I’m somewhat startled to discover that I have at least three illiterate dogs taking my polls.

In the atrium/lobby area of our portion of the facility there are two types of lights. Large lights hanging the ceiling and slightly smaller metal lights attached to the walls.

Over the weekend, one of lights attached to the wall fell down.

If you look at it, you can see that the contracts did NOT, in fact, attach these large metal lights to a stud, but instead just used anchors to attach them to the wall.

Upon further inspection, several of the other lights are starting to pull away from the wall, including a light over a doorway, and a light near the front desk where people frequently stand.

And people wonder why the renovation of the old library is being done in-house.

I was just doing bills, looked at Quicken, and realized we have only two payments left on our car.

TWO!

Then it’s ours, free and clear, and that’s extra money that can go into savings. Or pay for our trips this fall. Or pay for the new wood stove.

AWESOME!

Yet it I am still continually surprised.

First and foremost, and the on-going game of Word Association is 1) Still on-going and 2) Becoming one of my top posts.

Second, by today’s search terms.

And it took me quite awhile to figure out where that search term came from.

Dinosaur

Well, we were. Just not here.

(more…)

Happy Birthday Michael!

And many happy returns to my favorite husband!

This always makes me feel better.

I may need to listen to it several times today.

To offset Janiece’s discovery of another underfed actress, I point you to the hotness that is Helen Mirren.

She is one amazingly beautiful woman.

I’m running to work, then coming home to get Kat to take him to the Vet to get a scrape/bare spot on his side looked at.

On the bright side, I’m wearing jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, since I’ll be covered with fur by the time I’m done at the Vet.

Feel free to entertain yourselves while I’m out: Take a poll, eat some chocolate, drink some of Michael’s beer, whatever.

And those of you who read here regularly but don’t comment? This is your formal invitation to have a virtual beer and tell me how things are going with you.

ADDENDUM the First:
Kat is 11.8 pounds, which is into the range for Maine Coons. He is not, however, overweight.

He got some sort of scrape, that he’s managed to irritate by licking it constantly, so we get to put ointment on it twice a day for the text three weeks, so it will heal.

Did I mention that he’s 11.8 pounds of muscle? And one of his nicknames is Mister Pissy?

This will be fun.

This suits my mood this morning.

You’ll have to turn up the volume to hear it.

I was sent these by Stacie, but didn’t get a chance to post them until now. When Brian and Stacie were at Kennywood, they discovered these AWESOME prizes you could win.

I should expect as much from Pittsburgh.

Really? Where?

I think we’ve been on the go for the past three weeks, and this week doesn’t look any better. I’d hoped to spend today relaxing, but ended up taking my grandmother shopping.

This is always an exercise in patience for me, because I like to get in and get out, and when I walk through most stores (excluding Jungle Jim’s of course) I tend to go at warp speed, grabbing what I need, finding the shortest line, and getting the hell out.

That doesn’t happen with my grandmother. She doesn’t move quickly, she has to look for what she wants, and she doesn’t move quickly. This is by far the hardest thing for me to deal with. I hate clothes shopping, and my feet hurt if I stand still for long. (I can walk forever, but as soon as I have to stand still, my feet start to ache.)

Of all the things I thought would be most difficult when my grandmother moved in, this is not what I expected.

On other fronts, I bought myself a photo printer for my birthday, and have had the chance to print one (1) picture since it arrived. I’ve also managed to read one eighth of a book in the past several weeks, which is a shocking lapse for me. I’ve got stacks of photo paper for different projects sitting here, but no idea when I’m going to try them out.

And this week, at least at work, looks to be just as insanely busy, as I’m scheduled to teach every single day this week. On the off chance I simply come home and collapse after work, I’ve got a couple scheduled posts set already. But if things get quiet, you know where I am.

Hiding under my bed with a flashlight and a book.

cucking-stool noun
Historical. A chair to which disorderly women were tied and then ducked into water or subjected to public ridicule as a punishment.
? origin Middle English: from obsolete cuck ?defecate?, of Scandinavian origin; so named because a stool containing a chamber pot was often used for the purpose.

That is definitely an obsolete word.