Where do I start? Did you ever have one of those days where you just HAD to unload it all before you went to bed or you weren't going to sleep at all? Well, poor Pete walked in the door last night from work & made the mistake of asking "So how was your day?" Poor guy, that's the last thing he remembers. LOL! I wasn't angry at him for anything at all, but I said "we need to talk, can we go sit down somewhere?" He knew it didn't involve him at all, but still he knew it must have been a whopper because I hardly ever do that. I'll bitch about little things the kids are driving me nuts with while I'm cooking dinner or in between bites of food, but to stop everything & have to go sit down & unravel my entire day to him starting when I woke up & ending not long before he got home is a rare one. I woke up at a decent hour & started my day like I always do. Check my e-mail, facebook, & eBay, catch up in Sims Social & The Ville, write my blog ... but it was somewhere during my blog yesterday that things started to get haywire. It all seemed OK at 1st, nothing major ... but when little things keep coming at you like a shotgun blast of pellets, eventually they start to have a larger impact. It all started with a simple phone call from Kyle. He needed Pete to drive him to school in the morning for some reason, so he asked me if I could pick him up from school ... he wanted to come home & get his homework done & do some chores. OH COOL! HELP WITH HOUSEWORK! OK, not a problem. That's 30 minutes out of an already busy day, but it's not fatal. Not long after that, while I was still blogging, Josh walks in & asks for a ride to work later. OK, I'm going to be out longer than 30 minutes. I already got an IM from Kathy that she was going to be in Garland today & now I was going to be too far out of district myself to respond if we got a call. That's 2 of us out during the day. Not cool. Luckily Wednesday is Paul's day off, so I can count on him if anything happened. I finished my blog & went into my daily housecleaning routine, (the one that's now much longer & harder now that I have NO help anymore). I dusted off all the bathroom lighting, dusted & neatened my night stand, fed the cats & dogs, cleaned the dining room blinds, dusted off the kitchen lights, did a load of laundry, cleaned my living room chair cushion, mopped the dining room, cleaned my office chair, swept the dining room, took out the trash, & now it was time to leave. Josh & I left together to pick Kyle up & just as I was pulling into the school Lawson calls me. We did some catching up for about 15 minutes & it was nice to hear from him. After school let out & Kyle got in the truck, we sat in the traffic grid-lock from hell trying to get OUT of the school's parking lot, & then drove from there, over 15 miles ONE WAY to drop Josh off at work I was almost at Frisco when the tones went off ... I shot a quick glare at the radio in my center console & then my phone goes nuts with tones. Crap! It's US!! I missed a med call damnit! Even at 100 mph on completely deserted streets there was no way I'd make it back in time to respond. we dropped Josh off & I had been craving a Dunkin' Donut all day & since there's one conveniently located on our way back, we stopped in & Kyle bought me a donut. Thank you Kyle! After that he asked if we could stop in at a pawn shop where he had a laptop on layaway. He promised he wouldn't be long. He was WRONG. I must have inspected everything that store had on the shelves multiple times before he was finally ready to leave. He had decided to pull out of the deal & get his deposit back. Well, 2 problems. 1) He lost the ticket & although you can't get a refund OR your purchased item without the ticket, you CAN keep making payments. WHAT?! Jerks! 2) What was originally explained as "if you pull out of the deal, you lose 10% as a restocking fee" ... in this case 10% of $20 is $2. Big deal. Well, NOW they're telling him you lose 10% of the total purchase price which is exactly the amount of the down payment of $20, so even IF he had his ticket, he would get nothing back. He finally gave up & we left. I had 1 more chore to do at the house & I needed supplies from Home Depot to do it. We go to Home Depot & I buy 10 6' fence slats & some white paint. We finally get back home & Kyle sits down at the computer & turns it on. "Uhhh ... Kyle, you DO remember you're grounded, right?" He replies "Yes." Yet he continues to log onto the computer. ZERO respect. I had too much to do & didn't want the fight, so I bottled it up & made it a point to ask Pete to help me with this one later. I pick up my materials & start heading out to repair at least part of the fence. The part facing the road that everyone sees. I had planned to make this a quality, professional job. Perfect. Beautiful. So what happens? Kyle insists on doing it. He didn't ask, he just said he was doing it. What would have taken me 10 minutes took 10X longer. In the end, all the boards were loose, had hammer dents in them, were crooked, & had bent nails all over them. SONOFA ... !&$@#! How do you yell at someone from trying to HELP you when you KNOW it's going to turn out like CRAP? How do you STOP someone from being nice, nicely? So ... MY project, the front facing fence, looks like total crap. I'm so tempted to just ram the whole thing with my truck & say "what fence? We don't HAVE a fence." Kyle was now back inside on the computer even though he was grounded & KNEW IT & the chores he said he wanted to do, he never did. He stayed on that computer until he went to bed. One of today's projects is to dismantle that computer & make it disappear. If I can't ground him one way, I'll ground him another. I *WILL* WIN THIS ONE! I had now been working or shuttling all day & it was finally time to sit down. I came inside, all sweaty & dirty, sat down at my computer, loaded up Sims Social, & the phone rings. Did you ever want to just throw your phone out the window after leaving an outgoing message that says simply, "I'm dead, please refer all calls to Pete." I answer the phone & it's Josh. Orientation is over & he needs a ride home. I would have cried, but I didn't have the strength. I drove all the way back out into oblivion & brought Josh back. I once again sat down at my computer. It was now 7:p. I got up at 9:a. I'm a housewife, I don't work full time, but you'd never know it. I put in a 10 hour day & decided I better eat something before my stomach growling scared the dogs. I ate half of a cheese hot dog. No bun, no condiments. Just half a hot dog. That was all I had the energy to do. I did a couple quick things on the PC & decided it was time to stop for the day. I wheeled over to the knitting machine & finished the other half of that panel I had started previously. After completing the panel & joining it to the others, I loaded up my refuge world ... Sims 3. It was time to crawl into the Matrix & hide for the rest of the night (until Pete gets home anyway). I loaded up the #1 Downloads game & tried to keep up with 8 people in that tiny house with 1 bathroom. I really should have chosen an easier game for the evening. LOL! I ended up kicking Jackson out (Lora's elderly husband). Not out of the family, but out of the house so that Natylsha & Bill could have a child like the other 2 couples did already. They're all nicely spaced. 3 children in the home, 1 from each couple. 1 is a teen, 1 is a grade school child, 1 is a baby. The baby's name is Hazel & since the grade school child is a boy, the baby is a girl, & they're NOT related in any way, that saves me kicking more people out when they meet their future wife & husband. They'll just marry each other. WOOHOO! I love it when things work out that way. I was hoping the 1st 2 children would have been boy & girl for that reason, but instead they were boy & boy. Hazel has the perceptive trait. Maybe she'll be a private investigator when she grows up? Anyway, Pete came home & that's where this blog started, so we've covered everything. I finally got to bed at 2:a & 3½ hours later woke up to mosquito bites that were itching so badly that I couldn't sleep through it. I got up & covered myself AGAIN in as much deet as I could. I was exhausted & tried to go right back to sleep. Nope, this little bastard was persistent & for the 1st time ever, I had a mosquito completely ignore the deet & attack me repeatedly anyway. I couldn't sleep through the itching & sat up in bed & played 5 Card Slingo for a while on the TV. When the itching subsided a LITTLE, I went back to sleep, but it was a very poor & broken sleep because there were more & more bites & the itching got worse & worse. I'm STILL itching & am covered head to foot in mosquito bites. WTH? So here I sit, typing away, & scratching. YAY!! (not). PLEASE let today be better! How about a homeless person going door to door looking for a place to live in exchange for manual labor? You can live here! Do the housework & I'll feed you & give you a place to live. That's what I should do ... I should drive downtown & look for a homeless person holding a cardboard sign. I'd pull over & say "Have I got a deal for you! ... " LCFD participating in Career Day at the elementary school today but unfortunately I'll be out near Frisco just as it's supposed to start, so Kathy will be handling that one for us. LCFD business meeting Tuesday.
Well shiver me timbers! This skull and crossbones is the only thing
you'll ever need in a pendant. The crazy crossbones is in typical
dangerous style, truly putting this piece in a scary league of its own.
Made from 100% Surgical Stainless Steel and guaranteed to impress your
boys. Can you afford NOT to buy this?
Give up your seat. On public transportation, never stay planted in your seat when an elderly, pregnant, or person with a disability obviously needs it more than you do.
Don't push & charge through crowds. This is especially obnoxious - & dangerous - when the charger is skating, riding a bike or an electric scooter, or pushing a baby stroller. Even minus the extra equipment, anyone who pushes through crowds - especially without so much as an "Excuse me!" is just plain rude.
Don't cut in line. never cut in on a checkout line, or take a parking space that someone else has been clearly waiting for (this happens to me all the time, people are just plain RUDE).
Like a __________, you're easily distracted by __________. On a related note, watch out for __________.
This moving adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel follows two
migrant workers, one a dimwitted gentle giant and the other his
judicious protector, who find jobs in Depression-era California, only to
have their hopes destroyed.
Oprah gives away nearly 300 new cars (2004):
On this day in 2004, TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey gives a
brand-new Pontiac G-6 sedan, worth $28,500, to everyone in her studio
audience: a total of 276 cars in all.) Oprah had told her producers to
fill the crowd with people who "desperately needed" the cars, and when
she announced the prize (by jumping up and down, waving a giant keyring
and yelling "Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!"),
mayhem--crying, screaming, delirium, fainting--broke out all around her.
It was, as one media expert told a reporter, "one of the great
promotional stunts in the history of television."
Alas, scandal wasn't far behind. For one thing, the gift wasn't really from Oprah at all. Pontiac had donated the cars, paying the hefty price tag out of its advertising budget, because the company hoped that that the giveaway would drum up some enthusiasm for its new G-6 line. (To this end, during the segment, Winfrey herself took a tour of a Pontiac plant, gushing over the cars' satellite radios and fancy navigation systems.) The car company also paid the state sales tax on each of the automobiles it donated. However, that still left the new-car recipients with a large bill for their supposedly free vehicles: Federal and state income taxes added up to about $6,000 for most winners. Some people paid the taxes by taking out car loans; others traded their new Pontiacs for cheaper, less souped-up cars. "It's not really a free car," one winner said. "It's more of a 75 percent-off car. Of course, that's still not such a bad deal."
Two months later, Oprah hosted another giveaway episode, this one for teachers from around the country. Their gifts were worth about $13,000 and included a $2,249 TV set, a $2,000 laptop, a $2,189 washer/dryer, sets of $38 champagne glasses and a $495 leather duffel bag. This time, the show's producers had learned their lesson: they also gave each audience member a check for $2,500, which they hoped would cover the tax bill for all the loot. Unfortunately, it didn't quite--most people in the audience owed the Internal Revenue Service between $4,500 and $6,000--but the PR gimmick worked: Oprah's giveaways have earned some of the highest ratings in the program's history.
Persiflage:
Frivolous bantering talk : light raillery.
When the cooking segment ran short, Greta & her cohost turned to persiflage to fill up the time left until the commercial break.
Unwanted persiflage on television might provoke an impatient audience to hiss or book, but from an etymological standpoint, no other reaction could be more appropriate. English-speakers picked up "persiflage" from French in the 18th century. Its ancestor is the French verb persifler, which means "to banter," & which was formed from the prefix per- ("thoroughly") + siffler ("to whistle, hiss, or boo"). Siffler in turn derived from the Latin verb sibilare, meaning "to whistle or hiss." Sibilare is also the source of "sibilant," a word linguists use to describe sounds like "s" or the sound "sh" in "sash." The Latin root also underlies the verb "sibilate," meaning "to hiss" or "to pronounce with or utter an initial sibilant."
Use dishtowels as napkins. They're more absorbent than paper & won't blow away.
When cleaning up your e-mail inbox,, 1st delete all the ads & spam. Then start with the oldest messages 1st & ask yourself, "Is this still relevant?" If not delete it. If so, determine what actions you need to take & get them done!
Which food do we spend the most, 2nd most, & 3rd most on?
A. Baby food
B. Dog food
C. Junk food
CBA. Suddenly "super-sizing" has a double meaning.
Which means of transport was invented 1st, 2nd, & 3rd?
A. Bicycle
B. Kick scooter
C. Pogo stick
Which of these actors were in Pulp Fiction?
Tim Robbins, John Travolta, Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Connolly, Christopher Walken.
John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, & Christopher Walken.
Alas, scandal wasn't far behind. For one thing, the gift wasn't really from Oprah at all. Pontiac had donated the cars, paying the hefty price tag out of its advertising budget, because the company hoped that that the giveaway would drum up some enthusiasm for its new G-6 line. (To this end, during the segment, Winfrey herself took a tour of a Pontiac plant, gushing over the cars' satellite radios and fancy navigation systems.) The car company also paid the state sales tax on each of the automobiles it donated. However, that still left the new-car recipients with a large bill for their supposedly free vehicles: Federal and state income taxes added up to about $6,000 for most winners. Some people paid the taxes by taking out car loans; others traded their new Pontiacs for cheaper, less souped-up cars. "It's not really a free car," one winner said. "It's more of a 75 percent-off car. Of course, that's still not such a bad deal."
Two months later, Oprah hosted another giveaway episode, this one for teachers from around the country. Their gifts were worth about $13,000 and included a $2,249 TV set, a $2,000 laptop, a $2,189 washer/dryer, sets of $38 champagne glasses and a $495 leather duffel bag. This time, the show's producers had learned their lesson: they also gave each audience member a check for $2,500, which they hoped would cover the tax bill for all the loot. Unfortunately, it didn't quite--most people in the audience owed the Internal Revenue Service between $4,500 and $6,000--but the PR gimmick worked: Oprah's giveaways have earned some of the highest ratings in the program's history.
Persiflage:
Frivolous bantering talk : light raillery.
When the cooking segment ran short, Greta & her cohost turned to persiflage to fill up the time left until the commercial break.
Unwanted persiflage on television might provoke an impatient audience to hiss or book, but from an etymological standpoint, no other reaction could be more appropriate. English-speakers picked up "persiflage" from French in the 18th century. Its ancestor is the French verb persifler, which means "to banter," & which was formed from the prefix per- ("thoroughly") + siffler ("to whistle, hiss, or boo"). Siffler in turn derived from the Latin verb sibilare, meaning "to whistle or hiss." Sibilare is also the source of "sibilant," a word linguists use to describe sounds like "s" or the sound "sh" in "sash." The Latin root also underlies the verb "sibilate," meaning "to hiss" or "to pronounce with or utter an initial sibilant."
Use dishtowels as napkins. They're more absorbent than paper & won't blow away.
When cleaning up your e-mail inbox,, 1st delete all the ads & spam. Then start with the oldest messages 1st & ask yourself, "Is this still relevant?" If not delete it. If so, determine what actions you need to take & get them done!
Which food do we spend the most, 2nd most, & 3rd most on?
A. Baby food
B. Dog food
C. Junk food
CBA. Suddenly "super-sizing" has a double meaning.
Which means of transport was invented 1st, 2nd, & 3rd?
A. Bicycle
B. Kick scooter
C. Pogo stick
Which of these actors were in Pulp Fiction?
Tim Robbins, John Travolta, Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Connolly, Christopher Walken.
John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, & Christopher Walken.
Who was the 1st commoner pictured on a British stamp?
William Shakespeare, in 1964, to commemorate the national Shakespeare
Festival as it marked the 400th anniversary of the bard’s birth.
Who was the only defenseman to win the National Hockey League’s scoring title?
You aren't morally obligated to top a server in a restaurant. The server has a choice to work there or somewhere else. if that waiter or waitress makes your experience pleasant & gots the extra mile to take care of you, then sure, they deserve a great tip. Most servers work hard, & they deserve acknowledgment for a job well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment