Attack of the Killer Leaves

What an unexpected day!
The mail lady came 2 hours early today. She brought me a huge envelope, and a "live plant" box!
You remember when I posted a pic like this, this is what my Halloween cactus looks like right now:

and I said I was looking for a white blossom version of the same plant? Well, a dear friend and bloggie reader SENT me one, and I got it today. This is the same size my halloween cactus was when I got it!

Tracy, TYTYTY! How totally unexpected, what a treat! I will treasure it, and you will be able to follow it right here :O) [ Oh, and YGM]

And, as for the envie. A dear friend and I frequent a few loops, as well as internet boards. We were discussing older recipes and cookbooks, and everyone was posting what they had, and how they treasured it. I had to explain, when I was 15 our house burned down,...no one was home, and no one was hurt, but we lost everything. And so today, Mz Teri pops with a HUGE envie of older recipes,..some straight from the packages they were printed on, some hand written. The washer timer has buzzed me 6 times, the dryer is saying the same thing, and I am supposed to be dusting. But here I sit, enthralled with the past. Teri, I simply don't have words to say what that meant to me. Thank You, my dear Friend [and YGM too :o)]

It's another Sunday at the Shack. The leaves are taking us hostage! WHERE in the HELL are all these leaves coming from? We took care of all of ours, and then our neighbors tree spit on us.So, while the men are out dealing with that, I dusted and vacuumed the library, and got to ironing. [stop laughing, it's the truth!] Ironing is a hot job, so I opened the sliding glass doors in the library to bring the outside in. And THAT was when Steve came onto the patio with the leaf blower. He "Did not See" that the door was opened, I'm sure you can picture the scene. I got a shitstorm of leaves in the library. Pretty funny, I wish I got a pic of the hangdog look on his face, how could I get mad at that? Steves out there right now using the ride-on lawn mower as possibly the worlds biggest leaf blower, and lookin' mighty cute.

[movie watched while ironing: National Lampoon Van Wilder. You KNOW you're pms'ing when you boohoo at the father son scene at the end.]

Oh, and National Men Make Dinner? HELL to the YES! Only, it seems SOMEONE forgot that, in order to make his recipe of chili, which he claims is better than mine, he needs to THAW the meat before proceeding with said recipe. Such a lil thing, that thawing. It bought me a Chilis dinner, hehehe :O)

And if you host big for Thanksgiving, like I do, NOW would be the time to ignore the ticker to the right. Just let your eyes slide right by it, making sure you're innocently whistling while you do.


November:
12th: National Pizza With The Works Except Anchovies Day

A Quickie

Having a great day vacation day with my Honey ! Steves Brain Dr's visit last night was great, everything is the same as last time, which is a very good thing! Steve just took this pic of our backyard, and I wanted to blog it:

The Weekend

Oh, yes, it is the beginning of our weekend!!

Every year when Steves inventory is scheduled, we also schedule a vac day or two, for when the dust settles and he can relax. That would be this thurs and fri, and we can't wait. Steve is at the brain doctor tonight [yes, he Does have one!] for the 6 month how-de-do and check-up of the tumor, but we're pretty confident that all is status quo in that dept.

Today, I *did* go to work in my pajammies. It occurred to me while blogging on mon. that I didn't tell anyone what I was doing, so as I left work yesterday, I yelled out, "I'm coming in tomorrow wearing my pajammies with a lot of chips that YOU have to help me eat !!" And I did. Brought bags of snacks and paper bowls. By 9am we were all munchin, it was hysterical. And, EVERYONE but bitchzilla wore jammies! I was so impressed, I wish so much I could blog the pic of half of us posing in our jammies. My supervisor wore his jammies too, we laughed all morning.

A lot of my job is filling orders...tracking down what is needed, back ordering what we don't have, making sure it's appropriate to the account, that kind of stuff. And some of our items come from overseas. I wonder sometimes about my overseas counterpart. This morning,..I open a box of a bulk parts.....all in white boxes, nothing new......and start to get what I need. And what do I pull out, but ONE box..... my counterpart over there carved a small heart out of a piece of cardboard, colored it red, and stuck it to ONE box. In a mass bulk order. If you could understand the speed and mass quantities of stuff I deal with, this has NEVER happened before. I had to call everyone on my side of the floor over to see it. They were as surprized as I was, God forbid everything not look EXACTLY the same! I kept it,and taped it to my catch-all:

That lil heart just touched me.
And this made me laugh. Chris Rock, so not for little ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8&NR=1


November:
6th: Saxophone Day and Marooned Without A Compass Day
7th: National Bittersweet Chocolate With Almonds Day
8th: Dunce Day
9th: Chaos Never Dies Day

Woo-Hoo :O)

The owners of the business I am employed at are in-your-face type of owners. And I don't mind that, ...I can appreciate an excellent work ethic, and as long as you are totally correct, or find any mistakes before they do and admit to it, all is well. I will admit, the one, younger owner, I really feel he got a raw deal from the other employees.He has been nothing but kind and professional to me,.....especially after he got the measure of my humor.

[one morning employer-the-younger came up behind me and asked me to take a step to the right, so that he could see what I was doing.*I* took a step to the left. In a rather annoyed tone of voice, he said "Your other left Gail" and everyone cracked up, *they* knew I did it on purpose. This gave him to know to not speak too quickly, I thought I might have even seen a smile.]

For the rest of the week, the owners will be at a convention in Vegas, and you know the saying, while the Cats' away......Tomorrow I am going to work in flannel pajammies, and bringing a huge bag of Doritos Nacho Cheese chips to share, among other things, MY desk will rock tomorrow :X

An update: A soon as I discovered that the commute was causing me anxiety, I said "Fuck You, commute, bite my ass" [hmmm, a common thread this week, I believe I just told AmEx where they could stuff it] and I'm doin a lot better. That Time article really opened my eyes. I'll try, every time I worry, to figure the exact odds of what I'm worried about happening. And, I'll be as careful as I can, and still let the good tunes rip :o)

Another update: I STILL have not found that damned pic on this puter.The one of Stevie and Boo, as lil kids. So, I promise, I will shit or get off the pot. If I don't find it, the day after Thanksgiving, I will take down the frame that holds that pic, and a few more :X And re-scan the pic and blog it. The looks on their faces are priceless, and I want them here.

This, a blog sugestion from Tone, OMG :O) G-rated, if it matters, and I LOVE Christopher Walken:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy5JwYOlgvY

----->Trick or Treat? Men makin Dinner <------

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/Roast-Sticky-Chicken-Rotisserie-Style/Detail.aspx

Now, WHY in the hell would Gail open her bloggie up with a chicken recipe? Easy. This is the best fake rotisserie chicken you can make. I changed a few things....substituted lemon pepper for the white pepper. Changed out the Cayenne for 2 tsps of chili powder. Tossed the onions [and added a few cloves of garlic] in a lil olive oil before they went in the cavity, to help them carmelize instead of stew. And I used an 8 lb oven stuffer roaster instead of 2 smaller birds. It's the combo of seasonings we like, and the lo n' slow cooking method that makes this so good.

When you find something this good that might help someone out, ya gotta share. Do NOT omit the overnight "Getting happy with the spices" period....the second you take the chicken out of the fridge the next day, you will smell and see why. I added some home made chicken broth to the drippings and made gravy too, it was fantastic. along side this bad boy were garlic egg noodles with peas, corn, and biscuits. This chicken is making a command performance again this Friday when all the kids are here. I'm gonna make a big honkin' container of this spice mix, so I don't have to mix it each time, I imagine the spice mix will get happy together, and that can only be good.

[I am sittin here typin', and Steve is across the room on the desktop. I just made up, off the top of my head, a vile, pornographic song. Guaranteed to curl your hair, some times these things knock on my door, and I can't help but invite them in. [none of the kids are here, if that matters] Steves' response to my song? Sung to the same tune as my song [which I cannot blog :X]
"A Dinky-Dinky Dooooooooooo"
OMG, This giant of a man turning to me and very softly saying that, funny funny man. We have more fun than people.

We had a great first halloween here. All the kids were cute as hell, and very nice, we didn't have any nasty kids around. Steve is thrilled to note that there are some goodies left over :O) Here's a pic of the front door, from the outside, ..what our TnT'ers saw coming up the walk:

And remember my Christmas cactus, that was busting a move? Here it is right now. If any of you know where I can get the white blossom version of this plant, please lmk, I'd love to get one:

This, because the African Violets were NOT to be outdone by the cactus, they LOVE the library, and I love them:

Also, be sure to look at the upcoming holidays at the end of the bloggie....November 5th is National MEN Make Dinner Day. I'll let you know what happens at the Shack. Something rather interesting, I'm sure :o) You'll find a link in the bloggie title.I will be there with pics and all.

November:
1st: Plan Your Epitaph Day
2nd: National Deviled Egg Day
3rd:Sandwich Day and Housewife's Day
5th: National MEN make dinner Day [You can bet your bippy that we celebrate this holiday]

[ps... I was discussing this bloggie with a friend, who suggested you might like this. So here ya go, and Thank You Nin :o)]

http://web.bvu.edu/students/pierama/uselessknowledge.html

AmEx can bite my ass!

Well, we made it over the hump for this year, Steves' inventory is complete. It was more than difficult than usual for him this year, because he is running two different parts departments.....Toyota and Kia...at two different physical locations. Friday, from 7am to 9:30 pm was spent running back and forth between Toyota and Kia. I felt so bad for him. It's an extremely difficult time, and for about a month before the festivities, Steve can be a butt head.

[see how nice I am? Did I say he was an asshole? A Pecker? A Dick? A triple-damn fuckhead? A forgetful schmekel? An impatient peckerwood? A Friggin Freak? A Fucktard weiner dick? A short tempered Shithead? A Boney canneloni? A bullheaded bastard? NO! Because I am a loyal wife and I love him with my whole heart. I would never even THINK those things. Kinda. Most of the time. If I don't have cramps. And my checkbook is balanced.]

I understand. He knows I do, but I get Major wife points [and I can sure USE them, unlike AmEx points]. This year, I got flowers and a card that made me cry [Yeah, no big surprize] Here are the lovlies:

[also...the filler is variegated ficus, so I'm rooting some of it. It's being rooted in a sweet and sour sauce container from chinese food, I also recycle! The gift that keeps giving, hehehe]

It is Sunday, and the most gorgeous day at the Shack. The men are out buying rakes, they destroyed all the ones we had. [Don't ask, but I think it has something to do with not using them as golf clubs or baseballs bats.]And Steve gets to play with his new toy,......a leaf blower. We always thought they were stupid, until we saw the sheer depth of the leaves on our lawn. Hey, they aint so stupid anymore! I'm here cooking for a few days, because the beginning of the work week always sucks for me, my longest days are usually early in the week. The whole house smells loverly, and I am :::::: Drum roll please::::: CAUGHT UP on the housework and laundry. I know this may be hard to believe, but I VACUUMED today! Yup, go buy a lottery ticket!

We've all heard the horror stories about credit card issuers all-of-a-sudden becoming [but not really, they always were] jerks. I have watched interest rates creep up, but I don't carry a balance, so I didn't care. Until American Express entered the Asshat arena. They told me Gail, we LOVE you, no Annual fee!! No, not for you! So I let them love me. Until I got my statement showing the 95 DOLLAR "membership" fee!! I paid for love! Oh NO!!! So, I called and reamed them out, and I said, I am HOLDING the paperwork you sent me, telling me I was a valued FREE member. You know what? She says OK, I'll refund the fee, but I'll have to close your account. WTF????? Oh, you'll have to speak with card services to open a new account if you wish to remain free. WTF??? [the upshot being, EVERY year you have to go thru this shit, or pay the fee.] I don't carry balances on our other c.c's, and they don't make me pay 95$ a year for the privilege. So I cancelled AmEx. You shoulda HEARD that wench, it sounded like I shit on her sacred cow. Oh well, she shit on mine first, neener-neener-neener:

AmEx: Are you SURE you wish to cancel, you would miss so many member benefits, and give up all your member points.Yessssssss, you would MISS us! You do not want to leeeeeeeave!

Me: What member benefits have I ever USED, and how many points do I have right now?

AmEx: Oh, you know, all those nice member benefits, there are too many to go into! You must have used some,correct? Why YES that must be correct!

Me: Try. Name three.

AmEx:um..... we have pretty cards! Oh yessssss,very pretty cards. And that 95$ fee helps us make heart warming commercials! Um,.....plus... um, you can charge party balloons! Oh, Yesssssss,have a party with your AmEx! Par-tee on dude!

Me. Oh. Boy. How many points do I have left?

AmEx: 36!!

Me: and what can I get with 36 points?

AmEx: um.....nothing.Yet! Yesssssss, they will add up fast.Why, you can get a free party balloon for only 10,000 points!

Me: [hey! I posted a "click" here, but evidently Blogger took that as html tags! Can't wait to publish and find out what shows up.]

Oh, and I posted this to facebook, but wanted it in my bloggie too, OMG this is funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLFd9-FPBek


October:
25th: Sourest Day

26th: Worldwide Howl At The Moon Night

Be Not Afraid, Gail.

Hehehe, I loved this:

http://failblog.org/

I could see me doing that, I read things backwards all the time, and have a tendency to reverse numbers, as can be witnessed by my checkbook. And the calculator that is now a part of my checkbook.

This is rich! You know, Steve is allergic to animals, so we have none......yet. We know he will not react to a Bichon, so that is what we are looking to adopt. Cats,......well, cats are OK, but we never considered getting one. How sweet the delicious irony then, that my yard here at the Love Shack has become a cat haven! Even as I type, I have a striped tabby in the front yard, a grey cat curled up under my truck, a black and white stalking a squirrel, a fluffy black cat looking regal on the patio, and an orange and white cat perched on the rock wall at the edge of the property, Glaring at the black cat, you can SEE it thinking "HEY! You want a piece of THIS???" There is STILL the possibility that I can become a crazy cat lady :o)

The job. OK. I'm in love. If we could move this job closer to the Shack, I'd be there til I retire. We're all broken in together, and the "promotion" I got......well, it's a crossword puzzle, anagram, bitch, and ballbuster all at the same time. How could you not love that? Plus, I MISS the gym.........since we bought the Shack, I don't feel comfortable spending money on that. I am in constant motion on the job. You know you're in the groove when you arrive at 7:30, and the next time you look at the clock it's 10:15. You know, I'm the kinda gal, if Mr. Thick-Cut-Crispy Bacon knocks on my door, why, I'll invite him in for a Johnny Walker Black and a chat! :o) Cheese? Honey, that's a food group! I know I could do better in the bacon to veggie ratio. Well, actually I couldn't, I never met a veggie I didn't like. I CAN tell you, I have my mothers metabolism, so I can work twice as hard as some one else for half the results. This job... none of my pants fit any more, they are all too big !!!! and I have 2 people at work who have offered to PAY me to make "my" lunches for them :O) ALL they are, is a sandwich...on a REALLY good home made bread or bakery hard roll or cibatta, a coldcut...I prefer turkey,but have been known to bust a move with the bologna, liverwurst or ham, with TONS of shredded lettuce or greens, and 2 lil bins of assorted fresh veggies, like peppers and cukes, radishes [I LOVE radishes]....that's IT. At least I have a job direction if I get laid off ....lunch lady. ANY of you, who have long commutes and drive them, please hit me with suggestions on how to come to terms with it. I STILL HATE the commute. And that hurts Steve, and that's the LAST thing I want to do. But the job....now, that's pretty damn cool.

Today is Sunday. And I just had a REAL eye opener, an epiphany.
Sunday morning is" the local paper and the NYT, in bed, with a huge mug of coffee" time for me.
Today, I am reading the magazine insert for the local paper, you may have seen it, "Parade". And there is an article titled "What should you worry about ?"

http://www.parade.com/news/2009/10/18-what-should-you-worry-about.html

One of the large print inserts to the article says "We're bad at assessing risk - we panic about the wrong things"

I don't have a panic tendency, but *I* am a world class worrier. I can and do anticipate everything. Makes me well prepared for anything, and it makes me anxious. And I realized, as I read the article, that I wasn't assessing risk correctly. And I do react out of emotion.
For example. Maybe 15 years ago. Steve was working late, and coming home in the dark one night. And in a 55 mph zone, hit a deer. The car was totaled, he was Fine. He and the cop were more upset by what "that damned deer did to his Mustang" than anything else. He called me, told me what happened. OK. But NOTHING prepared me for the site of the Stang. It looked like NO ONE could possibly have walked away from that, let alone drive it home. It was the only time in my life I felt like I might faint. And I NEVER forgot that.
But..now, with my commute. I approach the truck every morning, and my palms are sweaty and my heart is racing, ......which is TOTALLY out of character for me, I have a "Take life by the balls" attitude toward my life........ Because the longest part of my commute is along a road recognized by my state as having a high deer accident ratio. And a few weeks ago I DID have a close call. I saw deer one and deer 2, deer 3 was a pretty big surprize. But all ended well.
And it occurred to me....that when Steve has to commute a long way in foul weather or thru deer central, I have the same physical reaction to it.
Now I'm trying to figure out, why the fear, loathing and anxiety every dingdong morning? Is it based on facts, or "what ifs", of which I am the Queen? Or the sight of a wrecked car 15 years ago? Or a few deer tryin' to get jiggy?
My goal for this week is to approach the commute with an open mind and heart. I will NOT allow anxiety to rear it's head, and I will NOT be afraid of deer, or What-ifs. I don't know what I thought, or if I even ever Gave it a thought. I just assumed that at age 48, I would know these things about myself, I would know who I am. This comes as quite the surprize. And I don't like that type of surprize. "Be Not Afraid"...I'll just keep repeating that to myself.

And this? Because ITA, it's a pet peeve of mine, and it's funny. I think I got this from Dawn but can't find my attribute.So thank you Dawn or whomever:

October:

18th: No Beard Day
19th: Evaluate Your Life Day [looks like I was a day ahead of myself there ]