I followed the crowd.....

and put my name on a list to borrow a set of books from a co-worker.  She's been talking about these books for a while now.....about wanting to read them, etc. etc.

She finally bought them and read the whole set.....which consists of three books.....in a weekend. Another woman at work asked to borrow them and finished them off in the same amount of time. Then a third woman did the same. I was next on the list.

Part of it may have been due to the fact that my daughter and granddaughter have been staying with me for the last month. My daughter's blood pressure went dangerously high and the doctor didn't want her to be the only adult in the house.  She's much better now......after approximately 500 trips to the bathroom made possible by a strong water pill. If I picked up the book to read and my granddaughter asked me to play a game with her, I felt like a dirty old woman reading this particular novel instead of playing with her......so I'd bookmark it and play a game.  Part of it may have been the fact that this book is not my regular choice of reading material.  It's a steamy love story.  I don't do love stories.

But I took the books home and began my journey, feeling much like I was peeking into someone's bedroom.  I love to read and have read too many books to count in my lifetime so far......but I just could not get into this book.  It was a little over 500 pages and at page 300 I called a friend that I knew had read the trilogy and asked her if it was worth it.  She and I always had the same reading tastes.  She told me it was.  She said the first book was slow but to stick with it. She doesn't usually read love stories either but said this one turned out to be very good.

So I'm returning the books today after only reading 350 pages total.  It makes me feel bad that I'm holding up someone else who is chomping at the bit to read them.  I have ordered my own copies through Amazon and then I can read them at my leisure.  After that I can join in on the conversations going on between every female employee at work.......or not.  Oh if these men only knew how steamy these books are!  Seems like the majority of the female population knows.  If I end up enjoying them or not remains to be seen......or should I say read.  As I said .... so far, I'm not impressed.......only curious.  To be frank, most of what I've read so far has only made me mad. (You want me to do WHAT?......I think NOT. How about I smack YOU with a leather belt about 10 times and let's see if you like it.)

The name?  You say you want the name of these sexy tomes?  50 Shades of Grey Trilogy. Not for the pure minded but definitely for the curious.  They should come in a plain brown wrapper. LOL

Like herding cats.....

About 6 weeks or so ago I received a post card from my electric company. They stated that my email address on file with them was not a working address as they were getting their emails returned to them stating I had blocked them.  I called the number on the card and, after several transfers, assured the person to whom I was speaking that was not the case. At the time she sent me a test message and it came through about 30 seconds later.  She told me she would straighten things out and not to worry.

About two days ago I received an email from my electric company which, in a nutshell, basically stated: Thank you for using the Internet to pay your bill and per your request that account has been cancelled. I could no longer get my statements or pay my bill online and further, I would begin receiving my bills by regular mail. They also stated I could sign up to pay online again at any time.  Well, I knew that I had not cancelled my ability to pay online; I had just paid my bill a couple days before receipt of this particular email. So I called them via the toll free number.  After a couple of transfers I had to call long distance to speak to someone after it was evident that the "robots" could not help me.

After getting someone on the line who was important enough to have her own phone number minus any extensions, the conversation went something like this.

Me:  Hello, I'm calling because I received an email advising that I had closed my account to pay online and I haven't done that. Matter of fact, I just paid my bill a couple days ago.

Her:  Ok, I can help you with that. Could I please have your account number, name, address and last four numbers of your social security.

Me:  (giving her the info she wants)  I do not want to cancel my ability to pay my bill online....so can you please make sure that is fixed and will I have to go through setting that all up again with new passwords and all that?

Her:  No, no....not at all. It will be exactly the same as before.  Ok, now I see what the problem is. We do not have a working email address for you. We need that to advise when your bill is due and the amount owed....and any other communications that are necessary. Your email address on file is coming back as not a valid address.

Me:  If that's the case, then how is it that I received the email advising me that my account had been closed per my own request.  I just paid my bill online a couple days ago and I received confirmation of that payment via my email address.  If you don't have a good email address, then how is it that I'm receiving email from you? Is my payment still there.....I scheduled it for June 8th. I can't understand you sending me an email to tell me my email address is not a good one.

Her:  *crickets*

Me:  Hello?  Are you still with me?

Her:  Uh.....Oh yes....yes.....I was just trying to think about that.

Me:  Furthermore, back then I called and spoke to "Rachel" and she did a test message with me at that time and I received it with no problem.  She said she would get to the bottom of this.....which apparently she did not.

Her:  I will send you a test message now.

Me:  (after hearing the "you've got mail" from my mailbox and checking it)  I've received it just now.  Can't you please get this fixed?  I have had no other company that has had this problem....only yours.

Her:  I'm am so sorry and I can promise you that I will get this straightened out.  Please continue to pay your bills in the same manner. I have re-enrolled you to pay by e-bill and you can view your statements online as before. I can see your payment is scheduled to be posted on June 8th.

Me:  Thank you.  I am anticipating that you will find the reason for these problems and get everything running smoothly once again. I've been paying my bill online for years and have never had a problem until March or April.  Have a wonderful weekend, bye.          

Just so darn tired.....

Talk about discrimination!  When little kids are tired, they just drop where they are.....they don't care one bit what someone will think.  Of course when you're little....most responses are, "oh, isn't that cute".  Just try falling asleep somewhere out in public when you're all grown up!  You'll get tagged as being an addict of some sort at the least. Nobody will ever think of the word, "cute".  But, I'm getting away from my original thoughts here.

I have been so darn tired lately. I can't remember being this tired in a long time. I just had a checkup with blood work done and I seem to be ok.  Or as ok as an old broad like me can be anyway.  So I guess I will just have to blame it on the weather. It gets blamed for most everything else....so why not me being lethargic too?

I live in an area where temps go to extremes in a very short period of time. We who live here sort of take it as normal "for here".  It can be in the 90's one day and cold enough to turn on the heat the next day. This year seems to really be playing with our patience. We've lost quite a few flowers because it was so warm (hot) early and they popped up out of the ground, only to get smacked down a week later by frost.  If this plays hell on flowers and produce, think what it's doing to OUR systems!  So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  At least until I can find a better scapegoat.

I've been working more hours lately and not getting enough done at home, which makes me constantly feel guilty.....constantly telling myself I should've gotten this done or that done.  I used to take horrible guilt trips when I was younger but now I don't get on those trains anymore. I just take short rides of guilt, then talk myself out of it and grab a book to read......or check listings for any good movies coming up. I once spent a whole weekend in front of my TV watching a NCIS Marathon. Every time I started to feel guilty I smacked myself out of it. I love those shows!!!  Speaking of which....did anyone see the last one?  Looks like they're getting rid of Ducky....the last show left us with him laying on the beach, having had a heart attack, and no one around him to help......while back at home a bomb set off near headquarters where Abby and McGee were wayyyyy too close.  Talk about a cliffhanger!

Well, I just wanted to check in so those few loyal readers (bless your hearts) that I still have won't think I just decided to up and quit.  I once....well, probably more than once.....said that boring wasn't really so bad and actually was preferred to drama.....and I still maintain that position. It's been boring, but that also means peaceful.  Hmmmmm do you suppose that the absence of drama has made me sleepy?  Nah.

Check back.....I'll see what I can dig up for you; the summer is just starting.  In the meantime, keep smilin'.  It makes everyone wonder what you've been up to.

Books and more books

I am a book lover. I have hundreds of hardbound books and have read all but 30 or so.....some of them two or three times just because I'm in love with the characters.

I grew up in a rural environment and the closest library was about 8 miles away. I have delightful vivid memories of being dropped off at that library and spending hours there. The huge old Victorian style house that was used as the public library had a charisma that was a magnet for book lovers like me.

As soon as you entered, the fragrance that only thousands upon thousands of books could create would envelope you.  That and the underlying aroma of wax....perhaps Murphy's Oil Soap..... all contributed to the homey feel of the place. The wooden floors creaked softly as you browsed from one shelf to another. No elevators here.....you had to walk up stairs in this three story sanctuary of the written word and I believe each stair had its own unique creak as you ascended. There were over-stuffed chairs here and there where one could curl up with a book for a while. Everyone spoke in hushed tones as respect hung heavily in the air. My library card had a small metal plate with numbers on it and I felt so grown up having that in my possession.

That library was eventually torn down and replaced with a new modern, sleek building. I always found it cold and never stayed long as it was not inviting at all.

Hardbound books are expensive new and although nothing beats the fragrance of a new book, most of mine have been purchased used. I used to get them at book sales put on by the library and at garage sales. In later years I purchased the books used from online sellers.  I have cut way back on doing that as the postage to mail them has increased to the point where it doesn't make much sense to pay more to have it shipped than what you paid for the book itself.

That being said, I have to tell you that in years of buying used books, I have found some interesting things inside the books themselves. To name a few, I have found bookmarks, grocery lists, jokes, flyers advertising sales or shows, a picture of a toddler, a pressed flower, ticket stubs and the best find was three brand new one-dollar bills.

I recently bought 4 used books and one of them is coming from the United Kingdom, which is a first for me. The seller has stated that it will be the middle of June before I receive it. I'm hoping that maybe I will find something unique hidden between its pages. I found it rather interesting that the book was not available used in the U.S. in hardcover, only in paperback. I don't purchase paperbacks because after a few years they tend to fall apart. 

Have you ever found something interesting in a book?  I once found a letter in a library book and sent it back to its original owner. She wrote back and we became pen pals for a while.

Just another mystery.....

I was delighted to see my income tax refund was deposited into my bank account today.  However, I do wonder about something.

How is it that my submission was basically the same as last year's....I made the same amount of money and deductions were the same BUT...........

My refund was less by more than 110% for federal and for state it was about 100% less than last year's refunds.  My tax preparer is the same one I've used for 35 years and she's an expert at what she does.

I think I may have to give her a phone call and see if she has an answer for me but I have a feeling that the picture depicts it all. I suspect that once again us taxpayers have been screwed.  At this point I'm just glad I was able to score a refund at all.  sigh

When is it going to stop.....

Any idiot knows that you can only reach into a jar of cookies for only so long before the jar becomes empty. For so many, the jar has been empty for quite a while. The number of people with empty jars gets bigger and bigger with each passing day and yet.....STILL.....they continue to raise prices. No breaks here Folks! And yet the demand has exceeded the supply for quite some time now. For most of us anyway.

A grocery shopping trip is enough to cause vapor lock in most of us. A lot of thought and planning goes into a simple trip to the grocery store now. You find yourself eliminating things that aren't extremely important. Most of the time you find yourself going without things that are important in order to buy another item that surpasses that item on the list of priorities. We have been paying more and getting less for quite some time now.

On last night's news they stated that we have been paying higher electric bills in order to pay for the installation of the so-called "smart meters" that are to go on every house. Lots of controversy has developed over these meters, which some have proclaimed to be nothing more than spy meters, logging your every move inside what used to be your sanctuary......your home.

When asked by the news media if our bill would go back down after a bit.....after the meters were installed.....supposedly the utility company advised that they doubted it. My electric bill has gone up about $45 a month. Just how much do these meters cost anyway. After I have 'reimbursed' them for a meter that I was (a) not even asked if I wanted; (b) not advised it would increase my electric bill and finally (c) not even advised I could opt out.......why do I have to continue to pay inflated prices when they claim the meters save them money. They can take wireless readings, eliminating yet another job. After several months of inflated bills, shouldn't MY meter be paid for......shouldn't YOURS?

I am a senior citizen....retired and on social security and pension. My income, although basically guaranteed, is fixed. While everything else goes up, my income does not. Matter of fact, at the beginning of this year, my state started taxing pensions (which have already been taxed once) and so income went down for many. I just missed having mine taxed, but my age bracket saved me.....at least for now. I have a small part-time job to make ends meet. That income is small and also does not go up (no raises) and it's not guaranteed. I could be told next week I'm no longer needed. There are so many in my category. The sub-category divides us even further......I feel fortunate that I at least have a pension....so many do not.

When is it going to end? The bottom of the cookie jar has been reached. When there aren't anymore cookies, they can't materialize out of nothing. I have already cut so many things out; I'm to the point where I can't trim it much more without seriously affecting my quality of life. If you have to choose between food to keep you alive and your medications.....so many are choosing the food. And don't even get me started on our pets. We all know they are like children to us.

I have been reading as many articles as I can find with ideas of how to cut corners. I recently came across a website that the Duggars have (parents of 19....or is it 20, I've kinda lost track). She makes her own soap and the recipe looks doable. Based on the comments of others who have tried it, it seems like it may work well and a wash load only costs pennies a load instead of dollars. Go here to check to out. The liquid form looks like it may be a mess to store as well as make.....we are going to make the powdered version, which the aforementioned link will take you to. It costs approximately $2 to $3 to make the recipe, but it will do 40 loads of laundry. And one thing you have to say......the Duggars always look neat and clean. Frankly, I think a lot of people are now going back to basics......as much as they can anyway...... because of the high cost of things.

Are you doing some cost-cutting measures. If so, what are they. Please share.

Like I said.......eventually it HAS to end. An empty cookie jar is an empty cookie jar.

Bet Some of You Wondered.....

just what in the world happened to me. I really wish I knew the answer to that question.

I will probably blame it on the weather. Never can I remember being hit with such lack of motivation. I have been scatter-brained and unorganized often leaving jobs half finished. Couple that with no interesting events going on in my life and you have a fine recipe for b-o-r-i-n-g.

Now, I've often said boring is not all bad. Matter of fact, 'boring' gives us a chance to slow down and take a deep breath. It's a welcomed relief from drama. One day has effortlessly slipped into the next and before you know it, a month has gone by leaving nothing but an empty calendar page. But.....no, I'm not going to complain. I'll take that over drama any day.

In this period of time I've watched several movies that were memorable. The first one being the Trilogy of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo. Yes, I ordered the set from Amazon; the dubbed version....and it was absolutely wonderful. I notice the price has really gone up.....I paid $35 for the set the end of January. A little intense for some, perhaps, but it was engrossing and I went through the 9 hours of this trilogy in record time. The dubbing is done so well you don't even notice it.....and that's the truth. If you are a fan of mysteries and adventure, I think you will like this set. Be prepared for some nudity and violence; extreme sexual violence as well. I have not seen the American version of this movie yet.

We watched Puss n' Boots. Delightful is the best descriptive word I can come up with. I've seen it twice and saw things the second time that I had missed the first time around. It's a great movie for kids and adults as well......it has some covert adult humor that we can snicker at, which is always a plus.

The next one is the second movie of Cats and Dogs, appropriately named Cats and Dogs 2. I loved the first one.....and was not disappointed in this second one. In fact, I think I actually enjoyed it more than the first one. Has a pretty good plot and somewhere about three fourths of the way through the movie it dawns on you that you have accepted the premise that dogs and cats can actually talk, not to mention having strategic thought processes as well.

Last.....Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Now, I didn't care for this movie.....at all. I did enjoy the original Planet of the Apes so many years ago, but this movie just didn't have it as far as I'm concerned. Waste of time. But that's just my opinion.

I hope I have some readers left after being away for so long. I also hope that maybe I can get back with the program and start to feeling more like myself. Since our almost 80 degree days are no longer with us, there is a good possibility I can locate my ambition....I think it's been hiding in the same place as my sense of humor. So.....thank you for stopping by and.....as always.....keep smilin'.

Just another annoyance.....

Ok, have I missed something? Did the "Do Not Call" lists expire? In the last couple weeks I have been pestered beyond belief by unwanted phone calls. 95% of them have been from people "conducting a survey", the other 5% were just plain selling something or were political calls.

I thought I would be getting a lot of political calls, but that wasn't the case at all.

Have they found some sort of "loophole" that now lets them bother you by claiming they are conducting surveys? And to add insult to injury......every single one of those calls were made by people who had very thick accents. In other words, they were a nightmare to understand. Aren't these companies paying attention?

I especially loved the one from the guy who sounded like he was calling from a busy cafe (noisy) in Bangladesh. His accent was so bad I could only figure out that it was something to do with my computer. I finally lost patience and said "since I don't know what you're talking about, it would be wise of me to end this call....so good-bye" and I hung up. I had to laugh when I checked the caller ID after I hung up; 1-000-000-0000. No lie, that's honestly what it said. Most of the others just say "out of area" and give you no further info.

No......I can't bring myself to be mean and hateful and slam down the receiver, but I'll admit the thought does cross my mind. They are just trying to do a job, although they are not very good at it and cause more inconvenience and frustration than anything.

When oh WHEN are we ever going to be able to block our numbers from these unwanted calls?

My main thought is.....'does anyone ever actually BUY from these people?'......when you can't even understand what they want......how can you make a legitimate purchase?

One of the calls was about the yellow pages. I stayed with her for a minute or so because I was curious. Her English was horrid but I thought maybe I could manage. When she actually asked me to get up from my comfy chair in the living room to go get my yellow pages.....I knew it was time to end the call and I did. "No, I don't want to do that.....so, good-bye". click

When I was in my early twenties, I did telemarketing for about two weeks. It was for college classes through VA and all I had to do was get them the "lead" (someone who shows an interest and gives their contact information) and then someone from their main office would take it from there. I got paid so much for each lead. I can tell you that it definitely was not worth the names I got called or the slammed receivers in my ear, even though I did pretty well getting leads for them. I guess that's why I can't be hateful to telemarketers now......unless they are aggressive. And I have come across a few of those who represented......are you ready for this?....charitable organizations. That's when I figured out my donation was partly going for their pay. Sometimes I'm a little slow. Needless to say, I no longer give to those organizations.

I remember I used to feel guilty about bothering people right at "supper time" but that's when we were told to call, as more people would be home then. I wonder if any of these people I'm getting calls from feel badly that they are disturbing me..............nah.

Anyway.....are any of you getting more of these unwanted calls than usual or has my phone number been put up on a billboard somewhere..........

Just when we thought we were over it.....

we are now under a winter storm watch with predictions of up to 6 inches of snow by Friday morning. I just knew old man Winter wasn't through with us that easily. Although it may warm up and end up being just rain like the last storm we had.

I'm not complaining. I'm not a fan of snow.

Not much has been going on in my little corner of the world and that makes blog material very scarce. With the crazy fluctuations in temperatures, it has been a playground for germs. In a 12 hour period our temperatures can go up or down 40 degrees or more. I caught a mild version of the flu....very mild. I'm grateful for that and I do think my flu shot was responsible for that. My daughter and her family caught it and it went much worse for them. One Wednesday night at church it seemed like everyone was coughing and hacking, sneezing or nose blowing. It didn't make me feel too good about all the hand-shaking that goes on. You kinda hate to whip out an antiseptic wipe because that could be insulting, but it does cross your mind.

I finally got the window fixed on my car. It's been only......oh ten years or so that it quit working. I was told that it was going to be horribly expensive to fix it, so I didn't. The last straw was when the credit union moved their ATM to the outside wall of their building, accessible by vehicle only. Since my money is direct deposited, this is how I get my cash out.....so I had to do something. I was pleasantly surprised that a friend fixed it for $125.

You know the commercial where the little piggy is going "wheeeee wheeeee"? Well that's just what I felt like doing the first day I drove my car with the repaired window. I wanted to put it down, hang my head out and drive down the road yelling "wheeeeee". Something how such a little thing can give you such enjoyment.

I hope to be back soon but don't misconstrue that to mean I want some drama to happen so I'll have writing material....right now, boring is just fine with me. Hope everyone else is drama-free also. In the meantime, keep smilin'.

To Be or Not To Be.....

.....searching. Well, some of you have been with me since the beginning. I admit I've gone through several phases of writing about things, but I have never covered this one to any extent. Lately, my friends IRL have been bugging me about doing something and I'm quite confused over it because part of me thinks it may be interesting to try and another part of me is screaming....NO, NO, NO.

As you know or have surmised, I am divorced (my choice) and have been for 27 years. I was burned badly and I don't get over things quickly or easily. I don't have a lot of trust. I really need some advice from the ones I DO trust.....and all of you who have been loyal readers fall into that category. I'm going to ask a question and hope that I can get back some responses that will enlighten me and perhaps give me that little 'shove' toward doing something that could enhance my life. OR at least settle the debate I've been having with myself once and for all.

My IRL friends think I should look for a companion; someone who will be company for me; someone who has a lot of the same interests. I'm not a horribly complicated person.....but I AM complicated to a point, as most everyone is.

It's been suggested that I attempt to find a male companion for myself. I do NOT have marriage in mind at all. I can support myself so I'm not looking for someone else to do that. What I would like is to have someone else to share things with. I absolutely NEED someone who has a glorious sense of humor. I love to laugh and need to find someone who has the ability to keep me laughing.....and yes, my sense of humor is sometimes a strange one.

I really don't want to post my name on a match-mate web-site and I don't want to go to a meeting where everyone is looking for someone. I'm a bit above average intelligence, can make myself rather presentable with some powder and paint. I'm overweight past the "pleasingly plump" stage and somewhat closer to the housekeeper on "Two and a Half Men", except I'm short and (I think) more attractive.

I'd love to have someone other than my dog to enjoy a movie with, to discuss a book with and to visit some interesting places a gas tank away from home. I do have a bad hip and walking any distances is not anything I would consider. I know I'm not a great candidate......but maybe there is a man out there who is a lot like me and thinking the same things about himself.

All I really demand of someone else is that they are clean, honest, have enough money coming in to support themselves, believe in God, have no criminal record and no addictions. (drugs or alcohol) AND possess a great sense of humor. Part of me doesn't want to meet anyone new so it would have to start out with emails going back and forth until we felt comfortable. I realize I'm not getting any younger (67) and my 'companion' would have to be close to the same age. Ten years ago someone got me to put my name in for one of those on-line matching services and I was shocked to see that mostly males who were twenty-something in age responded. I didn't answer any of the responses mainly because I felt they were looking for someone to support them.

So.....what would YOU do. I do feel lonesome at times and would just love to sit and gab to someone that has some things in common with me. Tell me what you think.....tell me about some true stories you've heard....good or bad. Tell me if you think there are any old guys out there that would be interested in meeting someone like me. I retired after 25 years of civilian work in law enforcement, so have plenty of stories along those lines. LOL

I may even pull this post after I've thought about it for a while......(can you hear the chicken clucking?)

The Road Less Traveled.....

I find roads like this relaxing if you're prepared to drive them. That means a car in good working order and a full gas tank, not to mention a fully charged up cell phone. In my younger days I would often venture down unfamiliar roads just to take in the scenery. So I guess you could say....'in the highway of life, I've taken the roads less traveled'.....but tried to prepare myself for the unknown.

I'm still doing that because, at my age, life in the fast lane would be more than nerve-wracking. Even though my career was one of high-stress and split second decisions that affected the lives of others, I chose to take things at a much slower pace away from the work-place. I am now in the twilight of my years and, due to my country road association in life, there are many things I have not done. Do I want to do them? Not so much. I honestly do not feel as though I've missed out on many important things in life, even though I never did find my soul-mate. I think that is the one single thing I mourn.

This last week end was a retrospective not only for TV but also for me personally. I whipped open the filing cabinet drawers in my mind and pulled out old memories; some happy, some funny and some regrets. Thankfully, the regret filing cabinet is not too full.

I guess I can attribute that to the fact that I usually think things out before doing them. It's that long quiet drive down a country road, rather than the freeway where life goes by in a blur. Oh yes, I've made mistakes, that's for sure. But the mistakes I've made never hurt anyone but me. In a nutshell, I think I've done pretty well with my life.....but one thing still bothers me.

The loss of who I thought was a good friend.

We met in high school and became close friends. We were both 'only children' and sort of adopted each other to be our sister. She and I were as close as any true blood sisters could ever be. For 35 years. We went through boyfriends, breakups, marriage, childbirth, new houses, death of parents and divorce to name a few. She was always there for me and I for her. I saw her nearly every day for those 30-some years. We were godparents for each other's children. We told each other everything. Or so I thought.

I didn't lose this friendship due to death......I lost it due to greed.

After the death of my father, she began to change. I found out she was stealing things from my father's house and giving them to her son. She attempted to push the blame of the missing articles onto my own daughter. Then she claimed serious injury on my property and sued me fraudulently. (eventually settled out of court for only 2 thousand dollars instead of the THOUSANDS she was requesting) Basically, she sold our friendship for 22 hundred dollars.

As long as I live, I will never understand why my best friend ever did such a thing. I thought I knew her......it was obvious, I really did not.

All this happened way over 20 years ago and I still mourn our lost friendship. Yes, I've cautiously made other friends and most of those have now moved away either to another state or otherwise......I wish I could forget about this. Sometimes I want to call her up and suggest we forget about what happened and continue our friendship the way it used to be. But then I realize the reality of it all.......I could never trust her again and real true friendships are built on trust.

I really need to find a way to get over this. Can anyone offer me some words of wisdom.....some words that will give me the courage to put this in the filing cabinet marked "to be shredded".....and then forever be done with it?

On a brighter note.....my computer at work crashed. Most of my work is saved on a network server and is safe but some of it had been saved to my desktop (my fault.....bad move) and those things may be gone. Probably 20 documents. Tech support will attempt to retrieve them but he told me not to hold my breath. But the good thing is, at work I now have a new Dell that is so much faster. I also have 2010 Microsoft Office, which I will have to familiarize myself with, plus a new wireless keyboard and mouse. Not that I'm not grateful, but I don't like the feel of the keyboard. I suppose I will eventually get used to it.

Til next time.....keep smilin'.

Merry Christmas

My wish for all of you is to have a wonderful Christmas.....make memories and distribute your love generously.....and may those feelings of love stay with you all year through.

No matter what your income level or living arrangement is at the moment.....just take the time to connect with family and let them know how much you love them.

As little "Cindy Lou" was trying to get everyone to understand......Christmas is not about the "buying" but about giving of yourself.

Do something kind for someone and you'll get it back two-fold......I promise.

Love and best wishes to all of you. Because of you, my life has improved. Each one of you have added something so the recipe "of me" is truly a good one but it wouldn't be what it is without you. I've learned so much from each of you. Thank you for continuing to come by my little place. I'm sorry that real-life caught up with me and I haven't posted much lately......I'll try to make your trip here worth-while after all the holiday rush. God Bless you all.

Be safe, Be happy and Be well. Merry Christmas with love.

Didn't I say "never again" last time.....

I would say that I don't believe I've ever been so tired in my life, but I know that would be a lie. I HAVE been.....just last year as a matter of fact.

Every year I say "never again", only to repeat it every Thanksgiving and every Christmas. I've been trying desperately to "pass the torch" as they say, to my daughter. HA, She's no fool.....she's refusing to take the damn thing. I'm speaking, of course.....of the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. How we slave for hours upon hours only to have it devoured in less than 15 minutes.

And then..........there's the clean-up. Oh the dreaded cleanup. Everyone is so full, no one wants to move, but the food has to be put away, otherwise it will spoil. The dishes have to be done, otherwise the food will dry on them, making it twice as hard to clean. Thank God for dishwashers. When I was a teenager, I was the dishwasher.....me and my grandma. Now, teens disappear quickly after a meal, so mechanical dishwashers are a blessing. Nothing is more wonderful than to walk into a nice clean kitchen after a huge meal like that. Tell me what it feels like, will ya? By the time we get all the dishes cleared up, the men-folk have decided that they want some leftovers heated up......or maybe a turkey sandwich and oh yeah.....how about another piece of pumpkin pie. More dishes, more crumbs. It's never-ending.

Each year I cut one more thing out of the equation. Pretty soon, I'll be making turkey TV dinners in my robe and slippers. This year squash was the one to get the ax; last year it was sweet potatoes, year before that, rolls. Yes....we always had BOTH sweet potatoes and squash. Why? Well, when I foolishly accepted the torch from my mother, that was on the menu. I've been dropping items from that menu every few years....and the last few have bit the dust every year. In all honesty.....no one misses what I drop; there is just SO MUCH of everything else. Hate to admit it, but I have just about got it down to bare bones; if I cut much more, it will surely be noticed.....like the dressing for example.

My family LOVES my dressing. It's something they talk about in July and their eyes glaze over. Yes, I'm happy that I've made my contribution to history as the best lil' dressing maker around these parts, but I really do want to pass things along now. I'm tired. Really tired.

My email in box has been crammed with emails all shouting Black Friday. Never have I gotten so sick of a phrase in all my life.....except for this new one; CYBER WEEK or sometimes, CYBER MONDAY. Those emails began filling up my in box the very minute Black Friday was over. I have no idea what CYBER WEEK is....although I'm guessing it has something to do with GREAT, HUGE BARGAINS all week long if you buy online. BUY, BUY, BUY.

With the economy like it is..............how can people buy?

Ah.....but they ARE.

The stores are crammed. Black Friday found swarms of people climbing all over each other to BUY. I can understand a good deal...........but not this. And they don't stick to their word. Black Friday kept on boasting that you could get Black Friday deals early......like on Wednesday. Same with the Cyber Monday hoopla. Get Cyber Monday deals on SATURDAY....get a head start on EVERYONE cause only a choice several million people know about this SECRET. Bah.

So I hope everyone had a happy and a safe Thanksgiving. I hope you made some really good memories and most of all I hope you all really thought about why we should be thankful. And even though I've been grumpy about being tired, I do it because it's a joy to see my family come together for this meal of thanks in a land where we have much to be thankful for.

A Little of this and that.....

They have discontinued my very favorite coffee. I had very little warning, just an email about 2 weeks prior to my shipment of K-cups, stating that my subscription had been cancelled and I'd have to find another brand. Wow....not so easy. I finally went to another website and ordered some Caribou coffee. Yes! It's very good. I like it. I don't like the higher prices of coffee in general though. It's almost enough to make you stop drinking it.......almost. Give me my coffee so I'll still be a nice person. LOL

My whole family is sick with the flu. Thank goodness I hadn't been around them for about a week or more before they came down with it. The kids are better already, my daughter is doing a much slower recovery; she says it's the sickest she's been in many years. And no....she did not get a flu shot. They should all be ok by Thanksgiving. Now.....if I can just keep from getting it, everything will work out fine.

That may not be easy though. I will be giving my flu shot a real test. A lot of my co-workers are sick. And......DA-YUM......I hate it when they come to work sick; hacking and coughing all over the place, spreading germs to everyone. It's enough that we have to put up with the public coming in that way. Sometimes people just lack common sense.

Yesterday it snowed here.......hard. Huge big fluffy flakes were coming down so hard and fast it was nearly a white-out. It may have lasted 10 minutes, then cleared up and not one single flake could be found anywhere on the ground or on anything. This is just a warning of things to come, I fear. And....yes, you guessed correctly. I'm not fond of snow.

For the second year, my co-worker and I split the cost to furnish a needy family with all the groceries necessary to have a very nice Thanksgiving meal. We don't know the family's name, just that they live in our community; we are doing it through the church. We do know that there are 3 adults and 4 children; two of which are teenagers. Teens can eat a lot, so we bought a little extra. We will also be 'adopting' a family for Christmas. Right now, I'm not sure if it will be the same one or not.

Every year I send money to the Rescue Mission for Christmas. It's amazing how many people they can feed with a small donation. I've been contributing to them and Toys for Tots for over 25 years. I imagine this year they will have a lot more people to take care of. God Bless them all.

I really do hate the time change. My system is all off schedule. It may be daylight when I drive into work, but it's dark when I come home and I don't like that at all. It's hard for me to drive after dark; the on-coming headlights tend to blind me, especially if its raining (or snowing) and you have to have your wipers on. I'm grateful I don't have far to drive. I wish they would just pick a time and leave it alone!

My anti-virus program did a software change recently. They sent a pop-up so I could upgrade but I kept getting an "error" through windows. I googled it and discovered it was a windows error and not the fault of the anti-virus program. I tried to fix the problem myself using recommendations I found online but nothing I did worked. I finally broke down and called the number I was given to Microsoft.....except it really wasn't Microsoft. It was a place called Omni Tech Support.

I'm not going to bad mouth this company because, after I managed to get through their high pressure sales pitches for their software and services, they did solve my problem and, consequently, anti-virus was upgraded just fine. I did have to pay for their services and I did let them remotely fix my system. I'm still a bit nervous over all that but I watched everything they did (not that I'm any expert....but it didn't look like anything covert was being installed or activated). I guess this may be what we can expect in the future......computer repairs done remotely. I sort of like that in a way because you can get service quickly. It did take them nearly 3 hours to repair my computer, which looked to me like something in my registry was wrong. The thing I didn't like was that I didn't get any kind of receipt and I didn't get any kind of explanation of what was wrong or why it happened.

Afterward, I googled the company and found that reviews of them are mixed; people either love them or hate them. I didn't sign up for their "plan", which was horribly expensive.....so I can't tell you if it's a good plan or not. All I can say is that the tech did fix my problem and for a cost that probably was not any higher than what I would have paid for someone to do it at their shop.....but I had it fixed that very day, within hours......where taking it someplace.....well, you know how long you may have to wait when you do that.

That's about enough of my tidbits I would say.........are you asleep yet? LOL If I don't get back by Thanksgiving, I wish all of you happy times making good memories with those you love. Oh....and I have a recipe for a Pumpkin Dump Cake, if anyone wants it for the holiday. Just ask in the comments.

Keep Smilin'