Don't ya hate it when ...

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I have been tagged by Holly over at A Spiritual Dog Blog. She got tagged for a random 7 things meme, and she changed it up and made it 7 things that really bug you. Or tick you off. Or make you go postal. However you say it, we all have things that drive us crazy so this one should be easy, right?

So let’s go.

1) In traffic people who do not do the courtesy wave when you let them in when you obviously didn’t have to. They just drive on without acknowledging your act of kindness as if it was their right to slide in right in front of you simply by virtue of the fact that they are on the road. Makes me crazy!!!!

2) It really annoys me when (okay this sounds silly even to me) I am listening to the traffic on the radio or TV and they say there is an accident or a crash and then insist on calling it a “gapers block”. I don’t know about anybody else, but I slow down passing an accident because I am not sure what is going on, if someone might step out into traffic or if there might be debris in the road. It’s a safety issue to me, I am not simply rubber-necking and I would really appreciate it if you would stop saying that is what I am doing!

3) Loud people are so annoying when their volume directly affects the people around them. There is no reason I need to hear every detail of a personal conversation of a co-workers simply because they just don’t care how loud they are.

4) I hate it when I am driving my car at say – 5 miles over the speed limit and some moron wants me to go faster. Message to morons – if you get right on my butt to make me get out of your way – I get this irrational compulsion to go slower. Much slower. Just sayin’.

5) It annoys me to no end when I have to open an email attachment and another and another until you finally have 17 windows open to get the lame joke inside because the previous 17 people who forwarded it don’t know how to just forward the joke. My limit is 2 windows – after that I delete.

6) People on power trips irritate the snot out of me. If they have any control over me for some reason and they need to micro-manage everything I do just because they can – that will drive me right over the edge.

7) I will not, I repeat, will not forward an email no matter how cute the pictures, no matter how funny the joke, if at the end it tells me I have to send it to 15 people in the next 14 minutes or 13 really bad things will happen to me. I don’t respond well to threats.

Oh I could go on and on, maybe categorize my annoyances into things like email, telephones, driving, work, friends, family, etc. Yeah, this may have to be an ongoing thing. Wait – let me add a number 8.
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8) Family members who feel because they are family they can say anything to you. “Oh Honey, are you working on the weight?” ARGH-H-H-h!!!
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Now I get to tell you about something I like! Awards! Awards are so much fun and coincidentally I was given the same award by 2 very different people, Dixie from Deep Fried-Southern Style who basically said she didn’t know what the award was but she was passing it on, said in the colorful way that only Dixie can get away with!

The other wonderful award giver was Holly at A Spiritual Dog Blog, a sweet sweet lady who is the only blogger I know who can post videos of herself in her underwear and get away with it!! Read this if you want to see all the thought Holly put into giving out this award.

Be The Blog

I will most likely pass this on myself, but just not right now. I would like to say thanks to the 2 ladies who gave this to me as they are great ladies and great to read! Thank you!!!

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The verdict is in.

I called Dani before I left for work this morning to wish her luck with her court appearance for her Halloween trespassing ticket. She was nervous which I suppose any kid would be, but I told her it really wasn’t that big a deal and not to expect some big courtroom scenario like a trial or something. Tried to make her feel a bit more relaxed before going in there.

My daughter called me when she got out of court, feeling properly chastised and with a renewed sense of respect for the rules.

A $250.00 fine will teach just about any college student with only vacation employment that it’s not a good idea to buck the establishment when they have the power to reach into your pockets. She also got 6 months court supervision, which will be removed from her record (but not the Internet) as long as she stays out of trouble during that time.

I told her she should have told the judge she has a 4.0 grade point average (I’m not bragging, really) but I doubt it would have helped. She said the judge was very nice and seemed somewhat amused by the young people he had lined up, but it sounded like he had a standard way of dealing with this particular issue. Dani, as well as the other 16 kids who were lined up, all got the same fines. The county sure made some money on Halloween, didn’t it?

On the way out one of the girls who was there for the same offense saw an interesting spiral staircase in the courthouse and wanted to explore. Dani quickly said something to the effect of – “Oh no – we’re not going up there! We’re not going anyplace we don’t have permission to be!”

Good girl! Lesson learned.

It happens all the time now.

When I was a kid my mom once refused to pay the dentist until he corrected my name on the bill. It was BetteJo, not Bette. I learned very early to not only correct people who left off the Jo, but to hate the name Bette if it was directed at me. If someone else was named Bette or Betty – it was like it had no relationship to my name, it was entirely different somehow.

Growing up when I did, in the midst of Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and Hee Haw, you can imagine how often I heard comments about being from the south, ya’ll. It didn’t bother me and I never even took it as teasing. My name was different and you had better believe that when I walked down the hall at school and heard someone call out “BetteJo!” I felt quite safe in turning and saying “what?” – that they were talking to me.

So it was with great amusement about 6 or 7 years ago when, at the doctor’s office, I was called Ba-tay-ho. Um, yeah. I looked around and realized that the nurse was calling me. What? I was laughing when I corrected the nurse, she was quite embarrassed but I couldn’t stop laughing about it. I must have told everybody I knew because it just seemed so – well – funny to me. The worst anyone had ever done was leave off the Jo, which I found annoying but this was great! Too funny!

Now however, if I am at a doctor’s office, or any place where they don’t know me and have to call me by name, I see it coming. The person looks at the chart or paper or whatever has my name printed on it, screws up their face in confusion, and starts going through alternate languages in their head. Frequently I see an “ah ha!” moment and they look up and say “Ba-tay-ho?” Looking around the room.

Okay, I write it as one word. I put the Bette and the Jo together with a capital J. That developed as a way to stop people from dropping the Jo. Put them together as one word would mean people would recognize it as one name, right? Well it did work for a number or years. And sometimes when I have to print my name on something I do it with all caps – BETTEJO. Still, the assumption was always that it was one of those doggone southern names where they stick a Jo or Bob or Jim something on the end of every name.

At some point it all shifted. At some point the assumption shifted and now? Now I have become Hispanic apparently. The 2^nd “E” has become an “A” and the “J”? The “J” has become an “H”. Ba-tay-ho. One of my co-workers calls me this on a daily basis and it still makes me laugh. But at what point did the shift come? At what point did the assumption shift from – oh she’s from a different part of the country to, she’s from a different country altogether? Hm-m-m.

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So, yeah.

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After all that food yesterday, I think I was still full this morning.
What other reason could there be for forgetting to bring my lunch to work today?


Uh yeah. I'm a moron.
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Happy day to you!

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How was your day???

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So last night my car wouldn’t start. I got the whine over and over but it would not turn over. Luckily my daughter is home from school because I was able to take her car to work this morning. I say lucky, but I’m finding that term to be relative.

I was making a stop to get my blood drawn this morning, for blood work I have done on a regular basis. That meant no tea, no bagel, nothing except my sip of water with meds this morning. But I’ll be doggoned if I’m going to miss one of my 2 mugs of tea – so I made 2 this morning to bring with me.

It was drizzly and gray, a tad foggy even, as I stepped outside with my huge purse slung over my shoulder, my lunchbox hanging on one arm and my 2 mugs gripped by the handles in one hand. Keys in the other – I managed to open the door to my daughter’s car.

It’s a lot lower than my car. I have a small, girls SUV, just about the height for me to slide right into the seat when I get in without really lowering myself much. Dani has a Grand Am which makes me feel like my butt is skimming the pavement when I’m driving it.

There I was with my hands full, with 2 swinging bags of sorts to deal with while I tried to lower myself down to the driveway level to get into the seat without spilling my tea. I wasn’t worried about spilling it in her car, I just didn’t want to miss a drop when I actually got to drink it later!

My daughter is 3 inches shorter than I am and at least 50 lbs lighter. At least. To get behind the steering wheel is a feat all on its own because she adjusts that wheel so it’s totally vertical, which means I can’t get my thighs under it! Her seat is also up so far that my knees are up under the steering wheel so until I can adjust the wheel and the seat, it’s extremely uncomfortable. Add to that when I slid in (yeah, I slid) my purse got trapped behind me and my lunchbox got stuck between the bucket seats – but my hand with the tea was balancing up in the air and stayed perfectly level.

Once I was actually in the seat properly and adjusted all the adjustments, I had to reach into my purse to get my glasses to see the radio to adjust it to a station I could listen to. You know, something on the a.m. dial. I started to put my glasses away until I realized I’d better find the lights with the fogginess and all, so I located the correct knob and then put my glasses away.

So basically this morning before I even got out of the driveway I felt hugely fat and incredibly old!

How did your day/week start?

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I would love to!

Stuff to do, people to see

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Quick post this evening! My daughter is home from school so we had a Thai food feast for dinner, one of her favorites. She and my son are making plans to go Christmas shopping tomorrow, but it sounds like they are leaning more heavily toward going to the Field Museum to see the Darwin Exhibit. They are so much more intellectually curious than I am.

I'll be heading back into the bead room after I post this, and I wanted to put at least one picture up of some bracelets I have made. I'm loving them, I hope you do too! My picture definitely isn't the best, but click to enlarge and see more detail. :)



Before I run off to create - I want to say thank you to Holly over at The Spiritual Dog Blog who has decided that I am fabulous!! Woo hoo! I always wanted to be fabulous and I think Holly is fabulous too. :)


I would like to head south to pass on this award. I'd like to tell Dixie at Deep Fried-Southern Style how fabulous she is - but I tell you what - she already knows! She looks marvelous in green hair and she makes me laugh out loud. The next southern gal is Honeysuckle Rose who writes at Not Much Southern Comfort. Her posts frequently make me think but more often make me laugh. And that second bracelet from the top up there? That's named "Southern Comfort" after her because she suggested I make a bracelet with blues and browns. I think both of you women are fabulous!
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The new phonebooks are here!

It's been an exceptionally bad day. Work, bad news, friends and loved ones getting bad news, bad news all the way around. So coming home and getting a bunch of gorgeous silver in the mail really perked me up!

There are some really huge sterling silver toggles I cannot wait to use!!

See the circle and the diamond shapes? Those are sterling beads that I can put a bead right in the center of and string them together - as the focal point of a bracelet or a necklace. Exciting stuff!! Well, to me anyway. Can't wait to see what I come up with!

And it felt good.

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I really hate feeling like I'm behind. Behind in my household chores, behind in my bills, behind in my work. And I really hate feeling like I'm behind in making jewelry. Christmas is coming up and I.am.behind.

Not only am I behind in making jewelry for my shop, but I am behind in shopping as well. I do all of my Christmas shopping online. I have done it that way for the last few years at least, and I love it. Just can't go for all the crowds during the holidays, all the hustle and bustle does not feel like fun to me. You see people who never come out of their homes until it's time to shop for Christmas, and with good reason. Those same people generally drive, and you really wish they wouldn't.

Anyway, it's already the middle of November and I have not started my shopping yet. I am usually begging my kids for ideas because by this time of the year I have run out of ideas and need some help. But today I received a Christmas list from my daughter, saying she was sure she was too late, that I was probably done shopping by now. Nope. I'm behind. Argh-h-h!

So, getting into the bead room this evening and making some actual progress in the jewelry area feels really good. I made a few bracelets and a few pairs of earrings and will try to get them photographed and listed some time this weekend.

I paid my bills last night, made some jewelry tonight, and tomorrow - I start my holiday shopping.

In the meantime, chandelier earrings abound and here are a few pictures. Not the photos I will list with, but a few snaps to get the idea. So maybe I'm not behind in everything anymore. :)

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Did you ever ... ?

Did you ever work with someone whose day revolves around lunch? Before lunch they are so hungry you think they are going to faint from lack of nourishment. They make a big deal about taking their lunch out and getting it ready, micro-waving it and sitting down to eat it. When they do eat, you hear “nummy” noises coming from them the whole time. And when there is free food? You’d think it was Christmas and Thanksgiving and their birthday all rolled into one.

Sigh-h-h. And this person? Aren’t they always the skinniest person in the place? Because you know darn well that if it was anybody *cough cough* full figured like me making all that noise, people would think I was a real pig.

Does it annoy you to no end? Yeah, me too.

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How angry am I? Not so much.

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So, my daughter went a wanderin’. The question I asked was – am I angry with her? Truth? I can’t be. Not for trespassing on university property to poke around an old village and hotel with no intentions of doing any harm to the place. Even though it was against the law.

I know I need to teach my children the difference between right and wrong but let’s face it. Dani is 21. If she hasn’t learned that lesson by now, I won’t be the one teaching her, life will be.

When I think of all the things I did when I was her age and younger, well, my kids will never hear most of it so neither will you! Suffice it to say that I am glad my kids are not like I was. I wasn’t a bad kid, but I wasn’t the best either. And the time in my life when I lived in a college town with my husband was a time of ‘messing around’ - and not getting caught.

Sigh-h. I know I’m supposed to be mad. When I talked to Dani on the phone at the end of the conversation I worked up my stern voice and said “consider yourself reprimanded! Do not trespass again!” And then I laughed. It was the best I could do.

The child gets all A’s, she is dangerously intelligent and level headed. She is paying for her own college education; she has arranged all of her own financial aid and loans and goes back to her job when she comes home to earn more money for school. She tossed aside the horrible food habits I raised her with and became a vegetarian who gets excited when they have a good selection of vegetables at the dorm cafeteria. She’s old enough to drink now and if she does – she actually does the designated driver thing.

My daughter is a bit messy and opinionated but she is. a. good. kid.

Before Scout and Jem ever tried to peek in the windows at Boo Radley’s place, kids and people in general have been fascinated by ‘haunted’ and spooky places. It was Halloween. Oh well. If this is the worst that ever happens I will be forever grateful.

Dani will go to court and pay her fine, along with the 16 other people that got tickets doing just what she did that day. Her life will go on, lesson learned.

If there is anything I am angry about it was the lack of full disclosure, the fact that I had to find out about the episode by receiving her summons in the mail. Her boyfriend’s Mom had already received his and was quite upset actually, partly because he wants to be a cop (irony, anyone?) I’m sure. So Dani should have called me, she should have fessed up and warned me. Other than that – I’m not mad.

In this case (I plead the 5^th in other cases) I cannot say – do as I say and not as I do. I have to choose my hypocrisy carefully. Okay, it’s not hypocrisy if I am teaching from lessons learned. But this time – she learned her own lesson just fine.
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And now ...............the rest .......of the story.

Vishnu Springs was a small village and resort located in west central Illinois. There is a small spring located on the property that is thought to have healing powers. So the area was sought after and went through many owners from when it was first developed for use to the present day.

The property was first developed by Darius Hicks in the late 1800’s. Hicks started out with a hotel that had many attractions to it, one of those being indoor plumbing. There were also swings and hammocks, flower gardens, a deer park, horse-powered merry-go-round, a pond filled with goldfish, and many other attractions. The village would eventually surround the resort.

Eventually the town failed though. Hicks committed suicide after the death of his wife. There were many owners after him who tried to get the place up and running. Ownership traded back and forth. Some Western Illinois University students even rented the place in the seventies because of its beauty and tranquility. Today though, Western Illinois University owns the property and will be turning it into a wildlife refuge. What will be come of the hotel which still stands? Who knows what will happen. No one can deny the history that will stay locked away in the memories of ones who have visited.

No Trespassing signs are posted.

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Trespassing at Vishnu Springs

In what's been an ongoing occurrence, people continue to trespass at Vishnu Springs. McDonough County Sheriff Rick VanBrooker says seventeen people were charged last weekend with trespassing. Around 3:30 Saturday afternoon, two cars were found parked outside the gate and blocking the entrance and the road that leads to the former hotel and springs and police ticketed *seven people. Just after 10 o'clock Sunday night police again found two vehicles parked at the entrance. This time they ticketed 10 people. The ages ranged from 18 to 22. There are rumors that the former hotel on the site is haunted and the spring water was rumored to have healing power. People pry off the boards covering the hotel windows and doors to get inside, and the walls inside are spray-painted with graffiti.

* My 21 year old good as gold daughter and friends, on Halloween. How did I find out? Her court summons came in the mail today. Am I thrilled? Not so much. Am I angry with her?

Would you be?

**Added - They did not go inside, it is all boarded up, nor did they vandalise anything. They poked around and explored outside.

We're not normal

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We don’t talk in the morning at my house. At least my son and I don’t. Neither one of us is morning - or day – people really. I am forced by my responsibilities as head of the household, to hold down and keep a day job. Unfortunately that means morning is part of my routine.

My son generally goes to work around 3:00pm-ish, and does not come home till quite late, and it’s not unusual for him to just be laying down to go to sleep when I am getting up in the morning. If we do pass each other in the kitchen or as one of us enters or exits the bathroom, there is no eye contact and oh my God there is certainly no form of communication between us. Just doesn’t happen.

So yesterday morning was quite funny actually. I had slept in a tee shirt and underpants which is kind of unusual, I normally wear some kind of ‘jammie’ shorts or something, but I was tired Wednesday night. Getting up Thursday morning I did what I always do. I headed for the kitchen on autopilot.

I was standing at the counter serving up the morning canned cat food to the varmints that were circling around my legs, again, as usual. I had just bent over to put it down on the floor when Andy came around the corner into the kitchen on his way to the bathroom. In his boxers and a tee shirt. As usual.

The house is very quiet at that time of day, except for the demanding cats impatiently meowing at me while I am getting their food. I am definitely not completely awake at that point on any given day, and this day was no exception. So I can say with total honesty that it is a complete miracle that I did not wet myself and throw ocean whitefish in the air when Andy saw me and did what any 20-something boy does who sees his mother in her underwear. He screamed like he was being blinded! And the face! You would have thought he had just caught a glimpse of Rosemary’s baby!

Too funny. It was almost as bad as the morning he came around the corner and caught me in my jeans and my bra! I laughed so hard I had to cross my legs until he was out of the bathroom and by then I had tears streaming down my face.

His horror was matched only by my amusement. :)

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7 weird things

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Reading the road less traveled this evening, Jen did a meme and kindly did not tag anyone. I have trouble doing those things if tagged, I must fold under pressure. This meme appealed to me though, so I decided to do it. 7 weird things about me, and I just know these are things people will find so interesting! Or maybe not.

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I am very good at tripping and falling, I have broken one ankle and sprained the other, twice. Usually I just hurt my pride.

I like to be alone. There was a time I was made to feel badly about that but now I think of it more as being secure enough in myself that I don’t need to surround myself with other people all of the time. Sometimes is plenty. And that person that wanted me to feel bad? Totally insecure.

I love the jewelry I make but I rarely wear it myself. I wear a ring, a necklace, and a bracelet every day, each from my BF. Other than that – I do wear earrings I make, but not much else.

When I was pregnant with my daughter the hair stopped growing on my legs, and I could not taste garlic. I would put so much garlic in spaghetti sauce it was literally hot to other people and I still couldn’t taste it. Or was it my son?

I hate the telephone. HATE it. I answer for my BF and my family. Usually. Other than that – I barely even check my messages.

I go to sleep every night to forensic programs on TV. And if there aren’t any on – I put a tape in of shows that I have recorded for that very purpose. I find them interesting to listen to as I fall asleep, and Bill Kurtis’s voice especially soothing.

I cannot stand cloth on teeth. It’s worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. If I accidentally feel cloth or tissue on my teeth somehow - I literally shudder, cringe, and get a chill. Get goosebumps. If I think about it – I do the same. I just did it. And it will happen every time I read this so I won't read it again.

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Like Jen, I won't tag anybody. But if you feel like doing this, leave me a link so I can see if you're more weird than I am! Here's hoping!!

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Long day.

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So far so good on the furnace. The heating guy who came out yesterday replaced the whole pilot assembly and it has not gone out yet. It's only been one day but I am hopeful. It was the first day in a very long time that I walked in the door from work and the house was warm. So again, I am hopeful.

What I'm not hopeful about is keeping up with all these blog posts! All of you wonderful people that I love to read who are participating in NaBloPoMo, you're killing me! It's really nice when people post a lot, but every other day is fine. Every single day is simply too much for me to read without sacrificing my sleep or my sanity. So I really hope you will forgive me if I do more of that skimming I was talking about not too long ago. And I probably won't comment as much either because after I read one post, I know I have fifty two more to go!

I feel bad about that, and not for the reasons you may think. It's more selfish really. I'm disappointed because I am sure there are posts being written that normally I would really enjoy and I know I am going to miss some good stuff. Posts that if they came out at a normal speed as opposed to rapid fire, I would love to sit back and fully enjoy. The way it is now I feel a little bit like I'm on the other side of one of those machines that whip tennis balls at a player, or maybe like Lucy stuffing her mouth and her blouse with chocolates because too many have come down the conveyor belt.

A few have dropped out already and I am quite pleased. Sorry to the rest of you who are doing quite well with posting every day. It's an achievement to be sure, I know I would have a great deal of trouble with it. But from this side - I'm hoping for a few more drop outs.

On a totally random note here, I almost peed myself at work today because of my natural gracefulness. Walking back to my desk after going to the fax machine, I stumbled over my own wide, Flintstone feet, and had to put my hand out to stop myself from totally falling down and ending up with my face resting on the wheels of my chair. The heel of my hand smacked right down on top of the banana sitting on my desk - literally squirting banana out the end and onto my wrist. I truly almost wet my pants I was laughing so hard. And why can I eat a banana and not find anything at all wrong with it, but get totally grossed out by that same banana smooshed onto my arm? It was like a cartoon and it was worth tossing out the banana just to have that giggle.

Hope you find something to giggle about today!
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Earrings and heat, earrings and heat ...

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For those of you who have asked, the chandelier earrings are coming. I made some this weekend, but my photography was a little dark. I thought gee - when I get home from work today I'll take some better pics with the daylight coming in the window. Works wonders. Uh, no. Because of the time change, it's now dark when I get home from work. Gr-r-r-r.

Since I will be taking a half day tomorrow, I will get some pictures then, and will list the earrings tomorrow evening. Really.

Why am I taking a half day tomorrow? Thanks for asking! I will be home by noon so I can be here to graciously welcome the furnace guy. Again. Yep. The pilot still keeps going out and my landlord is under the impression that the pilot just needs to be adjusted. She thinks the pilot is set too low, which proves that she hasn't seen it because when it's lit - it's not one tiny flame. It burns more like a flower, with flame all around the metal core. The furnace guy told me it's a gas hog with a pilot like that.

My landlord is basically telling the heating company that she doesn't want to pay for another service call, she wants them out there to fix what's wrong. Her contention is - it's not the furnace that's not working, it's the pilot. Fix the pilot, the problem will be solved.

Here's the thing. The suburb I live in has some prime real estate in it. The land this house is sitting on is worth a bunch. The house? Not so much. Down the street from me they pulled down a cute little home and put up a great big house - and it's going for just under a million dollars. That is a single lot. I am sitting on a double.

I'm thinking my landlord plans on renting out this house, putting as little into it as possible, until it's not rent-able anymore. Then she will sell it for the land, not the house. She knows she has to keep the furnace running, but she isn't going to replace it until she absolutely has to.

I almost feel like telling the furnace guy not to bother because I don't believe there is anything else they can do, but we will see. Tomorrow is another day, right? One way or another, I will have heat that works all of the time, not just some of the time.

I really do hate this house.
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Fidelity personified

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A lot of people have toys, personal toys, appliances, if you will. They usually keep them hidden in a drawer, under the bed, or on a high closet shelf. And they don't talk about them, much less bring them out in front of guests in their home.

My old man cat Riley has a different idea about that. When he was a young cat, even after he was neutered, I would find him rubbing up against my daughters robe that was left in a heap on her bedroom floor. She had a Simba stuffed toy, and I would find Riley trying to molest it, even though it was a bit small for him to maneuver into position. It got to the point where I said - he just has to have something for himself because he's obviously not going to stop this behavior.

I came home from shopping with a 5 dollar pet toy for him. I walked in, dropped the lamb on the floor in front of Riley. He stood up, sniffed her, bit into her tail and carried her away. From that moment on he never bothered anyone else's stuff. He was in love.

You know when you see something that just creeps you out, or grosses you out, to the point that you physically shudder? You know that noise you make - that kind of deep in your throat ugh-uh-uh-h? Well - that is the name of Riley's girlfriend. We thought that was appropriate.

He likes to show her off. He can leave her alone for days at a time but as soon as someone comes over, there he is grabbing her by the tail and dragging her into whatever room the people are in, and going right ahead and getting busy. Loudly. He yowls louder than any cat you ever hear outside in a fight, always in a guttural manner because his teeth are clenched on the rear end of Ugh-uh-uh-h.

Years have passed and Riley's girlfriend has seen better days. I have washed her, but she is still filthy. She has patches where the fur has been rubbed completely off, and I'm not sure what color she was before. I thought that Riley being male, might welcome a younger, fresher model, with fluffy fur without the rode hard look. Uh, no.

I brought home another, I thought, lovely 5 dollar pet toy for Riley. I dropped her on the floor in front of him expecting him to throw the old one off in a split second and start flirting with the new younger girl in the house. Uh uh. He looked at her with disdain and walked away. We tried taking Ugh-uh-uh-h away from him and leaving him no choice of girls. He did without. We tried rubbing the old one all over the new one to transfer the familiar scent of one to the other. He ignored her. My daughter went so far as to duct tape the 2 together, thinking Riley would have to be doing 2 at one time and might slowly transfer his affections to the 2nd girl. Nope. Wasn't gonna happen.

So the new fluffy toy sits unmolested but hopeful in the living room. Ugh-uh-uh-h gets a regular workout, depending of course how often someone else visits. And Riley? He's a happy old guy. I must admit to a bit of admiration for his loyalty. He loves Ugh-uh-uh-h even though she's old and her body isn't what it once was. And he was faithful to her, even when he was sorely tempted by a younger gal.

A lot can be said about Riley, he's a horny old exhibitionist, but he's got standards!

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From the bottom of my heart ...

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I have been a ba-a-a-d blogger. I read that every now and then and I know the feeling because I am feeling it right now. It’s not so much that I have readers waiting on the edge of their seats for my next post. It’s more about the blogs I read.

I have tried to cut back on the sheer number of blogs I read, and as I have written about before, I use my Google reader to keep me up to date with all my favorite’s posts. But sometimes, like this week, I get sidetracked and single minded about something and all but ignore a lot of the blogs I usually visit. A lot. Then when I realize how behind I am, some of those blogs have 2 and 3, sometimes more – posts a piece waiting to be read! And I want to read them!

This is where I must confess to out and out skimming and marking as read and moving on. Yes, that’s right, and I am sorry. I am guilty of not fully reading the posts sometimes, and only leaving comments here and there. So rude!

Like yesterday. At some point during the day I realized I had over 70 unread posts sitting there in my reader which normally I would open and read with interest, if there weren’t so dang many! So out came my skim technique, ever aware of how quickly the posts would stack up with several people participating in posting every day for the month of November if I didn’t get it in hand right away.

I have been preoccupied with changing the design of my blog, but also with finding some better suppliers of gorgeous silver for my jewelry. Because of those things I have been a bad reader, and a bad beader. I was supposed to work on some earrings last weekend and I didn’t do it, and I am sorry about that too.

There have been some other things on my mind but I will write about that another day. With all those people blogging every single day it seems inconsiderate to write a very long post when everyone has so much to read!

And now – off to work on some chandelier earrings! Really!

Oh, but first - how about a pretty picture? Nite all!

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