Lazy Sunday

It's Sunday morning and I really should be doing something productive, but I am not. And I probably won't...it's my day of rest!

I had digital voice installed at my house yesterday to add to my digital cable and internet. Comcast made me an offer I couldn't refuse and with the free long distance and all of the phone features included (which I have been paying extra for using my other phone carrier) I should be saving a decent amount of money each month. I can also save some money on my cell phone bill by going with a cheaper plan since I won't be using that so much. One of the main reasons I had a cell phone in the first place was for the long distance. But in order to save minutes I would often wait until after 9pm to make calls. Now I can call anyone I want at any time and not be concerned about the time I spend on the phone. Considering that with Verizon, my free calling area was not very broad and even calls to my family just 20 miles away were considered long distance, this is really a nice benefit.
While the guys were here connecting my phone, they upgraded my modem and made sure everything with my computer was working great. They were very amused with my wallpaper on my computer, what I call my bedspread. I can just imagine what they all had to say once they left my house...like man, this woman lives in a real fantasy world...or something. LOL Had I known they were going to turn on my PC, I would have changed the picture. Oh well...what can I say? I love my bedspread!
Along with the "bundle' they offered me some premium movie channels for an additional $10. I've got HBO and STARZ with On Demand. I haven't been able to really check that feature out yet, but maybe today there will be some good movies on.

I was planning to stay home last night but ended up going out with some girls from work. We ended up at a Mexican restaurant and had our fair share of nachos and Margarita's. I only had 2 drinks because I had to drive home, but spread them out over the course of the evening and ended up having a real good time. At least I am not nursing a hangover this morning. I don't think that the rest of my companions are feeling too well. I'll be making some phone calls in a bit to find out.

I just talked to Rick in Maine and if the weather holds, I am going to go up there next weekend to visit the mainiacs. I haven't been up there since October and it is about time. They are all really super people and they make everyone feel so comfortable in their home. Rick said he is planning to make his chickenless pot pie for dinner Saturday night. LOL I offered to bring the chicken. I am sure most of you know the whole chickenless pot pie story, but for those who don't, Rick is an awesome cook and one night he was so proud of his chicken pot pie that he made. He even made the pie crust from scratch. Everything apparently was so delicious until they realized that there was no chicken in the pie. He cooked the chicken, but forgot to add it to the gravy with the veggies. :-) Blossom told us all about it and Rick has never been able to live that down. I am certainly looking forward to whatever culinary delicacy Rick has to offer. Haven't been disappointed yet with anything he has cooked. It's always a good party up there with Rick, Blossom, Mazz Tweetie, Pup and the gang. Let's just hope the weather co-operates!

I suppose I should get moving here but first I want to post a pic of my bedspread! Hope it comes out as good as it looks on my PC. LOL Enjoy!

Have a relaxing Sunday.

Me

It's HumpDay!

Having a Monday off from work, really makes the work week go by nice and fast. It's almost Thursday, which means it is almost Friday...etc, etc. I have to work this Saturday but only until noon so it won't be so bad. And since I pretty much goofed off all last weekend, I guess it wouldn't hurt me to put in a few extra hours. We have plenty of work, so my days have been flying by as well.
For those of you who don't know, I work for a government contractor who manufactures weapon sighting systems, infra red laser systems, night vision goggles, just about anything optical, for the military. I work out on the manufacturing floor doing a little bit of everything from assembly work to paperwork. Whenever we have completed an order that needs to be shipped, it is my job to do a final test of a certain amount of units randomly chosen by the government inspector. Everyone in my department is scared shitless of this man because basicly, he can shut down the entire operation if he sees something he doesn't think is up to par. Since I am the last person to test the units before they are prepared for shipping, I am 100% confident that they will pass his inspection. I am also not intimidated by this guy like everyone else is. It is my thinking that if I show fear, he will chew me up and spit me out every chance he gets. He tries to rattle me, but seems to be impressed that he doesn't. Today we had another successful 'sell off' shipping 400 units to the Army. I seriously doubt that today's events will prompt my boss, Dave, to give us a pat on the back, so I made sure I did it myself. LOL (Of course, Dave was not at work today. It was rather nice out for February 21st and I suspect he was busy taking advantage of a mid week ski package somewhere up North. Who needs him anyway?)
My mom had cataract surgery this morning on her right eye. Everything went very well. In fact, the surgery only took about 15 minutes and she was back at home within an hour of the time she left. She had her left eye done a few years ago and said the improvement in her vision was amazing. Just the thought of anyone poking or doing anything to my eyes makes my eyes water. I used to wear contact lenses and that wasn't ever a problem, probably because I was putting the lenses in myself.
I started watching cataract surgery on a medical show one time and couldn't bear to watch. I guess it's best not to think about it. I am sure eventually I will be in the same boat.
Time for my shower, then American Idol. Enjoy your evening.
Hugsss

Prez Day

Happy Monday! Today was an especially good Monday because I had the day off. Any day off with pay is a good day as far as I am concerned. It sure was nice to sleep in this morning. I had a lot of errands to take care of today, one being having some blood drawn at the Lab. My doctor was not pleased with my thyroid levels when I had blood drawn a few months back so he's been rechecking every 4-6 weeks to see if anything changes. It seems to me that I went through this 4 years ago but that was also around the time I ended up having gall bladder surgery and I think we all kind of forgot about the thyroid. I have to go back to see the doctor on March 1st for another blood pressure check, (he changed my meds last visit), and I am sure he will address this as well.
Saturday night Cal and I were supposed to go out for dinner but ended up having dinner here with Sara, Eric and Jessie. I know that there is going to come a time when I am going to have to beg them to come visit me (like when I am in the HOME) so we changed our plans and made it a family evening. It turned out to be a good time. We played cards after dinner until Eric and Jessie left, then Sara watched a movie with us. Well, let me rephrase that, we put The Departed in the DVD player and we all fell asleep for about 2 hours. I guess we'll have to try that one again.

It was a nice day yesterday and we wanted to get out of the house so we took a drive up to see Rose yesterday. She and her husband live about an hour North of here so it was a nice drive and a fun visit. Rose was very pleased to be able to whip off her hat and show me the peachfuzz growing on her lil bald head. If you close your eyes and rub her head, it feels like a tennis ball. LOL She looks really good and feels even better. On our way home, Cal and I stopped at a quiet little restaurant in Epsom and had an early dinner. I think they were happy to have some customers because we were treated like royalty. There was only one other couple seated at a table and a couple of single people sitting at the bar, but the place started filling up about half an hour after we got there. Every time I touched my water glass, it was refilled, and we were attended to by just about every person on the wait staff. The food was excellent, and I thought the prices were good, especially the daily specials. I had baked stuffed haddock with a salad and Cal had a steak, baked potato and cream of broccoli soup. The dessert menu looked awesome but I was too full from dinner to bother. Cal on the other hand...well when I asked him how his Whoopie Pie was he just smiled and nodded. I think that means it was good. It looked marvelous! LOL

It's back to work tomorrow. Ugh. Why do the weekends have to go by so fast? The only good thing is I know I will be very busy all day so hopefully the time will pass quickly.

I've got to go unload the dryer and make up my bed, then jump in the shower. Have a good week everyone, stay warm.

Lainie

St. Valentine's Day Blizzard

I know I am way overdue for a new post so I thought I would take a few minutes and wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day. I hope all of your sweethearts showered you with candy and flowers. I won't see Cal until the weekend but I got a nice card from him in the mail today and he has called to wish me a Happy Valentine's Day. We are planning to go out to dinner Saturday evening, so I am looking forward to that.
Mother Nature decided to give us New Englanders a nice Nor'Easter today. We've had everything from snow to freezing rain, strong winds and white out conditions all day. I did get to work this morning without a whole lot of trouble. Amazingly enough, everyone in my department managed to come to work today, despite the storm. I think we were the only department with 100% attendance. Well that's not counting our managers...who BOTH decided to stay home. I decided to leave early and get a head start on the evening commute. As soon as I got outside and started cleaning off my car, the snow turned to sleet and that didn't feel so good on my face with the wind whipping everything around like it was. The drive home was horrific, to say the least. It was a struggle to keep my car on the road, and I had to stop a couple of times to chip the ice and snow off of my wiper blades. What normally takes me 25-30 minutes on a good day, was a 1 hour trip home. And when I got home, my driveway hadn't been plowed out yet so I had to dig out a spot for my car. Of course, about 15 minutes later, the plow dude showed up and I had to get my boots back on and move my car. I hate winter, I really do. It's just so inconvenient.
Anyway, the driveway is plowed, my car is cleaned off (although it is still sleeting out there so I know I will be chipping that off in the morning), I've had a hot shower and had some tomato soup for dinner. I'm half watching Return to Jericho, which is a 1 hour recap of the show Jericho which continues next Wednesday after a long hiatus. I'm only half watching because I have seen every episode so far. I'm really looking forward to it starting up again.
I just poked my head out the door and it looks like the snow has picked up again. I guess that's easier to brush off of the car than ice. It's 20 degrees outside but the wind chill makes it feel like zero. Brrrrrrrr (Have I mentioned how much I hate winter?)
I think I'm going to find my blanket and my puppy and get ready for Idol. Stay warm everyone, I hope you're all having a good week.

Hugsss
Lainie

Go Bears!

Sunday already...the weekends sure do go by quickly. I woke up yesterday not feeling very good, my head was hurting and my nose was all stuffed up. I thought I was coming down with a cold so I took some cold meds and went back to bed for a few hours. When I got up, I felt a tad bit better, although I couldn't shake the headache. I had a bunch of errands to run though so I got dressed and headed outside to clean the 3 inches of new snow off of my car. The snow was light anf fluffy, the sun was shining, but it was very windy. I jumped back into the car and blasted the heat. An hour later my errands were done and I was able to head back home. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed but I made some tea and dragged my butt to the sofa. Next thing I know the phone is ringing and it's 2 hours later. Sara was on her way over and was hoping I had something cooking for dinner. Since I was going out, that was a negative, but I tossed a frozen pizza in the oven and it was ready by the time she got here. She stayed for about an hour and filled me in on graduation in May. Apparently they were able to get former Presidents Clinton and Bush, Sr, to be the keynote speakers at their Commencement. How awesome is that?? Security is going to be crazy...(hopefully I will be felt up...err...I mean patted down by a nice looking Secret Service dude.) They are still working out the details, since it would be nice if the families of the graduates could be at Memorial Field where the graduation is being held...but those bleachers only seat so many people and it is usually first come first served, then the rest go to the arena and watch the ceremony on the big closed circuit tv. Frankly, I wouldn't mind watching the Commencement from inside the arena...it is climate controlled and last year it poured throughout the entire ceremony. Considering they usually run around 3 hours or more...I'd rather take my chances indoors than being out in the rain or in the hot sun. Definitely will be an exciting day!!

Last night I went to Cal's brother's birthday party. It was a good time, kind of quiet for a party, but it seems that the whole family is pretty quiet and sedate. Glenn acted surprised but admitted later on that he had a suspicion that something was up. He seemed to enjoy all of the attention though, and liked his gifts. I didn't stay too late since I was still fighting a sinus headache, but I was glad I was there to meet some of the other siblings. Cal's older sister is like a mother to everyone she meets. She isn't much older than I am but she reminds me of Aunt Bea from the Andy Griffith Show. You can just imagine her with an apron on baking pies in the kitchen.

I'm feeling a bit better today. No more headache and the over the counter meds are keeping my sinus passages drained. Hopefully it doesn't turn into an infection, definitely going to keep an eye on that situation.

I've made beef enchiladas and spanish rice for dinner. I was expecting Eric and Jessie to come for dinner but they decided to stay home to watch the game. Probably a good idea, since they both have to work in the morning and so do I. No problem...I will have dinner and leftovers for lunch tomorrow (and the next day LOL). I can now watch the game in my jammies too! LOL things are looking up.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Take care

Lainie

Hi honey, I'm home!

Hello hello I am home early today. Yipeeeee!! Well being home early is good but having to come home to let the appliance service guy in, well not so good. I haven't been able to use my oven all week because the igniter was dead. So I left work at 2pm and came home. Matt, the technician, was sitting in his truck in my driveway when I pulled in at exactly 2:30. Normally they tell you they will be there between 2 and 4 and show up at 6...he told me he would be here sometime after 2:30 and he was early! I'm still in shock. He replaced the igniter and was on his way 20 minutes later. Now that's what I call service! I've got a batch of brownies baking right now. The girls at work will be so happy tomorrow.

I hope everyone is having a good week. It's been rather chilly here the last few days but today it's not too bad, sunshine and 35 degrees right now. We are expecting snow tomorrow so I imagine my commute to work will be rather miserable, but I've driven in much worse so I'm not going to stress out over it. There's enough stress at work...believe me. Two days in a row my manager has managed to make the two supervisors in our department cry and that's not cool. I do understand he is under the watchful eye of his Supervisors but the problems we have encountered in our department are the result of mismanagement in other areas, not because we are all screwing around or because our supervisors don't know what they are doing. We got an entire month behind schedule because someone in Sales took orders without first checking to see if all the parts necessary to build these things were available. Had he/she done their job...they would have found out that one very key Printed Circuit Board was no longer in stock or available from the vendor. By the time a replacement was found, 4 weeks had passed and we were in deep doo-doo. So that is why we are all working 50+ hours a week and it never seem to be enough. Anyway, I'd rather not think about that now that I am off the clock.

On Saturday I am going to a birthday party for Cal's brother, Glenn. His 40th birthday was early last week but the siblings figured he was expecting a party last weekend, so they decided to put it off a week and really surprise him. He'll never be expecting it this weekend. As far as I know he has no idea, so this should be good. I have only met one of Cal's brothers and one of his sisters so I am pretty excited about meeting the rest of the family.

I really should go and get a jump on my chores. I've still got laundry to deal with and a puppy to play with. Hope you are all having a good week!

Lainie