Holy Icicles, Batman!

Brrrrrrrrrr, it's frigging frosty out there today! The temperature earlier in the day was -13C (8.6F), with the windchill making it -20C (-4F). If that wasn't bad enough, tonight it's headed down to -18C (-0.4F), and tomorrow is supposed to be -19C (-2.2F). Now, those figures do not include the windchill, which will end up bringing it down to about -25C (-13F) to -30C (-22F). Fun, no? Oy...

I just took the dogs out (of course they decide they need to go right when I start blogging!), and it's rather deceptive out there. The wind has died down, so it doesn't feel too bad when you first head out. It's rather charming - dark, snowy, the smell of wood fires burning... But after a couple of minutes, the fingers, nose and ears begin to get a wee bit nippy, and then the cheeks start to go (face cheeks, people - my toasty warm coat covers my butt nicely, thank you very much!), and I realize that it is not QUITE so nice out there as it first appears!

We've been getting more snow all day - steady, but not a whole lot more yet. However, it's supposed to keep snowing, and I must say the clouds are looking quite pregnant, so we can look forward to the birth of Mrs. Snowcloud's gazillionuplets. It's sounding like those snow shovels might just get a workout after all!

Oooh, they already DID get a bit of a workout! See?


"Hey, check it out! We got to work! We got to work! I don't know about Gramps, though. Look at him, just hanging there on the fence. I don't think he can hack it anymore..."

As I was freezing my ass off waiting for my car to warm up, I decided to take a couple of quick shots of our alley at work - just to prove that yes, we did get more snow there!


Alley - well, what you can see of it...


Loading area right beside where I park my car.

Yeah, they aren't the most exciting shots on earth, but it was dark and as I said I was freezing my ass off. What the heck do you expect? Geeeeez...

Pic I just took of our back yard - see how good I am to you guys? I go out and freeze my ass off again just to get you pics of the back yard and the hard working shovels...


Ooooooooh, even more damned white shit. Yay.

That's it for pictures tonight. I am not going out to take any more for you. I am staying by my electric wood stove and keeping warm and toasty, thank you very much. I have been freezing all day. It's so flipping cold in our office you could quite safely store meat in there. Thank God I went out and bought heaters for myself and the two other ladies in the office. We have a couple of guys who come in with enough layers of clothing on to easily clothe a small town, and they keep turning the heat down because they're too hot. Oy. Today I told them I was going to import penguins, as they'd be right at home in our office. Silly twits. (The men, not the penguins.)

I got home and it was quite nippy in here too, so I cranked up the old electric wood stove (okay, it's new, but let's not get picky), made myself a huge cup of steaming tea, and am now reasonably toasty. So you can see why I intend to stay here and not head outside any more than I absolutely have to. Hmm, I think maybe I'll litter-train the dogs this winter...

I have officially been de-modded! It was rather funny, because I popped into the site just when the site owner had starting working on the de-modding process. It was certainly odd to be there. When I first popped in, I still had access to everything. Then suddenly all the moderator icons (for moving topics, locking topics, etc.) disappeared. Then my link for the Moderator Options disappeared. Suddenly my name was no longer on the list of mods in the forums. The last thing to go was the actual Moderator Forum, where all of us mods - er, all of the remaining mods - discuss issues that are not for the eyes of the general members. That actually stayed open to me for awhile, and I was starting to wonder if he'd forgotten about it. But no, that finally disappeared too. So now I am officially back among the general ranks!

It's actually quite sad, I have to admit. Every now and then I keep thinking that perhaps I should have just stuck it out, but I know it was time to quit. In many ways I also feel relieved, and I expect it won't take too long before the sadness goes away.

I did get a fair bit of amusement out of things too. When a mod quits (doesn't happen often, but there have been three of us so far), the site owner gives us special titles. One was Angel, the other I can't quite recall at the moment, and mine is Domina. Domina??????? Sounds like a kinky S&M porn star, if you ask me! Now, the hilarious bit was that I decided to look it up on Yahoo search, just to see what would come up. Found a few links to a Domina hotel chain, one to a horse named Domina, and the rest were pretty much S&M and fetish sites! LMAO!

Then I did an Italian to English translation (the hotel chain was Italian, so I figured it was a safe assumption that's where the word originates), and it came up with "it dominates". That was from a site called Babel Fish, which translates many languages, although there are some questionable translations at times, especially when trying to translate complete sentences!

I also just did a Latin to English translation, from the University of Notre Dame Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid, which came up with this gem:

"domina -ae f. [mistress of a household; wife , mistress, lady]; of abstr. things, [ruler, controller]"

I think I'm going to have to have a wee chat with the site owner about what he was thinking when he chose that particular title! I am sincerely hoping that he was focusing on "lady". As a Newfie friend of mine would say, "me shattered nerves"!

Well, I think I've about run out of scintillating things to tell you tonight, so I am off! Have a wonderful night, everyone! Ooooooooh, and Judy - thanks for the linkage and comments on your blog! XOX

A Mixed Bag of Nuts

First off, I will state that I am exhausted and my eyes, brain, and fingers are not necessarily well coordinated tonight. So if this entry does't make sense, just view it as an article solely for your amusement. :) Since I am so out of it tonight, I will simply regale you with a run-down of my day - you lucky ducks!

Today was a bit of a mixed bag of nuts. It started off last night. I could not sleep to save my soul. Tossed and turned, tossed and turned, read for a few minutes, tossed and turned, tossed and turned, read for a few minutes - and so on and so on. Until about 5:00 am, when I finally fell asleep. For a short period. Then awake again, tossed and turned, fell asleep, woke up again...you get the picture! All told, I had about 1 1/2 - 2 hours' sleep. Got up at 7:00 am, to be greeted by steadily falling snow. Yay.

The good news was that my sinuses weren't as bad today (yay!), thanks to the Sudafed, so off I went to work. After sweeping the car off. Yay. Filled up with gas on the way, and got more good news. Gas prices are much lower than when I last filled up - cost me about $10 less to fill my tank. Woo-hoo! Stopped and picked up cream and doughnuts for the office, then I was on my way.

I got to work, started feeling queasy, but not as bad as yesterday, and I think it was mainly just from lack of sleep. Got the urgent stuff done that had piled up over the last couple of days, and watched the snow continue to fall steadily. Yay. Actually, I have to admit the snow looked quite pretty, although the constantly dropping temperature was not quite so pretty.

I had to leave early to go to the bank, and one of the managers told me that I'd better leave earlier than planned, as there was quite a bit of snow accumulating. Leave earlier? Okay. Hey, who am I to argue that? :) The roads weren't so great where I work, but as I headed towards the bank, they began to get clearer - it was soon apparent that we got more snow around our office that other areas of the city had received. The great news was that I made it to the bank quite quickly, thereby ending up at home a lot earlier than planned. Yay!!!!! :)

Of course I took some snow pictures when I took the dogs out. You didn't think you were going to escape more pictures, did you? Here they are:


There, Miss Pseudo-Snow Brooke! How do you like them apples - er, snowflakes?


Snowshovels ready and raring to go! I think they look a wee bit disappointed that they aren't required just yet...

I wish I had taken some pictures around our office, as we did get quite a bit more snow there. However, it's still coming down out there, so I expect there'll be even more piled up tomorrow. My brother-in-law said that it's supposed to be down to about -20C by the morning, so it was deemed wise to plug the vehicles in tonight. It's hard to believe that it was almost like summer here about a week ago, and now the temperatures are dipping to deepest winter! Ah well, not surprising around here!

After taking the pictures and bringing the dogs back in, I sat down and paid bills. That is never a fun thing, but at least there is some satisfaction in getting it done and out of the way.

A good friend came over this evening, so we spent a nice couple of hours chatting, eating pizza, chatting some more, eating strawberry-rhubarb pie, and chatting some more! We don't see her that often, so it was wonderful to get together.

After she left I moved the car and plugged it in. Of course I had to brush it off again first. That's three times I've had to brush the damned snow off the car today. That is one part of winter that I absolutely hate, I must say. I can't do much about it though, unless I move somewhere warmer, but I already covered my reasons for not going there in the last post. Gee, my brain must not be doing too badly, since I remembered that!

I am now winding down for the evening, and hoping that I will sleep through the night. I think I will, because I am SO wiped right now. However, after last night's stint, I'm actually quite nervous about going to bed, as I'm worried I'll be up all night again! I'm thinking it might not hurt to have a good stiff drink before hitting the hay. Gin and orange juice, I think. After all, the orange juice will be very good for my flu! ;)

I think I've pretty much run out of things to say, so I shall bid you all good night, and sweet dreams! Hopefully I will be more wide awake tomorrow and will have something more interesting to write about!

Ugh - It's Here!

I was sitting at home today, feeling sorry for myself and fiddling on the computer, when I looked up at the window. To my horror, there was an abundance of fluffy white material falling from the sky. I grabbed my trusty camera and caught this shot:


Okay, so it doesn't quite convey just how much was falling, but if you look closely you can see the little buggers. Yep - all those white specks are fluffy little wee frigging snowflakes...

Now, I haven't been looking forward to snow season anyhow, but being that I was at home with the flu, I was even less pleased to see it. Of course, there was the compensation of having an excuse to haul out the camera... And yes, I still have the flu. I was actually feeling a bit better the last couple of days - until we went grocery shopping yesterday. By the time we got home and I finished putting stuff away, I was completely wiped. I still was feeling not too bad, flu-wise, but I was totally exhausted. I was awoken this morning with a major sinus headache and a nauseous tummy - I thought my head was going to split. Actually, I knew it wasn't going to, but I was kind of hoping it would, so it would at least relieve some of the pressure.

I took my trusty Sudafed and got ready for work, deluding myself that I might actually feel better by the time I was done. After I was all ready, I finally conceded defeat and called in sick. Sat at the computer for a bit, forced some coffee and English muffin into my queasy tummy, and ended up going back to bed, where I remained until about 6:00 this evening. I am glad to say I'm feeling somewhat better now, although there's still a lot of room for improvement! Oh yeah, and before I retired for the afternoon, I managed to get some more snow pictures when the dogs had to go out:


See? I TOLD you the fluffy white stuff was here!


More fluffy white shit.


What's she talking about, Lady? This isn't shit - it's great stuff!


Eh, she doesn't have a clue, Misty. I mean honestly, can't she tell how neat everything smells with snow on it?


It sure does, Lady! Humans are sooooooo weird...

Yeah, yeah - whatever, girls. You can have the snow - you don't have to drive in it. Well, it wouldn't be so bad if the roads were even reasonably maintained here. And if people would learn to drive properly in it. There are people who've lived here all their lives and have never figured out how to drive properly in snow and ice. Twits.

The good news is that it quit snowing, so we didn't get much more than what was on the ground in the above pics. And quite a bit of it has blown away, so the sidewalks and roads are clear. Well, our sidewalks and the road directly in front of my windows are clear, anyhow. Can't speak for the rest of the city... The back lawn still has some left on it - I have to admit it looks pretty sparkling on the lawn. The flash kind of ruins the effect, but hey, if I didn't use the flash, you wouldn't be able to see anything but blackness...





Yes, I know it doesn't show up very well, but all the white specks you see in the above two pictures are the little sparkly bits. There's a bit more snow still than those, but the darkness and the flash kind of negate them. Aren't you glad I posted those exciting pictures for you? C'mon, admit it - you know you're thrilled!

I have to admit if I didn't have to drive - or rather, be on the road with the above mentioned twits who can't drive - in the fluffy white stuff, I'd love it. Snow really is beautiful, and I love the way it muffles sound. Traffic sounds less harsh and jarring, kids playing, birds chirping - everything sounds softer and more peaceful. If I could just stay home all winter and have everything I need within walking distance, I'd love it!

Ah well. I guess bitching about it won't do anything except make me feel marginally better! It's going to snow when it's going to snow, so I'll just have to put up with it. I could move somewhere warmer, but I don't do the heat well, and then there are all those weird bugs that crop up further south. Ugh! We have enough weird bugs here - I don't need to have to learn to adapt to new ones! So I guess I'll tough it out here and whine at you guys on my blog every now and then! Gee, aren't you lucky?

Well, since I didn't have anything exciting to report today, I think I'll leave off for now. Hmm, I seemed to be able to blather on an awful lot for someone with nothing exciting to say... hehehehehehe. I've been getting chills every now and again today, and I have another one coming on, so I shall leave you all alone now (yeah, yeah, I can hear all of you saying "thank God!") and go turn on my little electric wood stove. Have a good night, everyone!

RIP, Shadow

I just got word from my sister that they had to put their dog, Shadow, down today. He had bone cancer, and had hung in for several weeks, but the time had finally come to put him to rest. I expect he is now making acquaintance with several other doggy spirits, and will be having a wonderful time romping about with them, pain free and whole once again. RIP, Shadow.

On my end, I'm still feeling flu-ish, but a bit better yet again, so that is a good thing. I slept for most of the day, which I'm sure helped. When I got up, I had planned to have cheese and crackers for dinner, as I really didn't feel much like cooking. But then someone upstairs started cooking what smelled like pork chops. The scent was too tempting, so I ended up hauling a steak out of my freezer and roasting it. Had that, a baked potato, and made some Stove Top Stuffing - well, the generic equivalent - which I was suddenly craving. It was more work than I had planned on, but it was very enjoyable, and I am now sitting here with a carafe of tea and letting my supper settle.

I didn't take any more pictures today - mainly because I slept through most of it! But here are a couple of leftover shots from the other day for your viewing pleasure!


This is the lovely huge tree in our backyard. It's a beautiful tree, although I don't view it with the same enthusiasm in the summer when it's full of wasps...


The neighbours across the back alley have these lovely trees. The leafless ones are absolutely stunning when in full leaf, however, the twits took out some of the trees, so they aren't nearly as gorgeous as they used to be. I really have to wonder what some people are thinking, sometimes... I considered that the trees they took out may have been diseased, but that didn't make sense - the others would have been too, considering how close together they were planted. Ah well...


These are two gorgeous trees a couple of doors down from us. They can be seen over the top of our fence. I am waiting for the perfect night shot - with the full moon peeking over them. They look awesome then, but of course I never have a camera with me at those times! Now I'll take this wee digital out with me more often, so I'll be able to catch that spectacle next time it occurs.

Well, I think that's about it for picture, folks! I guess I'll have to get out there and start snapping some more! I have to say, I much prefer 35mm, but the great thing about digital is that I don't have to wait to have film developed, nor do I have to pay to have film developed! For snapshots and such, I am very much liking the world of digital cameras!

Oooh, I will leave you with this rather amusing link that a friend of mine sent me! And now I shall wander off to buy my pirate outfit...


Pasta, Anyone?

Swimming in Tea

I'm glad to report that after vast quantities of tea, and a wee nap, I'm feeling a bit better this evening. Fingers crossed that continues!

So since I was not doing much today, I'm getting a bit bored. So here I go a-bloggin' again. I know, I'm just blogging my ass of these days, aren't I? Sorry Linda - I hope this doesn't scare you again! Muahahahahahaha!

Anyhow, I took some more pictures this afternoon. I know you're all dying to see them. Right? First ones are part of a set that Mom had - we each inherited a couple of pieces when she passed away. These particular pieces aren't the ones I inherited - I actually found them on eBay and decided to add them to the couple of pieces I had. This particular pattern is not easy to find, so when it comes up I like to snag it if it's a reasonable price. At any rate, when I got home, snivelling and feeling sorry for myself, I decided to make eggs and toast and tea. Plopped down in front of the computer with my food, my carafe of tea, and the necessary sugar and cream for said tea. Took a picture. Told you I was bored.





Okay so it was more than one picture. Sue me.

Little Miss Attitude was at it again, so had to get some more pictures of that! Lady even chimed in with her own bit of sassiness:


Oh man, she's got that shiny little box out again. Might as well just settle in here - it'll probably be awhile before we get back in the house...


Oooooooooooh, do I hear her footsteps approaching? Hmm, should I bother to get excited yet?


She's here! She's here! Are we going in? Are we? Are we?


I wouldn't count on it, if I were you Misty. Geez Mom, put that camera away and let us in, would ya?


Oh-oh. She's still fiddling with that shiny box... Should I bother heading downstairs Mom?


Sigh... She's STILL playing with that shiny box! Guess I'd better use my evil cyborg eye to try and hypnotize her into coming downstairs...

Nothing but attitude from those two, I swear.

For those who know my penchant for ghost sites and discussion boards, you'll understand me when I say that I wonder if I can pass this next picture off as a ghost picture. Sadly, I'm quite certain I could. Even for many who realize that the figure is obviously a reflection of me taking the picture, I'd be willing to bet that several people I've run across would be happily convinced that the white column of light (which is of course a reflection) is a bona-fide spirit. Oy... Anyhow, I just took this picture to see how it would turn out - you know, still fiddling with how the details show up! And yeah, I was bored.



Well, that's about it for now. I am trying to figure out what I feel like eating. Don't want eggs again. I don't think I want soup. Nope. Don't want soup. Maybe cereal... Actually, what I really want, oddly enough, is a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Although I suspect my stomach would be ticked at me if I actually ate it. Sooo, cereal it will probably be! Off I go to stand in front of my cupboards and stare at the contents! Have a good night, everyone!

Yeah, Yeah, Call Me Stupid...

I am still feeling crappy, but did I stay home today? Nooooo... So yeah, call me stupid.

The problem was, I called in to work, to tell them I wasn't going to be in. Only to discover that the receptionist isn't in. The answering machine was telling me that we were closed. Now, I had slept in, and we had been open for about 1/2 hour. So I finally got hold of one of the mangers, to find out that not only was the receptionist not in, but the other female in the office was away sick today too. Now, we females seem to be the only ones who are remotely concerned with making sure the phones get answered. Two of the guys know how to work the phone system, but they conveniently forgot. So guess who decided she'd better head into the office? Argh.

However, I doubt I'll be staying for long. I decided to have some coffee and eat something, to see if that helped. Sometimes it does. However, it doesn't seem to be helping this time, and I'm feeling crappier now. So I may end up leaving again fairly soon, and leaving the boys to fend for themselves today.

Another whining session ended...

Just Rambling On

I didn't really have anything exciting to write about today, having been home sick all day. (*cough* *cough* - Yes I'm whining! - *cough* *cough*)

I haven't been feeling great for the last couple of weeks. Tired, congested, overall icky. Then yesterday afternoon I came down with a case of the chills, a nasty headache, and a very naseous tummy. I finally went home early and plunked myself down in front of my toasy little electric wood stove and nibbled all night. I found that the only time my tummy wasn't naseous was if I kept it from being remotely hungry. This morning I was still feeling headachy and nauseous, so I opted to stay home for the day. I hate doing that, but I figured it's better than sitting at work not doing anything because I feel too sick to work, and spreading the germs around to boot. I'm happy to report that I'm feeling a touch better this evening, so fingers crossed that trend continues!

Okay. Whining session completed.

I took a few more pictures of the girls when I got home yesterday. I figured since they were going outside I might as well take the camera with me and play with it some more. I was kind of amused when I downloaded the pictures and spotted a bit of an attitude in them:


Okay, Mom, we're waiting!


I said, we're waiting...


Let us in, Mom!


Are you coming, Mom, or are you waiting for Christmas?

Geez, talk about attitude, huh? Cheeky little devil!

By the way, don't you just love that carpeting on the stairs? (Sarcasm? From me? Couldn't be!) I have that in my bedroom too. You can't tell from the picture, but not only are there black swirly bits in it, there are also some orange swirly bits. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice, huh? Oh and even better - it's that old bar carpeting that's actually very good quality and never dies, no matter what is done to it. It will last forever! Woo-hoo! *snicker*

On another note, I've still been sad about the decision to quit modding, but I am enjoying not having to worry about keeping an eye on the boards and making sure no blood is being shed anywhere. It's nice to be able to pop in, read and reply to what I want to, and then pop back out again without having all the mod work to deal with. So I imagine after awhile I'll feel less sad about the whole thing.

Hmm, not much else to natter about tonight, so I think I'll wander off and perhaps make myself a cup of tea. Have a wonderful night, and sweet dreams, everyone!

EDIT: A slight bit more whining here. Ended up with a migraine tonight. Ugh. Not the pounding, puking, any speck of light sending swords through the eyes kind, although I do have a nasty headache going now. But it's one of those "vision" ones. Like looking through water for about 20 minutes or so. No pain, but then once the vision clears up the headache kicks in. Thankfully it's not as bad as the usual kind I get, but still it pisses me off. However, it's now down to a dull roar, so I shall head to bed and try to get to sleep.

Second phase of whining is completed...

It's Just the Pits!

Armpits, that is.

Yes, you read that right. You don't need to go clean out your cyber ears. Well, maybe you do, but that's got nothing to do with what you just read.

This whole train of thought didn't actually start with armpits. It started with shampoo. You see, several years ago, I began having allergic reactions to different shampoos. I had never had a problem with this before, so it took quite some time to figure out what was causing my scalp to itch so badly. Not only did it itch, sometimes it would get quite sore. It wasn't until I tried some Avon shampoos that it came to light that I was having nasty reactions to the shampoos. The Avon ones caused quite a mess - severe itching and soreness, accompanied by nasty bumps and a very red scalp. My hairdresser was horrifed to see the state my poor scalp was in, and she was the one who pinpointed the problem.

At first it was just the Avon shampoos that caused a huge amount of grief, but I did realize that the milder yet highly annoying irritations I'd been having before were also likely due to shampoo. With the Avon incident, my hairdresser had me use a wonderful product called Nioxin. This is a treatment line of shampoos, conditioners, and various other bits and bobs that is targeted for thinning hair - which I also have a problem with in one spot. However, it is also often recommended for people with sensitve scalps, psoriasis, and allergic reactions. It cleared the problem up quite nicely, but it didn't occur to me to keep using it on a regular basis. Plus, I was not pleased with the conditioner that she had sold me. My hair is very fussy about conditioners and products.

There was one type of shampoo that I used to get from my hairdresser that I did not react to. Unfortunately, my hairdresser left, and I no long went to that salon. The product line is very hard to find, so over the years I tried a variety of different shampoos and conditioners, with varying results. Most I simply couldn't use, and some were not too bad, although I still had reactions to them. I finally decided today that I had to find my old shampoo - enough was enough, and I'd had enough of the itchy, irritated scalp. I hit one salon, which did not carry that line. However, they referred me to a place that carries pretty much all salon lines. I was most impressed, I must say. However, they did not carry the line I wanted. After some discussion, it turned out that my favourite line had been discontinued.

After a brief bit of shock and horror, I spoke with one of the staff and unburdened my scalp woes to her. Along with the tales of how fussy my hair is - believe me, it gets quite perturbed if a conditioner is too heavy, too light, too whatever. She recommended that I use Nioxin. I was intrigued, as I thought it was only a treatment shampoo that was not to be used on a regular basis. After some discussion around that, it turned out that I had misunderstood, and that I can use it all the time. So home I came with shampoo, conditioner (different type than the first one I'd tried), and a lovely little spray bottle of leave-in reconditioner for those days when I'm too pressed for time (aka slept in) to do the full wash and condition routine.

I love using this stuff. It smells strongly of peppermint, and is very cooling, soothing, and invigorating. The scent alone makes me feel like I'm in a spa. I came home and washed and conditioned my hair, and I'm pleased to report that although my scalp is still itchy, it's not as bad as it was. It may take several days for the treatment to take full effect, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this stuff works. Especially since I quite like the conditioner - my hair has not been this soft and manageable for donkey's years!

(Just what the hell are donkey's years anyhow?)

So where do the armpits come in? I was telling a friend of mine about this shampoo tonight, and that led to a discussion on another allergic reaction that I've recently developed. In the past year, I have suddenly developed an allery to deodorant and antiperspirant.

Again, it was an AVON product that first brought this to light. I had used this particular product for years, and loved it. So imagine my horror when I one day developed a horrid itch which then turned into a nasty and painful rash in my left pit. I didn't connect it as an allergy at first - I was actually figuring that I must have breast cancer and that was how it was showing up (lymph nodes, and all that), and that I was shortly going to die. Yeah, so I freak myself out when unusual things happen to my body - but that's a whole other story.

I picked up one of those deodorant crystals and discontinued using my AVON stuff. Just in case I was wrong and I wasn't actually dying. It took several days, but the rash cleared up and I was breathing huge sighs of relief. Then I tried the antiperspirant again, just to see how things would go. Within 5 minutes, my pits started itching madly. So I promptly scrubbed them with soap and water, and opted to use the crystal.

I've tried a couple of others since - Soft & Dri, which I had used for many years with no trouble, and a natural brand that I had not tried before. Within a few days I started reacting to the Soft & Dri. So I knew that was now out. The natural stuff actually worked nicely for a few weeks. Then all of a sudden I started reacting to it a few days ago. Argh. So it's back to the crystal.

Now, don't get me wrong - I like the crystal. It works nicely. Which surprised me, because I had tried a crystal deodorant a few years ago and let me tell you, it did NOT work. Ask my nose. It remembers. Vividly. However, the crystal is a bit of a pain - not quite as quick to put on. It works though, so I will keep on using it. I'm just praying that it keeps working, and that I don't develop an allergy to that too!

In fact, I'm praying that both the new shampoo and the crystal keep working. Mainly the crystal though. If I have to, I can just shave my head. (Don't panic Judy - I'm not planning on it.) But what the hell am I going to do if the crystal deodorant fails to keep working, or if I develop an allergic reaction? A shaved head is one thing - stinky pits is a completely different ball of wax!

So keep your fingers crossed for me, okay? And for yourselves too - you never know if you'll be sitting next to me sometime, and I'm sure you don't want me to be deodorant-free!

On a completely different note, I gave my notice at the message board I moderate at. I feel guilty because of the timing. One mod just quit, and two other ones (husband and wife) have a mother in the hospital - she's had a stroke. After I'd given my notice, the wife posted to say her mother had taken a turn for the worse, and it seems it's only a matter of time before she dies. Oh, and to make things even more sad, my fellow moderator (the daughter) is pregnant with her first child. What a nightmare for her... It was a huge shock to all of us, and we're heartbroken for the family. The timing of my quitting sucks big time, in light of that. However, I had to quit - it's too time consuming now, and I just can't do it any more. So I stuck by my decision, and so far everyone's been great about it. I feel really sad, as I enjoyed a lot of aspects of it, and I've been doing it for a long time. It was really hard to quit. I also feel relieved, though, and I feel like a huge pressure has been lifted. So that's a good thing, and it tells me that I've made the right decision.

Anyhow, that's about it for tonight. Except to ask you all to please remember my co-moderators and their Mom in your prayers, if you can. Along with the rest of the family. If she must pass from this, and cannot recover, then I pray that she is taken quickly - for her sake and the sake of her loved ones.

I am wiped, and it's WAY past my bedtime. So hopefully all of the above made some semblance of sense. Sweet dreams, everyone!

Three in a Row!

This is the third day in a row that I've posted. Are you scared yet? muahahahaha!

No pictures tonight, though. Judy and I were out shopping for a good chunk of the afternoon - ugh. Now, I don't mind the "fun" shopping. For example, we made a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up the new Def Leppard DVD, and to look at cases for the new camera. There were two DVDs left - and there were two of us. Must have been meant to be... (cue Twilight Zone music) There were several camera bags, but none that overly thrilled me.

Then we hit a nearby dollar store and had fun wandering around there. And yes, we both ended up spending money. We really HAVE to stop going into the dollar stores...

On we went to Staples, so Judy could mail some parcels. No, Staples doesn't do mail, but this particular one has a postal outlet in it. So don't all go running to your nearest Staples until you've ascertained if they have a postal outlet or not! Anyhow, I checked the camera bags in Staples, and was quite disgusted with the meagre assortment, and the poor quality of what was there. They sell some fairly expensive cameras there, so I would expect that they would also sell bags that will adequately protect them. Apparently that's too high of an expectation.

In spite of the lack of camera bags, those excursions were quite enjoyable. However, the "non-fun" shopping was about to follow.

On to SuperStore, for the dreaded grocery shopping. I would not mind grocery shopping, except for the fact that the majority of customers in the grocery stores seem to feel it's mandatory to turn into rude assholes in order to do their shopping. Now, I was raised to say "excuse me" if I needed to get past someone, and to say "thank you" when they moved for me. It is pathetically obvious that people are not raised that way anymore, and haven't been for the past generation. I am sick to death of people shoving by my, cutting me off, barging in front of me to the shelf I am just about to pick something up off of, etc., etc.

After getting highly irritated by all the rude assholes, I then get quite perturbed by looking in the produce section. The prices are fairly high. That would tick me off to begin with, but if the produce was edible, I could live with it. However, when a good chunk of the produce is already starting to rot, and they are still demanding the same high price for it, I get really ticked. Take the tomatoes we saw today, for example. There were some that were underripe, but most of them were overripe to the point of being rotten. Many had black, mushy spots on them, and the ones that didn't yet have signs of rot were still too far gone to even consider eating.

Not too many years ago, the produce that was too ripe to eat would have been pulled off the shelves and thrown out. In fact, it would have been removed before it got to that point, and been donated to the Food Bank while it was still edible. Things that were a bit questionable but still saleable were significantly marked down in price. These days, produce that is rotting and sporting obvious signs of decay is left in the bins, and the consumers are expected to buy it at the regular high price and be damned happy to have it.

This consumer will not be happy to have it, nor will she remotely consider paying for it. Hell, they couldn't even pay ME to take the rotting garbage off their hands. What on would possess them to even think that anyone would buy that crap?

Oooh, and I almost forgot about the cheese. Judy pointed out a package of shredded cheese to me. The cheese was moldy. Not just a wee spot of mold. I'm talking enough penicillin to vaccinate everyone in Canada. Okay, maybe Alberta. Oh all right, maybe a small rural town in Alberta. Fine, so it's not the same kind of mold that penicillin is made out of. But you know what I mean, so don't try and tell me you don't!

Anyhow, the point is that there was a LOT of mold in the package, and it was still parked on the shelf waiting to be sold at the regular high price. There is no way in hell the employees didn't know it was full of mold. Those mold spores have been having an orgy in that package for several days - probably a week or so. There is absolutely no way anyone could have missed it.

Now, when I worked in a grocery store, we had to check all the produce on a daily basis. Anything that had the slightest bruise on it was taken off the shelves. At least once a week the packaged meats, cheeses, etc. were checked for expiry dates and for any sign of deterioration. The least speck of mold - or even a suspicion of mold - was grounds for immediate removal of the product from the shelves. Anything past its expiry date was also removed. All other products in the store were also regularly checked for expiry dates, and removed if they were past them. Canned goods were frequently checked too. Anything that was dented or that just didn't look quite right (rust, any suspicion of a bulge, etc.) was immediately removed. The main concern was that customers were getting what they paid for - fresh produce and dairy products, and other products in the best condition possible.

These days I find things being sold that are right at the expiry date, are moldy, rotten, dried out - and don't even get me started on the state of many of the canned goods that I find on the shelves! It disgusts me that stores are now more concerned about the almighty dollar than they are about their customers.

Hmm, this ended up being an unplanned rant, didn't it? hehehehehehe

The good news is that we finally got out of the damned grocery store, and they also happened to have a camera case that is most suitable to protect my new baby. Plus we had a very tasty dinner - we stopped at Burger King on the way home to try out the new Shroom and Swiss Angus Beef Burger. I would highly recommend it, especially if you've never had Angus Beef before. Absolutely delicious!

Well, I'm wiped, so I think I'm going to head to bed with a good book. Hopefully my little rant made some sort of sense - being so pooped God only knows what it came out sounding like! Have a wonderful night, and sweet dreams everyone!

Don't Faint!

Woo-hoo - two days in a row here! Now don't faint, anyone!

I figured I'd post a couple more pictures, just because I can! Muahahahhaha! The ankh set that I had made a few years ago, and yes, the keyboard that I mentioned in the last post! That one's mainly because Brooke seemed so attached to the cola bottle in the monitor shots - I figured I'd give her another fix of it! ;)





Now this one is kind of boring - okay, very boring - but it just shows the detail that the macro feature can pick up. And there is an even more advanced macro feature that I haven't tried yet!



And just for you, Judy - the girls!





Those were taken on the old freebie camera I got - I'll have to take some new ones on the good camera and see how they turn out!

Well, that's it for the moment - I think I may go have a nap now! This blogging is hard work. ;)

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack!

Gee, I guess it's been awhile since I last posted! LOL! Ah well, hopefully I shall be posting more often from now on.

One of the main reasons I haven't been doing anything with the blog is because I moderate on a very busy message board site. This takes up most of my online time, and the site is getting even busier as time goes on. However, I have decided that I am tired of spending so much time dealing with problems on that site, so I am going to resign from my moderating position. I tried to resign once, but the site owner kept "forgetting" to de-mod me, so I ended up staying on. This time I shall not give in! Of course the fact that the site owner has also been ticking me (and some of the other moderators) off lately is helping to strengthen that resolution! That is not the reason I'm resigning though - it's simply that I am tired of spending so much time on moderating there, and I am not enjoying it anymore. So it's high time to move on to other things - one of which will be spending some time on my blog!

This is a good time to get back to it, too, because I got myself a digital camera! :D I am feeling a bit guilty for buying it, as I already have new furniture to buy, so I really shouldn't have spent the money (well, the credit) on it. However, I already love it, so I suspect I'll manage to get over the guilt at some point! Anyhow, I told sister Judy that I would post some of the pictures I took here, so here they are! Fair warning - they probably won't be all that interesting! LOL! But I'm just showing the pics off - I'm very pleased with the quality.

This is one of my favourite candleholders - thanks Judy! (((hugs))) :




These next two are shots of my monitor at work - don't ya just love the screensaver pics?





This next one isn't really earth-shattering - like the other ones were, right? - but it's a picture of the full moon from the other night. Considering that it was very dark out, I was really quite impressed that it turned out at all.



That's about it for the moment - I doubt you'll be overly excited to see a picture of my keyboard at work, or the macro pictures of a candleholder thats full of wax... They were interesting exercises for me to see what the camera could do, but they don't make for scintillating viewing! I'll try to get some more interesting shots in the next few days!

Holy crap! I just scared myself quite nicely! I decided to preview the post, to make sure the pictures were showing up. It looked very nice, so I figured I'd save it as a draft and then go back and finish up in a bit. But I looked at the draft, only to see there were no pictures showing! Thankfully they are still here - I would not have been thrilled to have to go back and add them in again! Whew!

Well, I don't really have a whole pile to say tonight - mainly because I'm so tired my brain is shutting down and my eyes are rebelling against me keeping them open! So I shall wander off for now, and will probably post more this weekend. I have some more pictures planned, so most likely you'll be seeing at least a few of them in my next post! ;) Take care everyone - it's good to be back!

Hugs,
FMD