The Adventures of Being Me

I went over to babysit so my sister could go to an eye appointment her husband escorted her to. She had laser surgery to correct some vein problems in her eye. Her husband said she was a brave girl when they stuck a long needle under her eye to numb it. He held her hand as her eye swelled causing her to look like a prized boxer. Then later treated her to ice cream. She originally had asked me to drive her to the appointment, but then her husband had the day off so I babysat. I told her I would not have held hand or treated her to ice cream. Baby started her nap as I arrived and my sister jerked open the door so I wouldn't ring the doorbell. I noticed their Christmas tree is very bare due to the baby removing ornaments. She slept for 2 hours before I heard her crying. I am sure she was surprised to wake up to see me and find her parents missing from the house. I changed her diaper and fed her a snack. She soon gave me books to read and dolls to make speak. I make better sound effect...

I finished 1 batch of Christmas cookies. I made sugar cookies cut out into candy cane, gingerbread man, tree, and star. I mixed regular canned frosting with coloring and extracts from mint and lemon. I hope people enjoy them. I can't eat 4 dozen cookies by myself, I'll get sick of looking at them after a while. I ate one tonight. They are very good. Though the frosting was slow to dry on the cookies so they are a bit messy. Later this week I plan on making gingersnaps and Hersey kiss cookies. But washing the dishes must be done first. Tomorrow I babysit while my sister goes to a doctor's appointment. My poor sister has had more than her fair share of health problems. This time she is blind in one eye from her high blood pressure. She describes it as holding tissue paper up to your eye and seeing perfectly out of the other eye. I saw a picture of a test she did that looks like Mars. The problem is the optic nerve being damaged, and not all the damage can heal. My poor sister...

It is over 40 degrees so we are getting rain today, no snow as predicted. I got the plastic over all my windows and balcony door, flannel sheets on my bed, and plenty of cocoa mix. I am ready for winter. Today I will attempt to mail my niece's birthday package, put up the last of my Christmas decorations, do a load of laundry to wash the old sheets and and few jeans (I'm wearing the last clean pair), and maybe if there is time start on my Christmas cards and cookies for my coworkers. Ah, a day off at last. Post later. Bye! Update: I accomplished everything above and took pictures of my decorations. Now I'm hungry. It is hard to think of food when you are busy.

They predicted snow for Monday. There were plenty of flights cancelled at the airport so several people wanted cars to take one way. Some didn't like our prices or selection of cars available. One guy said he wanted a car overnight because they changed their flight plans until tomorrow. He then asked for the weather report. Um, well, I told him he might leave tomorrow, depending on the snow due to come in. I have Monday off so I will be sitting at home drinking cocoa while everybody else is crashing into ditches. I need to mail my niece's birthday present, but that can wait an extra day. She turns 18 on Saturday. I feel so old. Post later. Bye!

I was making ornaments for my Christmas tree on my door to win the door decorating contest at my apartment complex. I needed cheap and easy things I won't feel heartbroken losing if they are swiped off the door. I had white pipe cleaners, but not red to twist with making candy canes. I had some glitter fabric paint so I spiraled it on the white pipe cleaner to get an adorable candy cane. I liked the idea so much I painted some for my secret santa this year. Post later. Bye!

I read a magazine article about holiday ettiquette today. One item on the list was a Regifting rule. The rule was to make sure and double sure you will not get caught. Pardon me? It is only acceptable to Regift only if you do not get caught? Isn't that the attitude that gets athletes in trouble with drunk driving and steriods? In other words, it is wrong to regift because it is thoughtless, deceiving, and easily can offend someone. Think about it. Someone you love buys you a gift they think you will love receiving. You do not like it so you give it to someone else thinking they will love the gift they are receiving. I must have been raised wrong because I was taught to say "Thank you" whether I liked the gift or not. If I didn't like any gift, we either took it back to the store and exchanged it, or stuck it on the garage sale pile. My parents are pack rats with cardboard boxes full of objects ready for the annual garage sale. Sometimes my Mom called a local charity...

Hey there. Taking a break from decorating my apartment, I wrote out my Christmas letter I send out with my Christmas cards. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends and family. This year has flown by waiting to be rejected by book publishers. If you have forgotten, I wrote a fairytale for my niece and completed it over a year ago. I keep telling myself that I will never be published if I give up now. I started a second novel for other my niece, but am stumped deciding where to take the story. I shamefully admit not working on it very much this summer because I let other things get in the way. Hopefully I can concentrate better next year. I thought it a little odd we had to change the clocks at Palm Sunday and Halloween, but at least they were holidays people remember when they are. I spent my Easter at work as usual since I work Sundays. Yes, I do work every weekend and call myself the weekend warrior. Customers often feel sorry for me, but really, I hate shopping ...

Here is a sample of the 20+ photos we took of my baby niece last Sunday in her red party dress to show how easy she is to photograph, especially after 5 takes. Happy Thanksgiving. I'll be visiting my parents' house with cornbread, soybean candies, and brown and serve rolls. Their water heater broke so I am doing my must have clean clothes today. On Thanksgiving, my brother and I plan on watching one of the many showings of the new Harry Potter movie. Post later. Bye!

I went shopping yesterday for perfume. Sure I can buy the same scent every time, but where's the fun in that? I am quite dangerous around perfume counters. I like to smell every one, which means I can obtain 5 scents on each hand. I may seem picky, but at least I know what I like. I think I made to sales clerk cough from all the perfume on my hands. There were also some paper cards to sniff the testers with. I refuse to buy a scent without a tester displayed, no matter whose name is on it. I did sniff Paris Hilton's and Brittany Spears's scents. Sorry I didn't care for the celebrity scents. Though Brittany's new Fantasy scent was very sweet like candy, but I prefer not to smell of food all day. After washing my hands twice, my hands still smelled of perfume. Today the scents are much fainter. Now my hands all itchy, probably dry. So what did I end up buying? Very Irresistable Givenchy. My old scent was Tommy Girl that I have a touch left in the bottle. The thing abo...

I went shopping for Christmas presents tonight. I checked out the Elmo doll aisle because my baby niece likes Elmo. I was a bit disappointed with the selection. Every doll and product with the character's face was a talking toy. I try to avoid glutting my niece's world with talking toys. Sure at her age (2) everything is shiny and new so hitting a button to get sound X is alright. She learns animal sounds and baby sounds that way and it also tests a child's memory. But talking toys also rob a child of their imagination, a extremely vital part of childhood. So far I'm not worried because often my baby niece is more fascinated by the box than the doll in it. I ended up getting an Elmo tree ornament and some books. She loves books too, especially me reading them. Post later. Bye!

We had a birthday party for my baby niece yesterday. I went over and my sister took photos of the baby in her red dress to place on their Christmas cards. My sister didn't like any of them and complained how poor quality they are. That did surprise me since she has viewed photos from my camera before. I think she expected high quality professional perfect photos from a low quality camera. She tried to reset it to get better photos to discover it is on the top quality photo setting. When she said she should have gone to a professional to obtain her perfect photos, I lost my patience with her repeated complaining and we had a fight. It ended when I told her not to ever borrow my camera again if the quality upsets her. She is the one who asked me to bring it to get quick photos in the first place. We had cake and ice cream. The baby has been liking the Elmo character from Sesame Street. She had an Elmo chocolate cake with white frosting and opened presents with Elmo paper. I ended up...

I am beginning to understand why old maids have a house full of cats and unfriendly to all who approach them. Frustration gets to them and they eventually stop reaching out to people. I am exhausted from doing all the work with my matches I find on my dating service to receive a reject notice in return. I am emailing someone outside the dating service, but that's the probelm. I email, he replies. Same goes for my family, 90% of the time at least. Perhaps I should stop emailing everyone for a week and see what happens. I'm emotionally drained and have come to the point I have little love to give. I hope I will be forgiven for withdrawing into myself where nobody can find me. Post later. Bye!

The car rental guy next door I have nicknamed Freak comes up to me and starts talking to me, while I am helping a customer. How rude is that? Of course I ignore him, directing my attention the customer. He continues as if I'm listening, to details I could not care less about. Since in his babbling he implied he was leaving, I gave a curt, "Good-bye". Now I think a farewell is a very straight forward message, but I suppose not with a weirdo with boundary issues. Then at a pausing point (we have slow printers) he asks if I'm working tomorrow. Odd question since my schedule never changes, unless he overheard me tell someone about my niece's birthday party tomorrow. As I have my customer sign the paperwork, I answer I will not be here tomorrow. Freak then grabs the book my coworker left behind and I explain I have nothing better to do than read books. I explain to my customer where the car adding a "I will be coming that direction in a few minutes". Freak mu...

Yesterday was an interesting day. The Christmas trees and Christmas wreaths are up at the airport now. Then a little old lady crashed her car into one of the police cruisers outside. Today we gave the new papa at work a hard time for neglecting to pass out candy cigars out. he is avoiding cigars because he quit smoking them for the baby. Then the bossman came by and I toldhim were busy picking on the new papa for not passing out cigars. He laughed adding how people are teasing that the baby has more hair than the new papa. He took the guy outisde to work so we would stop picking on him. One gal exclaimed, "Oh, you boys are so much nicer." Next on the way hokme I heard a Christmas song playing on the radio. I freaked. It's too soon for Christmas music. The most annoying thing about Christmas is the 24 hours, 7 days a week of Christmas music playing everywhere. There is no escape from it. Post later. Bye!

I received a notice of pest control coming by on Monday to spray for bugs. It is November, all bugs are dead by now. Why is pest control necessary? Post later. Bye!

I know what one gift for Christmas will be this year. A donation to a local animal shelter on my behalf, $25. In shock, I said that would be acceptable. The past couple years my sister has been crying how she never gets what she wants for Christmas, usually objects out of our price range. One year she asked us to doante to charity on her behalf because she keeps opening crappy gifts from us she has to return or tolerate in her house so our feelings don't get hurt. Another year she asked for money only since they had their girl in November. Then she tried last year to cancel gift exchanges between family members, which would mean I would receive no presents during the Christmas holiday. I shouldn't be surprised at this gesture, she is turning into Scrooge as she gets older. I much prefer a new hand mixer costing about $4, but we can't pick our gifts anymore than our weird relatives. Post later. Bye!

Today I opened my mailbox to see a slip of paper stating I had a package over at the office. Strange, I was home all afternoon and never heard anyone knock on the door. I guess after walking in slush and wind, the mail carrier didn't want to trod up 3 flights of stairs to see if I was home. We have strange weather this week. 9 tornadoes in Iowa last week and now a snowstorm. Though I never planned on giving my strongly hated coworker a baby gift for his newborn son, I went shopping with a 10% off coupon and bought baby's 1st Christmas ornaments complete with gift bag ensemble. I couldn't resist, the ornaments were so cute. I can give the delusion that I care. It has been a strange day. Post later. Bye!

Whoever picked November 15 in the first snow contest has won themselves a new snowblower. We got our first snow today. And I don't have the plastic over my windows yet. I lacked feeling cold air as I held my hand next to the windows and sliding door, maybe I'm ok. The weather kept warming up everytime it got cold so I never taped up the plastic. I love winter, less sneezing. I started my Christmas shopping last night. I got some miniature stockings for my pen pals and nieces. I planned on writing their names on them, but then thinking I have long names to write; like Jennifer, Annika, Alexandria, Victoria. Then I got some pink and yellow rubber bracelets from the Breast Cancer Society. I sent out an email asking for ideas on Christmas gifts, since certain people must complain what crappy gifts I hand out on Christmas day. Ideas are good to have. I keep reading in magazines how it is not necessary to give bosses or coworkers Christmas presents. Well at my jobs, I have always giv...

As I was preparing my list of reservations, I realized a different coworker was coming in later and got excited. A coworker's wife had a baby boy so he took a week off. The next minute, the bossman calls over and we go through the usual, How are you?, riff. I replied that I was enjoying my (coworker's name) free weekend. He replied with an unemotional, Well that's good. Later I thought, maybe I should not said that. I am unsure if the bossman is aware that everybody hates this coworker. He knows now I don't like this guy. Post later. Bye!

I finished reading the book, beasts of no nation by uzodinma iweala. A debut novel by a Harvard University graduate, making me jealous of this author already, it tells a story of a child recruited by rebel forces during a civil war inside an unnamed African country. The boy envied soldiers before the war strutting in uniforms gaining much respect and admiration from the villagers. The boy Agu dreams of being a soldier until he finds out that soldiers hurt people. I would not recommend this book to someone unless they are sure they can stomach reading vivid details of murder, sexual abuse, drugs, and starvation. I was reminded of a line from The Last of the Mohicans: Death and honor are often thought to be the same, today I have learned they are not. If you have seen Saving Private Ryan or The Last of the Mohicans without puking or nightmares later on, I think you can handle reading this book. I like the ending where the followers of a greatly feared commander lose their fear of him, an...

Today when I came in to work it was cloudy, but warm. Hours later the winds were so strong that I commented to a customer that the hurrican had come too far north. I heard from customers that they were delayed and diverted because of the strong wind. One guy said there were tornadoes in the eastern part of the state. I assured one lady the car is heavy enough and won't fly away. Coming home I almost fly away taking wiht car with me. It is suppose to be nice tomorrow. Post later. Bye!

After Sep. 11, 2001, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) mandated that parking lots so many feet from the an airport be gated and only certain personnel are allowing through with an employee badge. Today 2 customers got through the gates blcoking their entrance into the lot. The first one followed a car rental driver into he lot squeaking by before the arm went down. He parked his car and cusseda at the employee informing him that he is not to be parking here. She threatened to call security and he said he had a plane to catch. He gave me his keys and said he did not need a receipt. The second guy drove through the gates' opening blocked by two orange cones, knocking over the orange cones and scratching the car against the arms. My outside guys witnessed it and took the car for washing. I hope the owner charges for the scratches he made. It did make me wonder if we have cameras out there, I want a copy of him squeezing the car those arms. I'm surprised the car went throug...

I reached the end of my first night without my allergy medicine. Armed with aspirin that upsets my stomach, expired cold medicine that tastes awful, my inhaler, and anti-itch creme I managed to calm the burning itch sensation that felt like I was hit with a blowtorch. My chest aches from all the coughing and sneezing. I contemplated going out in the middle of the night in my pajamas to a open 24 hrs. grocercy store to get an allergy medicine without the decongestant just to stop the itching so I could get some sleep, but no, I hung on to the thought that hoepfully my ordered medicine would come today. My nighmare night over with I try to calm my nerves and eat something, since allergies are psychosomatic meaning stress can make them feel worse. Now I have to visit the office to grab my book purchase that I know arrived just as I was leaving for work yesterday.. Post later. Bye!

Tis the season for gossiping about coworkers. One guy at work is in deep trouble with a bank. His old girlfriend and him bought a car together and he cosigned the loan. Well, they broke up and she quit making payments, so the bank is going after him. He believes they won't get anything from him. A coworker tried to explain what cosigning means. It means the bank has the legal right to garnish his wages and there is nothing he can do about it because he cosigned the loan. The moral is not to cosign things if you are not willing to pay for it. Another screwed up some contracts when the computers went down. He used the wrong contract paper, sent the wrong car across the country, and the other coworkers had to clean up his mess. One coworker said they could use his Christmas bonus to pay for a plane ticket to the place he sent the wrong car to and bring it back. Then she said since someone else had to type in his contracts into the computer, that person should get the commission he got...

I finally saw the movie. It came to Des Moines last week. Not as dramatic and heart wrenching as Lord of the Rings or Saving Private Ryan, but it is an excellent movie I would receommned to anyone interested in history repeating itself. Is it just a coincidence this movie comes out during the government's witchhunt for terrorists? I noticed we don't hear much on catching terrorists from the enacted Patriot Act taking away the citizen's rights to privacy after the panic over September 11. Then the government criticizes the media for being too liberal from reporting governmental goofs. As Joe McCarthy discovered, do not ever take on the media or reporters because they control a lot of public opinion that gets people elected. Much anxiety is missing since we know at the beginning of the movie Edward Murrow is honored for taking down Joe McCarthy, kinda similar to the second trilogy of Star Wars. Can you tell I'm reading a book on how to write a dramatic story? I like that...

I attended the company retirement plan meeting. It was a good sales pitch to encourage us to invest in the company plan. Though, I already have an IRA account so not much will be placed in my 401K account. The difference between the 2 is taxes. 401K requires taxes be paid upon withdrawal because contributions are made with pre-income tax dollars. Roth IRAs like I have(Individual Retirement Account, not Irish Republican Army) are paid with post-income tax dollars so taxes are already paid upon withdrawal. There is a IRA for pre-tax dollars that does require taxes be paid upon withdrawal. The main theme of the meeting was uncertainity of the future; like inflation, wars, law changes, stock market crashes, technology advances, health advances, and family changes. The guy sitting next to me make a joke when the lady said they had a client in her 90's in good health. His father suddenly died a while ago. It freaks my Mom (age 66) out looking at obituaries in the paper to see someone her...

I read in a paper about the how to's in tipping. Everybody knows waitresses and baggage handlers are suppose to be tipped. But bartenders, maids, strippers (ok I know strippers go to men holding out money), bellhops, taxicab drivers, theater usher, and hairstylists. Are we really expected to remember all this advice? Then you have the problem of some companies forbidding taking of gratuity and others allow it within the same type of business. No wonder people are so confused on the rules. Post later. Bye!

Why are postal workers so insistant that we receive our junk mail. I received a notice that a package awaited for me in the management office last night. I'm thinking it is my medicines that I ordered over the internet, good thing too since I'm almost out. No, it is a disc to receive trial aol internet service. What!? I came all the way over to the office for junk mail. Unbelievable. Post later. Bye!

We have new management at my apartment community. That usually means higher rents and new rules. These people are putting up new siding on all the buildings (hint: higher rents to pay for it). It looks very nice. In the newsletter, they asked us take down pictures that might not be able to handle the pounding on the walls and warned us that strangers might be standing on our balconies. Also in the newsletter, they now allow dogs into the apartments and are having a drawing every month for $50 off your rent for all the tenents who pay early. They also changed the late fees for overdue rent. Tonight I took down my pictures along the outside walls and my breakable doll collection on the corner shelves. I do wonder if they changed the pet fees too. I'll find out when I get my cat next spring. Post later. Bye!

I work with freaks from outer space. Tonight, a coworker said another coworker's condom idea would not work. Whoa...did I miss a story here? The other day my 2 coworkers and a guy from another car rental were conversing on condoms and Star Wars at the same time. Someone had the idea of glow-in-the-dark condoms resembling a Star Wars light saber. But, it must sound like one or it wouldn't work. How does get a piece of plastic to sound like a light saber? They came up with wires and a battery in the condom and one asked about being electricuted by the battery. It took about half an hour for me to stop laughing. Thanks for the imagery, Fred. Later the guy at the other car rental called over asking if we had a minivan available and could he have sex in it using Star Wars condoms. Post later. Bye!

Today I received a billing for a service done 4 months ago. I thought I paid my full bill at the time I wrote my check at the office. The secretary told me there was an outstanding credit on my account, so I didn't owe as much. No, I was just charged half and now I am told to pay the other half, including interest for being late. Huh? According to the bill that includes services and payments from 4 years ago, there are lines for insurance. I take it that means they are so accustomed to people having insurance that they do not know how to handle someone without it. Unless they tried to charge the insurance company on my records 4 years ago and were refused payment because I cancelled it 4 years ago. Sometimes I just I hate people. Post later. Bye!

What to know what I don't like about shopping on the web. You can cancel a service within 5 minutes after receiving it simply because you barely know what you are buying before paying for it and there is no refund whatsoever. That should be a warning sign of a poor quality service. If you are curious, it was perfectmatch.com I cancelled service to. When looking for a job I hated that in certain want ads where the ads says how much money you can make, but neglect to mention what the job is. You have to apply and fill out a survey before the people tell you what the job is. I hate businesses like that. If you are curious, the jobs ended up being door to door salesperson. Real bad job. Post later. Bye!

Today I cleaned my windows to get ready to tape plastic over. Naturally, when I think to cover them with plastic it warms up and I open the windows. Perhaps closer to Thanksgiving it will stay cold. People on TV are saying we are in for a rough winter. One item in the paper reported on corn stoves that burn corn as fuel. Too bad those who need a cheap heating source can not afford the corn stove itself. Already we have a decrease in reservations for rental cars. During the winter, the car cleaners get so bored they push each other in wheelchairs into snow drifts. I include a photo of a typical winter of my parents' backyard a few years ago. Winter at the car rentals can be fun. People call worked up about the brakes shaking (antilock brakes working) and the windshield wipers do not work (snow must be removed first before the wipers can move). Then people want 4-wheel drive cars that are no safer than 2-wheel drive cars. Iowa does a good job clearing roads quickly and spreading ...

I watched the Oprah Show today where a panel of men explained why men do things the way they do. Though it was not stated, I am sure many women watching asked "Why can't men be like women?". There were discussions on porn, strip clubs, golf, and picking up messes. I can always be wrong, but I think many women object to porn because they were raised to be good girls and porn was taught to be dirty. Good girls do not argue, never are agressive, do not wear clothes tight or revealing, and make their men happy while ignoring their own needs. A man viewing naked women offends because many women thnk it is evidence of their failure to please their men. Of course men do not take on that view when lookig at naked women. And there are many insecure women who are threatened by any woman more pretty, more smart, more skinny, more tall that they are because they fear they will be abandoned for someone better than they are. I remember an episode of Married with Children where the husb...