FeelingCrazyToday --- Complaining Again

Out Walking

2006-07-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

As someone who is out and about a lot on bike or foot, I am often nearly run over by idiot drivers. I was annoyed this morning to see police officers in two squad cars stopped in a crosswalk. They were just sitting with their idling cars as they chatted.

A girl running with her dog had to go around them. A man riding bike had to go around them. As I walked closer with my dog, I was planning to tell them to take their conversation elsewhere so they wouldn't continue to be examples of idiot drivers themselves. But as I got closer, they must've read my mind for they moved to another area of the parking lot before I said anything.

That's right coppers, move it along.

Unblogged Blogs

2005-08-27T10:33:00.000-05:00

Remember when you could hit "next blog" and it actually brought you to someone's blog? It might have been in a foreign language, but it was someone's blog. I've only had this weblog for a year, but I remember back when I first created this I would hit "next blog" and read other blogs. Now I'm more likely to be brought to a page of advertising for realtors or vacations or investments or some other boring, not-really-blog thing.

What Time Is It When an Elephant Sits on Your Flowers?

2005-08-23T10:36:00.000-05:00

I am not the best gardener. My thumbs are far from green, but I have tried my luck growing flowers again this summer.

I have faithfully watered my flowers everyday, and even twice on the really hot days if I was home. The flowers aren't exactly flourishing, but they're okay. Well, most of them are okay.

I have 6 pots of flowers, each with a few different kinds of flowers. Of course, I purchased them. I wouldn't know what to put together to make them look nice. One of the pots looks like an elephant sat on it.

My nephew Scream decided he needed to have his bike on the sidewalk next to the flowers. I told him to stay on the driveway, and in the process of turning the bike around and going back to the driveway, the bike and Scream fell on one of the pots. This particular pot had a very tall flower growing in the center. Now there is a stub where it used to be. Nice.

Fat and Cranky

2005-08-19T07:46:00.000-05:00

While waiting in line for Cool Treats at DQ yesterday, a very large woman came in. She complained that she had just ordered a blizzard in the drive-thru and was given a different kind than what she ordered.

Sometimes people make mistakes. It's no fun to be on the end receiving the mistake, but it's not going to make the world spin backwards, reversing time like Superman and erase the mistake by being all pissy about it. This woman was all cranky at the guy behind the counter. Hmm, if he's behind the counter, he's not the guy making the blizzards, so he's not the guy who made the wrong blizzard.

Besides thinking that she was being cranky when she could've explained the same information with a nice attitude and gotten the same result of a new, correct blizzard, I couldn't help thinking that being so very large she really didn't need a blizzard anyway - let alone need one so much she hadn't to get pissy when it was the wrong kind.

I guess I have to admit I am prejudice against people who are very large sometimes. It drove me nuts in Disneyworld to see all the insanely obese people riding around on Disneyland-provided larks. Not only did they get a free ride around the park, saving them from expending those precious calories, but they, and all the friends and family with them, also got to go to the front of the line...because they're handicapped.

It just didn't seem fair that my family had to wait in line just because we could fit through the queue. Perhaps the insanely obese person could get on the ride from the handicapped access point, but they and they're posse could still wait their turn like everyone else. Couldn't their family wait in the queue with all the other people and they wait at the handicapped access until their family's turn came up? Seems fair to me.

But these extremely obese people didn't get to be so large by being patient. When it's Monday, I eat Monday's supper. But in order to get to be so huge, these people must being eating Monday's supper, and then can't wait for Tuesday to come and so they eat Tuesday's supper on Monday, too...and Wednesay's and Thursday's and Friday's...

So, the moral of the story is:If you're very large and your order is wrong at a restaurant, use your best manners and your best patience to get it straightened out. Otherwise someone in the restaurant will be afraid that if you don't get your food, they might be eaten.

Trapped

2005-05-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

I'm okay with the dog napping with me. It's especially nice in the cold weather to have his warm little body. What I don't like is when he lays on top of the blanket and traps me. This morning he did just that.

He knows he can't sleep with us at night, but often he'll come lay with us once it's morning. Then it's not sleeping with us, but napping because we should be up. This morning he jumped on the bed and got himself all cozy - right next to me. No, right next to me. Big ol' bed, lots of empty space, but he laid as close as he could.

He lays so close it makes the blankets feel tight around me. It makes me feel trapped. I'm not a claustrophobic person, but I don't like the feeling of the blankets being so close around me.

I tried a couple tricks with Naughty Dog this morning. Once I realized he was trying to trap me, I leaned into him a little. Once he laid down and thought he had me trapped, I just rolled back to where I was in the first place and got myself untrapped. Ha! Take that!

Nope, after about fifteen seconds he realized I had too much freedom in movement and got up to try to trap me again. I tried the lean in trick another time or two and he just readjusted each time.

Then I decided to be a little pushy about keeping my space. I just lifted the blankets up enough to make him roll back to another part of the bed. Just like before, he'd just get up after a little bit and try to trap me all over again.

I wasn't really sleeping, but just laying awake and resting because I didn't have to get up for a while. It would've been a much more relaxing time if I didn't have to try to play keep-from-getting-trapped with the dog.

What a turd!

2005-03-12T07:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I came home from the gym as usual, but found little tufts of cotton stuffing strewn about the upstairs...this was not usual. I thought Cute Little Dog had probably scratched open a pillow or found a stuffed toy to demolish.Wrong, Naughty Little Sucker had scratched at the comforter on our bed until it was sliced open. The many wads of cotton were from inside the comforter.

What a turd! I just repainted our bedroom a mere few months ago, all in colors around the colors in the comforter - hours and hours and hours of painting the walls, a second color on the walls, painting the furniture three different colors. What a Turd! (Notice that's a turd with a capital t.)

If he were a kid, I could scold him and tell him he was buying the us a new comforter. My only compensation was watching him try to poop this morning. Ha ha, sucker! The cotton I found on the floor was the cotton he had chosen not to eat. He squatted and got out his first log, but then there was a bunch of cotton stuffing. And the cotton stuffing was giving him quite a hard time. Ha ha! At least in the end, his own little turd was giving my Little Turd a tough time just as he had given me a tough time.

Maybe that'll learn him not to eat our bedding. (I'm clearly delusional if I think that's the case.)

Oh Brother

2005-02-13T10:17:00.000-06:00

I just heard a commercial on the radio for a segment that will be on the news. I could now begin my ranting about commercials for the news, but I'll save that for another blog.

This commercial was for a segment that would compare the results of botox and over-the-counter wrinkle creams, in hopes of finally answering the big question plaguing the world today: How best can one fight wrinkles?

Wow, that's some hard-hitting journalism. Watch out, Woodward and Bernstien.

The Unhealthy Healthy Snack

2005-02-09T08:57:00.000-06:00

This morning as Fabulous Son was getting his bag packed for school, I reminded him to grab something for his morning fruit break. When I was a kid, we didn't get any snack time during the day. By the time I got to middle school, I decided to bring stuff and keep in my locker for in between classes. I wasn't so lucky as to have it planned into the teachers' schedules.

He tells me, "Yeah, I got some Chips Ahoy crackers." By this he means the expensive low-cal snacks I picked up for myself. Lucky for me, I don't think those are more cookie than cracker and therefore don't qualify for his school-time snack, and I made him choose something different. (Whew! That was a close one, I almost had to share my yummy treats.)

So then he decides he'll take some healthier Cheese Nips that I got for Wonderful Hubby. I had to talk him out of taking those to school too, because I think those are still too close to a junkfood.

This whole interaction is happening while I'm on the treadmill trying to get in my workout for today. The treadmill is a super loud beast, and on top of that the TV show I was watching didn't have closed captioning so I had the volume blaring. Getting Son to hear me and getting him to speak loud enough for me to hear him was an added challenge to the morning.

Geez, Louise, I wasn't asking him to take brussel sprouts or something! After me telling him all the bazillion different healthy-ish options he had to choose a snack from, he finally decided on some cheesy pretzels. Hallelujah! Who knew choosing something for snack at school had to be such an ordeal.

Mornings were much easier when he just took his apple or banana and didn't think he had a choice in the matter.

Hang Up

2005-01-31T13:53:00.000-06:00

I truck tried to ram into me today when I was turning. When I looked to see what idiot was let loose on the highways, I noticed the driver was talking on a cell phone. Should've known.

Shhh

2005-01-29T08:38:00.000-06:00

Going to see a movie in the theater always makes the movie-watching experience a little better than watching the movie at home on the TV - even the giganto TV that we have. The movie screen is so big and the sound system is so over-the-top that the whole movie seems better and effects you more.

One big downside to seeing a movie in the theater, though, is that there are often other people at the theater. These other people aren't the don't-talk-during-the-movie type either. There's always a person or two, and inevitably near me, that must lean over to their movie-watching partner and whisper, well, what they think is a whisper but really isn't, something about the movie.

I don't want to hear anybody's observations about the acting, the plot, the actors' previous roles, nothing! That's what you talk about when the house lights come on and you're walking to your car.

Last night Hubby and I went to see The Aviator (by the way, thumbs up) and I had a couple of the talkers near me. Their "whisperings" weren't even anything worth "whispering." They were telling their movie-watching partner about things that were so obvious my blood pressure was going up every time I had to overhear them. An example, the actor is sitting in an airplane and the propeller is spinning; I overhear, "He's going to fly the plane."

Good thing that got straightened out or nobody would understand the movie!

Hot Chocolate

2005-01-03T14:09:00.000-06:00

Pros:

makes a mug nice and warm to hold on a cold day
tasty (hello! chocolate is right in the name)
little lumps of undisolved powder for extra-chocolatey flavor

Cons:

have to wait for it to cool off
limited patience leads to burnt lips
limited patience leads to a burnt tongue
limited patience leads to an even worse burnt tongue

Murphy's Law

2004-12-14T21:22:00.000-06:00

One of Murphy's Laws must certainly be that if Little Doggie is playing with his Gum Gum Bar (a flexible, stick-like chewing toy), he will most certainly play with it near the couches upstairs and most certainly the toy will roll under the couch where he can't reach it and he will most certainly scratch and scratch at the couch in attempt to get it.

This is even morel likely to happen if you have just gotten the Gum Gum Bar out from under one of the couches and given it back to him.

Not Just Complaining, Ranting

2004-12-13T13:48:00.000-06:00

Why do people decide they can live beyond their means? Is it such a hard idea to grasp that if you can't afford it, you don't get it?

This drives me crazy! Hubby and I have followed the rule that if we don't have the cash, we don't buy it. This doesn't mean we pay cash for everything. We use a credit card to pay for most things, but then we pay off the bill every month. We have the money in our bank account ready and waiting, because we only bought things we could afford.

When Hubby wanted the digital widescreen tv, we saved for months and months before we bought it. Same for taking trips or anything else big ticket. It isn't fun to wait, but it's what we do. When it's time to Christmas shop, we figure out how much we have to spend and then decide how much to spend on everybody. Not spend and then try to figure out how to pay the electric bill.

It's not my problem if someone else can't pay their bills, but I still worry about it when I see them buying things they don't need/can't afford. Okay, I realize the worrying is my issue, I just want to talk some sense into the overspenders of the world.

Quit it! Waiting and saving the money doesn't mean you deserve the thing any less than someone who can buy it with less sacrifice. You don't have to keep up with the Jones'. Besides, they're probably sweating bullets trying to figure out how they're going to pay the mortgage.

Obnoxious?

2004-12-03T07:35:00.000-06:00

If someone is parked outside a movie theater and they're blocking traffic, is it really that obnoxious to roll down your window and tell them they are only 15 feet from an open parking spot?

She Was Right

2004-11-22T18:41:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading In The Lake of The Woods by Tim O'Brien. I stumbled across a blog, which escapes me now, and it was recommended as a good read. And also as a book to read with someone else because "you'll want someone to talk about the book to."

She was right. Several times during the book I would've liked to discuss it with someone. Darn. The book is about a woman who goes missing and it makes you wonder if she left her husband or if he offed her. Hubby would have some good thoughts to share on the book. He's real smart on book stuff, plus he has good ideas in general.

He likes to read, but not as much as he likes to play computer and video games. He used to listen to audio books on his drive to work, but now he carpools and only listens the days he drives. Maybe one day, far into the future from now, he'll listen to the audiobook of In The Lake of The Woods and then he'll want to discuss it with me. Only by then I won't remember the book well enough to enjoy the discussion. Darn again!

I wish I could at least remember which blog it was so I could see what other books she has to recommend. There's too many in History to figure out which one it was. Darn a third time!

Remember When Christmas Came AFTER Thanksgiving?

2004-11-22T15:22:00.000-06:00

I like Christmas as much as the next guy (well, if the next guy is also an atheist who doesn't celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus, but instead as a time to get together with your family and enjoy each other), but do we really need Christmas music on the radio already?

KOOL 108 has been playing the Christmas tunes for a couple of weeks already. My son likes to listen to that radio station at night when he's falling asleep. He's been enjoying the fa-la-la-la-las and the silent nights, but I won't listen to it. I'll wait until we've overeaten and gained weight at Thanksgiving dinner before I think about Christmas music.

I'm not all Bah-Humbug. I've been thinking about my Christmas shopping and have already purchased my Hallmark collector ornaments, but I'll celebrate Thanksgiving first.

Uh, I Don't Think So

2004-11-18T19:50:00.000-06:00

This morning on the news they told about legislation trying to be put through that would make it against the law to fast forward through the ads that are before the movie. What?!

Their argument is that a big driving force behind people spending money on movies comes from watching the ads before the movies on the dvds and being enticed by them. They say if people are allowed to fast forward past the ads, the movie industry will suffer because people won't spend their money on the movies.

Uh, I don't think so. We've been fast forwarding past the ads for as long as there have been ads before the movies. And not just on dvd, we were fast forwarding past the ads on vcr tapes, too. Sometimes we do watch the ads, but if we don't, that's our right.

If the movie industry is worried that they won't be able to reach their audience, perhaps they should consider spending those advertising dollars somewhere else where the audience will be reached. What's next? Johnson & Johnson asking for legislation to make it illegal for us to channel surf on commercial breaks on tv? Sorry, bathroom breaks will be out too. You must sit and watch the ads.

No E-mail

2004-11-16T13:11:00.000-06:00

Hotmail seems to be having some trouble right now. My MSN Messenger tells me I have 5 new e-mails to read, but I can't get to the darn things. Grrr

I'm not paying my bill this month. What's that, it's free? Oh...in that case, keep up the good work Hotmail. I'll check again later, take all the time you need.

Unsatisfied Sweet Tooth

2004-11-09T14:53:00.000-06:00

I was walking upstairs when I got the fabulous notion to step into the garage and get an ice cream bar out of the deep chest freezer. Yes, it's cold outside and not what one would typically consider ice cream season, but I don't let a little thing like that get between me and my sweet tooth cravings.

I was moments away from reaching the door to the garage when I realized...there are no ice cream bars. They all died in The Great Meltdown of 2004. We lost them to the breakdown of the freezer along with their higher-calories, full-fat ice cream bar brothers and their many ice cream sandwich cousins, also in both regular and reduced fat, and their third-cousin-twice-removed Strawberry Sherbet.

What is one with a craving for sweets to do? Crying over melted treats isn't going to get me anywhere.

My Nose Tickles Like Mad!

2004-11-07T09:30:00.000-06:00

I have a cold sore inside my left nostril and it tickles like mad. It's driving me crazy!

Too Disposable

2004-11-05T16:19:00.000-06:00

What does it say about our society when there are so many disposable products available? Why wash your dishes with a reuseable cotton washcloth when you can buy disposable, soap-ready washclothes that can be thrown away? Why wash your baby's cotton bib when you can buy a disposable plastic one and throw it away? Why scrub your toilet with the same brush every week when you can buy a disposable one that you can then throw away?

Do we have so much money we're looking for ways to waste it? Are we really that lazy that we'll pay extra to save a few minutes a week of washing laundry?

Note to Self:

2004-10-27T18:42:00.000-05:00

If the deep chest freezer starts to make a noise, even a little, continuous rattle, that it didn't make before - pay attention. It could mean the freezer is about to die and all the frozen food will thaw and be wasted.

Note to freezer: If you're going to die, try to give me a better heads up than a little, continuous rattle. Maybe try a flashing light and siren.

Muddy Carpet

2004-10-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

If you're going to dig holes in the yard on a rainy day, could you at least have the courtesy of wiping your dirty little paws on the rug before you go racing through the house leaving muddy pawprints everywhere?

Open...Open, I Say

2004-10-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

Open, pickle jar! Why must you resist me twisting the cap off? Why must you fight the inevitable? I realize I eat many of your slices at a time, putting many on my sandwich and eating even more on the side, with a carelessness not used on the Claussens. Take comfort knowing no sandwich is complete without the zip and crisp of pickles.

Open, I say, open! If you resist my strength alone, I will resort to the gripper opener. You will be defeated. Succumb.

No Thanks

2004-10-16T10:53:00.000-05:00

If you're hands are nasty dirty please show your politeness by just washing up before a meal in public. Thanks for trying to be polite, but I'll just get my own straw.

Complaining Again

2004-10-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

I'd like to take this time to complain about the lack of customer service exhibited by the greater population of people nowadays. It drives me nuts!

I hate when I'm trying to pay at a store and the cashier is busy chatting with another employee. It especially drives me nuts when they're talking about how much time they have left on their shift. Shut up and get to work. If you want to talk about how you hate your job and can't wait to get out of there, at least wait until there aren't any customers to serve. You're in the customer service line of work.

One time when I paid by credit card I couldn't sign the receipt for the cashier because I didn't have a pen. Was she serving her customer? No. She was completely turned away and yakking at her co-cashier. I felt rude to interrupt just to ask for a pen.

Today while I was getting my hair cut the lady was yakking at the two other stylists that she wants to trade weekends because when she works she doesn't get as much tip money as the others seem to. Hello!? Please talk about that when there's no customer!

To make it worse, she was too busy yakking about the tips she wasn't making and cut off too much hair! Agh! Maybe there's a reason you're not bringing in big tips, lady! Pay attention to what you're doing!Dumb me, I still paid a tip.

Damn Minnesota Nice in me. Grrr.

Inflatable Lips

2004-10-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

I just watched the movie Spartan. It's a political thriller. President's daughter goes missing, Val Kilmer is the super agent who goes to find her. The opening scenes of the movie introduce a female soldier who is seen again much later.

I couldn't focus on the movie when she was in the scenes. She is a pretty lady, but that's not what kept distracting me. It was her crazy lips. All I could think was that she must've come to the set right from her collagen appointment. In one scene you could even see wrinkles around her lips where she was working muscles to pout her lips out even more. !

Maybe I'm wrong and she just has naturally blown up lips. One thing I do know, is it didn't help her sell the character of the female toughie soldier when she had lips that could've saved a few people from drowning after the sinking of the Titanic.

At least she didn't have swollen eyes too. That would've put her on the real weird looking list with Renee Zellweger (aka Bee Sting Face).

2004-10-02T00:34:00.000-05:00

When I'm in the mood to tool around and read blogs, the "next blog" button is very useful. I find myself tooling around a little every day. Just like everyone else, I skip past most and stop and read when something catches my eye.

There are some things that I definately pass by on if I see. Here are some:
you spelled without the y or o - I can take cuz, but u is too much
music playing - thanks but no thanks, really, turn it off
flash required pop up - we don't all have or want flash
animae-esque cartoon drawings - again, no thanks
foreign language - can't read it or I'd be very interested to read what's going on in another culture

I'm an easily annoyed person when in certain moods, so I may be even pickier than the list above. Those are just the general, happy mood no-nos.

Quiz Trouble

2004-10-01T00:28:00.000-05:00

I just took another quiz for one on of my online classes. Most quizzes for this class have been two chapters at a time, but this one was only one chapter. The quizzes are timed. Most have been for 15 to 20 minutes, since this was half the content, it had less time, seven minutes.

I had done 9 of the 10 questions and was stumped on one of them. The class is Art Appreciation and the current chapter is architecture. Because the quizzes are online they are, of course, open book. The question I couldn't find an answer for was about Buckminster Fuller.

I know! What the heck is a Buckminster Fuller!? I wasn't even sure at first if it was the name of a person or a thing. I couldn't find Buckminster or Fuller in the index, nor could I find the words scanning through the sections about each of the five multiple choice answers.

I finally ended up opening up another window and searching google. Perfect. Buckminster Fuller was/is an architect known for geosomething domes. Switch back to the first window, mark my answer, save it. Great! Wrong.

A window popped up that said my time had expired. I click the little "OK" and proceeded to submitting my quiz to the professor. Problem is, apparently you can't submit if you run out of time. ? Wah? I had saved my answers along the way so I think those should be possible for submission. (Plus, I even saved the last one I had to look up on google.)

I e-mailed my professor and I'm hoping she'll let me re-do it or something. I know I don't get special rules but come on! I was done for Pete's sake! I think next I'm going to e-mail her and contest over the question about this guy Buck. He wasn't in the book for crying out loud!

But, oh well, I am only trying to pass the class. I have done well in all my classes up to this point. These two online classes I'm taking are the last two I need to graduate. I'm trying to do well, but I'll be happy as long as I pass and can graduate.

Feeling Crazy Again

2004-09-29T11:59:00.000-05:00

I am a very organized person, sometimes venturing into anal retentive land. My house is usually tidy, a place for everything and everything in its place. I am on time, I am prepared...usually, and when I'm not I am in a constant internal battle not to have smoke come out my ears and fire out my mouth.

Last night my son had to be to his choir rehearsal half an hour early. No problem, we made it there in time. I heated his supper in the kitchen microwave, just as planned, allowing a few extra minutes afterwards for him to change into his uniform. Always thinking ahead, I had him wear his street clothes until he was finished so if he spilled on himself he wouldn't spill on his choir clothes. Good call on my part, he spilled.

That was the only smooth planning on my part. When we first got to the building, I immediately realized that I had grabbed the many things he would need to wear in his two different uniforms for the planned photo shoot, but had forgotten two. This was very frustrating because they were the same two items I forgot last time he had to get dressed in uniform. !

The next problem came when I was heating his supper in the microwave. I wasn't watching it and it got overheated, too hot to eat, so I put it in the freezer to cool off. I set the bowl on top of something already in the freezer and thought to myself, "self, careful, that could tip over." But then I told myself, "ah, it'll be fine." Nope, I should've listened to the angel shoulder, not the devil shoulder. The bowl tipped, supper spilled out into the freezer.

I was already feeling frustrated at forgetting the two uniform pieces, and now I had to clean up a mess I made in the freezer. ! Plus, I was feeling rushed because while I arrived early like I planned, so had many others - others who didn't need to eat their supper and then change, so I felt like my son was behind schedule. !I don't like feeling rushed, I don't like forgetting things, and I don't like making messes when I realized it was a strong possibility. !

No fun. Breath in, breath out, calm down. How dare I feel upset at these things when my husband has a bad day at work nearly every day. And not just 8 hours of a bad day, but often 10 or 14 hours of a bad day. And he doesn't complain, so I better just learn to suck it up and put on a smiley face.

Face + Goo = No Sleep

2004-09-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

Ever try to sleep with cheeks full of goo, and not get the goo on your pillow? If you have, and you've had success, I'd love to hear your tips. I have Aquafor smeared all over my cheeks to keep my skin moist after having had laser skin resurfacing done yesterday.

Last night I tried to sleep on my back with my face towards the ceiling. Very tough to do if you're a side sleeper. I tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable place. Around 1:30 I gave up on trying to sleep in my bed and decided to give the couch a go. I've taken naps on the couch lying on my back so I thought I might have better luck there.

I finally got some sleep, but my alarm was buzzing at me sooner than I was ready. I had an unusually early (crazy early! 4:50!) start to my day, so I slid back on to the couch as soon as I could to try to get some more sleep. I'm glad to report I feel fully rested now, although I did turn my face in my sleep once and get the goo on my pillow. Oops.