Get Well Soon Sissy!

Today is the day of the surgery. Hopefully all goes well and Sissy will be back on her feet soon and eating all the food she could never eat before :) She will have to come back for a visit so she can truly enjoy all the bad food we ate last time without writhing in pain all night.

GET WELL SOON SISSY!!!

Corn Shocks?

There is a hand made sign on the street where we live that says "Corn Shocks For Sale". Everytime we pass it we look at each other and wonder what corn shocks are. We thought of a corn shuck or corn stalks and just thought that the person that wrote the sign wasn't very smart. We finally Googled it and it truly is a term for corn stalks that have been bound together. Guess we weren't as smart as we thought we were.

The Texan Has Left The Building

What a wild weekend it has been and by weekend I mean Thursday through Monday :) Our friend from Texas came to visit us in our new place on the lake and the fun never stopped from the time he got here till the time he left. I feel like I should be in college since I've had a hang over every morning for the past four days.

We had a great time J.A. and hope we can do it again soon either in the West or the East - it doesn't matter - I think all of us could have fun no matter where we were and hopefully your honey bear can come next time.

Oh, and let's not forget about who made the first American Flag or that while you are downtown there is a guy that will let you kick him in the groin as long as you give him $2 :)

What Happened To Fall?

It is sooo cold here all of a sudden. I want Fall!! I want 60 degrees!! I do not want 32 degrees!!

Yes, it was 32 degrees here this morning. I was laughing when reading Bou's post about the cold here except we aren't even getting Fall weather, it just skipped a season and went right into winter.

We don't want to turn on the heat yet but it's 60 degrees inside our condo and it's freezing outside. We live on the lake so we are getting even colder breezes from the water. My toes are numb and I have on socks and tennis shoes. This sucks. I like the cold as long as I am warm and cozy inside. I even survived Alaska in November but at least there they have the heat cranked up every where you go into so you really don't notice it unless you just stand outside.

I have to go put my fifth layer of clothing on just to sit in my living room.

Roaches Are Falling From The Sky

I have one to top Sissy's roach problem in her bathroom. I was drying my hair yesterday in front of the sink in my master bathroom when I noticed out of the corner of my eye something had fallen from the ceiling vent fan. The vent fan in the master bathroom is directly above the toilet. These are older condo's and it has the old style vent fan where it looks like there is a hole in the ceiling with a big plastic cap over it with large vents on all sides so you can see the large hole.

I looked down into the toilet to see the biggest palmetto bug (very large roach) I have seen since we have moved here. It was trying it's best to get out of the water so I quickly flushed and watched it slowly swirl around to it's ultimate doom. Well let's hope it died. I know it does sometimes take an entire can of Raid to kill these things (as Sissy has demonstrated) and even then they still flail around for like hours until they finally die. So I thought, hmmm would flushing really kill this thing?

Now I'm terrified to use my toilet. I look into it every time I go into the bathroom. It totally freaks me out. But it will be a way of life living here. Not only are we in the South but we are twenty steps to the lake and living on the bottom floor so it is inevitable that we will have these huge creatures living with us. Ewwwww!

Drinks - Cocks & Cigars - Oh My!

It was a fun weekend again in the Palmetto State!! Sissy came down and across to see us and luckily it was a much easier drive that it used to be out West. Friday night was pretty tame but Sissy was taken by surprise as she came into our new place and noticed I had gone from blonde to brunette :) Let's just say it was another one of my brilliant DIY moments involving box color from the store. I should know better by now.

Saturday morning started with Spurs heading out and getting us biscuits for breakfast and then it was a return to bed for our traditional mid morning nap. We had to head to the bar early to make sure we had a good table to watch the game as the Cocks were on Pay-Per-View this weekend. So the drinks started flowing at 2:00 but Sissy and I were smart enough to get a small bite to eat when we got there.

Unfortunately the table next to us was filled with a group of guys that brought their portable humidors in with them and proceeded to smoke really nasty smelling cigars the whole time they were there. I usually like the smell of a good cigar but not when there are five people sitting right next to me smoking them constantly. Sissy and I even developed a headache due to the smell.

So Sissy not only had to endure a whole table of smokers sitting around her but cigar smoke as well. Oh yeah, let's not forget being surrounded by tv's showing the Gamecock game but getting to hear the Cock-a-doodle-doo blasted every 10 minutes and the volume of the game blaring in our ears. Welcome to my world :) It is a lot of fun though and the Cocks fans are great!

After stumbling out of the bar after the Gamecocks won against Vanderbilt we headed back to the homestead and fired up the grill. It was all a blur after that to me, I'm not real good at pacing myself and I think after many beers, a shot and then this new energy beer drink I was pretty much done. Sissy is a trooper though and hung in till the end - Spurs and I left her sitting on the couch watching the rest of the Cardinals game as we went to bed :)

Thanks for a great time Sissy, I hope your gall bladder has recovered :)

Make The Annoying Calls Stop

Recently I've been getting these calls over and over again on my cell phone like three or four times a day and they never leave a message. I don't answer calls if I don't recognize the number and I figure if they really need to reach me they will leave a voicemail. One is an 866 prefix and one was a Florida number. I decided to Google them today to see if I could find out where the calls were coming from. When you have a home phone you are used to these types of annoying telemarketing calls but over the last several years we haven't had a home phone until recently but I guess they found a way to get cell numbers so they can annoy x 2.

So when I Googled the numbers today I found an interesting website. It's called Who Called Us and it gave me a lot of information in lieu of people leaving messages on their message board reporting that they are getting calls from these same numbers and what happens when they either answer the call or call the number back. It turns out that the 866 number seems to be some sort of Bank of America marketing call and the Florida number was some sort of scam asking you for your bank account number because you have won a prize.

What really annoys me about this is the elderly people that now have cell phones (like my Dad) that will answer calls like these because they think that if they got their cell phone number it must be legit because it's not like they have a Yellow Pages for cell phone numbers and possibly be taken advantage of. Now I just wish I could figure out how to make them stop calling. It's not like cell phones have a Do Not Call list you can subscribe to!!

***UPDATE***

Thank you Tink!! I went to the FTC website and called 1-888-382-1222 from my cell phone and now it's registered on the DNC list for five years!!! Hopefully after 31 days I won't be getting these annoying calls any longer and if I do I am reporting their number on the FTC website.

Sometimes you have to take a step back

Oh dear lord, I've been on conference calls alllllllllll day.
I'm on one now actually.

It wouldn't bother me so much if anything was actually accomplished. But for the most part, it seems like these folks just like to talk.
My head hurts.
I'm going to Happy Hour. It's .25 cent wing night.
I really shouldn't let these things get under my skin...

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience…
I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own..

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

Zen courtesy of Baz Luhrmann

Weekend Fun

Spurs and I had a lovely football weekend with our dear friends who now are luckily our neighbors since we have moved back to the home of Spurs. We traveled to the home of the Panthers on Saturday morning and had a great time bar hopping downtown that night. We found some great bars and had good food, drinks and laughter. We always have such a great time with them and always come away with funny stories.

Sunday morning we got up early and tailgated prior to the afternoon game. We weren't too sure about the weather so we tried to dress appropriately for both the morning chill and the afternoon heat. The tailgating was a lot of fun and it was nice to just chill with all the other fans and have some drinks and take in all the sights and smells. As we were walking into the stadium I was very impressed by it. I have only been to one other stadium (dome) in my hometown of ATL so it was cool to see this one. As we got into the stadium we trekked up to our seats. We didn't have the best seats and were glad we had tickets at all because there were more people looking for tickets outstide than there were people trying to sell them. I now have a new appreciation for the term "upper deck". We were at the very tip top of the stadium but still had a great view of the field. As I heard, there really isn't a bad seat in the stadium. We did not however predict how hot it was going to be since we were only about five inches away from the actual sun. Needless to say, we got really, really, really, really hot. I think the term "The White People are Melting" was said pretty frequently. We had to escape and decided to head out during half time to go watch the game at one of the bars we found the night before.

Thankfully the home team won and we had a great weekend. Thanks Big Guy and Blinkie and son of Big Guy who we now have termed "Snatcher of Swag", we had a great time and hope to do it again later in the season when it's cooler outside. Oh, and let's hope Chili's really doesn't have "Secret Police" to hunt us down.