Happy Thanksgiving!

I will be very busy over the next few days getting ready for Thanksgiving and spending time with my family. This is the only the oly time of year that I get to see my sister and her husband who have flown in from California. The Kids will all arrive by tomorrow and the festivities will begin! So I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday. I will post after the holiday weekend, but between now and then I will not be spending much time on the computer.

<:3)~ <:3)~ <:3)~ <:3)~ <:3)~ <:3)~ <:3)~ <:3)~ <:3)~ <:3)~

Shut-Eye Disclosures A La Green Eyed Lady

Shut-Eye Disclosures

1) How many pillows do you sleep on?
One

2) Do you sleep in the nude?
Not normally

3) Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
As a child I did, and I still have some stuffed animals. The main mouse is on the bed when it is made, but I do not sleep with any stuffed animals.

4) Do you use a top sheet?
Yes, and a comforter or light blanket. I need a certain amount of weight on me to feel comfortable... even in the summer. Thank God for air conditioning!

5) Do you fall asleep to the TV?
Yes, most of the time. I put the sleep timer on and rarely am aware of the TV turning off.

6) Do you remember your dreams?
Sometimes I do, but usually just the dreams I have when I am partially awake

7) Do you sleepwalk?
Nope!

8) Do you snore?
When I am congested I snore. I don't hear it, but I hear about it! ;o)

9) Do you braid your hair before going to bed?
I haven't had braids since I was in second grade!

10) Do you wear socks to bed?
A few nights a year when it is cold (below 40 degrees)

11) Do you hug and kiss your pillow (still)?
No. I don't think I ever did!

12) Do you eat in bed?
No, but I do keep water next to the bed to drink at night.

13) What size is your bed?
King size, but I only use 1/3 of it. My cats are bed hogs.

14) Do your kids sleep with you?
No, and they never did.

15) Are you a normal, light, or heavy sleeper?
I have cycles where I get into a deep sleep, but I tend to be a light sleeper. I think it comes from listening for children in the middle of the night for so many years.

16) Do you have nightmares?
Rarely... usually my dreams are more weird than scary. Recently I have been dreaming about doing pie charts for the parish financial report. I think I need to get a life!

17) What's the best amount of sleep for you to feel good the next day/night?
Seven hours usually works for me, although I often function on much less.

18) Can you see in the dark?
Somewhat. It helps if I open my eyes.

19) Do you fantasize in your sleep?
Yes, but not necessarily sexual fantasies. I fantasize about all sorts of things, especially about having marvelous powers of persuasion or having brilliant answers... or rescuing someone from a disaster... that type of thing. I seem to enjoy being in control or a heroine in my fantasies. I guess that means I perceive a lack of control in my waking hours.

Not Quite A Rhodent Rant

This is not quite a rant. I am not angry, just rather annoyed... perhaps a bit perplexed. The newer versions of the drug commercials on TV have really been getting on my nerves.

It used to be that they would advertise some new drug and claim that it cures everything but housemaid's knee. If you want to cure housemaid's knee, you will need to try their non-drowsy formula with the stomach-protecting coating. Then there was the routine of "don't forget to ask your doctor about..." where the purpose of the drug is not revealed. The viewer is left wondering what on earth the drug is supposed to fix because they never say for what purpose it is to be prescribed! Sure, you are going to go to your doctor and tell him/her that you need this drug even though you have no idea what it does! I guess you are supposed to go to your doctor and ask him what it does. He probably doesn't know yet either! More recently a drug would be mentioned with all of the usual claims, and then at the end of the commercial some man would report the negative side effects at a speed so fast that no one could understand him... well maybe an auctioneer could figure some of it out.

Now we have the newest form of the drug commercials... The drug is introduced to the viewer by a pleasing voice with wonderful scenery and very good looking people. Then at the end of the commercial a very friendly female voice recites the entire list of bad side effects in such a way that if you are only half listening, you would think that these were good things to experience... Like, isn't it wonderful that you could experience shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, heart attack, or even (if you are lucky) death! And if you are listening closely, you have to ask yourself why these are considered good things, because clearly, the female voice seems to indicate they are desirable! What idiocy!

Ok. I'm done.

Uh Oh - Part 2

I was appropriately and sincerely contrite. I briefly explained the problem without too many details. Himself was clearly not pleased with my gift card news, but he did accept my suggested solution. Since the main problem concerned two grocery store gift cards for my two collegians (for emergency rations, of course), my suggestion to him was that we use those cards for our own grocery needs. Simply put, we have prepaid for some of our groceries. The rest of the gift cards I will reimburse him for with my paycheck this Friday. At some point I will get the gift cards with the correct amount... but I will wait for a bit.

I think I am safe until he sees the total bill.

Uh Oh

I goofed. I messed up. I could be in hot water. I can already feel the burning bubbles. Himself will not be pleased. Actually, I am not pleased. There are several possible resolutions to this predicament I find myself in... The question is will I live long enough to decide which is the better choice?

I went to the grocery store. I bought groceries. I bought a few "extras" for baking for Thanksgiving. That ran the bill up a bit. I bought a few gift cards for Christmas. That ran the bill up a lot! My plan was to write a check from my account to Himself to cover the cost of the gift cards since they are not part of the true grocery bill. However, I was in a hurry. I was experiencing an urgent call from nature and needed to get out of there and get home. Then it happened. The young cashier who was obviously new to his job was taking forever to enter the gift cards. He entered some of them incorrectly. Like $100 more per card incorrectly. I didn't catch it until he totaled the bill and that urgent call from nature almost became a deluge. What did I do? Decided that I couldn't wait for him to take the time to correct everything and got the hell out of there.

Yup, I am in very hot water! But I really am a good person, and my intentions were good. Doesn't that count for something? Do you think bladder weakness is a good defense?

Meetings, Pie Charts, And Key Buys

Today was a busy day. I entered numerous invoices onto the computer. I prepared handouts for the Parish Finance Committee meeting. I met briefly with our pastor and he suggested some changes to our pie charts. I made the changes. I am still seeing pie charts when I close my eyes. At the first finance meeting I attended today, the pie charts were discussed and a relatively few changes were made. Tomorrow I will work on the final version to be distributed to the parish members. Fun, fun fun!

The second finance meeting was this evening... the Annual Diocesan Finance Meeting. It is usually a boring meeting, but it is also a meeting that is important to attend because for the information that gets dispersed. We get a wonderful Power Point presentation about the financial status of our Diocese. There is a question/answer session at the end of the meeting where a few actual pertinent questions get asked and then answered. Then there are the people who like to get up to hear themselves speak and after ten minutes of comments actually may finally get to a question that has already been answered... probably twice. Our Bishop is very good at cutting off the questioning once he decides that the pertinent questions have already been asked. He has a lot of patience!

Tonight, when we got back from the Diocesan Finance Meeting, I got to browse throughout the stuff that was set up for a rummage sale at church tomorrow. I actually got a couple of very good deals! I got a set of 4 chairs-- the good folding kind with cane backs-- for $20.00. That is $5.00 a chair! I also picked up a wooden cat for $3.00, a set of French mixing bowls for $3.75, a marble and glass cheese holder for $6.00, a cow that matches my Christmas manger set for 10 cents, and a small AnnaLee doll for 5 cents.

I do have to explain that I am not normally a garage sale / rummage sale type of person. There is nothing wrong with being a person that likes those sales, but I have just never been very fond of them. However, once a year I patronize our Women's Guild rummage sale because it is their main fundraiser for the year and they do so much for our parish. They also include yummy baked goods in the rummage sale. Those will not be put out until tomorrow. I may have to make another purchase or two. You know, to support the ladies and their worthy efforts.

So, I hope you have all had a wonderful day. I am going to go to bed now. I will dream of wondrous pie charts and wake up ready to head for work and at least one more version of those pie charts. Perhaps more. Yes, I will need to make additional purchases at the bake sale tomorrow!

A Bit Brain Dead, But Successful

I am a bit brain dead tonight and will probably be seeing pie charts in my dreams for the next two weeks! I have been working on a financial report to be distributed to parish members, and Fr. Pat, our new pastor, has requested that I show the major categories in the form of pie charts. This is really a good idea. However, I have had very little experience with doing pie charts in Excel, so I have been rising to the challenge and have pretty much conquered the whole pie chart thing.

A lot of what I have learned about various computer programs seems to have been the result of intensive self-teaching to complete some sort of project. I actually enjoy being challenged like this and successfully figuring how to do what I need to do. But I am still brain dead tonight!

Sooooooooo... I am taking the easy way out tonight. I have a question to pose for you all to answer. This could be quite interesting and possibly quite entertaining! Are you ready?

What are the most interesting or unusual things you have done with duct tape?

Road Trip

I took off a bit early from work on Friday to pick up my youngest daughter, Allison, and drive up to my mother's home in Dunnellon. We took Koko with us as he is always up for a road trip... unusual for a cat. Ally and I had a wonderful visit while driving up there and back, and an equally wonderful visit with my mother.

We spent the night in Dunnellon... which was a bit difficult for Ally. It seems her mother was a bit congested and kept snoring and waking her up until she changed rooms in the wee hours of the morning. What can I say? I had a snuffy nose!

We decided to plan on an Alaskan Inner Passage cruise for next summer. It is something I have always wanted to do and something my mother has really wanted to do. So we are going! It is my hope that somehow my offspring will be able to go with us... It would be a fabulous time! So I will be investigating the options and checking out costs. I have several friends who have already done these cruises, and I will pick their brains about the trips they took.

We returned on Saturday since Ally had plans, and I needed to put some time in at work. When we reached her apartment she showed me some new sites on the internet where there are some pictures of her and her friends, as well as two of my other children. It is called myspace.com. I will be checking this out soon!

Currently, I am looking forward to seeing everyone together for Thanksgiving. It is always a good time whenever my kids all get together. They are all quite entertaining and funny! It is also the only time of year that I get to see my only sister and her husband, so it is always a special time.

Have a great day everyone. I am going to get settled in to watch the Bucs!
<:3)~

 

Phew!

Today was both a very frustrating and a very productive day for me. The frustrating part of the day was in the morning. I struggled with a financial report and tried to get it into a pie chart format. However, the percentages assigned to the portions were not accurate enough for my purposes. As I am usually very persistent in this type of a situation, I did finally figure out how to circumvent the program's perplexing percentage problems. After that my project progressed in a pleasing and positive manner. Next time I should be more practiced in this program, and therefore I should be pleased to be able to produce the proper pie promptly... and then add the perfunctory proper percentages.

I also made some prudent decisions today. I have some personal issues that have been persistently plaguing me. I am pleased to say that I have planned to pursue these problems in a practical, progressive manner, and I am "pleased as punch" with my personal performance in the passionate pursuit of preparing this panacea.

Phew!
<:3)~

This Explains A Few Things For Me

You're
the United Nations!

Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to
completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long
way to go. You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each
other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of
beating each other about the head and torso. Sometimes it works and sometimes
it doesn't, and you get very schizophrenic as a result. But your heart
is in the right place, and sometimes also in New York.
Take the Country
Quiz at the Blue Pyramid