Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Goings On For Tuesday

It's been an interesting day here. First, we put our Dodge Intrepid up for sale on Craigs list. It's a 1995 with quite a few miles on it but otherwise in good shape. It has been a few years since I've sold a car so I was pretty surprised to get 4 calls on it by noon. The first person to look at it decided it wasn't what they wanted. But the second fellow showed up and voila, it was sold. I don't know about any of you out there, but I hate being haggled over little nit picky things on a used car. I mean hey, it ain't new folks lol.

On another note, I got to talk to another fellow blogger today. This has become somewhat of a ritual with Skittles. Give her your phone number and you will, I promise, get called. When Skittles calls someone, she makes a point of me saying hello to them. This time it was Tisha from Crazy Working Mom blog. Wow, I talk to more folks through Skittles calls than I do any other time lol. It has been a nice experience talking to all the folks I have though. Always nice to put a voice with a name. I guess you could say it's a small world after all.

So, now that the car is sold, Skittles and I are planning one of our whirlwind vacations. It's pretty much like a whirlwind in that we don't actually plan on anything really. We just head in a direction and go till we get to where we think we want to be lol. This type of vacation has worked well for us in the past and I don't see us changing our way of doing things. It just beats having to be somewhere at a specific time in my opinion. Besides, if we change our mind we aren't stuck with a reservation anywhere. Plus I might add, it's a great way to see this big beautiful country we live in. 32 states and counting we have seen together this way.

Well, that's about it for now. Till next time BYE!!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Memorial Day

It's been a lazy day here for us. We visited the pet supply store to see about the water in our aquarium first. I guess that needs a bit of explaining. We got an aquarium last week and also some fish for it. We let the thing run before we put the fish in so we thought it was ok. Well, we bought a couple little catfish to help keep the bottom of the tank clean. One of them died. So, I took it back to the pet store which has a guarantee on the fish you buy there. It turns out that there was too much ammonia in the water. So on the advice of the store help I bought some chemical to put in the tank to get rid of the ammonia. We went back today with another water sample so we could get another fish, but, the ammonia level was still too high. I'm not by any means a fish expert so I asked the fellow who was helping us what to do. He suggested a different chemical and a partial water change.

The water change was reserved for later in the day as we had planned on visiting the cemetery where my father is buried. He passed away in 1989. I will always remember that evening. I was the one who took him to the hospital. I had gone to visit he and my mother that afternoon with my kids and my sister was there also. My mom stayed at the hospital as we thought they would treat him and send him home later. Mom told me to go home and be with the rest of the family and she would call when they let him out. Well, the hospital called a bit later to tell me that my father had passed. So we went to the cemetery today and left some flowers there. Oh, my father was in the Navy also, so this is kind of a special day. I'm glad it was a nice day here so we go to enjoy a pleasant visit there.

After we got home from the cemetery, we got to work on the aquarium. We replaced about 5 of the 20 gallons of water and added the new chemical. We also added a nice piece of shale rock to help hide the aeration hose that was partially visible at the bottom of the tank. We kept a watchful eye on the tank and it seems to be much clearer than it has been. I'm hoping this new stuff takes care of any problems that we may have had as I don't want any more dead fish. In any case I still enjoy sitting and watching the fish swim around the tank.

This afternoon/evening we grilled some brats and watched a movie. I have the rest of this week to enjoy not getting up for work. Next week it will be back to normal for me.

That about caps the activity we had today. Till next time BYE!!

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Flirtin' With Disaster

The title of this post I thought was quite funny. I had read in Meloncutters blog that soy products produce shrinkage in certain male areas. What brought me to think about it again was that for dinner tonight we had tacos made with soy burger instead of real hamburger for the meat part of the meal. The reason we had this is simple, we are trying to cut down on calories and eat better. This has been evident by the weight we both have lost. But this meal got me to thinking lol. I have to admit it's the first time I've ever tried this stuff and also have to admit it tasted very good with the taco seasoning added in. Heck, it pretty much tasted like regular hamburger to me. But I guess the thought that crossed my mind was how much of this stuff does it take to create the shrinkage that Melon was talking about? If it's continually eating this stuff that does it, I might have to limit it to a once in awhile thing. But this was on my mind this evening lol. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens. It isn't like I'm going to measure or anything. That's about all for now. Till next time BYE!!


Saturday, May 26, 2007

What's Going On

I thought I'd write a post here about what's been going on with me the last few weeks.

1 I forgot to mention that my mother has undergone hip replacement surgery. She had it done on May 7th and did very well. A problem did develop when she was placed in a convalescent home after though. She was sent there because she needed to be watched and learn how to walk again after the surgery. The problem there though was while she was having her bedding changed one evening, due to a bowel problem she was having was that one of the workers got angry or frustrated and didn't take very good care of her while changing the bedding. This person just, as my sister tells me, flipped her over to get at the sheets and dislocated her new hip about 2 inches. She was taken to the hospital and thankfully the surgeon that did the operation happened to be on call there. Her hip was put back in without a problem, but my mom won't be going back to that other place. My sister is talking to a lawyer about it. Meanwhile my sister has made arrangements with her friends and nursing folks so my mom can stay at her house where she lives. This is moms new home anyway and she is much more comfortable there than in any hospital.

2 I've been off for a week now from work due to a layoff. I have been very lazy and enjoying it lol. We did go see the grand babies last weekend and enjoyed seeing them very much. Other than that, I've been playing video games and such plus watching movies. Another week of this and I won't want to set the alarm clock to get up for work. I have to be honest here and say I don't miss getting up at 4:30 am one bit. Maybe next week I'll get around to doing some work on my hobby projects. I just haven't felt like tackling anything like that lately.

3 We were going to go on a little trip this week, but decided to put it off till later. Something just didn't feel right about it. It wasn't the destination, because that involved seeing a railroad museum and meeting a fellow blogger. And if any of you have payed attention to my blog, you know how much I love trains. It was just one of those weird feelings you get. I don't know. Some other time though.

Well, that about sums it up for what's been going on here. Till next time BYE!!

Saturday Photo Hunt

This weeks theme for the Photo Hunters is colorful. I thought a picture of our new aquarium would fit nicely for this. So here it is. We have 12 fish in it. It's a 20 gallon tank and we have added a few things to make it interesting for not only us, but the fish. I can only remember the names of 2 kinds of fish we have it in though lol. 1 is Molly and the other is catfish. Oh, we got 2 of each kind so there are 6 different types of fish in it. We got the catfish to keep the bottom of the aquarium clean, the rest were just ones we picked out to make it colorful and fun.



Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Sunday, May 20, 2007

My Italian Name

I saw this over at Rebecca's The Rants From Sunnybrook Farm and thought I'd give it a try.

Your Italian Name Is...

Enrico Costa

Sunday Visit

Barb and I went to visit our grandson Jakob today. We had told him the last time he stayed with us on Easter weekend that we would visit him in May during my layoff. The little guy has been counting off the days on the calendar (with the help of his mom) till we were to come see him again. So, off we headed this morning/afternoon to see him. We stopped off at Barb's son Bobs to say hi and visit a bit with him before he had to go to work. We also got to see the nice improvements they made to their house. After that, Bob's wife Sara came with us to visit Jakob. We also got to see our granddaughter Lexi. We ended up going to the playground that is near where Jakob lives. I have posted some pictures of the fun they had while playing.




Jakob with little sister Lexi in tow



Lexi



Jakob and Lexi



Barb, Lexi, Jakob, Jakob's mom Beth, and Aunt Sara


So, to all who wondered where we were today, you now know. We had a good time while visiting and a nice drive home. Till next time BYE!!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Saturday

Well, I'm off for 2 weeks now and will have a good time not going to work. I'll probably wake up early Monday just out of habit though. Not sure of what we will do or go, but at least I won't have to worry about being at work the next morning for awhile.

Last week at work we had something funny happen. One of the guys that I work with came in with 2 different shoes on. He said he gets dressed in the dark and wears gym type shoes so it wasn't that noticeable to him. When the fellow I was working with spotted it, we all had a good laugh at it. He ended up calling his wife so she could bring the correct shoe in so he had matching ones lol.

On another note, I got home last week and Barb was watching Court TV when I got there. They had a case of a 10 yr old who had beaten a homeless man with bricks and such on trial. The thing that bothered me was they had a lawyer on that was trying to make a point that the kid shouldn't be punished harshly for what he had done due to his age. This angered me very much. I mean, if they don't punish this kid for what he did, how is he going to learn his lesson not to do this type of thing. To make it worse the homeless man might lose his eye from the injuries suffered at the hands of this kid. It just amazes me that anyone, let alone a 10 yr old would even think about beating someone that severe. Not to mention the fact that if this kid is doing this type of thing at his age, what will he think he can do when he gets older if he isn't punished?

I guess that's about all for now. I'll try to post some more during my time off. Till next time BYE!!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

What Color Car Should You Drive?

I saw this at Skittles' Place and gave it a try.

You Should Drive a Blue Car

You're the type of driver who isn't hung up on the what car you drive.
You don't need a flashy car to show off your wealth or style.
Instead, you go for value and reliability. You're quite practical.
You're a great driver, but you don't show off. Part of your skill is not standing out on the road.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all Moms. I hope you all enjoy this day. This is a pic of the roses that I got Skittles for mothers day. Not much else to post about today. Just relaxing and enjoying the day along with her. Till next time BYE!!

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Your Inner Color is Red

Your Personality: Self-confident and stunning, you live in the now! You love life and experience all it has to offer.

You in Love: You're a bit private and have trouble opening up. You need a secure partner who can deal with your independence.

Your Career: Your ideal job gives you a ton of control and concrete results. Consider being a chef, surgeon, or architect.

Wnat My Drawing Says About Me

I found this at Skittles' Place and gave it a try.

drawing personality


The results of your analysis say:

You tend to pursue many different activities simultaneously. When misfortune does happen, it doesn't actually dishearten you all that much.
You are a thoughtful and cautious person. You like to think about your method, seeking to pursue your goal in the most effective way.
You like following the rules and being objective. You are precise and meticulous, and like to evaluate decisions before making them.
You have a sunny, cheerful disposition.

What does your drawing say about YOU?

The Interview

Barb over at Skittles' Place has been interviewing people and she needed someone else to interview so I volunteered for it. I figured it would be fun to do. So here goes...

1. What do you like best and least about your job and why? Probably the best part is getting to do different jobs and also getting to work with the people that are there. The least that I liked would be while I was a team leader and had to relieve people to go to the bathroom and they would take 20 minutes or longer. Mind you not everyone did this, just a few, so it really wasn't that bad.

2. What got you fascinated with trains? How old were you? I got my first train when I was about 6 or so and didn't really understand how to operate it that well. I got back into them when I was about 16 or so and started to understand more about how they worked and actually operated in real life. After I got into cars, trains took a back seat for a while as I was busy driving around and being a teenager. The train bug hit me again when I was about 35 and I started collecting
them seriously and trying to think up the perfect layout to show them. Unfortunately, I never settled on a design and to this day still don't have a layout to run the trains I have.

3. Describe your dream vacation. A huge RV and Barb, with unlimited time and money to see the U.S. and all it's wonderful sights.

4. I know you like the cartoon character Marvin The Martian. Tell one way you think you are similar to him. I guess that would be thinking up new ways to do things. He of course desires to conquer earth and I don't, but I do like coming up with new inventions to reach the goals that I have.

5. What have you learned from blogging? That there are some very nice people out there with real problems and some good advice if you need it. Also that there are people out there that even though you aren't geographically close to them, can make good friends too.

On this meme I'm not allowed to tag anyone, but if someone wants to volunteer to be interviewed, I could think up a set of 5 questions for them to answer.