YIKES

Now isn't that just scary!

Hi folks.

I've been sick.

ICK.

Saturday was the first day I've felt normal...

whatever that is...

in over a week.

To be frank, I was starting to worry about me.

No appetite.

Vague sick feeling.

No energy.

We're talking wondering if the trip to the bathroom was worth taking

to avoid a mess.

Thank goodness that is over!

So Saturday rolled around and the man set off following his bumper again.

I was grateful just to feel like moving around again.

We got word that our Duck tickets were lost.

WTF???

We PAID for them.

How could they lose them?

Off we went to the ticket office.

And ran into a huge snafu...

Fan Day.

You know how much I love the Ducks.

But I still was not up to the lines and hoopla.

Nor the unwashed masses.

Actually it was the over perfumed masses.

Some women do not know how much is enough!

I darned near lost the first decent meal I'd had in over a week.

And we weren't even standing in line to meet the team.

It was hot and humid.

We had to weave our way through the crowds of craziness

of people in various insane Duck attire...

like that fellow up there

and some more normal people in simple fan shirts,

knee socks with short shorts, etc.

Because I did not have my camera with me...

since Fan Day was a total surprise to us.

Only to find out that the ticket office was closed.

Heavy sigh.

Today we will venture out and try to get to the ticket office again.

They already told us in a three party conversation that 

they will just reprint the tickets and send them to the 

"will call" office on game day.

The man is not satisfied with this.

He envisions us showing up ready to watch and have them 

tell us that they don't see any tickets.

We paid for these tickets months ago.
We have nothing on paper to prove that we own them.
Only our credit card receipt.
No confirmation.
No tickets!


Last year there was a big ta-doo
over counterfeit tickets.
Hundreds of fans showed up to find other people in their seats...
with exact duplicates of their tickets.
The man worries that this is this year's ticket scam.




If they were regular general admission tickets,
it would not be such a big deal.
These were expensive prime seating tickets.
He is not willing to risk nose bleed seating as a "we're sorry 
we can't find your tickets, but this is the best we can do".


I'll let you know how that turns out.
One way or another,
the man will get something today to prove that he owns those seats.
I will sheepishly follow him through this process...
and hope we are not escorted out of the 
ticket office by security.
I have never seen this man angry.
I don't want to.
But we are talking prime Duck tickets.
Baby...
that means war!


My apologies for being so absent.
I looked at my computer several times,
then went back to feeling like death was waiting in the wings...
(Very melodramatic!)
and rolled back over to lay there like a lump.
I will try to play catch-up.
=:]


In the meantime...
stay well my friends.

WHAT COMES UP

I had a great mini visit with the Turkey a couple of days ago.

They stopped off for the night on their way back from

vacation time in San Diego.

A brief visit... they left early the next morning.

Still, any time spend with the Bear, Turkey, Angel and Mikey P

is a good time.

Even if the man says Turkey lacks an "off switch".

=:]

As it turned out, it was good that they left quickly.

Soon after I was physically attacked by the man's vicious

stomach bug.

UGH.

I am currently recovering and lack most of my ability

to think or be witty.

So far I have managed to keep some greek yogurt

and half a turkey sandwich down.

So things are looking up...

rather than coming up.

Hee hee

Here's to hoping that you all have a great weekend...

vicious bug-free.

I personally plan on doing as little as possible.

Maybe hold the sofa on the floor and give the remote a good work out.

WAITRESS SOMEONE TOOK MY TURKEY

It is my habit on pay day to treat myself to breakfast out.

Yes, I am aware that I have a clubhouse sandwich above...

because when I got to the chain restaurant,

that is what sounded good.

I figured that I could eat half of it and take the other half home to

the man, who's habit is to snooze longer than I.

So I ordered it and then sipped my cup of coffe,

poured from my own mini pot

and worked on my puzzle.

The sandwich arrived in due time.

Without thinking much about it, I took a bite

and filled in a word on my puzzle.

It tasted good... very good... but wrong.

I took a second bite.

Hummm...

I peered at it.

Ah ha!

There was no turkey on it.

I called the waitress over and pointed out that no turkey

lay between my bread.

Blink, blink.

"Well I guess it's a BLT then."

"But I ordered a clubhouse and it has turkey."

She glanced uneasily at the kitchen window.

She whispered that the cook is a dick.

I pointed out that the BLT costs two dollars less.

She offered to take two dollars off.

No.

I got up and walked to the counter and waved at the cook.

I told him that my turkey was missing.

He grunted an apology and accepted the plate back.

I rarely ever send anything back.

But darn it... I wanted a clubhouse.

I went back to my coffee and puzzle.

The manager decided to bring me my sandwich...

except she gave it to the woman the next table over...

who thanked her for it...

then passed it to me.

What a strange day this is going to be.

Hope your hump day is a happy one!

I had a great weekend.
Friday little N spent the night.
T and the man were working on cabinets in the shop...

which left us gals for a girls night.

The next morning, on Saturday,  we were up and off to the park for

birthday party!
N's brother, Te turned 9.
Pizza and cake.
Yay!

On the way home we decided to avoid the work on the freeways...

which led us on a detour around Autzen Stadium.

We stopped for a peek at Duck practice.

Woot!

Games are right around the corner!

We have two pair of tickets to Pac 12 games...

boy is it hard to get used to saying 12 instead of 10...

 but both are in October.

Oh hurry, hurry!

The guys have been continuing on their project today, Sunday.

That leaves me to my own devices.

=:]

I was sitting out here writing...

When this fellow showed up to visit with me.

He didn't really like the camera very much.

I couldn't help but wonder if he was from that bunch

that hatched earlier this spring, when one visited me

as a teeny tiny new guy.

If so... my how he's grown!

That's pretty much it.

Mundane.

Calm and sane.

Well for the most part anyway.

QUIET!!!

  Welcome to today's Saturday Scavenger Shots!  

Our word this week is QUIET.... like this peaceful sunset.

This gentleman looks to be lose in stoney QUIET contemplation.... probably about why he has succulents growing out of his head!

Last but not least... a rare QUIET moment from little N.  

QUIET only because her mouth is otherwise occupied!

Having her spend the night last night was not at all QUIET.

She truly has the gift of endless gab!

Fortunately, she is funny...

which kept us from going QUIETly mad.

=:)

COOL BOOK USES

There's nothing like a good book.

 

Happy Friday everyone!

What are you planning for your weekend?

Tonight little N will be coming to spend the night.

=:]

Then tomorrow is her brother's birthday party...

pizza and cake in the park!

After pizza and cake, we're off to take a friend out shooting.

Woot!

Meanwhile in between all this stuff...

the man and T have a side job they're working on.

Very cool beans.

I have lots to things to watch and do.

Speaking of cool things to watch and do...

My friend K sent me this fun place to visit...

now I'm passing it on to you!

 

Cool Non-Literary Uses for Books 

Enjoy your weekend!

DRIBBLE

This has to be the best bar "blessing" I've ever seen.

Ha!

I stole this off of another blog or site... can't recall where though...

I beg a thousand pardons for its use and ask forgiveness...

rather than a law suit.

=:]

(Maybe it was from Churlita!)

I don't know if its summer time or what...

But blog world has fallen on more empty times these days.

I'm guessing that the kiddos are out of school

and vacations have interrupted posting.

Or perhaps some of you have come to your senses enough to want to experience

the real world.

I have no problem either way.

Just enjoy what you are doing okay?

Not much going on down in the hole... 

which means I will fill this with dribble.

Today we are donating the now repaired Mr. Mower

to join the fight in cancer research.

That ought to use up an hour max.

Sigh.

Later T will come over...

he and the man have a new side job building another cabinet.

That will make life interesting.

Beer and power tools!

Measure twice and cut once...

oops!

If I see anything interesting out there...

I'll be back tomorrow.

If not...

hopefully better dribble.

Eeeewwwwwwww

It began as an annoying itch.

I was used to annoying itches as a child.

I was bothered by eczema.

Really bothered.

Once a doctor suggested to my mother that my eczema might not be allergy related, but psychological.

"She wasn't a month old when it first developed!"

my mother snapped back at him.

To her that was a total insult.

No child of hers could possibly have a mental problem.

Unthinkable!

I was used to doctor's offices long before the tiny blister appeared.

I liked the way they smelled.

(the doc's office, not the blister)

I was ridiculously fond of the little reflex tester

that looked like a cross between a caveman's stone ax 

and shiny medical device.

Besides, 

our doctor's office had tiny tree frogs all over their landscaping.

It was therefore an excellent place to go.

Too bad my mom insisted on searching me before we left each visit.

I could not understand why the blister...

now forming an icky sappy crust freaked my mother out so badly.

She took one look at it and hit the phone.

"George!" 

she hissed into the speaker end.

No wonder my dad hated his name...

when spoken by my mother,

it always meant that she was upset about something...

and that couldn't be good for him.

Off we went in the old Buick station wagon.

The woman was obviously insanely angry.

Eczema, of the type that I sported

had blisters that were tiny.

They itched like mad.

I was known to rub my toes against my sheets in my sleep

until they were bloody.

Then it all turned sappy and developed crusts that needed to be picked at

and jump started another scratching cycle.

This blister was bigger and uglier.

But gee whiz...

what was the big deal?

The nurse at the front desk

took one look at my mom's face and immediately

escorted us to an exam room.

I thought, looking a other faces of misery...

"Ha. ha! Suckers... me first!"

The doctor confirmed my mother's worst fear...

Impetigo!

The world must have spun in her head.

Infant tiger!

To me it sounded cute.

Maybe I'd grow claws and whiskers.

Cool beans!

My mother took it as a personal insult.

She was often insulted by my person.

But this was one that baffled me.

So I had another skin affliction that blistered and made crusts.

Old news!

Impetigo is a bacterial skin infection.

Part of me was always infected due to my scratching.

My brother liked to call me pus bucket.

At age five I lived to dig in the dirt.

Pus happens.

Impetigo is caused by strep or my mother's most hated enemy...

staph.

In her head, staph was what DIRTY people got.

My mother battled dirt like it was Hitler.

How dare I get a dirty disease!

It was a commentary on her ability to keep me clean.

She was a failure as a mother.

A monster who allowed her daughter to become 

something only Jesus would dare to touch!

I thought it was kind of cool actually.

I got my very own special bar of soap...

I was given the parental bathtub where no child ever bathed to wash in.

The medicine was pretty tasty

and the cream they applied to it felt cold and tingly.

When my father got home she ranted.

She pointed a finger at me and shook it to accent her horror.

My dad laughed...

"Joyce, she didn't mean to get it."

My mom stomped off to finish cooking diner.

My dad flicked his paper open and began to do his cross word.

"Better not let your mom see you scratching."

he said and silently giggled.

I knew that, but I nodded... and scratched.

I still didn't get her horror.

Impetigo was contagious... and that meant no school...

which meant that Gregory and I could play.

His mom never worried about stuff that was catchy.

If it got Gregory out of her hair, 

that was fine by her.

It wasn't the firs time I'd wished I had a sane mom like Gregory.

=:)

THINGS PASSING AWAY

Look at me shine!

(mid-mowing... a bit dusty)

Here he is... the new guy at our house.

YAY! 

I got to pick him out.

I know ZIP about lawn mowers...

so I drove the poor salesman crazy asking questions.

Naturally I had to pick the model that was not in stock.

The salesman offered to order it and I'd have it on Friday.

I did not want to wait.

He then offered to sell me the next model up (on sale) for the same price.

Cool beans!

Only that one was out of stock too.

So he offered to sell me the floor model.

The man stepped in at this point...

he loves to dicker prices down.

By the time we left with it...

We were paying $100 less than the asking price of the first mower I'd picked...

and had the oil thrown in for free.

Out at the truck, the man smiled.

He had evaded the extra fee for having it assembled too.

 We carefully tilted the handle down,

lifted him into the bed and secured him in place.

I love my new mower.

Mr. Mower had served this house for a long time and another house before that.

Its sort of sad to see him go.

Not!

I will not miss his refusal to initiate his power drive feature.

He was a lot like trying to push a mule uphill.

=:{

There is one thing left to do...

no, the yard is already mowed...

YAY!

I like to name things.

I did not name Mr. Mower... his former owner did.

What name is appropriate for a lawn mower?

Here are some thoughts:

Cutty

Shredder

Mulchie

What do you think?

Any suggestions?

I'm open.

(Oh  for goodness sake... my photo didn't show up with this post!
I had to come back in first thing this A.M. 
and add it back in.
Sheesh!
Sorry if you got here before the pic showed up.)

SSS PROBLEMS

MATH

YIKES!

Its time for Saturday Scavenger Shots again...

Irony would have it that I got to pick this week's word:

PROBLEMS...

and then I would have PROBLEMS posting.

The man had family from Idaho here to visit yesterday...

Saturday, when I was supposed to post.

Due to another drop-in visitor,

I was unable to follow my schedule for getting the house ready.

That was a problem that required me to awake to

dash madly around the house at the crack of dawn

and finish within minutes of the VIP arrival.

At least I solved the problems there and the visit was a success.

Unfortunately, my post is a day late!

The photo at the top is indicative of the school subject that gave me the most PROBLEMS.

Math sucks... well it did for me.

I am not sure who had more PROBLEMS...

This Barbie or the student who put her on his sister's locker. 

 

 

When looking at this photo, one might assume that my 

youngest son has PROBLEMS.

Ha!

Yep.  He has issues with having his photo taken and refuses

to pose nicely.

 This photo represents a few problems.

My lawn mower broke.

My lawn is suffering from serious PROBLEMS due

to lack of water, cutting and weeds.

Mr. Mower breaks down often.

The man is tired of fixing it...

and hearing me complain about how hard it is to push

for a "power driven" mower.

It's urge to drive left before I met it.

Using the darned thing is like pushing a mule into a trailer.

I will end this post on a happy note...

Today we solve part of the lawn's PROBLEMS.

We are off to Sears to buy ME a new mower.

YAY!

Then the man will fix this one...

one last time while I mow my poor sad lawn.

Next weekend Mr. Mower is being donated to 

a yard sale to benefit 

Breast Cancer.

I sincerely hope someone who enjoys fixing lawn mowers buys it.

Then everybody happy.

I hope you happy too!