. She is every bit as fun and interesting as she is on her blog.

Although I could have stayed another week or so, I am glad to be back to be able to finally share my adventures with all my friends. Instead of trying to tackle the trip all in one post, I am going to break it down into a few different posts. So get ready for the Sylvana Slide Show Series!

4 comments:

"AG" said...: Looking forward to the Sy Show!; August 31, 2008 7:46 AM
Lyvvie said...: Yay!! Can't wait. And thank your for the pictures you sent, they're great! (Although can you tel Hubs and I are normally camera dodgers?) HUGS to you all!!; August 31, 2008 9:06 AM
Shannon said...: I was afraid they'd put you on the "No fly" list and you'd never return. Can't wait for the pictures!!!; August 31, 2008 11:41 AM
Michael Manning said...: Did you get a chance to fly on Ryan Air? Sounds like a glorious trip.; September 07, 2008 12:13 PM

Little Known Travel Tips

2008-07-25T22:27:00.000-05:00

Always call your credit card companies before you make uncharacteristic purchases, like booking things overseas.

We did notify our company. Three weeks in advance. And they STILL blocked our card after the first overseas booking. The $3400.00 in airfare that we put on it earlier this year didn't concern them, though. Even though we NEVER go ANYWHERE!! Nor did the purchase of those tickets through ICELAND AIR give them an indication that we might be traveling to Iceland and therefore require lodging in that country.

I understand their concern, but they really could have called us first. Or maybe noted on our account when we called them three weeks prior to the purchase.

And then there was our other card, our business card, which we use only a couple times a year and almost exclusively at Menards. Last year they didn't do anything when I wrote out a huge check to pay for the new roofing. This year, I made a $300 purchase at Menards for flooring -- they blocked my card citing suspicious purchase. I wasn't buying flooring in ICELAND!! It was 8 miles away for crying out loud!

Well, we finally have everything worked out after a lot of sitting around on hold and more swearing than I hear at family gatherings.

Also, don't forget, if you are going to be away from your home for a while, like we are -- get rid of all your produce! ESPECIALLY POTATOES!! There really is no worse way to end a trip than to come home to rotten potato smell soaked into every last porous object. Disgusting!

4 comments:

Michael Manning said...: All good suggestions, Sylvana. Here in Arizona just as we passed the tomato scare, there is a Pepper scare from the imported variety.

Have a nice weekend! :D; August 02, 2008 12:45 PM
Lyvvie said...: Did you all get home Okay?? How did the rest of your trip go? Got soggy near the end, huh. Come now...Update!!

HUGS!!; August 22, 2008 7:48 AM
Elizabeth said...: Hi, long time no read your blog, but it's brilliant as always. My advice is that Visa is way better than Master Card at those things. I lived in Central Asia for five years and you know what? My card got blocked approximately once every six months when I bought anything. It was pretty amazing. Amazingly retarded, that is.

I hope you had a good trip otherwise.; August 24, 2008 8:40 PM
Sylvana said...: MichaelManning, I'm actually creating a bigger vegetable garden just because I'd like to know where my food is coming from.

Lyvvie! OMG! What a trip! We thought of you a lot. I have some vacation suggestions for you and your family that you could do in a weekend.
Funny about the rain -- it would rain while we were on the train, ferry or bus, but as soon as we got off and wanted to do something -- it stopped and would even often go the step further to actual sunny. Weird. We're usually not that lucky.

Elizabeth, nice to see you around again. And thanks! I have not been updating regularly anyway due to my computer being ill and being off gallivanting across several island countries recently. We are back now, and my computer has completed some software therapy and parts transplants -- so hopefully I will be able to update more often.; August 28, 2008 9:26 PM

Congraduations!

2008-07-15T09:59:00.000-05:00

SSB graduated from the computer network program this spring, with honors!

Outstanding performance, honey!

So, this weekend we celebrated by having a few friends over for some yummy food and assorted beverages. Most of our friends don't really know each other, so it was interesting to see how they co-mingled. Surprising well! It was much better than my graduation party where you could scoop tension out of the air, and we considered it a success because there was no police involvement (a lot of my family and friends DO NOT co-mingle well -- mostly because of my family). It was refreshing to feel that I could knock a few back and not worry about keeping people entertained or reffing disputes.

SSB said that it must have looked like a bad-ass party with two old-school Harleys sitting out in front of our house and the crazy dogs barking every time someone arrived. No one got bit or peed on thankfully!

And the weather was beautiful! They had forcasted T-storms, but they came Friday night instead. Saturday was sunny T-shirt and jeans weather with an ever so slight breeze.

SSB is a lucky, and deserving, man!

4 comments:

"AG" said...: COngratulations!; July 15, 2008 5:47 PM
Shannon said...: Hoorah for SSB!; July 16, 2008 8:50 AM
lindsaylobe said...: Congratulations!

There have been so many milestones in your lives and careers over the past few years its simply amazing !

best wishes; July 18, 2008 7:46 AM
Shamus O'Drunkahan said...: Now get to work fixing that Cisco router.

Just kidding, I'm sure it's fine. Congrats on the degree.; July 23, 2008 8:29 PM

3 More Weeks

2008-07-05T12:38:00.000-05:00

We will be leaving 3 Saturdays from today. Yikes!

Yesterday we finished the remainder of our major pre-trip purchases: flip-flops (for the hostel showers and any beach trips), water repellent shoe treatment (it gets wet over there!), decent backpacks (as we will not be taking anything with us that we can't carry), and 2 camera cards (8GB 133x cards for all the photos and video). I hope that it is enough. I take a lot of pictures. On my last trip to Scotland I came home with over 3500 pictures and video clips. And this trip there are two other people that will want to take pictures!

It is such a nice day today that we have to take advantage of it. We are heading to the state park to enjoy some out-doorsy activities; and see how far we can carry our fully-packed packs!

0 comments:

History in the Making

2008-06-30T23:48:00.000-05:00

I'm an independent voter that tends to vote Democrat. Although I have not had a real preference between the two Democratic presidential hopefuls(Hilary and Barack), in the last few week before the end of the primaries, I had been leaning toward Barack.

Now I have always liked Hillary. I truly feel that she was a partner president during Bill's terms -- if not actually running the whole show! And I really feel like the country was well run during the Clinton Era. I personally experienced plentiful, good paying jobs with great benefits at a time in which I had little work experience. I felt that the country was actually the most responsible that it has ever been in my life, and I really appreciated that. I feel that we need to wake up to the fact that the world isn't as big as it used to be, and we need to keep good relations with our neighbors even if we don't see eye-to-eye. We all need the resources of the earth, and future generations do too, so we should be looking at the big picture, not just the here-and-now. And I felt that both of these were being addressed in the 90s. (Yay for us!)

Then came the Eight Years of Devastation. Although I really feel that Hilary has a resume full of getting-things-donedness, I felt, in the end, that she might be a hard sell. She's not always easy to understand, she has made a few big mistakes in her career that make me uneasy (voting for the Patriot Act and voting to go to war in Iraq), and , frankly, she can come off as insincere. But probably her hardest obstacle to overcome is really the big downfall of the Democratic Party in general-- they tell you how honestly crappy things are but don't really make you feel that something can be done about it, so what is the point? Of course, people like me know that even the answers they give to the problems can be depressing, but with a little perseverance by everyone, those answers will get us where we need to be. To most other people, it just sounds like someone pissing on their personal feel-good parade.

Barack, however, has a great way of letting people know that things need to change while remaining positive. He has a special skill that allows him to reach people with the truth in a gentle way that doesn't send them running to their bunkers or shouting "Nay-sayer! You just hate America!" He has a comforting way about him that makes you feel that he has control over the situation and everything will be all right. He has an easy sense of humor that isn't high or low brow. And although he is very articulate speaker that doesn't dumb things down, you can actually understand what the hell he's saying!

Although I do think that Barack does make a more reasonable candidate for the Democrats, I actually would have been satisfied with either one; because having either one of them as the Democratic presidential candidate shows that at least a lot of this country is ready for change. Change that I wasn't sure that I would see in my lifetime. This primary has got to be one of the largest leaps in abolishing inequality in this country. And that is a win for everyone.

3 comments:

Myjetstream said...: well, my personal liking is for hillary.; July 05, 2008 5:40 AM
Shamus O'Drunkahan said...: We're in quite a hole - I hope whoever gets elected can actually make changes.; July 05, 2008 7:13 AM
Sylvana said...: myjetstream, as long as we don't have to deal with G.W. or his like!

Shamus, it was nice to see you come out of hibernation!
We are in a depressively massive hole. But I have hope.; July 05, 2008 10:37 AM

Weinermobiles!!

2008-06-21T23:55:00.000-05:00

9 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Is that a Wiener-mini? Holy Hell! I still have that song stuck in my head "I wish I was an Oscar Mayer wiener. that's what I truly want to be. Because if I was an Oscar Mayer wiener, then everyone would be in love with me."; June 22, 2008 1:47 PM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, I thought of you when I saw them. The mini is a Mini Cooper with a hot dog added to the top. I want one!; June 22, 2008 10:29 PM
Michael Manning said...: A MINI!!!!!!; June 23, 2008 1:28 AM
Sylvana said...: Michael, did you see that the license plate says "LTL LINK"?; June 23, 2008 8:02 PM
Shannon said...: ROFL. I needed that.; June 23, 2008 8:19 PM
Sylvana said...: Shannon, these could cheer up just about any day!! And that yellow is my favorite yellow; June 23, 2008 9:29 PM
SierraBella said...: Now that's a great alternative to a limo ride!
Imagine arriving at your wedding...; June 29, 2008 1:44 PM
Sylvana said...: Sierrabella, that would be awesome!!!; June 29, 2008 10:46 PM
Myjetstream said...: thats awesome and its beautifully designed.; July 05, 2008 5:41 AM

WhooHoo!

2008-06-08T01:46:00.000-05:00

Both my travel applications were approved!!*

And SSB fixed the power jack on my computer!**

What a freakin' fanatastic day!

*See previous post

**My computer has been non-functional since well into 2007 due to a broken power jack, which was part of what corrupted the hard drive. Everything seems to be back on track thanks to the skills SSB learned in his networking program.

3 comments:

SierraBella said...: Sounds like a wonderful day!
Can't wait until you return from your trip and let us in on the "world famous historical site."; June 08, 2008 4:09 PM
Sylvana said...: I, of course, will bring back TONS of pictures!! Last time I went to Scotland/Ireland/Iceland I brought home over 3500 pictures!; June 08, 2008 8:54 PM
Myjetstream said...: sylvana, 3500 pics.... you have a lot of material to cherish of, in your future!; July 05, 2008 5:44 AM

Jellin' Like Magellan

2008-06-05T00:44:00.000-05:00

We finally chose an itinerary from the 20+ that I had worked up in the spread sheet -- yep, I'm so nerdy.
Now I can finally start filling in the blanks. I have sent out a couple of applications for special events while we are there. One was for lodging at a castle/palace just outside of Edinburgh. One was for special entrance into a world famous historical site -- their application frowned upon "advertising" our visit publicly, and until I figure out exactly what that means, you will have to guess.

We will be spending 4-1/2 days in Iceland. Then we will fly to Scotland and travel for two weeks. Then we will go to Ireland for a couple days. Ferry to Wales, bus to England then fly home. I can't wait!! 2 more months.

And my garden looks the best that it has ever looked. It looks like it did in my head before I even planted the first plant. At least a few times a week people will call to me from the street to let me know how much they appreciate the garden. And I have actually had people knock on the front door to request access to the garden so they could take pictures or just get a closer look at things. I'm thinking next year I might want to see about getting on a garden tour.

Things are definitely coming together.

2 comments:

Shannon said...: Oooh! I'm so excited for your trip too. I almost feel like I'm the one going on vacation!

BTW- I haven't read your garden blog in a while, but I just checked it out. I'm impressed!

Sylvana said...: Shannon, oh, thanks! I'm really excited about the garden. Although I have many passions, I think it is safe to say that gardening is one of my greatest.; June 06, 2008 9:47 AM

Recent Events

2008-05-25T02:04:00.000-05:00

Two weekends ago we spent cleaning our basement. It's all sanitized and cleaner than it has ever been! We hauled everything outside, scrubbed the whole basement down with bleach, disposed of anything not worth cleaning, and cleaned/sanitized everything else going back into the basement. I thought it would take a couple of days -- we had it done before 6pm.
Then we went to Ironman.
Again.
It's good. Go see it.

Last weekend was SSB's graduation. He's now all set to take on the networking world. Great job, sweetie. You rock!
For his graduation we went out to the local Mexican restaurant and we rented There Will Be Blood.
That was an interesting and strangely funny movie. A must see for the final scene alone!

This weekend we were supposed to go camping, but the weather looked pretty sucky for Saturday, so we decided better of that. I spent all of Saturday in the garden. I got a lot done!

For more garden pics -- tulips, tulips, tulips! -- go to my garden blog.

5 comments:

lindsaylobe said...: Congratulations to SSB -what doees SSB stand for again ......
Best wishes; May 25, 2008 7:31 AM
Mrs. Loquacious said...: I think your garden is absolutely lovely. It looks so cared for! :) I covet your green thumb :P; May 25, 2008 7:17 PM
Sylvana said...: Lindsay, SideShow Bob.

Mrs. Loquacious, I love gardening.; May 27, 2008 11:09 PM
lindsaylobe said...: I already knew that! What I was implying (ha ha) that he was the main show, not the side show; it’s just the dry Auusie humour if you call it that! Best wishes; June 05, 2008 11:06 PM
Shamus O'Drunkahan said...: Nice garden!

And Ironman rocks.; June 18, 2008 9:57 AM

Block the Line

2008-05-17T00:24:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago our tub started singing to us, "blook, blook, blook!" Although annoying, we didn't think much of it, until a week later when SSB brought some tools to the basement.

Well, I won't go into details, but apparently when your tub starts singing, you should worry.

We checked the internet for possible reasons. There were two possible sources for our problem: blocked vent or blocked sewer line.

The blocked vent seemed simpler to fix, so to the roof we went. With a sewer snake, we checked the vent for blockage. As I was about to feed the snake into the vent, I told SSB that he should be prepared to move out of my way if a squirrel came shooting out. No squirrel, and although we did find a little compost in the vent from old leaves, not much else.

To the basement. Our access to the sewer line was easy enough to find. It is was actually in our basement next to the furnace and water heater. We did find some blockage in the line, as the snake hit a dead end. We guessed that the blockage most likely was from tree roots as there is a hug white pine right over our line.

We went to the hardware store and got some root killer. We had done some research and read that since we could have an old cast iron sewer line, we would want to stay away from the copper sulfate killers. The copper sulfate can corrode pipes and really do damage on older pipes. So we got a non-copper sulfate foaming killer.

It said that you could flush it down the toilet, but I wasn't willing to take the chance of this "foaming" chemical frothing out of my toilet all over the bathroom. We just dumped it into the sewer access, screwed the cover back on and then flushed the toilet a couple of times. It took two bottles of the stuff put in the line a week apart, and we were actually thinking that we were going to have to call the sewer guys, but SSB was in the basement checking the laundry tub while the washer drained (we had to make sure that we weren't getting overflow when ever we drained the tub, sink or washer; and we could only do a 1/2 load of laundry every 8 hours!) and it started to fill as usual, then he heard a "whoosh" and we have been clear ever since.

I never thought I'd be so happy to actually do laundry!

2 comments:

lindsaylobe said...: What a story -wh0000000ssszzzzsetth -what a relief !! drop a line to the chemical manufacturer, they might want you to do a paid commercial !!
Best wishes; May 20, 2008 8:34 PM
Sylvana said...: Lindsay, not a bad idea. Maybe they will give us some coupons. We have to put the chemical in our line at least once a year.

We thought being without water while we were tiling the bathroom was bad -- this was far worse. I am so happy to have that over with!; May 25, 2008 12:03 AM

Seeing the Light of Day

2008-04-29T23:35:00.000-05:00

I have been a very busy girl. I'm not working more hours -- but I am getting more sleep! It is really nice to see people still checking in on me even though I have been so very vacant from the blogosphere. My computer has been in bits since some time before the beginning of the year, so it has been tough getting computer time to get anything done properly. SSB promises to have the computer done sometime soon. Yep. Any day now.

This year is the earliest we have gotten our taxes done since we quit paying someone to do it (what a waste paying someone else to do it is!). We still did not get them done in time to get in on the first round of rebates. Soon, though. Although I think that the rebates are too little too late to really do much good for the economy, I must say that it is the very idea that I have been preaching about for years -- if you really want to stimulate the economy, don't give money to the rich hoping they'll spend it; give the money to those who will REALLY spend it -- the lower class!

I convinced my boss to let me hire SSB to help me. I tried to get her to let me hire him last summer, but she wasn't having it. No problem this time. And what a great idea that was, I must say! I'm finally getting out from under the HUGE piles of work that have been piling up around me since last summer. It feels so good to finally see the light of day again.

2 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Gald to see you're still around. I'll still be seeing you? Yes? *hope*; April 30, 2008 8:23 AM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, yes! Plane tickets are already purchased. Trip planning is another thing that has been on the back burner while I get a few things ironed out at work and home. But I have to get back on that. We have less than three months till we leave!; May 02, 2008 10:09 AM

The Planets Are Aligning

2008-03-10T23:54:00.000-05:00

--I just got another happy email about our trip this summer -- we will be able to stay at the palace/castle where I went to school! I was really hoping to be able to show my family the place that I stayed, they are going to love it!

--JD got a solo part in jazz band. Just last week he was complaining how there were no solo parts for his position on sax. YAY, JD!

--And finally, It looks like there might be a full-time day opening at the library soon. I may or may not be interested in it -- and it may be out of my hands anyway. Current employees get get first choice. The woman who took the night position (the job that I turned down) has the potential of transfering into that job before I'd even have a chance to apply -- which would leave the night position open again; but we've already established that I don't want that job. SO, it looks like if I had taken that job, I couldv'e been in a day position by the end of the year. And you know what, I really don't regret my decision. So now I KNOW I made the right decision!

5 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Saw this and thought of you Peep Show!!; March 16, 2008 5:19 AM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, HA! That is hilarious! We didn't get around to doing our usual peepshow this year - but it may not be too late. We're not Easter people anyway. I think of Peeps as more of a spring thing.; March 23, 2008 9:18 PM
lindsaylobe said...: Congratulations! Your life and that of your family seems to be getting better each year, all of the hard work is paying off!
Beest wishes; March 30, 2008 7:11 PM
Michael Manning said...: Very inspiring!!! Wishing you a nice April 20Th!!!! :); April 20, 2008 2:52 PM
Douglas Cootey said...: Way to call it, Sylvana! Isn't it deliciously rewarding to take a risk and have things turn out for the better?

Douglas Cootey
The Splintered Mind - Overcoming AD/HD & Depression With Lots Of Humor And Attitude; April 20, 2008 3:55 PM

"This is what you eat before you eat, to make you more hungry."

2008-03-06T00:34:00.000-06:00

I just got the confirmation email on our stopover in Iceland --

We get to stay 5 days! I'm so excited! It's like a vacation appetizer.

--BTW The title is one of my favorite lines from South Park. Click the link to read the script to episode. Hilarious!

3 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Yay! Here's a game for you to play, count how many times they take a sudden intake of breath when speaking. It's a strange Icelandic thing they do, speak along and then, *gasp* continue to speak. I noticed it a lot when they came here for cheap Christmas shopping holidays.; March 06, 2008 12:43 PM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, hmmm... I did notice that they were a talkative people, didn't notice the gasping however. Now that's all I'll be thinking about!!; March 06, 2008 9:31 PM
Lyvvie said...: I think they do it like a reversed sigh, like some people say, er or um. I noticed they do it when they're thinking or pondering. then again - it could've been just me. I know; I'll ask Maja!; March 07, 2008 12:28 PM

Pharmaceutical Reps Are People Too!

2008-02-29T01:03:00.000-06:00

When you get enough liquor in them, boy are they a hoot!

SSB and I attended another drug dinner -- with an OPEN BAR!!! SCORE!!!

The food was phenomenal and served family style which made it feel even more like a party atmosphere. We actually didn't talk much about the drugs that each of the reps were hocking. In fact, I almost forgot why we were there in the first place.

Most of the reps gathered around SSB and I as we ate, as we are just that frickin' entertaining! One of the reps preceded everything he said with, "At the risk of a little self disclosure..." Well, come on, you know what follows is going to be interesting! Another overheard us talking about Wii and began picking us for information. He confessed that although he likes video games, his wife says he's too old to play. I pshawed that! We proceeded to get him all drooly over Wii, and when he heard that there was a Zelda for Wii, he got all dreamy-eyed, like he was going back in time, muttering, "Yeah, Zelda is great." Another rep was asking us for computer tips making us feel all geeky -- it was fabulous! Another was complaining how she had to go on the road with this rep that kept trying to pick up every woman he met. Another picked up that topic to concur that the man was embarrassing to be around. He asked us, "How could you work with someone like that. I just want to ask him if he knows how embarrassing he is." I told him that he should audio tape him and play it back to him. He got all giddy with the scenario in his head of the play-back to this guy.

We ate a lot, we drank a lot, we laughed a lot. I don't remember the last time that I had that much fun with a bunch of strangers, let alone drug reps! I can't wait for the next one!

4 comments:

"AG" said...: I love the title of this entry!; March 02, 2008 2:36 PM
Sylvana said...: AG, yeah, we usually treat them like dirt, but they really came through for us this time :); March 02, 2008 10:06 PM
Irb said...: How fun! If I ever get to start swinging in those wild and crazy Search Engine Optimization circles, I hope they're at least half as entertaining...; March 03, 2008 12:54 PM
Sylvana said...: Irb, it is well known in Wisconsin that most situations are instant fun -- just add alcohol!; March 03, 2008 9:45 PM

That's My Final Answer

2008-02-27T23:12:00.000-06:00

I made a decision today. And that is a load off my mind.

The job situation was far more complex than I could even explain in a post. Most people never get the experience of working at place that doesn't just feel like a place of employment -- but it feels like your second home. I was lucky enough to have TWO! The people aren't just coworkers, but they are like part of your family.

Sure some of the people are crazy and drive you nuts, but then, you haven't met my real family. Same deal.

I have been thinking about the decision I would have to make for months. It was not an easy one to make at all. Each place had something great to offer, and not so great.

I told my bosses at the library one by one from the top down today, before I notified HR. I figured that it just didn't seem right to leave it up to some outside person to break the news. They were each stunned that I would turn down the position, but I feel that in the end they really understood. They are of course heart-broken at the missed opportunity, as I am; but they do have a fair second choice. That was a relief for me, as well as them. She isn't me, of course, but I'm sure she will do. They have already asked if they can keep calling me for fill-in positions and the like. OF COURSE! Nothing else has changed, it's just bad timing for this particular position, I told them.

Ultimately, it came down to flexibility and potential. And even after making the decision, I am not 100% sure I made the right one. But it is done,and I feel better.

One thing that really helped me feel good about the choice I made was thinking about which job I would regret giving up more if I ended up losing the job that I chose due to some event (such as budget cuts or store closure). I realized that if I took the library job and subsequently lost it due to budget cuts, I would regret having given up the pharmacy job MORE than giving up the library job and eventually losing the pharmacy job due to store closure. That feeling of greater regret helped me know that over-all, the pharmacy was where I needed to be.

Ah, RELIEF!
Now where's my damn chocolate!!!

2 comments:

Shannon said...: Yay! And you still have that connection at the library...maybe other opportunities will come and be a better fit someday. Congrats on making a decision that's right for you.; February 29, 2008 8:15 AM
Sylvana said...: Shannon, thanks. I feel so much better now that I don't have that to worry about. And I know now that I certainly made the right decision, so it makes it that much better.
It is so great to have this blog to work out these matters because I obviously couldn't talk to most of my current non-blog friends about the dilema -- they had biases due to the fact that they are connected to one job or the other.
So THANK YOU!!; March 02, 2008 1:04 PM

Good News or Bad News?

2008-02-27T00:52:00.000-06:00

I just talked to Mo tonight and she informed me that I am first pick for the library position. That means that if I want the job, I have the job.

I have been waiting for a full-time, full benefit, real staff position at the library for years! So why is this so depressing? Why is it making me so anxious?

Bad hours and bad timing.

*Sigh*

Human resources haven't contacted me yet, so I still have time to decide. But what am I going to do? I really do love both my jobs. And both have crazy people that I would have to deal with on a daily basis.

I have good friends at the library. I am afraid of losing them as friends if I have to work as an equal coworker with the one (she can be very silly and frustrating) and as an underling to the other (we will butt heads!).

I have good friends at the pharmacy that I am afraid I'll lose if I take the other job as they will see it as betrayal and abandonment.

The pay at the pharmacy is better and has potential for being even greater. The pay at the library is not as good, and will not improve in the future.

If I don't take the job at the library, they will be greatly disappointed, but life will go on and they will find someone else. If I leave the pharmacy, I fear the place will be crippled even worse than it is right now. A couple of people have even told me outright that if I left, they would be fast behind me as I am their island of sanity (yeah, ME, that is how bad it gets there!).

I fear everyday that the pharmacy owner will crack under all the pressure she's under and shut down the place -- and without a pharmacist, we can't even open the store. But, with the economy the way it is and educational budget cuts what they are, I'm not so sure that the library position is so safe either.

The library promised to be fairly flexible with their hours, and it would not be that difficult to take time off during the summer. But my hours are VERY flexible at my current job -- I write my own schedule and I can do some of my work at home. Plus my son works with me, and would most likely not have the job if I left.

I love hanging out with the whole staff at the library, some of the pharmacy staff I could do without.

I LOVE BOOKS!! I LOVE BUSINESS!!

At the library, every semester I will get new workers that I will most likely not be able to choose. At the pharmacy, I will pretty much have a say in every worker hired.

I have way more power over my environment at the pharmacy, and you know what? I like that. A lot.

ACK!!!

I just don't know! I was kind of hoping that something would have been decided for me at this point. Maybe my current boss would have a nervous breakdown. Maybe I wouldn't have been first choice. Maybe either of them would have said "no" to THREE WEEKS OFF!! I mean, COME ON!! Maybe I should have asked for a month...

As you can see, they both want me really bad. Both are really counting on me to come through for them. And I like both of them a lot, if for different reasons.

I have never had such a difficult career choice in my life.
I'm going to go curl up in a corner now and hope this all blows over.
Nudge me when the coast is clear.

4 comments:

evilsciencechick said...: OK, you are being ENTIRELY too nice about this! You are so worried about what the people at either job will do, that it's clouding your judgment.
You are not responsible for their happiness or sanity.

Now, take a step back and weigh each job according to YOUR needs and YOUR happiness. AND the needs and happiness of your family. YOU GUYS COME FIRST! Not them. They will survive without you. and if they snub you for making a decision that's best for you, then maybe they weren't really your friends in the first place. Friends are generally HAPPY when you make a move that makes you happy.

So which one would make you happy? Would you be happy with more money, or doing something you have passion for?

Good luck! I know these decisions are never easy!!! (((hugs!))); February 27, 2008 12:17 AM
Sylvana said...: ESC, thanks. It is a tough decision. They both are great in some ways and both suck in some ways. It's trying to figure out what good stuff I need and what sucky stuff I can tolerate that is most of the problem.; February 27, 2008 1:47 AM
Mrs. Loquacious said...: You have a very tough choice ahead of you, Sylvana! :( Unfortunately, I cannot offer advice of any merit to your situation since it is uniquely your own. That said, *I* am personally a library lover; I entered the working world by being a page at the local library for 4 years. I'm finding that whatever happens, I tend to be drawn back to libraries, even though I realize that librarians do so much more than just order and process new books. This is why my future dream is to work as a teacher-librarian with a focus on balanced, early literacy. :)

Good luck with your decision; may you find peace with whatever you decide!; February 27, 2008 7:28 AM
Shannon said...: I want to echo ESC comment. The decision is about you and now how either place will cope. If the pharmacy cracks without you, it's because of bad leadership which you currently cannot fix. What if it closes with you there?

I think you should choose whatever will make you (and your family of course) happy, whatever you will like doing the most, and whatever will afford you the most potential in the future.

Does either job offer more room to grow and learn?; February 27, 2008 8:27 AM

My Love/Hate Relationship with the Internet

2008-02-24T23:52:00.000-06:00

What a LOOOOONG weekend!!

I mentioned in a recent post that I would be solidifying plans for a vacation. The travel agent that we saw was not getting us the results that I had hoped for, so I decided to take another try at figuring it all out myself.

All week I was seeing some pretty good prices, and had even considered buying the tickets Thursday. But SSB thought we might want to go in to talk to the travel agent again on Friday.

I have had a really bad cold all week, and Friday I was busy trying to get caught up at work, so I forgot about going to see her. We stayed up late Friday night searching for tickets again, but all the searches that I had been doing all week were coming up far higher than they had been. We decided we should probably jump on some tickets before they went up anymore. I purchased tickets through Continental for about $400 more than we had been seeing, but at least we had tickets.

As is my nature, I fretted about the huge, last-minute commitment. I did some more searches Saturday and came up with a better deal and a better itinerary. Luckily, I was a Continental member and was able to cancel my reservations within 24 hours of booking. However, when I tried to complete the booking on the other airline, I kept getting knocked off everytime I got to the end of entering all my info! After the third time I was very frustrated, so you can imagine my state of mind when after the forth time that it happened and I re-ran the itinerary search, those same tickets came in as TWICE AS MUCH!!!

I shot the airline a scathing email about their website and how they had ruined our vacation plans, then I sat and cried for about 20 minutes. While SSB was preparing to storm the airline company to demand an apology for his fine lady, I decided to try a different itinerary. I not only found one that was still within our price range, I managed to save us a couple hundred over the original, too!

Since this airline does not have a 24 hour bail-out, we are indeed now committed to our plans.

What are they?

At the end of the summer, we are going to Scotland!! We have been saving some of my dual income, as I have mentioned. AND I managed to get my boss to agree to give me up for THREE WEEKS!! I haven't taken vacation in the two years that i have worked there(except for a day here and there) so I really do have it coming. And it is far enough in advance that I am not too worried about it. I know she is, but she will be fine.

We will be spending a day in Iceland, spend shy of three weeks in Scotland, and finish up our journey at Stonehenge before flying home. I am so excited! This will be the first time that SSB and JD have been overseas, and I know that they will LOVE Scotland! I already have accommodations in mind and have begun the remaining planning that will be needed. I am an efficient planner and have been told that I could make a great career creating vacation packages -- but you know what, I already have more careers than I know what to do with!

Speaking of that, my interview for the library position went well even though I was half hungover from my cold medicine. They really want me for the position and have even made accommodations for my travel plans, but I just don't think I can take the job. I feel horrible letting them down, but I'm sure that they can find someone that can fill the spot. I have no idea who they could have fill my shoes at the pharmacy!

But don't worry, she'll be fine for three weeks. I'm going to get hooked up with an international cell plan to keep in touch -- and there are always internet cafes!

5 comments:

Mrs. Loquacious said...: I am envious of your trip...Scotland? Hubbs is still not yet ready for European travel; he prefers to stay in N. America or else head to Asia.

The best part of any travel would have to be visiting old historic sites and museums. Be sure to include something of the sort as you plan out your itinerary! :)

Oh - and I am constantly amazed at how quickly website prices go up. Expedia may be one of the worst. Once it went up $80 in a span of about 45 minutes for the exact same itinerary.; February 25, 2008 8:16 PM
Sylvana said...: Mrs. Loquacious, Scotland is a very easy country to get around and the people are great.

We love old buildings and geological formations -- so we will seeing a lot of that. I also have friends in Scotland that I will try to see. One I met on the blogosphere, and the other directed a cetacean voluteer program that I participated in a few years ago.

I have purchased many a trip related thing on the internet before, from hotel rooms to plane tickets, but that was THE SINGLE WORST experience of that kind. Truly horrible.
But I do have to say that the airline immediately responded to both the emails that I sent, and I thought the airline was great when I traveled on it; so they will get a reprieve from me.; February 25, 2008 9:50 PM
Lyvvie said...: Can't Wait To See You!!!; February 26, 2008 10:05 AM
Leon J. de la Garza said...: seems like it's going to be a great vacation..
i'm in need for some vacations..

i haven't had a real vacation since i was in highschool.. which means.. about 4 years now..
that sucks huh?
anyway..

Im glad you are taking some vacations.. i hope you have a great time!; February 26, 2008 5:33 PM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, it's going to be fun. I have already spent 2 months in Scotland traveling just about everywhere, from Ayrshire to Orkney. I can't wait to do it all over again with my family.

Plus, getting to meet another blogger makes it all that more exciting!

Leon, I am so ready for a vacation, I won't want to come back!

It wasn't as difficult to save for a vacation as I thought it would be. You should start planning a trip right now and saving up.; February 26, 2008 10:00 PM

Happy Anniversary!

2008-02-17T16:32:00.000-06:00

Friday was SSB and my 17th anniversary.

That seems like such a long time when I say it, but when I think about our time together, it really doesn't seem that long at all.

Friday I left work early and we started off our day by visiting a travel agent. How romantic! We have been saving up some of my dual job money in the hopes of a late summer escapade. We will know more next week.

Then we went to out favorite in-town restaurant to discuss the travel possibilities. SSB will be graduating from his program this spring and I thought that before he gets started in his career, we should probably try to take a LONG vacation somewhere -- overseas, since he has never been out of the country save for the time that I dragged him through a small part of Canada.

On our walk home we popped into our local thrift store* where I found an awesome sweater and pair of jeans. It is one of my favorite stores to shop. Over half my wardrobe is from finds at that store and my house is equipped with many a great find from there too.

We looked up movie showings in our area and discovered that they were all crap, or movies that we didn't want to see on our anniversary or in the theater. So we rented a couple and bought some local wine. The movies were eh, and so was the wine, but it was nice to be at home relaxing together. That's been rare lately.

A little before midnight, we bundled up and went bowling! It was great. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. The dance club atmosphere they have on weekend nights is so romantic, and we bowled pretty good games too.

Saturday I had to get up early to work. But SSB came shortly before closing to help me install a new coat rack. Nothing makes you feel more like a couple than working as a team on a project.

Then we went shopping at one of our favorite stores - Kohls. It's a Wisconsin based store that is AWESOME! Most of my wardrobe is either from Kohls or our local thrift store. They just have what I like and Kohls has some really impressive sales. We got between 40-75% off everything that we bought, plus an extra 15% off at the register! NICE!!

We used the money that we saved to eat at Applebees. It has been years since we have eaten there. We went during their busy dinner time, but still got in immediately AND got a BOOTH!! I love booths! Our waitress was a little creepy (as they tend to be in those places with crap on the walls) but the food was delicious!

We finished off the night with yet another mediocre movie and some cuddle time on the couch with our dogs.

You know it is love when you can spend your time together doing seemingly ordinary things and still feel like you are doing extraordinary things. I am definitely looking forward to the next 17!!

*Bush actually stopped at this store on his way through Wisconsin several years ago and cited stores like it as proof of the thriving economy -- uh, you know, no offense to the thrift store, but when thrift stores are thriving while new goods stores are not, it kind of gives the impression that people don't have the money for new goods. Also, thrift stores like that one get all their goods for free! People donate all the goods that the store sells, AND in that particular store, and some other stores like it, all the workers are volunteers too. So without money spent on merchandise or employees, how could they fail? Is that the way of the future according to Bush?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...: Congrats!

Many, Many more.
~Shamus; February 17, 2008 8:08 PM
Sylvana said...: Shamus, aw, thanks! I know we will oblige!; February 17, 2008 9:40 PM
Shannon said...: Congratulations!!!; February 17, 2008 10:32 PM
FLUBBERWINKLE said...: Congratulations! Hope you do go on that trip.; February 18, 2008 3:23 PM
Michael Manning said...: Congratulations and yes, Applebee's is awesome with the half-order Pecan Crusted Salad!!!; February 18, 2008 8:50 PM
Sylvana said...: Shannon, thanks. With that many years together in this era, I kind of feel like we won something. -- Or SHOULD win something!

Flubberwinkle, me too! It really does look promising :)

Michael, I had the Oriental Chicken Salad -- it was even good two days later when I ate it for breakfast! That's a huge feat for a salad!; February 18, 2008 9:48 PM
Douglas Cootey said...: Getting away is great for relieving stress and finding new perspective on life. I hope you two get your chance. Happy anniversary! My wife and I will be celebrating our 20th this August. Long relationships aren't the norm anymore. Congratulations on making it work.

~Douglas; February 19, 2008 2:28 AM
Sylvana said...: Douglas, there are a few things a couple can do together to test their compatibility -- home improvement and travel. We can do both, but we travel together much better than fix things together!
I attribute our longevity to the fact that we are both very similar and very different and the fact that we are willing to compromise in between.
Congratulations on your own rarity!; February 20, 2008 12:09 AM
"AG" said...: Happy anniversary!

Come vacation in Maine! We have a Norway and China!; February 21, 2008 1:14 PM
Sylvana said...: AG, Thanks!
And thanks for the suggestion, but we already have our plans made -- just need to take care of a few more things....; February 21, 2008 10:00 PM

Upsets

2008-02-05T01:30:00.000-06:00

There has been a rash of upsets lately: Obama over Clinton (I'm OK eiter way, they both have a lot to offer -- and either would break boundaries that need to come down), McCain over just about everyone in the GOP (go McCain!), the Giants over the Patriots (Yah! In your face!), and now it comes to me. Ever since I have worked at the library I was certain that if I had the opportunity to work there full time on a permanent basis I would snatch that opportunity in a heart-beat. Right now there is such an opportunity. In fact, the position was created largely with me in mind.

Then there is my current full time job. I love the work, but the owner is driving me, and most everyone else that works there, CRAZY!! She is rarely available when I need her to look over something, sign off on something, or do her part of the work in any of the projects that I am so desperately trying to get completed before the deadlines. However, she always has time to hover and get all in your business when her opinion and knowledge is not needed -- uh, I'm the one who taught you how to run this report, thank you very much. She can be very negative, and complains constantly how she never gets time off; but then when we all pitch in and set up times that she can have off, she will try to come in anyway! I actually have to be at work anytime that she is scheduled to have off so that I can make her go home if she does come in. She'll tell people to take some time off and then complain that they aren't there. And when they get back, they'll hear from her about how awful it was because she didn't have any help -- even though a replacement was there and everyone else was helping cover too.

So, you'd think that taking the library position would be a slam-dunk. Right?

Not exactly. It is a night position. That means that my entire social life would be royally screwed. I wouldn't really get to spend time with the other staff, which is part of what makes the library such a nice place to work. And, if I have to go to staff meetings or need to speak with anyone about problems, I will have to come in off schedule.

And, at my current job, I pretty much feel like my own boss. I write my own schedule. If I want to come in late, I come in late. If I want to take an early day, I just do it. I write most of the store policies. I'm in charge of fairly major business decisions. It really is like a well paid business internship/crash course. Speaking of which, I am going to be mighty busy this weekend teaching myself the basics of ledgers!

So, here I am, looking at the realization of the job that I have been wanting for years; only to surprise myself with hesitation. I've pretty much decided, I just don't know how to break it them. Everyone has been counting on me so much, I just don't know how I can face letting anyone down.

Who knew being in high demand could suck so bad?

4 comments:

Shannon said...: Will the position at the library eventually lead to a better, daytime position? It may be worth taking if it were a stepping stone...; February 06, 2008 7:59 PM
"AG" said...: It IS hard to be in demand and have to say no to some people and accept that you will disappoint them. But it's a part of being awesome.; February 08, 2008 5:36 AM
Lyvvie said...: How did you manage to have kids and maintain a social life?!?! All the folks we know who have kids have disappeared. they'll return in time for bridge club, lawn bowling and zimmer-frame races. As far as the job goes, I say keep what makes you happy, lose what drive you nuts; life's too short.; February 12, 2008 11:16 AM
Sylvana said...: Shannon, that is good advice and I have considered it. It might -- in three years. But in those three years JD will be going through high school and would basically never see me during the week unless he visited me at work. That would suck.

AG, yes. But is still good to be awesome ;)

Lyvvie, oh, believe me, when he was young we did not have a social life. He's old enough that we can leave him at home alone now -- plus our friends find him charming and love to have him along.
I so agree with your philosphy about life. The problem there is that they both drive me nuts to some extent and they both make me happy -- but I think that I have come to a conclusion: I have far more control over what drives me crazy at one of the jobs. That makes a HUGE difference!; February 17, 2008 2:31 PM

Monchhichi

2008-01-17T02:16:00.000-06:00

I figured that it was about time for an update on the cat that I picked up in our yard about 5 months ago. You remember - the starving, parasite-ridden kitten.

Yes, we still have him - and he is a hugger. Here you can see me and the cat necking. He likes to wrap his paws around my neck and tuck his head under my chin or in my hair. I have to be careful though, he also likes to nip.

He will snuggle for hours and isn't too fussy as to who he is snuggling. Mo snuggled with him for 1-1/2hours when she met him for the first time.

We named him Zuchi after I jokingly said we should just name him Zucchini. I call him Monchhichi, for obvious reason.

In this picture you can see some of his beautiful markings, although the picture really doesn't do him justice. I had a lot of trouble getting a picture of him as whenever he sees me, he runs to me to be picked up.

He has thick tiger stripes on his legs, shoulders and hips; and has spots on his sides. You can even see his thick mane in this picture. The bottom of his feet have thick tufts of hair as well.

He's a pretty good cat. He gets along well with our dogs, in fact, he LOVES our bigger dog and is always trying to cuddle with him.

We weren't in the market for another cat, but how could we resist?

6 comments:

Heather said...: I could never resist a kitty in need - which is how at one time I had 10 of them in my house!! My friend has a cat who nips...I've left her house bleeding from his "love bites" more times than I can count!! Monchhichi is absolutely adorable!!!; January 23, 2008 7:55 AM
Leon J. de la Garza said...: i have always wondered... what do you need to do to keep cats and dogs together without them killing each other...

i've never tried it, so i don't know...
it's just something that intrigues me; January 25, 2008 2:19 PM
Sylvana said...: Heather, if I wasn't careful I would he would draw blood too!

Leon, dogs and cats aren't naturally inclined to hate each other. It's really about the personality of the animals, their experiences and the guidance of the owners.

When I introduce a new animal to the group, I make sure that the ones I had previously know that this new one is a friend of mine, and therefore should be a friend of theirs, or at the very least, should not be harassed. I also make sure that I am fair with attention to avoid jealously issues. A slow introduction is a must for any new animal. I let them have short, always supervised, periods of time together at first. Then I make the time longer and longer.

Neither of my dogs were really agressive by nature and they both know that I am alpha. The cat is very mild-mannered himself and loves affection. Once he figured out that the dogs weren't going to hurt him, he buddied right up to them. It took less than a week.; January 28, 2008 11:46 PM
Evil Spock said...: There was a loose domesticated bunny in our neighborhood, and I tried to catch it to take to the animal shelter. No dice.

My first cat was a stray too!; February 01, 2008 1:47 PM
Lyvvie said...: Awww. Awww. AWWWWwwwwww!! I always say when an animal shows up on your doorstep asking for help, you can never turn them away. I keep waiting for one to show up on our doorstep. I want a cuddling puddytat.

When I was in high school, we had a stray move in with us, and she used to sit behind me and love-rub my hair and head and then nip. She would get herself into such a loved up frenzy the teeth came out. Her favourite nip spot was my chin. I miss her. She lived to be 19. I think her ghost still visits me when ever I take a nap.; February 03, 2008 9:02 AM
Sylvana said...: Evil Spock, we have had trouble getting our shelter to take in animals too. But I guess without proper funding, what can they do? Our shelter has been opened and shut down three times in the last two years due to funding and local policies (which also affected funding).

Lyvvie, I like having animals find me. And I have enough finding me that I really don't need to go looking for any!
Zuchi's favorite place to nip me is the chin. He's learned that I don't like it, but he still has a strong desire to do it. So when he gets worked up, I can see him fighting himself not to. He has contented himself with baring his teeth and pressing them against my chin.; February 17, 2008 2:09 PM

YOU GREW UP IN RURAL WISCONSIN IF.............

2008-01-05T19:19:00.000-06:00

You know how to polka , but never tried it sober....
You know what knee-high by the Fourth of July means.
You know it is traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping between the reception and the wedding dance.
You know the difference between "Green" and "Red" farm machinery, and would fight with your friends on the playground over which was better!
You buy Christmas presents at Fleet Farm.
You spent more on beer & liquor than you did on food at your wedding.
You hear someone use the word "oof-dah" and you don't break into uncontrollable laughter.
You or someone you know was a "Dairy Princess" at the county fair.
You know that "combine" is a noun.
You let your older siblings talk you into putting your tongue on a steel post in the middle of winter.
You think Lutheran and Catholic are THE major religions.
You know that "creek" rhymes with "pick".
Football schedules, hunting season and harvest are all taken into consideration before wedding dates are set.
A Friday night date is getting a six-pack and taking your girlfriend shining for deer.
Saturday you go to your local bowling alley.
There was at least one kid in your class who had to help milk cows in the morning... phew!
You have driven your car on the lake.
You can make sense of "upnort" and "batree".
Every wedding dance you have ever been to has the hokey pokey and the chicken dance.
Your definition of a small town is one that only has one bar.
The local gas station sells live bait.
At least twice a year some part of your home doubles as a meat processing plant.
You think that the start of deer season is a national holiday.

I got this in my email from my sister a while back and I can attest that it is fairly accurate.

I do not know how to polka, but could probably do it if I was drunk enough.

I do know what should be knee high by the Fourth of July.

I only went to one non-Wisconsin wedding and was surprised that there wasn't the bar-hop between the ceremony and the reception. And, although we did the Hokey-pokey, I only learned of the Chicken Dance at the non-Wisconsin wedding.

There are only two brands of farm equipment, John Deere and all the rest.

I HAVE bought Christmas presents at Fleet Farm!

Your wedding is considered a disaster if there isn't ample alcohol - and besides, no body cares if the food is bad if they're drunk.

I know "oof-da" and "combine" well.

As far as the steel post - I am not that stupid, why would I ever want to lick a post? But I did get an icicle stuck in my mouth once!

Crick = creek. Warsh = wash. Upnort = Up North (my neck of the woods). Batree = battery. I don't speak the language, I just understand it.

"Football schedules, hunting season and harvest" are taken into account before planning ANYTHING!

There were several children in my class that had to get up and milk cows in the morning.

I have driven my car on the lake. Once I did it right after work (at about 1am) and got it stuck in a snow bank in the middle of the lake. I was not dressed in winter gear; in fact, I was wearing Chinese slippers and only had a light jacket. I had to walk about a mile to the nearest building with a light on - a bar - for help. And, as is normal, everyone in the place was not only willing, but thought it a treat to come to the rescue. So two drunk guys got in their truck, drove out to my car, chained it to theirs ('cause anyone with a truck in Wisconsin has tow chains, you know) and towed it off the lake.

To give you a sense of the importance of bars in the lives of Wisconsinites, there was a town due north of us that had a population of 6. They had 2 bars!

Every gas station has bait where I come from.

Growing up, our basement and garage served as the deer processing areas and the kitchen served as the fish and small game processing area.

It wasn't until I moved away from my home town that I realized that the whole country didn't shut down for the week following the start of the gun deer season.

7 comments:

Shannon said...: This is hilarious. I'm forwarding it to my father immediately.; January 07, 2008 1:06 AM
Leon J. de la Garza said...: That's some funny stuff!
I've received similar e-mails about where i am from, i'll try and translate them to english so you can read it.

Apparently everywhere is different.
:D; January 07, 2008 1:24 PM
sideshow bob said...: Fleet Farm has everything that everywhere else doesn't have.

That's right.; January 07, 2008 3:47 PM
lindsaylobe said...: Interesting points about growing up in the country!

I think maybe we could al benefit from living more simple lifestyles; indeed that’s what my youngest daughter tells me. If it’s of interest pop over and listen to her on national TV singing and talking about downsizing.
Best wishes; January 10, 2008 7:20 AM
Lyvvie said...: I get most of it except one part: why would anyone want to drive a car on the lake?!?!; January 11, 2008 7:40 AM
Sylvana said...: Shannon, I thought of you when I posted it!

Leon, send me an email when you do post it!

SSB, Fleet Farm has been good to us.

Lindsay, I do try to get back to simpler things as much as possible.

Lyvvie, well, imagine a HUGE perfectly flat, open area where you can really get out some aggression/energy via automobile! Skidding, U-ies, doughnuts. It is like a gigantic parking lot without obstructions. It's a beautiful thing.
And don't worry, as far north as we were, those lakes had a THICK layer of ice (as in yards thick) and were perfectly safe to drive on.; January 14, 2008 6:48 PM
Michael Manning said...: Oops, I mention John Deere on my BLOG!; January 15, 2008 5:05 PM

20,000!

2007-12-13T01:41:00.000-06:00

Well, it looks like I have been so busy lately that I even missed a huge milestone for my blog--
20,000 visits!!

I know just how to celebrate -- I'm going to get up early Saturday morning and help my friends move! Yeah, there really is no better way to reward yourself than to get up early on your day off and carry heavy things in the snow.

But seriously, I've got to do something. Can't think now. Brain is fried. Perhaps you, my fine looking readers, could give me some suggestions?

In the meantime I will leave you with the post that has BY FAR brought the most hits to my blog via search engines:

Energy Efficiency

Why don't they combine wind & solar power by putting solar panels on wind mills?

8 comments:

Lyvvie said...: I suggest cake!!

Congratulations!Many more!; December 13, 2007 4:57 AM
Leon J. de la Garza said...: energy efficiency..

something i care about..
mostly the "not polluting" part.

if i had enough money, id put solar panels here in my house.. we definetely get our share of sun..!

anyway..

you should....uh.. rock all night maybe? to celebrate?
hehe
i dont know..

have a good one; December 13, 2007 8:54 PM
Michael Manning said...: Congratulations, Sylvana! And I can tell you frommoving across 6 states that wind and solar power is the future. Have a nice celebration!; December 15, 2007 7:12 PM
"AG" said...: Merry Christmas, Sy!!!!!!!!!!!!; December 24, 2007 6:55 PM
SierraBella said...: Merry Christmas to you and yours!; December 24, 2007 11:34 PM
Shannon said...: Merry Christmas!!; December 25, 2007 11:31 AM
Heather said...: Hope you had a nice Christmas!

I suggest buying yourself something nice to celebrate then post pictures of it so we can all see!! Congrats on reaching 20k!; December 26, 2007 11:07 AM
Sylvana said...: Hope you all had a great holiday season. I myself have been WAY TOO BUSY!! And I didn't even get to celebrate my blog milestone yet!

But, that may change shortly...; January 06, 2008 5:29 PM

Wacky Wisconsin

2007-12-06T23:46:00.000-06:00

Crandon man bail set for donut truck theft

SSB called me at work when he heard this on the radio. This has got to be the most classic news story that I have ever heard! Apparently the guy from my neck of the woods was in Madison, got drunk, went into an Open Pantry, shoved some giant pickled sausages down his pants, was asked to leave and did so, stole a donut truck outside the store, did some laps around the parking lot, led a large group of police cars on a chase around the westside of Madison, came back to the parking lot to do a few more laps, and finally rammed the truck into a median. Could you imagine seeing this scene? All while the chase was going on, donuts were flying out the back of the truck and raining down on the chasing cop cars! Hilarious!

OK, I know car chases and drunk driving are dangerous, but you have to admit, this is still very funny!

Here's the story from Madison's "Capital Times" :

Mike Miller — 11/29/2007 3:33 pm
Cash bail of $2,100 was set today for Warren G. Whitelightning of Crandon, the man who allegedly led police on a high-speed chase through Madison's west after stealing a Krispy Kreme Donut truck when he was drunk early Saturday morning.

Whitelightning was officially charged in Dane County Circuit Court today in a criminal complaint alleging several offenses. He is being charged with shoplifting eight giant red hot pickled sausages from the Open Pantry on University Avenue, stealing the doughnut truck, ramming a University of Wisconsin Police car, attempting to elude pursing officers, operating after revocation, his fourth time drunk driving, and a hit and run.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Verveer conceded that the scene described in the criminal complaint of several squad cars chasing a donut truck around the west side could elicit laughter from many.

"Because what you have is two different police agencies chasing the defendant in a stolen Krispy Kreme donut truck with donuts flying out of the back of the truck," he said.

But he said the episode, "really is a danger to the community given the great recklessness of this stunt."

Verveer said the chase was captured on tape by video cameras in the pursing squad cars and predicted the tapes would hit the popular YouTube web site when they are released to the public. "But the truth of the matter is the defendant could have badly hurt members of the community with his reckless driving."

The episode began, according to the criminal complaint, when Whitelightning stumbled into the Open Pantry about 3 a.m. Saturday and went to the aisle where pickled sausages were. As the store clerk watched, Whitelightning pulled his hoodie up over his head and turned his back on the clerk, and dropped a box of the giant pickled sausages on the floor. He next took two six packs of beer and put them on the counter, then turned around. The store clerk took that opportunity to put the beer behind the counter and asked Whitelightning to leave, which he did.

Moments later, the clerk and Krispy Kreme driver watched as Whitelightning drove the truck around the parking lot twice then left on University Ave. Police were called.

Several officers were involved in a subsequent chase on University Avenue at speeds which at times reached 80 mph on University Avenue and lesser speeds on nearby residential streets.

At the corner of Kendall and Chamberlain Avenues, it appeared the truck had stopped. When University Officer Aaron Chapin stopped behind the donut truck, Whitelightning suddenly put the truck in reverse and backed toward Chapin. Chapin could not get out of the way because other officers were approaching, the complaint says, and Whitelightning rammed the truck into the squad car at about 10 to 15 miles per hour. Officer Chapin suffered neck and back injuries in the wreck and was treated at UW Hospital.

The chase ended when Whitelightning, going outbound on University in the inbound lane, suddenly crossed a cement median and nearly overturned, then sped on Locust Drive and stopped in a Copps Food parking lot. Whitelightning got out of the truck and lay down in the parking lot until police handcuffed him and put him back on his feet.

If convicted of all counts, he would face up to 9 1/2 years in prison on the felonies and an additional 26 months on the misdemeanor counts. Whitelightning also faces several traffic citations.

Go here to see the full video!!

7 comments:

Lyvvie said...: Maybe he thought the police would be distracted by the donuts and quit the chase??; December 07, 2007 5:44 AM
SierraBella said...: OMG...; December 07, 2007 10:44 AM
Irb said...: Wait. His name is Whitelightning? Seriously?

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?; December 07, 2007 2:31 PM
Shannon said...: It's stories such as these which make me proud to come from Wisconsin.; December 08, 2007 12:14 PM
Leon J. de la Garza said...: hehehehe.. that is funny, i can't say no..
it's been i a while since i heard from yoU!

everythink A-OK?
cool.. hope so..

i uploaded an english podcast today, if you feel like listening..

anyway, have a great rest of the week!; December 12, 2007 9:24 PM
Sylvana said...: Lyvvie, as I watched the video I kept expecting that very thing to happen.

Sierrabella, exactly!

Irb, yeah, that is his name. I especially like that they threw in the "G.". The name sounds like some writer of great classic literature -- or a drunk guy that steals a donut truck.

Shannon, Wisconsin definitely has a very good sense of humor!

Leon, I'm around -- barely, but still here. Working 70 hours a week doesn't leave much time for blogging :( I will try to stop by to hear the podcast. It's always fun to hear how the people I meet on the web actually sound!; December 12, 2007 11:36 PM
Anonymous said...: The story could only have been better if his name was "Donut G. Whitelightning."

Hey, all the best to you and your crew there Sy.

~Shamus; December 22, 2007 9:28 PM

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-26T02:21:00.000-06:00

I hope you all had a fabulous turkey day. I did. I'm still eating turkey.

JD is now officially 15. He spent his birthday shopping to burn the cash presents that he got from his party and relatives. He bought video games and mechanical pencils. He's a chip of the ole geek.

He's growing up so fast. At the beginning of the year he was still shorter than SSB & I, and now he is closing in on 6 feet tall! His clothes are like electronics -- as soon as you leave the store with them, they are obsolete.

He is getting straight As in school, even while taking honors classes. He actually said that his honors science was very much like the science he took while homeschooling -- over 4 years ago!
But he likes that he knows the stuff, it makes all the social things he needs to keep up on that much easier to deal with.

We went to my parents' house and had a big dinner. There aren't too many things that my mom cooks well, or even to the point of being remotely edible, but I always look forward to her Thanksgiving stuffing. Yummy!
My dinner contribution was pumpkin pie I made from scratch from pumpkins I grew in my garden, because I'm awesome like that.
(keep checking the "Sylvana Recipes" menu, cause if your good, I might just post the recipe!)

And, I finally got to spend some quality time with my friend, Punky. We went bowling, shopping and then out to eat. It was great to actually get together and DO something rather than sitting around talking. It is very hard to keep a good friendship going on just talk.

While we were out, her 12 year old daughter called almost every half hour to see when she was coming home. Punky complained that her family never gave her a moment to herself. I told her that she would have to TAKE time. Like, for instance, quit answering your phone!!
Later that night, her daughter actually convinced her aunt to drive her an hour to the city that we were in to find us. She faked illness, but immediately after we picked her up from where they had stopped to call Punky on their cell phone, she was begging to stop for food. We teased her all the way back about how she missed her mom so much that she hunted her down. And I teased Punky. She can complain all she wants about no privacy, but I know she LOVES feeling needed.

The last day of our holiday, we took my grandma out to eat at the bar and grill that I worked as a teenager. The food was still great -- and the dining room was now non-smoking! Yeh, all the way up in the boonies of the Northwoods! It was good to spend some extra time with her. She has a mischievous sense of humor that I love. I even got to see some very old pictures of her, her family and friends.

This Thanksgiving was definitely one of the best I have had in a long time!

5 comments:

sideshow bob said...: I liked going out to eat with Gramma...we should do that every time.; November 28, 2007 6:29 PM
lindsaylobe said...: Hi Sylvana
Its fabulous news to hear about your talented son, now 6 feet tall who’s getting straight A’s. I can remember vividly a time when you were dragging yourself off to school, (I think he was 12/13 at the time) in a state of frustration to discuss certain concerns with the teachers/ school etc. So congratulations to you & yours /family
Best wishes; November 29, 2007 5:33 AM
Leon J. de la Garza said...: Heeello..
it's been a while!

When i was 15 i was a mess at school..
hehe.. I didn't really care about it.

But ever since i entered college i got very good grades!
We dont use the "A,B,C" grading system over here, its a "percentage" thing.. you know 90/100, 40/100, i finished college with about 92/100 average grade.

Wich i believe rocks!

anyway, good to hear you had a good time! :)
I've been very busy lately.. umm.. with work.. and things of that sort..

hope you are well..; November 29, 2007 10:30 AM
Heather said...: That's awesome about your son!! You must be very proud!

I have a friend whose family won't leave her be when she's out with me. Her cell phone rings every 30 minutes or so...and it's her mom 75% of the time just wanting to tell her something she saw on TV!!; November 29, 2007 6:30 PM
Sylvana said...: SSB, way better than sitting around at her house looking at millions of pictures of all my cousins' thousands of kids!

Lindsay, the high school teachers LOVE him! Most kids by high school have become sullen, bitter education-haters. But JD enjoys learning and participates actively in class.

Leon, those are very good grades. The percent converts easily as the A,B,C system is based on percents. 92% would be an A in most letter grade systems.

Heather, I think it is kind of rude to continually answer your phone while out with someone. Maybe you should do it to her some day.; November 29, 2007 10:12 PM

Bathroom Tiling - Day 32

2007-11-11T23:46:00.000-06:00

Mortaring the tile took a lot longer than we had thought it would. This was mostly because the sheets that we had were not laid square or evenly at the factory, so our layout got almost 1/2" skewed!!

Being the miracle engineer that I am, I was able to re-align the tiles so that you would never even notice.This involved stripping most of the rest of the tiles off the sheets and laying them in singly without spacers. Sounds like a mess? IT WAS!! I had to forgo the knotched trowel for the most part to ensure that I had enough mortar behind the tile. And mortaring single tiles resulted in the mortar getting everywhere.

But they cleaned up nice and all was well! Since our tiles had a glossy glaze on the face, the mortar basically wiped off when dampened a bit. It would have been a bitch with unglazed tiles!

We waited 48 hours for the mortar to cure before we grouted. After the first 24 hours we started to clean out the grout joints to make room for the grout. This meant taking a utility knife and scratching out mortar that had squeezed into the joint. The advice we got on this was that the joint needed to be at least 2/3 cleaned of mortar. This process took a lot of time, took a lot of blades, and created a lot of blisters. I did find that the carbide cutter that we had bought to cut the Hardibacker worked very well in removing the mortar -- however, it was also quite effective at chipping and scratching the tile. So I used that in bigger grout joints and areas where I could keep steady control over it and used the utility knife for the rest.
The grout went rather well. FYI - the grout mixed should be about the consistency of soft peanut butter. There were a lot of differing opinions on this on the forums that we were consulting, but peanut butter is definitely the way to go.

Hometime has an awesome video showing how to grout. We followed that pretty much to the letter and it worked.

We did have a mysterious problem with the grout we noticed shortly after finishing. The first half of the grout we laid in was sinking. It was well below where it should have laid. We considered mixing some more grout to go over it right away, but after consulting the forums again, we decided against it. I basically said - Screw It! It will just have to be low! We went to the high school play that JD had helped work on (he was an usher during the play -- very handsome and gentleman-like, and he built the sets -- they were beautiful! Hmmm... construction is in the blood, I think). When we came back and looked at the grout, it had strangely enough expanded back to where it should have been. I really have no clue what happened but I am so glad that we don't have to scratch it all out and redo it!

The new flange gave us a little bit of trouble. It would not sit flush (no pun intended) with the finished floor. We chiseled a little bit of material out of the floor around the flange, and bingo! it fit perfectly. Then it was just a matter of tightening the bolts evenly around the flange until they were tight and the rubber gasket was sufficiently compressed.

We had to turn down many a fine proposal for fun making in this fine November weather - but it was well worth the sacrifice -- WE HAVE A TOILET!!!

Isn't it beautiful?
It brought a tear to my eye.

5 comments:

Leon J. de la Garza said...: WELL!
everything seems to be going about smoothly..

I see you now have a toilet, so you wont have to go to you neighbor anymore :P
Must be nice..

What can I say... umm.. there is really nothing new or interesting around here.. so..

I'm just visiting..
But do me a favor would ya?
Have yourself a great rest-of-the-week!; November 13, 2007 4:47 PM
Sylvana said...: Leon, thanks. It is so nice to have our toilet back! And I was relieved to see that the tiling actually looked the way I had imagined!

You have a great week&end too!; November 14, 2007 10:24 PM
pastamasta said...: Haven't seen anyone cry with joy over the existence of a toilet since my great-granny moved out of her 18th-century backyard-loo house in South Wales. It's very moving. ;); November 16, 2007 7:46 AM
Michael Manning said...: Better you than me. That is damn HARD work in my opinion. You did a fabulous job!; November 17, 2007 7:44 PM
Sylvana said...: PastaMasta, if ONLY we had a backyard-loo during this! But in a sense, I guess our neighbor's bathroom was ours! :)

Good to see you around again, BTW!

Michael, hard work, but well worth it! And thank you for the compliment. Just a few more details to go and we will have a bathroom we can be proud of.; November 18, 2007 9:49 PM

We're Tiling!!

2007-11-05T01:05:00.000-06:00

We have made some very good progress since the last bathroom post.

We were able to get all the Hardibacker mortared in place. It is very important to mortar the backer into place if you are going to tile to reduce the amount of movement on the underlayment to keep things from cracking or popping. We used a 1/4" notched trowel for this job -- and as it turned out, we would be using the same size for our tiles. You have to be careful with mortar as once you get it mixed, you have a very limited time to work with it. It is very important to be sure to wipe down the mortaring surface with a wet sponge before laying out the mortar for two reasons: 1. all loose material/dust needs to be removed; 2. mortar need to be moist to cure properly and you want to be sure that the surface that you are using the mortar on isn't going to suck the moisture out of the mortar. Cement board is thirsty so we wiped more water on the cement board than we did the plywood. We laid out the mortar one sheet's worth at a time. Then using Backer-On screws (special screws made just for the Hardibacker product - they go through like butter and even countersink themselves!) that were just long enough to go through the Hardibacker, mortar, and then sink nearly but not all the way through the 3/4" plywood, we screwed the board down every 8" while the mortar was still wet. We read that we could walk on it right away but we still had to wait at least 24 hours before tiling.

We used the time to try to figure out a starting point for tiling. We also needed to make sure that we had enough tiles for the job, so we laid out the whole room.

Ooooo, ah! That's what it will look like when it is all finished! Isn't it lovely?
Oh, well. Enough dreaming.

We tried a couple of different layouts but ultimately decided that since the doorway was going to be the most prominent part of the room, we would start there. We squared up a line of tiles to the threshold and adjusted the layout from side to side until we were sure that we would not end up with funky or small cuts somewhere in the room where it would matter.

As we pulled up the laid-out tiles to make room for mortar, we drew outlines of some of the sheets of tile to give us some lines to go by. This was recommended by all the tiling sites. Funny thing is, they don't tell you how you are supposed to deal with the fact that the mortar most effectively covers any and all lines that you may have drawn!

Even though I am pretty good at eyeing up things, we used spacers. It helped to keep tiles from shifting when we laid new ones in and it gave us piece of mind that our tiles were in the right spot in our layout. Although many packages say that you can leave the spacers in place and grout over them, we both decided that this did not sound like the best way to do it as the grout would not stick well to plastic spacers. So, we put the spacers on end in order to be able to pull them up later. This is called "tombstone style".
We mixed small batches of mortar. It should have the consistency of cake batter. We used the 1/4" notched trowel to lay a bed of mortar to set the tiles in. First you kind of scrape a layer of the mortar into an area using the flat side of the trowel, then you get a good amount of mortar to notch in the area. The tiles should be wiggled into the mortar to ensure good contact.

Once the mortar is firm, take a small plastic putty knife to scratch the mortar out of the grout lines and then wipe mortar of the surface of the tiles with a damp rag. The mortar must be removed before it hardens or you will be trying to chip it out with a chisel! Depending on your tile type, you might be able to wait until the next day to wipe the mortar off the tile face.

This is as far as we got this weekend. We spent quite a few hours Saturday hunting down the right size tile spacers, and Sunday we went to our neighbors to replace her kitchen faucet while she was out visiting her parents. She's in for a nice surprise when she gets home and sees her brand new, beautiful faucet where the old, corroded, leaky one was!

9 comments:

Leon J. de la Garza said...: :O

I admire your bathroom building skill!

it does look nice.
Alot of work though.. i didn't know about all that stuff..

and again i was confused with some of the words used in your post... specially "mortar"...
what in the world?

i've heard this word on video games, and it usually refers to a kind of missile launching thing... or is that morter?
hahaha i dont know..

from what i can gather it's something you mix up and put on something else.. haha :P

and dries up very quickly hehehe...

i finished what i had to do here (at work) so i'm freee to wonder around the web for a while..

keep up the good job!
and umm..

that's it; November 05, 2007 4:23 PM
Sylvana said...: Leon, yes, mortar is also an explosive that you launch in battle; but this kind of mortar is actually a cement that sticks things together -- specifically in our case it sticks the tiles to the floor.; November 05, 2007 9:24 PM
Shannon said...: You've inspired me to start a backyard project...building a mini-patio with planter...Um,so far I've dug a trench. :)
Once again, I'm so impressed with your DIY skills!; November 07, 2007 8:36 AM
Shannon said...: I just read Leon's comment- :D ! I remember when I first heard "mortar" for an explosive...I was confused wondering why people used explosives to hold bricks together.; November 07, 2007 8:39 AM
Sylvana said...: Shannon, I'm finally utilizing all those years of watching HGTV while renting ;) Who says that TV isn't educational?; November 07, 2007 10:08 PM
SierraBella said...: Wow, I'm blown away with your mortar skills!; November 08, 2007 12:48 PM
Sylvana said...: Sierrabella, bwhaahahaha!! ;)); November 08, 2007 9:33 PM
Cheshire Tiler said...: It's not easy working with small tiles like those but it looks like the end project will look good. Worth all the hassle in the end.; February 10, 2009 12:53 AM
Sylvana said...: Cheshire Tiler, welcome to my blog! It does look great. I can't believe that we waited so long to do it. And the tile isn't any colder to the feet than the vinyl that was in there before it.

I have to confess, it has been 18 months since we started this project and we aren't completely finished with it yet. It took us about a month to get it just about done, and then as is our way -- we left a little undone for a later date. Maybe this spring.; February 18, 2009 9:05 AM

Slowly But Surely

2007-11-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

The work in our bathroom is going a lot more slowly than I had imagined it would take, BUT it is coming along fairly well -- AND I do work 60 hours a week at my jobs, plus try to keep up with my rental business, AND run around like a crazy person for all those last minute things that JD suddenly remembers he has to have done before five minutes from now.

One of these JD events was his annual bowling birthday party. He insisted on having it on the 2nd even though we were still in the middle of the bathroom project. Oh well, that unfinished bathroom wasn't going anywhere and all the kids were already expecting a party on the 2nd, SO...

I spent most of last week scrambling around trying to get all the last minute details together. I had him design the invitations this year. His idea was VIP passes. I came up with the material, but he created the images. They turned out really nice, huh?
The kids LOVED them!! JD said that they thought they were really cool. He also said that he told all his friends how hard I worked on them (I had to print the inserts, cut them to size, insert them into all these plastic covers, cut the lanyard rope, and string them up), what a good boy!

He also came up with the cake design this year. It has become a tradition for the kids to sing "Oh, Canada!" for his birthday, so he decided that this year he'd throw the Canadian flag into the theme. It was a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup DQ cake. YUMMY!!

Everyone had a great time, of course; and the parents were very impressed by it all. I'm already looking forward to next year's party!

BUT FIRST - Lets' get this bathroom done!

5 comments:

Leon J. de la Garza said...: weeeell!
that cake looks nice...!

so you're canadian?
i for some reason assumed you were from the US.

UMM...
well.. nice nice.. hehe haven't got much to say this time.

I haven't done anything too interesting either.. except work.. n stuff..

so.. be well! :P; November 05, 2007 4:18 PM
Sylvana said...: Leon, although Wisconsin is pretty close to Canada, I am not Canadian.; November 05, 2007 9:20 PM
Leon J. de la Garza said...: Oh, how dumb of me...
hahaha your "About Me" specifically states you are from Wisconsin,United States...

hahaha...
that's just me being very.. umm..
what do you call it..?

can't remember the word, but i just seem to forget details very quickly for not paying enough attention.. hehe :P

Actually i'm very good at things involving logic, like programming, which is what i do..

but im not the best at remembering details hehe..

anyway.. umm.. cool!; November 06, 2007 9:49 AM
"AG" said...: I haven't had DQ since June!

Nice cake and invites!; November 07, 2007 7:03 PM
Sylvana said...: AG, we only have DQ for our birthdays. When I told the kids at the party that we had a DQ cake, their faces went from the usual blank teenage look to a barely containable excitement -- elbowing each other and whispering "Did you hear that? DQ!"; November 07, 2007 10:45 PM

There's P in the Bathroom!

2007-10-31T00:19:00.000-05:00

...and by "P" I mean PROGRESS!

The exterior grade plywood is down. Finally! We wanted to make sure that the subfloor was secure, so, using stainless steel deck screws (to avoid rusting problems), we screwed it every 8" into the joists(which miraculously enough not only were 16" on center, but were 8" wide and a couple were even doubled! That ought to be enough strength for a tile floor!).

After we got all the subfloor screwed in I consulted the forums* about how to stick down the Hardibacker. That's when I read that we should not screw the sub-subfloor into the joists. Tough nuts. It's staying put! I could not find a compelling reason to take up all the screws; go buy new, shorter screws; and re-do the whole floor. They said that there was a possibility of conflicting floor expansion causing popping/cracking in the floor. I will take my chances. I have seen tile jobs done in far worse conditions that are still looking fairly good years later.
I also read on the forums all these boo-hoos about the Hardibacker being impossible to score and snap. They were suggesting power saws -- which the manufacturer specifically says to avoid because of silica dust. I got the manufacturer recommended carbide bladed cutting tool and found that all their whining was unfounded. You do have to score it a few times, and we found that spraying the scored area with water really helped; but otherwise, it was simple.

If you ever find yourself in the market for one of these carbide cutters, please do yourself the favor of getting the ergonomic, cushy grip one (as seen here). It is a little more expensive, but OH! So worth it! It allows you to get the right amount of pressure behind your cuts, doesn't rip up your hands, and doesn't slip.

The Hardiboard took a long time to cut because we wanted to make sure that we cut it right the first time. Our walls are not square, which can make matching the shape difficult -- BUT I devised a method to allow us to match the skew of an area.

Using a large square (that's an L-shaped tool that is at a 90 degree angle), square up to any run in the area, draw a line across the area and make your measurements from that line. Take the longest length of one side of the line, measure in from the edge of the material that you will be laying in (I would add in a little extra to make the cutting go easier -- it was kind of a pain in the ass to try to snap off thin bits), square it and draw a line across the sheet. You will then use that line to start all your measurements from -- first from one side of the line and then the next. It really works! (I mean, that is if you had any clue what I just said.)

Look! We have a cut sheet of cement board in place! I feel like tile is just around the corner.

*I found A LOT of tiling forums during this project. SSB and I have been quite entertained and annoyed by them. Story to come later...

5 comments:

Leon J. de la Garza said...: wow, now im more then impressed..
i actually have no idea what you said near the end!

hehe
i speak english well.. but i'm not the best in technical english in any aspect..
except maybe computing, which is my field.. hehe

example:
Words i have no clue what they are:
-carbide
-Hardibacker
-Hardiboard
-impossible to score (dont understand "score" in this context)
-joists

i think thats it.. hehehe
:)
i assume hardibacker and hardiboard are products... or something.. hehe

anyway..be well
good job!; October 31, 2007 1:59 PM
Sylvana said...: Leon, that's OK. Most native speakers have no clue what any of that is either!

carbide is a kind of very hard metal that keeps a sharp edge for a long time.

Hardibacker/Hardiboard are brand names of cement sheeting/boards.

score in that context means to make a shallow cut to weaken the surface in a specific pattern so that when you try to snap the thing in half, it will follow that cut and you end up with the shape that you need.

a joist is a piece of wood that supports the floor. Cement floors don't need/have joists - the ground supports them.; October 31, 2007 9:56 PM
Leon J. de la Garza said...: hmm...
waiting for new post...

:P; November 02, 2007 10:28 AM
OldRoses said...: My bathroom floor is in urgent need of replacing and my toilet should also be reseated or whatever it is that you call it when the previous owners did such a piss poor job installing it that not only does it leak, but the seat doesnt' even sit right! Can I hire you guys?; November 02, 2007 10:37 PM
Sylvana said...: Leon, I'm doing my best! ;)

OldRoses, I have a lot of people asking if we could do work for them, but I doubt that they would really want to live with our timelines! Although I guess I have heard some pretty bad stories of contractors taking MONTHS to finish a job IF they even finish it at all!
But we do a fantastic job. That and the low cost are the two main reasons that we do the work ourselves. plus, I just really like to do the work!!; November 04, 2007 11:41 PM

Bathroom - Day 17

2007-10-27T03:13:00.000-05:00

After a couple of weeks of seemingly no progress toward a finished bathroom floor, we finally got some things put in as opposed to all the taking out that we have been doing.

The first sheet of plywood was a huge pain in the ass! The first piece I mis-measured and we cut it 1" too short!! I swear I made the measurements 4 times and even had SSB check them. I really don't know what happened. But it was a good thing in the end because while we were redoing the piece, Elle's husband stopped to take the flange off (see previous bathroom post).

The second piece we cut the waste pipe/flange hole too big. This was a matter of us second guessing ourselves. One lesson learned here was "start with more than you think and re-cut if needed". It seems like a lot of wasted time - but starting over from scratch to replace a ruined piece is no example of efficiency either.

The third piece was perfect. We even decided with this piece that we would lose the floor heat vent that we both hated so much.
No, it wasn't because we were to lazy/afraid to make another cut in this piece of wood! We had legitimate reasons for not cutting the hole. The vent was right next to the tub, so it filled with water; it was on the floor so things dropped into it; and the duct was that plastic accordion crap, so every time the heat kicked in all you got was a cold blast of air. Not pleasant when you are in the shower!

As you can see, the plywood makes a substantial difference over the pine boards. In fact, it is starting to look like an actual floor!

I was so excited that I couldn't wait to see what the tiles might look like!

Ooooo! Don't they look pretty? We are still deciding on the grout color. SSB wants sand to imply water on a beach. I wasn't sure if sand would go with the tiles, but it seems to look nice in this picture.

And of course I had to see what the new flange looked like!
It's a shame that this flange will be covered by the toilet; what a pretty color it is!

3 comments:

Leon J. de la Garza said...: Heeello..
seems like toilet is beginning to loook like one :P

Nice...
Regarding you question,
umm.. i can't speak for the majority, cause, to tell you the truth I don't know..
I myself am not handy at home improvement stuff..
My father is..

I really dont know haha...
But i see your floor is wood..
I think it's easier to handle than the typical cement/concrete houses built in mexico..

I don't really know why the difference..
Maybe because we dont get any earthquakes, tornados or nasty hurricanes..

But yeah.. if your gonna fix the toilet here... you're gonna have to break some concrete...
:P as well as fixing a shower, or pretty much anything.. hehe

anyway, be well..
I was recently able to record again, so i have the "podcast" up on my blog.. hopefully you'll be able to understand somthign hehe..; October 29, 2007 11:25 AM
Shannon said...: I'm, once again, so impressed with your DIY home abilities. If you're ever in Vegas, I can totally put you to work.

BTW- I've been reading your blog but I haven't had time to write a quality comment. Sorry :(; October 29, 2007 3:23 PM
Sylvana said...: Leon, thanks for all the question answering! I am intrigued by your blog - and I even visited it to see if I could read enough of it to understand the posts (comprendo un poco). I am looking forward to practicing my skills!

Shannon, I don't know if you could live with our timeline! ;) We are putzers, even when we are in desparate need of getting it done.

I am guilty of visiting and not commenting lately too. I keep hoping that things will calm down, but then more stuff happens!!; October 29, 2007 11:22 PM