Yep, Me and M. Went To Solvang

For us this a day trip. We enjoy the drive. This time, M. drove. I usually drive, either her car or mine. But, my knees have really been hurting me. The last ten days, or so, I have been waking up around 4:30 a.m. because the right one is hurting so much. The really strange thing, is that they only hurt in the day time when I'm going down a fight of stars. But, laying in bed . . . they hurt. I will have to mention this to the doctor the next time I see him, which will be soon.
We enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was just like old times, when we had more of the same days off. M talked about work, the boy interest, how she feels about starting over. I listened and asked questions. It looks like the boy interest isn't going to work out. On the other hand, M. is losing weight (23 pounds so far!) and is taking better care of herself. She no longer just puts on her clothes on and wraps her hair up in a bun and goes off to work. Nope, now it's long hair with streaks, and makeup and nice clothes. She looks quite sexy, and hopefully she will notice the men that have all along been looking at her! Maybe, they will become more bold and talk to her for once! She's going to attract more attention, like she did before, when strange men would come up to her and pick her up and twirl her. She rather scared of that. She no longer has a Dad and two brothers hovering around, protecting her. I really understand that. When I got down to 132 pounds, all sorts of men approached me. Some of them really seemed to think I was some kind of living doll for them to play with. Which is one of the reasons I now weight 200 pounds. I like being invisible. But, I'm going to have to take it off, if only for my knees, ankles and feet. AND KEEP IT OFF. Maybe, now that I'm 50, men won't notice me anymore. That would be a good thing.

In Solvang

This is Ernest at the mystic store

more stuff

My Birthday Gift!

I'm using my birthday gift as we speak, or uh, read! I was hoping for jewelery, (OOOh, cubic zirconia set in gold anyone?) hint, hint, but to no avail,. .. sob. On the other hand . . . my sister gave me a brand new washing machine!!!! No more spending my Mondays, hand washing everything. No more wondering if I was going to get some sort of infection from not getting all the soap out. And it's really fast machine. In under the space of one hour, I have washed a comforter, my colors, and am now on my whites. Yippee, I am happy.
Spent the day cleaning up, filled the trash can. Washed dishes for two hours, but still so many left , (yes, this is the ADD effecting my life). So I wouldn't be horribly embarrassed when the Sears guys came. Well, I was anyway. Just couldn't get it all done in the amount of time I had to do it in. .
I am now 50. I worked at the florist on my birthday, and wore a little rhinestone crown ALL day. My co-workers made me a slash that read "Its my 50 Happy Birthday". I wore that while I was working. Didn't help. Only one person figured it out. Here's a little word of advice, you want to get weird looks, have shop people hesitate to help you? Wear a CROWN, and carry a purse made out of a stuffed animal. Guarantee to get you negative attention.

Baguette On My Table is gone!

This is, or was, one of my favorite blogs. It was Wendy's blog. She was an English teacher in France, (for some reason , I read a lot of English teacher's blogs), until she moved very recently to London to live with her boyfriend, Martin. She met Martin though her blog, as he also has a blog, (SeaandSands.blogspot.com) and they met through the comment box. Her blog is one of the reasons I started this one. Martin replied in the comment box to a commenter who asked, (thank God), that she is fine, she is just concentrating on non-blog writing. But she just didn't stop writing the blog, she deleted it. All the posts are gone, just the banner remains. I know that she is going through a bad spell, new life, strange country, missing her boys, but wow, to delete like three years of posting! I never got the guts up to tell her I though she had ADD, and one of her sons too. Or that I thought she should branch out to become a graphic designer. The stuff she made for her blog was just incredible. I'm going to miss her blog so much. Damn.

Mixed Messages

Sorry this is such a crappy picture. I was in a real hurry to make my next timed delivery. But, ya, this is a bigger than life carved wooden statue of a buck naked man holding aloft the severed head of a man with one hand, while in the other hand, he holds the sickle he did the deed with. Well he's not completely naked. He does have a strap over one shoulder that has another head hanging from it. Such is the incredible detail of the carving,that you, (or I could), tell that he's not circumcised. . .

On the plus size, the owners have placed one of those cute, kicthie hand painted WELCOME signs on top of the sickle! I just bet this is one of those Greek myths. You know, I WELCOME you, but, beware, across the line and you will end up on my strap like the others. Or, maybe, that's the owner's message.

The statue had a nice butt too.

Stats Counter

It has become obvious to me that I am getting some visitors. Not family nor friends, however. I think this must be a "rule". The people you are closest to will have no interest in your blog unless you live far, far away from them. Maybe, THEN they will have an interest in it. . . So I have installed a stat counter. It's suppose to be free unless you get like 500 visitor's a week. I think I'm pretty safe in that regard.;).

I was very bad this week and saw two movies. 1st., LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, the second ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE. LARS AND THE REAL GIRL was extremely enjoyable. I expected it to be a total comedy, but no, it was sensitive and I teared up at the end, when Bianca was "buried". I also liked how his brother "looked" at himself and saw how he had contributed to Lars's mental illness. It also made me think about what a person is, and whether they are real or not keeps them from being a "person". Certainly, Bianca became a real person to the town's people, not just because she had a real physical present, but because of the way they were required to respond to her for Lars's sake. I also spend some time trying to figure out whether Lars was delusional, or pretending to be. I mean he knew she came in a box. Living people don't come in boxes. But he gussied himself up, while stealing glances at the box that held Bianca. Never came to a firm conclusion either way. I just accepted the doctor's diagnose.I truly enjoyed how this movie made me think about the perception of personhood is determined by the viewer. [As in slavery, where the slave can think of himself, or herself as a person all they want, but to the owner{s} they are property, a thing, not a person, and that's how the owner{s} treat them. Notice how I'm placing this in present tense, we are not rid of slavery yet.]

Today I saw ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE. I understand why it has not done so well. It was not focused. The story line was divided into two, the A. story, Walter Raleigh, and B. the Spanish Invasion. Neither was told well and both were truncated. Elizabeth was portrayed as an ageing woman obsessed with finding true love before it was too late, who has to be shot at, before she awakes to the danger to herself and her country. Yaa right. . . Elizabeth had several romantic interests during her life, Raleigh was just one of them. Like she wouldn't have married him if she wanted. One of her attachment was her horse master. She raised him to the nobility (and supposedly she almost married him). She was also dotty for his son (grandson?) as well. So, I really don't think she was that desperate for man love. Angry, yes at him and Bess for disobeying her, but not totally out of her mind desperate, like the movie betrays her. Nice costumes, and Clive Owens, yum. Clive kept it from being a total waste.

Navi

Navi has won a costume contest! He wore a store bought costume. It was a fire engine with soft foam wheels attached. All the other dogs had home made costume, which the sister said were fabulous. The sister thinks why Navi won, was because of his size, and that the nieces has already trained him to the leash. All the other dogs were carried. Of course, there are no pictures. The sister left the camera at home, and her cell phone is full. She says that she has not decided what photo's to keep. This may translate as 1: she doesn't know how to delete them. 2: She's not aware that she can send them to her e-mail, or transfer them to her computer, via cable or bluetooth. After all she really is a neo-Luddite.
Sometimes I wonder if the niece is as good as the sister thinks she is. Certainly WE weren't. The sister really wouldn't be able to check cyberwise what the niece is doing. And then I remember, a. she's on the volleyball team. b. she shows her dogs as part of her 4-H project.c. she volunteers at Petco. She raises meat rabbits year around (4-H), as well as a lamb, pig and turkey during the summer. She also shows chickens. d. She does Honor classes. She also does other stuff as well, (saxophone!). And then I relax, because, she is that good. Then I worry about how she will do at college with out my sister structuring her life. We will see.

The niece with navi.

Navi, the guidedog to be.

Trying to fix comments.

I have realized that my first post had comments (not that I got any, I think), but after a certain point, this disappeared. I really don't know why. I think I have fixed it, let's see when I post this.

Blogging against disability

Apparently that was a couple of days ago, but I just heard about it. So, I'm going to blog about MY disability. I have ADD, and Discalculica (probably misspelling that) , and in case you haven't noticed, a problem with spelling. I always knew something was wrong with me. I mean I didn't learn how to tell time until I was 21. I couldn't hold the concept of the two hands in my head at the same time. Instead what I did was memorize a list of 30 minute shows from the TV guide and to find out exactly what the time (5 minute + or -) was to turn on the TV and see where the plot development was. I spend three years trying to figure out how to spell "the"., you know, hte eth, teh, the. When I would run into the right combination I would recognize it.

I could walk from one end of the house to the other and forget WHY I was there. Walk back, remember, walk again to the other end, and poof, forgotten again. I would do this 4 or 5 times before I finally kept it in my head long enough to get to the other end of the house to do what ever it was.

Numbers, dates, they mean almost nothing to me, and my credit rating reflects this. In fact, once again I have to call up Verizon and tell them I made another payment on my old account number [What's really shitty about it, this time is that I called them up before I made the payment and didn't think to ask if I had the new account number or the old one.]

No one at school ever noticed. Oh they made a lot of noise about me being lazy, I was reading above college level before I was eleven. Why couldn't I spell. . .? They were firm in their belief that that reading and spelling are handle by the same system in the brain. Which they are not. It really wouldn't made any difference anyway, since people in the 60's knew nothing about learning disabilities, and teaching really wasn't my school's focus . The schools in this valley were all about keeping the student on campus until noon, when they were assured of getting the state money for that day. I am not kidding. I'm asked other people about this and that's their impression too. Half my high school ditched every day. The office was back logged until August in telling the parents their child was absence from school on a particular day.

I didn't figure out what was wrong until I was 32, when the local paper had an article on learning disabilities. At last I saw myself. (before, I thought I was mentally ill and did my best to conceal by not interacting with others. I was very lonely). But I was diagnosed until I was 39 when I went back to college. I forget why I went to the disabled student office, was it a teacher recommendation or my need for a tutor? I actually forget. But anyway, I was tested. The Dr. councilor told me I had minimum brain damage. OOO EEWEE, like I didn't know that. . . let's reflect, shall we. . . Mom spend the last five months of my pregnancy in bed because she was hemorrhaging, I was born a month early, the placenta was half gone because it hemorrhaged, and I weighted a quarter oz short of three pounds. I was the smallest baby born at that hospital to survive at that time. They stuck me in a shoebox sized incubator for three months until I hit 6 pounds and then they let me go home. Brain damage!! NO!! Actually they told my parents I wouldn't live [baptist her, Dad ,"Fuck you! She isn't going to die!"] and when I did live, they told my parents I wouldn't be even capable of tieing my shoe laces.

I wasn't aware that minimum Brain damage is an old term for ADD until I went to CSUN and the disabled student office person gave me some literature on it. I actually resisted this for about a semester until I remembered when I went to the store five times in one day to buy toilet paper. Oh, each time I would come home with stuff, but not toilet paper which was the only thing I was going to the store to buy. Never did buy it that day. Then I accepted that it was ADD.

I'm getting really tired and I need to start doing my chores (one day off a week, remember?) so I'm going to post this. I will write some more about how ADD effects my life and my work, okay?

SOME MORE VIEWS OF THE VALLEY.

Some of my coworkers at the florist.

M. as a fairy and H, as a bee. Also P.'s earrings. Never got a chance to take a picture of her in her extremely fashionable witch's hat. OOOh it was trimmed with black feathers. Unfortunately I forgot to wear my spider hair stick.I was running rather late this morning.

Experimenting with mobile posting

Some things I have learned; video will not work. I have tried a couple times to send in a video. It never shows up. The next experiment on this front will to be to combine video with a second page with a picture. See if it just disappears, (most likely) or if the picture part posts. The second thing that I have discovered is that I can add a second page, (or more?) of picture. I just tried sending three pictures on one message, but it hasn't shown up yet, so I'm thinking there a limit on how big the message can be.

The water people in their wisdom has decided to upgrade one of their water treatment plants. For the next FIVE days, we will be living on what's in the tank. It isn't enough and they have mentioned that repeatedly in the paper, the radio ads, and even a letter send out to all the home owner. They are begging us not to water our lawns, use a broom, instead of the hose on the driveway, take shorter showers, don't wash the car, etc.; in order for us to make it through the five days without running out. I don't know what happens if we do run out, do we go dry, or do our water bills go way up because they had to buy water from the state authorities?

Never the less, not everyone has heard about this. Saw M. last nigh, and in a (mine) desperate attempt to talk about some else beside her boy interest, mentioned it. She had not heard about it, (she lives in an apartment complex). She did explain the water and electrical are combine on one bill, perhaps that's why the apartment complex had not informed them. But she missed the point, it has nothing to do with money, it has to do with the amount of water available, ultimately, it's an excuse to not wash the dishes, ha ha!!

Our Aunt Rita in England called the sister this week to see, if we were alright because of the fires. Did the sister mention this blog, the blog I want us to blog together on? Why no, she explained in a virtuous voice. (Rita doesn't do computers. In fact, when uncle John died, she gave his computer to her son (Nigel) and then took a hammer to the modem/filter/wall jack that was left. In fact one of the things they talked about this time was that Nigel tried to set her up with a laptop. Apparently she is aware of some of the advantages of the Internet. i.e. communicating with Nigel and others on a daily bases, and stuff. But she can't process how to do it. She told the sister that it scrambled her brain.) I said ," but Nigel Does". Oh , she said, belatedly remembering that not everyone is a Neo-Luddite like her and Aunt Rita. .So, that's where we stand,an opportunity lost, because my sister thinks computer are "not a good thing".

One of the reasons I like my job!

I get to see things.

These are the pictures I was talking about in the next post, (yes, next post, it took over two hours for these to post). 1st picture is a Halloween decoration. It's a vampire rearing up in a horse drawn hurst. 2nd is cheerleaders for a car wash. Third is decoy ducks in a fountain. 4th resized by message limit is a landscape of a dirt road from the pocket valley next to mine, (it has it own micro climate).

Altumn has fallen.

And the smoke has reached the valley

back on the internet

I kept clicking on the icon, and no connection. Eventually I tried turning off the modem off and back on. And it work. Connected right up!!! Yes I am a Internet junkie. Have caught up on the blogs I read and checked bank account. Life is good.

Off the internet again.

I came home tonight, and the internet is gone again. Hopefuly it will be back on Friday.

Smoke from two fires

the running spring fire is the picture on the bottom, and the top picture is the Saugas fire. It was very strange. The smoke met up and all together slowly went to the west and basically disappeared. Our clouds don't do that. The clouds roll in from the south east and past over the valley. The lower ones come in though the pass and go over Littlerock and then pass to the mountains on the south side of the valley, and over to the grapevine. That smoke was really weird. I can't imagine the wind pattern that would make it go west.

Once upon a time there was three shopping carts,

A wheelchair cart, a cart with a baby carrier on it and this one. Did I wonder why it was there, the only "normal" one? Nope, I just grab it and went. I noticed that it was covered with dry vomit when I was 3/4Th though shopping. Yep, I'm noted for my eagle eye, I am. I hope I don't catch anything from touching that stuff. I'm back on the Internet. Don't know why. Only ordered it this morning. Second job tried to get me to work, I didn't answer my phone. I'm still washing my clothes. . . you know, by hand? Spend most of the day working on bills. Can't pay all of them, or even half. Stressing. Am now going to start drinking. Hmmm, pear cider.

Boy, am I tired.

I worked ten hours and fifteen minutes today. It was just me and B. Every one else called in sick. I took 20 deliveries. Made like 50 dollars in tips. At least I got to have lunch. Worked with K., the manager. Turns out the assistant manager is on vacation this week, visiting her boyfriend in Texas. Yaa! I never get to see the manager K. anymore. I miss her. Anyway, I am going to send this off as I am really tired now.

I am disconected from the internet.

I guess I should have seen this coming when the phone was turned off. But of course it did not occur to me that the phone and the Internet were not the same even althought they are both Verizon. So, I am mobile blogging. I am at the High Desert pharmacy, waiting for my meds. It is going to take awhile since I did not call for a refill. They said two hours.and hopefully it will be shorter then that. I have to be at the second job at 5:30. Margaret and brother-in-law made the paper. A small mention, also said that the accident knock down utilities lines. Sister did not say anything about that. A man who knows the guy who was driving the Sears van that killed the two people on the 14, says the Sear's guy has already gone back to work. He needs the money. I don't think I could do that. Maybe if it was people I deliberately killed. . . Made a choice, but accidentally, no. My sister's best friend was just ahead of the pile up. We are very lucky. Thanx God.

Goosie

This is my little beauty cat. The cat that supposedly had FIP. Who cost over $1000.00. I can't tell you how much I love her and enjoy her company. And oh ya, she rules the roost. As in, how high do you want me to jump, and would you like me to get some tuna for you while I'm up there? She's a pushy, pushy Little cat.

My favorite door bell cover says "the cat and his housekeeping staff live here," (my second is "Martha Stewart doesn't live here".)

And I thought I had a bad day

I got my 1st (and last) ticket today. I was doing 42 in a school zone. I have no idea how I will pay the fine. At least I have a few months to generate the cash, I was very upset. Cried in the bathroom at work.

And then I received a phone call from my sister. Margaret and brother-in-law were in a head on collision. They are okay. The car had airbag, (it's totaled brother-in-law says.) It was the sand. It's blowing so hard that it's creating white out conditions. Yesterday a major multiple accident happen on the 14 for the same reason. People died. Margaret and brother-in-law were at 70Th and G. The sand blew, Margaret couldn't see, brother-in-law spotted a white line he thought was the line marking the edge of their lane. Unfortunately it was the white line marking the side of the other lane. A truck had just turned onto 70Th. That meant he wasn't going very fast. Margaret was going 10 miles an hour. His truck mounted her car! Mounted!.

I'm so glad they are okay. Only bruised. It could have been so much worse.Thank you God.

1st mobile posting

Took a picture of Jilly eating. Trying out phone blogging. can't send plain text (that may be me not understanding how to set up the address). But picture messages work. So this will make things easier. Uploading pictures from E-Mail account causes computer to freeze up and quite often when I reboot, I lose the operating system, (medium size bashing on side 3/4 down brings it back).

Changed the layout of my blog

Made a graphic using paint. I miss photo shop. I mean I only have an AA in computer graphics. I really wanted the magic wand and transparency. But still, getting closer to what I want in eye popping color. Of course I still haven't done a thing about contacting relatives.

Jackie is trying to get a guide dog for Margaret to train. This has been a dream of Margaret since like she was 12.So far, it's not working out. They have been given the wrong dates for meetings, had the highway closed down due to a horrific crash, etc.Hopefully this won't be to much for Margaret to handle if she does get a puppy. You know, maintaining a high average, 4-h, Volleyball. Margaret does a lot as it is.

M. has Valley fever, not frywhatever. Has been on meds for it now for months. Thank God it is working. Her knees are messed up. May have torn cartilage. Just had MIR to made sure. What a change a different doctor makes. The other Doctor had her pegged as a hypochondriac, and kept testing her for ST D's (9) time, even although M. had been celibate for 4 years. M. has met a man! Really cute, and seems to like her. M. talks constantly about him, what he said, how he looks, what it may mean, where he is in relationship to every other object in the universe!! Okay, made the last up, but everything else. . .. If I was a small minded person, I would already hate him. I have never seen her so happy. I hope this works out.

Yes, I forgot both my username AND password

I am still washing my clothes in the pail. Let's see, broke $100.00 bluetooth (spontaneously felt off my ear at the courthouse and busted open on the pavement. Still is in my glove box and mocks me with it's blue glow every time I mess with it. Just won't work) Replaced with a $50.00 verson. Lost the cell phone, (delivered two dozen roses to someone who wasn't home. Called them on the phone and first they said to have the neighbor across the street hold them for customer, and then they changed their mind, and had me place them inside their classic mustage in their driveway. Was only like a 90 degree day. . . But I think it fell off into their car.) Phone insurance covered it for $40.00. New phone came with snazzy leather cover and a car charger. Almost worth the $40.00. The land line was disconnected because I made two payments using the old account number. I kept wondering why the bill wasn't going down. . . Reconnected after two hours on hold with Verizon. They hung up on me four times. Might get $200.00 reinburst to me Sewer line clogged up. Another $65.00. Had to put the car in the shop, did the kicking thing again while shifting up, engine light came on, then off around an half hour later. The dealer was able to diagnose this time, sensor for telling the tranine to shift was out on wheels. Covered by warranty (thank you God). Still makes that funny winding down noise when I take my foot off the gas, thou. Yes, September was a fun month wasn't it?

Still no sign of "vistors"

Yes! I haven't hear anyone walking through the backyard. Or any more "comments." Of course I have cleared the backyard of enough dead weeds that I wouldn't be able to unless they walked in the corners or such I have no idea what to do with the old window frames and other "industrial waste" that Daddy stacked up The dogs next door bark all the time at night, so that's not really a clue.

I have always been a bit paranoid since an "incident" with a former coworker. One of my cats was diagnosed with FIP when I got her. The vet said that she might have a chance since he had bought a lifetime supply of a pill that was used to treat small pox and was useful for FIP but was no longer in product. That cat cost me over a $1000.00. She is worth every penny. I love her. However as I waited for her to die, I kept her in isolation for three months..I also use to take for walks on a leash late at night at this time period (vet's advice) (clothed). I would visit her naked, play with her, feed her, all in the nude. Then I would walk across the hall spraying beach water on my steps to kill the virus and take a shower. Unfortunately I told my coworkers. One of them turn out to be a sexual deviant. One day as I was visiting the dieing cat (who is now six and perfectly healthy) I looked out the window. Out there in the backyard was the shadow of a man wearing black clothes and a black ski mask. I screamed and the man fled. That was the last of playing naked with the cat. She was let out, didn't die. I never called the police, I was hyper focused on the cat (ADD). Took a couple of years for that to even occur to me. Eventually, I figured out It was one of the guys I worked with, Word had leaked that he had sexual problems, and that was why he was divorced, why his son hated him, why he couldn't get a good job. Eventually he was fired from my work for making inappropriate comments to the under aged girls coworkers. You would think a six foot brick wall would be enough.

Soon , I Will Be Living In The Backyard

Ohh, the things I was going to do today. . . but that was before the washer crapped out. I'm repairing for returning to the gym, (three months of not going and six pounds on my stomach and inner thighs),; i.e. getting the cat pee out of my large towel and I realize that while the washer filled up with water, it didn't do anything else. Bail out as much water as I can. 2nd plan: rinse towel out in laundry sink and squeeze out as much water as possible. Going along splendid, and then realize towel was getting brown on it from walls of sink. Damn! Gave up and proceeded to third plan: get up at two and watch Perseid meteorite shower. Did so, was beautiful and silent out. Stay out for 37 minutes. Saw a grand total of FIVE. Double damn. Have decided to wait a bit on getting the washer fixed or replaced, am quite short on money. So washed tomorrow's clothes in a pail and am now drying them.

I am so short on money because I did jury duty. Three days it took them to pick a jury with two alternatives. I was the last of 40 people in the pool, and I was the only one that didn't go into the box. It was a dental malpractice case. The dentist was being sued because the daughter (not of age yet, I think) had her wisdom teeth removed three years ago and experience numbness, top and bottom on the right side of her tongue.Unless the lawyer can prove the Dentist did something wrong while injecting her, I don't think they will win. Consent forms spell out the possible side effects. In fact, there was one woman on the jury (and booted off for that reason by the suers lawyer) who had her wisdom teeth out and she was numb on one side for a whole year.. Three of the jurors have had Bell's Palsy. And I know this because the lawyers ask them all, individually the same questions over and over. I was hard put to stay awake, and hear them.

I also have to go to the doctor Friday. More money gone. I don't think I can pay all of my bills. Oh well. Utilities come first.

Oh, But It's Sooo Funny!

Today when I went to work I noticed that my supervisor Jackie looked rather stressed out. I asked another supervisor about this, but she didn't think she was. But I was right! Marie, my driver supervisor, had noticed that Danny, another driver had left his account open on the computer. . . again. She has warned him repeatedly about this. She went over and got into his E-Mail account and sent Jackie an E-Mail that basically went like this:

Dear Jackie,
My mother has started selling diet-aid products and she needs people who need to lose 50 pound or more. Naturally I thought of you. Please give me a call.
Danny

Marie came to work today to a E-mail from Jackie asking her to cover all of Danny's shifts for the week! Jackie was going to fire him for the bogus E-Mail! Marie "fought" for Danny telling Jackie that she couldn't legally fire someone for saying that they were fat, before she finally copped to to the E-Mail. Oh, I so sure that Jackie will ream him out when he comes to work tomorrow!
Oh, and we have a rat living in the storm drain outside on J-4. Has not gotten in the store. It is living off the dumpster. Has doubled in size since I first saw him three weeks ago. I have nicknamed him "Little Chef" after "Ratatouille". He's pretty cute. He comes out in the evening and plays on the grass. Yes, I know he must die. The customers can see him. Eventually he will come inside the store. Where there's one, there's more, etc;. Except, I think he's a singleton who came In on a produce shipment.

I'm all alone and on Vacation!!!

Yes I haven't posted for awhile, (and does it matter since, yea, I am still the only one who has read this?) That is because Maria moved out and I started working 65 to 70 hour plus weeks. Basically I would have one week night off and half of one weekend day off. So, altogether, maybe 10 hours to shop, wash and clean AND have some fun. I've become a very dull, tired person. But I still have utilities running :) .
M. moved out because her brother is now stationed at Edwards, is having a house built, but it won't be ready until October and he needed help getting an apartment. Also his girlfriend moved out from Connecticut and doesn't know anyone else here or the lay of the land. Also M. wanted to live with working plumbing. . . But she said it would be three months before she moved out, and in the end it was only two weeks. But she has kept her world and payed down the utilities, (electric bill was like $400.00 + because she was using an electric heater).
She only took two cats, leaving the rest with me, but I don't really have time to spend with them. They spend all their time holed up in her bedroom because one of my cats is beating the crap out of them if they leave her room. So I have suggested that we should try to find homes for them. Her response was, just her cats, what about mine? I understand, but her cats are so lonely and she doesn't come over anymore to visit them.
M. is seriously ill. She has way too many platelets in her blood. They don't know why. Kaiser is monitoring her. If the platelets get above a certain level, they will decide she has a particular disease and treat her for that, but until then it's just going to be regular blood work. She's always tired, in pain and in a bad mood. She jumps all over me every opportunity, and apologizes only sometimes. I think she has fryromangia, she has just about all the symptoms, but it's really hard to get diagnosed with that, and there is no treatment/cure. It's just painkillers and antiflamatories.
The lovely neighbor across the street complained to the city about how I was keeping the yard. Had noticed when I was out there, thinking about how to do it (clean it up) since I have not done any yard work since Brad dumped me, that the neighbor was coming to the edge of his property and making fists with both hand, a mad face and would bounce up and down while doing this at me. This would scare me and I would go back inside instead of mowing the lawn.
As it turns out, the person who does the code enforcement for the city is my driving supervisor at my pizza delivery job. The city called her up on the city walkie talkie, she ask me for my address, I asked why? She tells me and I say I have to go home now. She wants me to keep on delivering. I say I have to GO HOME NOW. I go. I bag pine needles until 10:30 p.m. So a weed whacker, chainsaw and 40 odd bags later the front yard is just about done. I gave up going to the gym in the morning to do this, it's the only time I have for this, to say nothing of beating the heat. Now I am working on the back yard. I figure that will take a least 60 bags. It has not been touched in 15 years. I only do that on my days off, because I get so filthy that I have to wash from head to toe and my lung swell close. It's going to take me all summer to do it, but it will get done.
Have discovered that people are coming into the backyard. Dead grass is trample down around the picnic table bench combo. There are paths leading from one wall to another wall across the yard. I may have to borrow a dog. Also I'm hearing things. I know I'm not dreaming this stuff up! I 'm in twilight sleep and I hear crunch, crunch of someone walking through the yard up to my bedroom window, (by picnic table). Then this person (adult male by sound of voice), makes comments about the yard like he's on the phone with someone. 1st time, "looks like she's just given up, not taking care of the house." 2nd, " looks like she's tying to take care of the yard." So a dog looks likely in my futer.
I am on vacation for the first time in 16 years! I have 7 days off from both jobs! I'm getting paid by the florist! I'm suppose to be running errands right now instead of posting so I can go see Bob and April on Friday! I want to go back to bed!!!! Instead I will post this and get dressed, (silver surfer here I come!)

The Last Of Hell Week

Actually it went pretty damn good. We did a little less then last year, 498. At the end of the day there was only one undelivered bouquet in the store. Later, it turned out there was at least one more. One of the Valentine Day drivers, Terry, discovered she still had one in the truck of her car the next day. In the words of Christine "How can this be? Doesn't she write her deliveries down? " Didn't she notice the gap? Also, I have delivered a couple now to people who say theirs were suppose to be delivered on the 14Th. Well that's too bad since one of the order came through the Internet on the 16Th. I just tell them to call the store. None have yet.

All in all, I only took 21. Last year I took 35 or so. However to defend myself, last year I just kept going to Palmdale and the same area at that. This year I went out to 60Th and J/K over and over. Only this involved, the prison (twice), High Desert Hospital, (spent a long time looking for room 24, the only information given. Every building there except the Urgent Care trailer. Finally turned out to be in accounting on the backside of the Glen whatchamacallit building. Only took like an half hour.) And, Oh Ya, went out to Avenue X and 123 street east. Who knew there was an Avenue X! I didn't! Didn't break any Roses. :)

I got to talk to Jason, Saturday night. He took 21. Christine told me he broke roses on every run, (she also said he was a doll.) He kept deigning it, but finally copped to two. He made like $250.00 in two days. Lets see I made like $128.00 I feel a bit cheated, specially since I didn't get a pay hike when they raised minimum wage.

I have taken three replacements now. Two of them it was like, 'What's wrong with them?" Well one, didn't like the color! Second, not big enough! Third, yes, the petals were falling off. Man, that one was beautiful. Take a medium red rose. Now blend it with a California poppy. Now you have a Ventana Rose. It even gleams like a poppy. I seriously tried to take one of them home, even dug through the trash for them. But they weren't there. Damn.

The Begining Of Hell Week

This is week that Valentine Day falls on. As a driver for a Florist, this is my heaviest work week. Today wasn't that bad because he got Kim and Jessica to deliver as well. All together, I think there was around 42 of them. I took 24 of them. I freaked out twice and lost time. I must work on that.

Anyway, this a view of one side of the garage. The garage is a sea of filler, baby breath and stuff. There is a refrigerated trailer outside, being filled with bouquets of roses. Inside the store there are around 15 people, a few taking orders and the rest helping around five floral designers put the bouquets together.

Yet another job attempt

Went out to Hi-Grade Material today to apply for weight master. Add said, computer work, customer service, and map book. Well I can do all of those things, or I thought I could.Made a cover letter at Jackie's. Printed it and a resume and went out to Hi-Grade. Filled out the app, turned it in and then, oh look! A test. Alphabetic company name lists, 20 or them. I knew I was in trouble when I got to the end of the alphabet and I was on #18. Went back over, and over, and over. Five times I went over it until I had twenty. Took like 30 minutes. How embarrassing. Then I got to do a calculator test, which I did better at.The excel test we skip, since I don't know that at all. Don't think I'm going to get this job.

Alan's Flower Shop, now closed

Alan's is closed, (at least in my town, the one he has in the next town over might still be open) because A; (allegedly) he has embezzled, and B; because he burned down a rival flower shop twice! He's in jail now, awaiting trial. According to rumor, he would seduce widows that had a bit of cash (even although he is gay) and suck them dry to keep the store going (or maybe to use as a front to show how he had funds). The last I heard, was that there was a cop stationed in the store, counting the money as it came in and would take it away with him at closing.

thistles at Jackie's house

These are the thistles I gave Jackie. They are left over from the wedding show. Jackie loves thistles and used to grow them in her front garden at their former home, to the detriment of the neighbour's lawns!

one of the orchid plants my sister grows in her kitchen window

Couldn't get enough light to show the true colors. They are actually lime green and purple, although they faded to this color accept for inside the mouth part.

My sister is a neo-luddite.

But I always knew that. From day one my sister has shown a total lack of empathy for computers, and downright fear. When my niece Margaret was around three, my sister and brother-in-law Don bought a used computer for her to use in college, (they were planning on storing it in a closet I believe). My Dad and I were horrified, (Dad had 32 computers by this time). "They're afraid," He exclaim in disbelief, "of a computer!" Yep.
Eventually Don got over this, and has gone on to take classes at Locheed, enabling him to put a computer together from scratch. But my sister, while she has learned to write letters on the computer and search for items to buy, never really has.
So why am I surprise to talk to my sister and find out that A. she hasn't visited this log yet (and probably never will) and has no interest in blogging with me or B. with our English relatives. On the plus side, I can write whatever I want to about her and she will never know! BaHaHa!! (Evil Snidley Whiplash laughter!!!} I twirl my invisible moustache! Oh wait! It's not that invisible. Must find good tweezers soon.

Went to Harry Potter Fan Club meeting last night at Barnes & Nobel. A problem looms on the horizon. . . I'm a poseur. I really do like Harry Potter, but don't own the books. My best friend and roommate M. does. I've found it rather hard to get the books from her (I refuse to have two sets in one house, she can't read all of them at the same time now can she?). So I'm only read them once, and not all of them (I think) at that. Also, her friend B.and her, have their own private fan club thing going on about Harry Potter. So, for me and M., it's Lord Of The Rings, M. and B., Harry Potter.
However, the leader of the fan club says she's going to start asking us to participate, now that we have gone to two meetings and I'm stuck. I spent last night smiling, while thinking "Who the heck is Creature and why does he have it bad against mudbloods?" I asked M. when we left, about who Creature is and yes, now I know he's the Black's house elf. Apparently, he's suppose to become important to the story line.
ON the plus side, I now know I'm not alone in thinking that Snake is noble and sexy. All of us women over 35 chimed in with our admiration of him. Yes he will prove himself on the side of good, (probably by dieing for the good side,)while at the same time realizing that Harry is not a bad egg. So I have a month to bone up on Creature, Ron Weezley, and I forget who the third is.

problems with pictures

I bought Pix'n Tunes from Best Buy yesterday, to get the pictures off my phone. However, no matter what I do, (download drivers, re-install, re-pug, and so on) it just doesn't recognize the phone as being connected. Have started a ticket with DataPilot, but just read an e-mail saying I have to do it again. I bet you that I will have to shell out $70.00 for the Samsung version.
Of couse I still have to start writing the letters to my relatives in England, so I can start the process of getting us all on this blog.

Very First Post!

I have created this Blog in the hopes of connecting with all of my English relatives. Of course this depends on them; one, having a computer, two, connection to the Internet, three, knowledge on how to do it. I mean my sister Jackie has 1 and 2 but has to get Margaret (her daughter) to set it up to be able to read her e-mail. [I still haven't been able to explain to her how I can read my e-mail when I house sit for her.]
Then of course, I have to get my English relatives information and connect them up. This will be a long process. Also, I need to get a data kit for my phone, so I can add photos.