Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving this year was at the Hesseltine home in Beaumont CA...nice setting with the snow on the mountains.  And a COLD wind blowing down!...




It was a typical Thanksgiving.  First we had a fire...


And then we had a spill...


But then we all sat at the table...


And all was well.

There were 14 of us in total. 11 adults and 3 kids.  We had the usual fare...turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, yams, vegetarian casseroles, and pie.  Lots of pie.  I made all the pies.  That would be the last real thing I have made in my kitchen.  Because on Wednesday night we had a plumbing problem.  It is now Sunday and there is still a plumbing problem.  I cannot wash dishes so I have quite the pile going on.  We have used up all the paper plates and eaten out quite a bit.  I have never rented a place that is privately owned so I assume the landlord needs to be alerted before I call a plumber.  Well, she is on vacation and I am getting desperate.  I have texted and called her voice mail and no answer.  So tomorrow morning Nathan from Palomar Plumbing is coming over to take care of the grayish, smelly water.  We met Nathan at the dog park.  He has dogs, he is honest.  That's how I look at it!

Next year there will be no pies.  This girl is going out of town.  Thanksgiving will be in a restaurant in a different city and hopefully state.  I have never been out of town on a major holiday before so I think there is a first for everything.  The fires, the spills, the food, the leftovers, and the dishes I gladly give to another family!

Bring on Christmas!


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Dogs, Tents, and Mae

It was a good day.  I got my Roxie's blood test results late this evening and she is very healthy.  With the exception of the Pancreatitis.  Kidneys, liver, and everything else is perfect.  And no cancer.  I have been so worried about her but all is well.

Thanksgiving week sure did get here fast.  With the passing of Thanksgiving, there comes the grand entrance to Christmas.  My favorite holiday.  As long as I don't buy into the hype of it all, it is definitely the most wonderful time of the year.  Hype to me is rushing to Target at 4:00a.m. this Friday and flying down the aisles like that ridiculous woman on the TV commercials.  Where in the heck did Target find her?  She is a freak! Speaking of hype and freaks, I just read a news story that there is some family camping out in front of Best Buy in St. Petersburg, FL.  They are waiting for Black Friday.  This woman wants a Notebook, a TV, and a Blue Ray.  Maybe just a tad greedy?  THAT is what I don't want Christmas to be.

On the subject of Christmas...my sister was on her way to my house about 4 years ago with Christmas gifts.  She never made it.  Not sure if she got robbed, lost, or gave them away to the homeless.  I'm hoping for the latter.  I'm always trying to figure out if she is truly full of crap or if she means well but is an idiot!  Here is her latest endeavor...She plans to be THE grandma of the century.  She is beyond obsessed with the upcoming arrival of her first grandchild.  My sister always goes overboard no matter what she does.  This time is no exception.  She bought the little darling so many clothes and toys that she could not shove them all into her Honda Accord.  She has rented an apartment near her son and daughter-in-law ("so I will have easy access to take the baby").  She claims the baby's parents will never see the baby because she will have it.  She has talked her way into the delivery room.  She has made her son promise that she can hold the baby before he does.  I asked her if her daughter-in-law is registered at Babies R Us or Target and she said absolutely not.  "She doesn't need to register for gifts because she has me and I will take of EVERYTHING".  She even begged to name this child.  She was given the green light to give it a middle name.  Her choice is ..."Mae" - I said "as in Mae West"?  She corrected me and said that our grandma's name was Mae.  Alrighty then.  She's not MY grandmother! Kind of like when she refers to her mother as "my mother" and then corrects herself and says "our mother".  NO, she is not "our" mother.  She is YOUR mother.  So this baby...Kensey Mae...will be here in February.  I'm pretty sure it will make the news.  My sister will see to it.  Good grief!

Until next time...♥

Friday, November 19, 2010

They say Money Grows on Trees...

I have the biggest cold sore ever.  It is by far the biggest, ugliest one I have ever owned.  Hideous really.  Every time I look in the mirror I feel as if it has grown.  If you can't take ugly, don't look...


Somebody PLEASE help me!  I have tried Lysine, Abreva, and even covered it with Milk of Magnesia.  I thought these things were supposed to get better with time but it ain't happening here.  My friend Patty told me they have something called Valtrex (prescription) so that may be tomorrow's attempt.

As I write this, my upstairs neighbors seemed to have just gotten home.  Last night I had to call the sheriff on them.  Partying on a Thursday night - loud music,  yelling, rolling stuff across the floor...not my idea of a work night.  Any night for that matter.  After the sheriff left, the party somewhat broke up but they thought they would teach me a lesson and stomp on the floor until 1:30ish a.m.  From the sounds of it, they intend to punish me tonight too.

Roxie claimed she was ill tonight so yours truly took her to the vet.  $178.00 later...she was the Belle of the Ball at the animal center.  Wagging the poofy tail, shaking paws, smiling, accepting cookies from strangers, and laughing at me the whole time. She did have a complete blood panel done.  If there is nothing wrong with her blood work, they believe she may have a serious case of Zoe-itis which is depression over having a new kitten in the house to share the attention.  Nice.  It's ok - money does grow on trees after all.  Right?

I said I would talk about my sister today but I think I will leave that for tomorrow.  I'm too tired and broke to even think about her.

Wishing all a wonderful weekend (rain here in Southern Cali). ♥

P.S.  Remember the 24 hours with no Facebook games?  I relapsed.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

My Name is Julie

My name is Julie and I am an addict.  I am addicted to the stupid, moronic, dumb, flippin video poker in Facebook games.   What the heck?  I need help.  I hereby pledge that I will JUST SAY NO for the next 24 hours.  No facebook games whatsoever.  I shall read a book on my lunch or talk to my best friend.  One person I do not want to talk to?  My sister.  And how about I address that issue on here tomorrow?!

And to that special someone in my life who ended the day on a high...I am very, very happy.  Tomorrow may not be as good (although hopefully it will) but for today, we can be thankful!  I love you.

Off to bed...thankful that tomorrow is Friday.

Night night world. ♥

Monday, November 15, 2010

Mystery Shopping Payday and Purple Purses

So I am really loving my little side job as a "Mystery Shopper".  I just got paid $50.00 today for eating at Hooters 3 weeks ago.  I love it.  Yes, most of it was for reimbursement but by the time you get paid you forget you are being reimbursed and think you are making big money for eating out!  Next pay will be $20.00 for testing out 3 mattresses at Jerome's Furniture and then $45.00 for eating at Phil's BBQ in San Marcos.  Some jobs pay well and some jobs not so much.  I came across a job today that made my mouth drop.  The job is to spend 2 nights at Pechanga Casino and Resort.  The requirement is that you have to eat and you have to gamble.  I don't qualify to do the job because my rating isn't high enough for that particular company yet but it sounds fun for someone.  My other problem is that you have to wait to be reimbursed.  I can't afford to front so much money.  It's $275.00 for the hotel room, $325.00 for food, and $995.00 for gambling. Seriously!  I'm more the mattress tester kind of girl who eats at that Fire and Brimstone place called Hooters.  (It's ok - their wings are REALLY good!).

I had someone I barely know confide in me today about something very personal.  She felt that it was ok.  I was really touched by that.  And the irony of it all is that (she does not know this) that the issue which she confided in me about is something that I have been through myself.  I believe that sometimes people cross paths for the most interesting of reasons.

So I got it in my head that I really needed a purple purse.  I don't know why.  Purple was my favorite color when I was a kid but it isn't anymore.  I like it but I normally don't go in search of purple.  So my mission yesterday was a purple purse for whatever reason.  I went to a store and I found one that was ehhh, ok, I guess.  It was cute.  I carried it around the handbag department.  Mind you, I was NOT at Coach.  I was not toting around $400.00 purses.  I love my Coach bags but I don't generally get to shop there.  All of a sudden, sitting on the bottom shelf, was MY purple purse.  I had to have it.  So I picked it up and was in search of the ever-dreaded price tag.  I seem to have a knack for always picking up the  most expensive item in a store.  It just so happened that this particular bag did not have a price tag attached.  So I started looking for one just like it for the price.  There wasn't one.  There was one very similar so I looked at that price.  $79.00.  I was not in a $79.00 mood yesterday.  So I found another that looked even more like it.  $89.00.  Ok, this was not going well.  They were all 30% off but that still didn't make it ok for the money I had available to spend.  I took it to the cash register and I explained that I needed a price for this tagless purse.  She couldn't help me so she called a manager.  The manager came over and looked at it and then asked me what comparable purses were on that shelf.  I wanted to say $25.00 but I was honest and said $79.00 and $89.00.  She said she believed that this particular one was priced right up there with the rest.  I thought for sure she would either say $79.00 or maybe knock $10.00 off and say $69.00.  Even at $69.00 I was not going to be able to afford it.  I was already prepared for them to be annoyed when I walked away and said I couldn't pay it.  Oh well - it was worth a try to ask.  Finally the manager said "I'll be right back".  She came back with a teeny tiny bag - almost a mini version of MY bag.  She told the cashier to ring up the bitty bag and sell me the purse for whatever came up.  After discount...$31.00!  Oh, did I mention I had a $10.00 coupon?!  I got my purple purse for $21.00!  Yippee!!!!  The manager looked at me and said "you got a really good bargain there".  Yes, I did!  And here is my purchase (sorry you can't see the handles)...♥

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Tote Bags and Plumbing

Every year at work we have a "Health Fair" which is basically a whole bunch of booths where you collect junk.  Papers, pens, and silly gadgets.  They usually have booths with ice cream, cookies, and candy.  Totally negates the whole "Health" concept but why not?  Anyway, every year I go to this thing and they give me a "reusable tote" which is earth-friendly.  We then go around and fill it with endless pieces of paper that are not earth-friendly.  So a few weeks ago I filled up my tote and brought it home with the full intention of going through it, cleaning it out, and using the tote.  So here it sits (in my home office) staring at me week after week.  Every few days I look at it and say "oh yeah I need to do that".  Well...the tote has been emptied.  No thanks to me...


That yellow piece of tape is "Sears" tape.  That did not come from the Health Fair.  I'm not sure where that came from because I don't normally shop at Sears.  However, that tape is one of Zoe's favorite collectibles so she carries it around with her everywhere.  And when you empty out a bag, here's what you do with it. You eat a pencil...



And then you make it into a really cool "fort" and you hide...



So today my garbage disposal broke (or so I thought).  Darn thing wouldn't move at all.  My first thought is "oh no, please don't make me call the landlord".  Then I decided to show the crack and be the plumber.  Well, really I decided to be the hot plumber in a thong but that's for another type of Blog!  Anyhow...got my tools - that would be my flashlight and my hand - and got to work.  Please refer back to picture #1 of my sweet, innocent kitten.  Darn girl was on one of her money hunts.  She found a penny and dropped it down the drain for me.  This came as a surprise since she has been dropping all found coins in Roxie's water bowl.  A couple of days ago she blessed me with 11 cents!  While we were on vacation she left Grandma (aka kitten-sitter) a dime one day and a nickel the next.  If you need financial advisement...you know where she lives!

To all who have served or are serving in our armed forces...thank you very much!  Happy Veteran's Day.  And don't forget to go get your free entree at Chili's or Applebee's (according to TV).  For the rest of you...I have heard that the Carnival Splendor docked at the Port of San Diego has some left-over Spam sandwiches for all to enjoy!

Peace Out♥

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Vacation Recap and John the Cruise Director

Had a relaxing and fun vacation!  Glad to be home though.  Especially since the ship I was on this past week caught fire yesterday and is now being towed to Ensenada.  I consider myself very lucky.  Not fun to be drifting in the ocean eating canned food and hoping the toilet will flush.
I came home sick.  Today was my first day back to work and I had to call in sick.  Not cool.  But if you are sick, what else can you do?  I have been fighting something all week.  I got a bad cough the first night on the ship because I was out in the cold wind watching a coast guard helicoptor hover over the ship to rescue a sick crew member on board.  I have never been on a helicoptor and thus did not realize how much wind they produce.  I'm not skinny yet the combination of the wind and the helicoptor-induced wind, kept moving me on deck.  I think a 100 pound person could have been blown overboard!
We made 3 stops on the trip...here's the run-down...
Puerto Vallarta - Sort of a nice place.  People not particularly friendly to tourists.  Rode in a taxi into downtown and back again.  Both times I thought my life was coming to an end.  Scary as heck!  A co-worker of Luigi's had recommended a little family run restaurant downtown.  We found it (pure luck) and had lunch there.  We were the only ones in the place.  Found out that was because they were not open yet!  However, they welcomed us and said they were happy to feed us.  It was called Melissa's.  It was run by Melissa and her husband, Jorge.  Really nice people.  I was served my Red Snapper with the head on.  First time ever...but I ate it and I liked it!  I would recommend this place to anyone visiting Puerto Vallarta.  Went to the Mexican Wal Mart.  Got in trouble by security for having my picture taken in front of the frosted corn flakes and Tony the Tigre!  Oops - glad they didn't haul me to jail for such a crime.  Here is the evidence against me...



Horrendous pic of me but that's exactly what I looked like after 2 hellish taxi rides and eating a fish with the head on!  Oh, and did I mention it was in the 90s with humidity to match?

Mazatlan - I found out that you have to take a taxi to go to the main shopping area of Mazat54ln*988 (sorry, that was Zoe walking across the keyboard) Mazatlan.  Heck no I was not taking a taxi.  We had not purchased a shore excursion so we were kind of stuck on the ship.  Which is not a bad thing - to be on a huge ship with about 80% of the passengers in town.  It's like having a cruise ship to yourself.  During lunch, the woman sitting in the booth across from me told me to take the little shuttle from the ship to the Mazatlan terminal and there would be a shopping area and a couple of bars serving up beer and margaritas.  I was interested in the shopping so we did that.  I was thrilled with the shopping.  Really nice people and fairly priced items.  Found a cute little gift for my friend, Marianne, who lives in Wisconsin.  I had to laugh though because most of the items said "Mazatlan" on them.  The guy who makes them had not painted "Mazatlan" on the particular one that I picked out though.  He told me it was no problem and he could put it on there.  Yes, please!  So what does he do?  He gets out a Sharpie and writes "Mazatlan" on it!  Who knew?!  I told him I could have gotten a Sharpie and done that!  He just looked at me strangely.  Ok, guess he didn't like my comment.  Here is Mazatlan...



Again, not a most attractive picture of me but let's blame this solely on the heat since I wasn't in a taxi.

Cabo San Lucas - Beautiful place.  Would love to go back there. In fact, I will be in January.  Beautiful scenery and the water was a very pretty turquoise color.  We did a shore excursion in Cabo.  Took a catamaran out to "Lands End" where the famous rock formations are.  Such a nice trip and a great photo opportunity.  Did a little shopping right there by the port and was back on board the Splendor by 11:30 which was great - just in time for lunch (which by the way made Luigi sick and took him out of commission for the evening.  He did go to dinner with me but after that I went to the showroom for a trivia game and then the evening show.  Was out until the late hour of 11:45!  I had fun...sorry he was sick but glad I went ahead and went out.  Here is Cabo...





I met the cruise director, John Heald.  Really nice man and one of the funniest people I have ever met.  His humor is so much like mine and he was just a delightful man.  I have been following his Blog for quite a while now and mentioned that to him.  He asked for my Blog address so he can read mine too.  I left him a note at Guest Services the last day of the cruise.  I hope he gets it because since that time, he has been dealing with the fire on board and all that goes with that.  I'm sure keeping 3000 people as happy as possible during such a mess is a horrendous job.  He has got the toughest job by far.  Here is his picture...



I ended up saying something to him during the picture so I have a ridiculous looking mouth but oh well.  I'm not perfect and learning its ok either way!  There you have it - a summary of my vacation.  Back to work tomorrow and then Veteran's Day on Thursday.  Hope I can make it through one whole day!

♥Julie