3.26.2009

Not Moving, But Not Updating

If you'd like to follow my antics, I'll be continuing my Blogging activities at these places:

http://lifeunderarock.wordpress.com/
and
http://untidymind.com/blog/

Three are a bit much to handle. :)

3.18.2009

Helpful Hint of the Day

After your shower, before you apply ANY moisturizer... you must get the water out of your ears with the Q-tips swabs FIRST. Trying to swirl those little buggers around with freshly lubed hands is next to impossible.

3.17.2009

Pepsi and the Potty

I admit it. Pepsi makes me pee. A LOT. Okay, I can't definitively accuse Pepsi of doing it. It could be old age creeping up on me. But, then again, I drink lots and lots of tea (my drug of choice) and I don't have "that gotta go feeling" like I do after one glass of Pepsi.

3.12.2009

Everything I Love Seems To Go Away Forever

What the hell? Why is it everything I love (or dear hubby loves) go away, never to be seen again.
Some examples include...

When hubby was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago, we went on the hunt for some small sweet treats he could indulge in occasionally. We found at WalMart, a reduced sugar/carbohydrate chocolate and strawberry mousse type frozen treat in small individual containers for easy portion control. Bought them once, he really liked them, then they were gone. No more.

The 4400 series. I have to say that maybe they gambled a bit on trying to drag it out too long, but for the love of God, couldn't they have just let them wrap it up with one final season? We, as usual, were left dangling. I'd read somewhere that they were supposed to conclude the series in a book. A BOOK? I love to read a good book, but I loved most of the actors in the 4400 series and wanted to WATCH the finale!

WG Grinders. The absolute best sub sandwiches ever made on this friggin planet are gone. If they are around somewhere, it's probably in another state. They piled meat, cheese and toppings on a sourdough bun and cooked it all to perfection. They had a macaroni salad with shredded cheddar cheese and a ranch kick. Heavenly. Gone. All gone. The one in this town is closed up. Hubby is pretty sure the one in the town we are originally from (about 30 minutes from here) is also closed because he commented that when he drove past it at 7 pm one night, they were closed. Damn.

Papa Murphy's Pizza
. For the price, you could not beat these pizzas, and their cheesy garlic bread rings with dipping sauce. Made to order in their store, wrapped up with baking directions, you took them home and baked them in your oven on their disposable pan. Very filling, lots of cheese, AND a great taste for an even greater price. Leaving WalMart last week, I happened to look over, and in the doorway of the local Papa Murphy's stood someone holding the door open. A little more looking showed their sign was gone, paper was plastered up all over the inside of the windows and they were loading things onto a truck! Holy SHIT! Gone. All gone.

I am sure there are many other things that have disappeared over the years, but these seem to be the most heart-breaking at the moment. The most recent are always the most painful.

3.10.2009

Losing Just One Hour

It never ceases to amaze me how losing one hour of sleep can really mess you up when the spring time change comes around. Where I work, a lot of the residents were late for breakfast, and a few even late for lunch, because they kept forgetting the time had moved forward one hour.

I, like millions of other people, had to get up an hour earlier. This after working a 12 hour shift the day before. I didn't get home till 9 pm, had to eat supper and hit the sack. Of course, when you really need to sleep, the body seems to grow very long claws and fangs then fights you every step of the way. I woke up at 1:55 am, worried that my phone wouldn't change the time automatically, even though I knew from several years of experience that it would. Before I knew it, BAMM! 4 am was here and the alarm was going off. I was up and on my way for another 12 hour round.

Work, thank God for small miracles, wasn't too bad, but whew, the tired monster snagged me at 2 pm, demanding sleep... or at the very least a little power nap. No-can-do on the job. I managed to fight him off for a while, but he kept tracking me down every time I tried to sit down to chart.

I thank my lucky stars, what very few of them I have, that this time change thing happens only once a year... and that I don't work a swing shift job. Just don't think I'd be able to do it. Kudos to all you swing-shifters out there.

3.04.2009

Writing for Fun: The Rules of 5's

Today's Writing Assignment: The Rule of 5's.

In a search engine of your choice, enter a word with at 5 letters that starts with a p and ends with an s.
When the results come up, go to the 5th page, click on the 5th result. Copy the entire 5th full line of text (excluding headers, titles, etc) and paste it into your blog,

notepad, or where ever you prefer to write. Start your writing out by using the exact words you took from the webpage in the first sentence. You may not change the

order of the words or insert any words into the middle of the text. Continue writing for 5 full minutes. Where you go with this is not as important as how you get

there, and what methods and writing techinques you use to transition from some possibly obscure blub of text to something that makes sense, is interesting, and

possibly humorous.

For example, if the text you copy reads: hail to fire to see how they react," he told The Saginaw News. "One
You should begin your writing with something like this: We've gone from rain to snow, from hail to fire to see how they react," he told The Saginaw News. "One of

the most important things we discovered is that people prefer snow over hail and fire, because hail and fire can both hurt pretty bad."

At the end of your writing activity, include a link to the page where you copied the text. Post the entire thing to your blog, and please leave give me a link back as

the source of your "inspiration."

One way to find various words starting with p and ending with s containing exactly 5 letters is to use this crossword helper.

Mine ended up rather lame, and doesn't it figure that I ended up with a string of words that included G.W. Bush? Sheesh. But here it is...

I tried to get through to U.S. President George W. Bush moments before the ceasefire was to be put to a vote. I wanted to tell him why I believed they shouldn't fire anymore. He wasn't taking calls at the time, so needless to say, they voted against the ceasefire. The fighting will continue. Both abroad and at home. There's been huge disagreements between the members of my family regarding old Gdubya. I feel like he's not running his own presidency, but rather everyone else runs it for him. We all know he does not write his own speeches, but the funny thing is that he can't speak those speeches either. He has a knack for flubbing up words, and saying things that make no sense when they are put together in a sentence. Too bad I can't remember any of his famous quote off the top of my head. I would look them up, but that would take away from my 5 minutes of writing...

The word I picked was "piles" hoping it would give me some entertaining sentence... NOT. Anyway, I ended up on this page: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45405

3.02.2009

201-917-7303 New Jersey Calls Update!

UPDATE regarding our complaint filed with the FCC: I got another response from the FCC today. If you haven't read my previous post, you can read it here.
This is the last response from the FCC:

Hello,

Since you have only been on the Do Not Call List approximately 9 days, I decided to complete a 1088 Schedule D for you using the same information (complaint number XX-XXXXXXXXX. This form is used for abandoned calls. It included enough information and will be reviewed by our Enforcement Bureau.

Also, after you have been on the Do Not Call List for 31 days and you receive more calls, please do not hesitate for file another 1088G with us.

Thanks so much for contacting the FCC and let me know if you need any assistance in the future.


So, that being said, it looks like if you're having problems with these numbers (201.917.7303, 201.918.3074, or 201.918.4824) you should file a complaint with the FCC using the following form: Complaint 1088 Schedule D. I only reviewed this for a couple of pages, but it looks like it may be enough to get the ball rolling if anyone is still getting these calls.

Another note is that you must keep in touch with the FCC. Give them time to review your information. If they respond to you that they can't pursue your complaint, write them back and give them as much detail as possible, including your logs of the phone calls. Don't give up. We haven't gotten any calls today... so maybe, just maybe, they took care of them.