...brrrrrrrr....

Christmas stuff...

yup, it was fun!

I missed Tiff's first baby shower Sunday, cuz I woke up at 1 am sneezing (good thing Truman didn't get offended by the inadvertant "shower" of "spittle"! However, the explosion in his ear scared the hell out of him...)! I hated to miss it, cuz Bro's family was all going & Kev's mom & everything, but Tif & Talan & everyone else didn't need to catch this! So I sent my present with Kev's mom, & the dr Tif works part-time for is having another baby shower for her this Saturday, so I'm sure I'll be better by then! And I got to get another cute little present for this week...workers at ebay should be thankful for people like me...I help support their daily fun/work! I saw that building complex on a special on CNBC, and it blew me away!

I'm watching the series "Life After People" on the history channel, and next is After Armageddon...nice cheery stuff for a cold, snowy night in with a pizza!!

That's it for tonight...I'm gonna go read middle east for dummies!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

New year, new decade, new ??

Okay, friends...spill it...what are everyone's resolutions? I'm sticking with my old standby that I've NEVER broken in 5 years...I resolve to not make a New Year's resolution! Sneaky, huh?

Okay...do I have the most gorgeous daughter in the world, or what? I love these pictures! Especially the one of Tif & Mom up at Lake Erie! And her first baby picture at the hospital. Most of those aren't all that 'flattering'.

December's been a helluva busy month, even for me! Tif started having those "Braxton-Hicks" contractions on my birthday, but she went to the hospital right away, & they were able to stop them. She had to stay overnight, and now she's on bed rest, which sucks, but it's for the best, she knows, since Talan's not due till Feb 4th.

On Christmas morning, Tif & Mr Tif & Kevin came over (well, not morning, per se, but morning for me...about 1 or 2 pm!), and I gave Tif her gift cert for a manicure & pedicure, & gave Mr Tif his Microsoft points, & Tif gave me a Snuggie! Leopard-skin print, of course! I love it! & some perfume! Then Bro picked me up at 5 & took me out to his house, cuz all his kids & his wife & her family were going out there! That was fun! His tree is the most beautiful I've seen...it's a real tree, and its ten feet tall! Usually he gets one with the ball of roots on it, and plants it after Christmas, but they didn't have one this big with roots on it! I got my usual paypal gift certificate...& that's the best for me...cuz ebay takes it, of course! What's really bad is that I had gone to bed at 1am Dec 30th, &, according to my emails yesterday, I had obviously gotten up at 4 am, and spent the last $75 of last Christmas's paypal on ebay & I bought Bill O'Reilly's book, Sarah Palin's book, and a book called "The Middle East for Dummies"...and more stuff for the second baby shower that people are having for Tif! Oh, and a pink Pittsburgh Steelers sweatshirt! How in the HELL did I find something like that?? Some people get up & eat in their sleep...I get up & SHOP!! OMG!! Good thing I still had some leftover paypal $$$! Also, good thing I really wanted everything I ordered! I think I need a lock on my computer overnight...

And, yeah, I've been im'ing & emailing with Kevin1 (from 30 years ago!). We haven't gotten together yet, but we will...it's been a busy month, after all! Some weeks he had to work 12 hours a day, 7 days...but at least he has a job, right? He even mentioned something I'd forgotten...he'd hit his head (hard!) on my bedstand when we saw each other about 20 years ago...and I laughed my ass off at him! He called me a big bully!

I went and got my thyroid checked the 23rd & 24th! I had thought it'd be a needle biopsy, but it wasn't (phewww!). I had to take a capsule of something the first day, I guess it was something radioactive, cuz he gave me a card I had to have with me if I went through an airport security thing for 5 days after I took it! Then I had to go back out the next day and have my thyroid x-rayed! And I haven't heard anything yet, but I'm sure they've been as busy as everyone else!

I get my next tysabri iv Jan 7th. Hope it helps!

Okay...that's been my life at the end of 2009!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

more fun work stuff...

Well, it's damn cold today and there's about 3 inches of snow on the ground...which is good, after last year I'dve been just as happy if it didn't snow AT ALL!! Usually, all I want for my birthday is snow...not this year. Ergh...But it must be nice for the kids where they got all the snow!

Up in Fostoria, Christmas was a great time to work...as long as I could get there, with the winter snow & ice! No, truthfully, I think I only had to call off because the roads were too bad once or twice over the two years I worked there. I always heard to call the state highway patrol office to check on road conditions before you went out to drive, so I did. Fat lot of good that did...no matter what it was, whether it was snowing, had snowed the night before, had all been plowed, anything! I still remember, every time I called & wanted to check road conditions on 23N, they told me "snow covered and slippery." One of the first days they told me that, I just thought "but I won't get paid if I stay home...and I HAD told them when I got the job that the one hour drive was fine with me...", so I decided to go, and dropped Tif at her babysitter's, and got out on 23N, and it was perfectly clear & dry with snow blowing across it. So bah, take that! I did have to stop & call the store one time, when I was at the little town/village halfway there. It really was 'snow covered and slippery'. It had taken me an hour already to get halfway to work! I stopped at a pay phone, & called the store to tell them I was in C**** & I'd be there in an hour. The cashier exclamed, "Libby! What in the world are you doing?? You should go home!" And I explained that it was just as close now to come to work, so I'd be there in an hour. Geez...does anybody else remember the days before everybody had a cell phone?

At the store, we went crazy with Christmas decorating....a few of us even wore elf suits & hats all day! What a bunch of dorks we must've looked like! But we were always happy and smiling! Now that I think back, we always said hi & Merry Christmas. And all the customers just nodded & smiled & kept their distances, I think they all thought we were on drugs between Thanksgiving & Christmas! But, whatever, they tolerated us!

The first Christmas, I made Christmas baskets. My first tries were rather 'mundane', out of the pictures in the book from my produce supplier, but as it went along, I got a lot more creative & inventive, and it got to be one of the most fun parts of my job! My friend, Chester, wanted me to make her a big basket for a friend, with dog biscuits, and a couple of bags of carrots, and apples, her friend lived out by her in the country, and had horses and dogs! The baskets started being such a big part of Christmas, I actually had to hire my cousin, Boo, to make them! She only lived about a half hour from the store, so it wasn't a big deal for her to get there.

The second year I was there, I decided to load up some friends in my car one day, and we took off to the town about a half hour away, where our store's main office was, & we burst in there and demanded to go upstairs to find some more decorations for our store...because this was a chain of about 15 stores, so we knew they had some old decorations! They did, and we took all my little Honda Civic would hold (which was less than we had thought, since there were three of us in there). We did find a great big full-size sleigh upstairs, but were told we could NOT take it...the owner of the company was goiing to put it in his front yard! Damn...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

even older stuff...

Does everyone else still remember the first person you ever fell totally in love with? I'm talking about 14 or 15 years old, forEVER ago, in other words! I still remember the first night I met him. July 4, 1979. Kim & I had gone to the fireworks across town with Mom & Dad, and when they were over, we begged them to just let us walk home, we'd be home by midnight, a lot of our friends were there, and we just wanted to hang out there with them for awhile, please, please, please?? So, after using copious amounts of charm (& begging!), they said ok, just be careful (I think that's mandatory for parents to say that, isn't it? If they didn't, you'd think they didn't love you, right?). So we went skipping off to the fairgrounds and just walked around there for awhile (no, we weren't meeting up with our friends, we wanted to meet new ones, I guess...). Anyway, after we'd done that for awhile, & ate all the junk food (fair food...doesn't get any better than that!) we could find, we figured we should start back to my house. On the way through the park by the fairgrounds, these 3 guys were walking in front of us, & of course, we were debating about the guy with the cute butt & brown hair. But quietly...you know just how quiet 2 14 year old girls are, right? (*said facetiously*). They turned around for something, probably to see who was talking about them, and we all started walking & talking together. We all ended up in a schoolyard about a half mile away, and the guy with the cute butt told us that he lived across the street (with his mom & dad, of course...he was only 16). So Kim & I were just goofing around, playing on the swings & stuff. One of the guys, Steve, got a big empty metal trashbarrel from somewhere, and since he'd been throwing firecrackers around all night, he yelled, "Hey, c'mere!!" and we all did.So we're all standing around watching, and he lit a firecracker and threw it in.We're all waiting for the big "echoey" boom that we expected, but nothing happened. Steve said "Shit, it must've gone out!" and stuck his head down inside to look..."Ka-Boom!!!" Wow...must've been loud down there...*snicker*....no, more like huge bellylaughs all around!

So, they walked us the rest of the way back to my house (maybe another half mile, and the guy with the cute butt walked me behind a big scary building that was used for a haunted place on Halloween, and we kissed...that was my first 'real' kiss from a guy I totally wanted to kiss! And when we walked around the building again, Kim yelled, "Libby, you look like you just got f*****d!" Oh, hell...how tasteful was THAT?? I was 14, for God's sake!

Anyway...that's what started it all. Started me on my path looking for a "bad boy"...anyway, he found this blog by googling me a few weeks ago, & we've emailed & im'd since. He's still in town too, so I'm sure we'll see each other...we did see each other off & on around 25 years ago.

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...laughter...we all need it after Thanksgiving...!

One of the funniest jokes I've EVER read!!

And, yeah, I know...everybody "can just see me doing that!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A woman came home from work early one day, & found her husband in bed with another woman. Immediately, she kicked the woman out of her house, and grabbed her naked husband by the ear, and hauled him downstairs and outside to the shed. Once inside, she put his penis in a vise grip, and he yelled, "No,no, you're not going to cut it off, are you??" She just smiled calmly and handed him a saw. "No, of course I'm not going to cut it off. I'm going outside to lock the shed & set it on fire. You do what you have to do."

...pause for appropriate laughter (& tears from the guys...)

A Blonde's Year in Review>

January
Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight.

February > Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print labels..... Helllloooo!!!.......bottles won't fit in printer !!!

March> Got really excited.....finished jigsaw puzzle in 6 months....... box said "2-4 years!"

April > Trapped on escalator for hours ..... power went out!!!

May> Tried to make Kool-Aid.....wrong instructions....8 cups of water won't fit into those little packets!!!

June > Tried to go water skiing.......couldn't find a lake with a slope.

July > Lost breast stroke swimming competition.....learned later, the other swimmers cheated, they used their arms!!!

August > Got locked out of my car in rain storm..... car swamped because soft-top was open.

September > The capital of California is "C".....isn't it??? !

October > Hate M & M's.. ...they are so hard to peel.

November> Baked turkey for 4 1/2 days .. instructions said 1 hour per pound and I weigh 108!!

December > Couldn't call 911 . "duh".....there's no "eleven" button on the stupid phone!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, I had to put that on there...you know me...fair & balanced...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Getting ready for cyber Monday!!

Okay, I'm not even going to try to get out for the black Friday thing. I'm just gonna do the cyber Monday thing...not that I'm gonna be able to get much for anyone, but here's a few neat websites, even for stocking stuffers, you know?

Lush -- Handmade Soaps

Overstock.com -- Everything

Undergear -- Men's Underwear

Victoria's Secret -- Women's Underwear

Things You Never Knew Existed -- Just like the name says!!

Drugstore.com -- Good drugstore stuff, I've bought stuff like Burt's Bees stuff from here

Harriet Carter -- miscellaneous stuff

What On Earth -- Like The Name Says...great for t-shirts & sweatshirts!

Betty's Attic -- Toys from when you were a kid!

The Lighter Side -- Funny stuff

Shindigz -- Party supplies & micellaneous Christmas stuff
Collections, Etc. -- collectibles...

The Perfumed Court -- kind of indescribable, but you can buy any kind of perfume in any size there...& a lot of them you never heard of!

The Lakeside Collection -- good, inexpensive stuff!
The Kodak Gallery -- Send in one of your pictures, they'll print it in any size for you, cheap & great quality!
Catalog Favorites -- Just about anything!
Okay...I've gotten stuff from just about all these places at one time or another, and I've always gotten quick shipping, and it's always well packed!...Just a little "public service" for everyone!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

More health shit...I'm sorry, but I haven't had TIME to get on the blogs!!

I think that solely by my choice of pictures today, everybody can clearly understand why I was on ritalin for the last couple years...Lately, focusing isn't my strong point...

Well, I saw the "goiterologist" Wednesday, and, interestingly enough, his formal title is a surgeon. WTF?? No, he's scheduling me for a needle biopsy in a week or so...and after I saw him, I went to my neuro appt...that was a rollercoaster of emotions! First we were laughing cuz her name had changed in the last month, so, naturally, I thought she got married, right? So, she walks in, gives me a hug, and I started bitching her out about "Why can't you just find a Smith or Jones or Brown?" Cuz her name now is also a little hard for me (with my ms elocution!) to say. But, no, she's still married to her same husband, she just is using her maiden name. Because it really is a little easier to say (a little...). Well, we all started off laughing, me, her, her assistant...then we started in on what I want. I wanted 3 days of IV steroids, then 12 days of prednisone to taper...uhhhh...I lost that one. But I did get 1 IV of 1000 mgs. steroids today at the hospital IV room...+ a big old roast beef & swiss sandwich with a ton of mayonnaise....and, of course, a Coke...& the nurse made me eat the peaches too! So, I already had had a big 12 oz mug of cranberry/blueberry V-Fusion (that's my new favorite!! mmmmmm!). So, yes I'm still eating healthy! Just not enough, obviously...I'm still hanging around 88-90 pounds, and this SO fuckin' sucks!! I feel like I'm sounding like a whiney little crybaby here, but, that's kinda how this week's been...shit-tons of neat stuff, balanced out, of course, by bullshit stuff...

I'd been considering quitting the tysabri...gave it a fair 6 months try, it worked in the first 2,which is when I was advised to expect nothing! But we went through all the physical tests today, and she came up with I'm actually doing a lot of stuff better...I guess I AM, it's just so gradual, I'm not catching it...like the ataxia is better. We test that by having me touch my nose with my right finger, then touch her finger that she's holding up....sound easy....hahahahahahaha...I'd never pass a drunk test again! But it actually is 'doable' now. A lot of little things really are, I just feel weak, because the home physical therapy isn't enough, so I hafta start going out to the Clinic three times a week for it, she said "Libby, I told you months ago, you NEED to do this! It's either this or I'm sending you to a nursing home for three months to stay there and you'll HAVE to do this there!" O ! M ! G! Now you see where the "downhill" slide of my week hit! So, after my major meltdown in there, not the least of which was "I CAN'T leave TRUMAN!!!" Hell, I had a hard time leaving him here last summer when I went & stayed with my friend in the country on weekends! This is the area where she added Paxil to my Cymbalta, telling me to take one of each in the morning every day...

So, we compromised (somehow, I think she got the better end of the deal! grrrrrrrrrr!!). But I'm NOT going in a nursing home! I told her okay, I'll come out here 3 times a week for real physical therapy and I'll stay on the tysabri for the next 6 months...but I WANT solu-medrol (IV steroids)! *picture a small child stamping her foot in a very haughty way*. And she said that you really can't do the full 3 days 1 gram a day for 3 days, then the prednisone taper, that's WAY too much while you're on tysabri...which I already knew, but was just being the stubborn bitch. So I got set up to get one gram today, and that's it...but hell, it's better than nothing!

She also checked out my right hand, which I still can't straighten my pinky out, well, I can if I use my left hand to pull it out straight, but that's cheating, and I quit doing that a long time ago. She sat in front of me and opened a desk drawer, got a safety pin, and poked my hand and arm all over...it hurt a little on the thumb side and I couldn't even feel it on my little finger, and up my arm toward my elbow. She said she thinks I have a nerve in my elbow (my ulna, not anything like carpal tunnel) causing that. She was pretty sure about that, says that too many people with ms blame everything on that, when there's something else wrong...so now I'm gonna go to another dr to check that out too!! Geez, good thing this is winter and there's nothing else I might have planned in the next months, or anything...:-/...God, I feel all old & decrepit at the age of 44 (oops...45 next month...sonofabitch!).

Anyway, that's part of the reason I haven't been around...you can probably guess a little of the rest...real life gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it? But a lot of that is in a good way...unless it has anything to do with health problems...

BoUnCeS!! Libby!

Happy 86th Birthday, Mom! I love you & miss you

Today would have been Mom's 86th birthday... still trying to make her proud...

I'm still blown away by the people I've reconnected with on the internet! One was the girl I worked with in Findlay & went to the Barry Manilow concert with me in Columbus...haven't seen her for 15 years, never thought I'd find her again, she got married & divorced, & moved to a different town...thought about her a lot, but had no way of even knowing her name now! But she 'friended' me on FB (yeah, Ric, I know it's the spawn of the devil), and she has a different name, but it was HER! I still am not sure how she found me, cuz I'm on there under a different name than she knew me as! And then I still think of all the people that connected for our 25th high school reunion. And we got hundreds of people together from all across the country! That wouldn't have happened without the internet, & lots of hard work! Or a couple years ago, a guy I went out with when I was 15-20 was able to email me...Or like the guy that emailed me this week by finding this blog...first guy I ever went out with...(Kevin M if you're reading this, I fell for you HARD!!...& you know it!!) :-D

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...breaking in for a health update...

See why I love Halloween?? How could anybody look at these kids having fun, and say it's evil?? Why take a fun dress-up and get candy holiday away from kids? Let kids be kids, for heaven's sake!!

Well, I finally did it...went and got my thyroid ultrasounded last week, & my dr's office called today and I have a goiter!~! OMFG, how gross & disgusting does that sound?? At least it's not so big it shows...all I could think of is the old lady on Seinfeld, that had the goiter on her neck the size of a football! Ack! Anyway my dr set up an appt for me to see another dr about it, I guess he's a goiterologist? This is mostly funny cuz I was at H's salon yesterday getting my hair cut, and I told her I had an ultrasound on my thyroid last week, and she just stood there and then said "Maybe it's a goiter?" and I just started laughing (her too), cuz that's just a funny-sounding word, isn't it? Anyway, now I need to call her & congratulate her on her guess...or yell at her cuz she cursed me?

Tif's starting to show, well, I guess she should, she's 6 months now. And her girl dog, Lily, had 5 puppies Saturday! The father is her other dog, Samson. Lily is a miniature Italian greyhound. Samson is a German Shepherd/Lab mix. I know they'll be cute, but, what a picture in your head! Okay, I have a picture of Lily & the puppies up at the top. They'll be ready to find new homes right around Christmas, so, if you have a kid that wants a dog, well...

I already gave in and did a "grandma thing"...the hospital was having a book sale last week, & the profit goes to some of the nurses' groups...I CANNOT avoid a book sale, c'mon! So I bought 2 huge hardcover Dr Seuss books, with good pictures! For Talan, of course! For Christmas, ya know...Even though he's not due til Feb 4th...

Bro called tonight & I said something to him about "your brother, G" (psycho). He said, "Oh, now he's just MY brother, not yours too?? I had to put up with him for 11 years longer than you did!" I told him G was here the Sunday after Halloween for hours. He said, okay, I guess that's like 5 years for you...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Happy Halloween!!! ...on the Day Of The Dead...which isn't a bad thing, it's a remembrance of your dead relatives & loved ones!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! I did! I gave out about 40 lbs of candy bars, little toys, like fangs, stickers, teeny little Halloween notebooks, etc, and some bags of cotton candy spiderwebs! How cool! Since this'll be my last Halloween in this house, I HAVE TO go out big!! ordered everything from http://www.orientaltrading.com/... they know how to do ANY holidays!!
So, back to my #1 trick in Fostoria, even better than the hiding in the safe trick...of course, it had to be on one of the 2 night crew guys, whom I got along with very well.
One day I'd ordered so much stuff for the dept, and it was Halloween, or Christmas...sometime when I had tons to do in the department and since I was the only one that worked that department I was originally supposed to work til 4:30 or 5...but I had a shit-ton to do, so I called Mom here in town, & asked if she'd go get Tif & pleeez, pleez, could she stay over night with them that night? Mom said "Okay, of course she can!" So I ended up working into the night shift...and, wow, I never imagined it being that much fun!! 'Course, when you get super-tired, you'll laugh at ANYTHING! 'Punch-drunk', is what I believe it's called...and I was the only one that had gotten up at 6:30 am that morning! By around 2 am, I was ready for a break & some fun! So I went in the break room up front, which was pretty big and had a separate men's room & women's room off it on the two sides of the room. I was sitting there, just looking at all the junk in there, you know, duct tape, aspirin, heavy gloves, hairspray...hmmmm...hairspray...gotta be something to do with that...I sat at the table and lit a cigarette *idea creeping around the edges of my mind*...Maybe 5 minutes later, Chuck came flying around the corner, grabbing a magazine to read, so I knew he'd be in there for awhile (not only the magazine, but the "Gotta shit" tossed over his shoulder...). Now THAT was nothing but a challenge, you know?
I gave it about 5 more minutes, then quietly opened the outer door. Armed with the can of hairspray (aqua-net white aerosol can, in case anyone else wants to do this someday) & my lighter. I crawled over to where I saw Chuck's feet, and then lit my lighter & sprayed the hairspray over it under the wall to the stall...KA-WHOOSH!!! followed by a "%$%W#%&&)*(_(+*&%%W#%!!!! Libby, I'll kill you for that!!!" How the hell did he know it was me, & not Charles??...oh well, I'm still here...still laughing about it!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

more fun stuff...

Tif's in all these pictures, when she was about two or three...isn't she sweet?

These were all from the time I worked up in Fostoria. Lest you all think that all I did when I worked up there was get drunk, I was a good mom! I took her to work with me once in awhile, just cuz I missed being with her (well, she lived with me, but it seemed like I was always at work!), and everybody I worked with loved to see her, cuz she was the happiest 2 - 3 year old you EVER met! She'd go in the store with me in the morning, and make the rounds in the store to see everybody. One person or another would tell her she could stay with them while I went & got my morning stuff done around the produce dept, so she always did...she could carry on great conversations from the minute she learned to talk, for heaven's sake! Then I'd go get her back. and get my green apron on for work, and then I'd find one for Tif to wear too (can't you just picture it?). When I'd get a truck in, with a load of 10lb bags of potatoes, she would help me unload it! She was good with those! The 20 lb bags & 50 lb bags, I took care of myself...I wasn't a beast, after all! She used to have a lot of fun! All the truck drivers used to always talk to her too, she kept them busy while I was fighting to get the 150 bags of 50 lb bags of potatoes off the truck! phew, that was a job! I was always whipped when I got done, while Tif & everyone else at the store were all going "Where we goin' for lunch? Huh? Huhhh???" lol!!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!!

ticket trouble...

When I worked at that store, we all used to get together to go out every Tuesday & Saturday nights. And it was usually a mix of guys & us 'super-cool' girls, like 2 cars full. And there were 3 towns/cities about 15 miles from each other that we used to choose between...there were good bars in all of 'em, dontcha know? (hehehe) Plus one of them lived in each town, so we always had somewhere to 'crash & burn'...

So one Saturday night we all went to one town, I had my car & parked it on the street by one of the bars we were going to. We went dancing and everything, & left at closing time. I just decided to ride with somebody else, & we all ended up at his (well, ok, his mom & dad's house), where we kept the party going til about 5 am. Cuz you know, we had to watch "Headbangers Ball", and then fall asleep sprawled all over the house...God only knows why his mom & dad put up with that shit...I wouldn'tve! (I say that NOW...). And he was one of the youngest boys that lived at home.

When everybody got up Sunday morning, I got a ride back to my car, and found I had a parking ticket on my windshield! OMG! Sheeeesh!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

better today, hopefully for a long time!

Finally, today I feel like living again...not that I'dve done anything about it if I didn't...remember, I'm gonna be Talan's grandma in a few months...suffice it to say that today's the first time, I think, that I felt good enough to go out on my scooter to the bank, the gas station, etc. In the last couple weeks, my right arm & hand weren't working even close to normal! For the last couple days, I couldn't even hold my right hand out straight, it was like curled up. And that sucked worse than you can even imagine, to sit here for days, wondering if this is what it's gonna be like for the rest of my life *snif, snif*...but today I got up at 10, and could straighten out my hand!

Okay, I'm done with that shit...I don't feel as good as I did before, but, I'll take what I can get! Anything at all is a gift!

The top picture up there is the house that mine & Tif's first apartment was in. She was almost a year & a half, & I was, well, I guess 19 & a half? We lived in the front left hand apartment. That was one of the many spooky old houses in town that were made into apartments. It was split up into 4 apartments, each one had an upstairs & downstairs. My neighbor on the right-hand side was a great guy! He was probably the only other person I've ever met that did goofy stuff & laughed as much as me! Just an example...one night it was all cloudy & windy & everything, and dark, of course. The one bedroom in the apartment was in the upstairs front. It was plenty big enough for my bed and Tif's crib across the room, and there was a huge closet. So Tif & I were in bed and it was probly about midnight...all of a sudden I heard something outside the window, like scratching...then again...then once more, I thought, well, okay, must be the trees, from the wind. Then there was a freakin' knocking on the window!! I ran over and crouched all the way down and peered out under the curtains...it was Scott, my goofy next-door neighbor on my roof!! He'd crawled out of his bedroom window & over onto my roof! Holy crap! He was a bigger nut than me! Good thing I didn't scream & scare Tif to death.

The next pictures are of the huge house right down the street from the Harding Home, on the block I grew up on...and that first apartment was only a few houses down another street from that. I love this whole area of town!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

off for awhile, til i feel better...

Hey everybody...I can't handle my ms right now, so I'm gonna be off for awhile...but I'll be back...

random things from that store...

Those top two pictures are the house across the street from the big 'haunted' one. That house was known as 'The Bluestone Manor', and the one on the bottom is a couple streets away from that huge church/mansion, and it was originally the 'carriage house' for the mansion. This is the best area of town (in my opinion)...the most historic that I know of.

Like I said before...these were my two best years of my life (yeah, yeah, I know...so far. But right now, I'm pretty much at a standstill) I'm just gonna pick random stuff to write about...

When I started there, the only person I knew was the store manager (you know, the hot one! Ralph) he introduced me to everyone, and, I guess, since everybody liked him, some of it must have bled over onto me! lol! That store was the first I ever worked at that was a 24-hour store. I met everyone but the two night managers...every store I've worked at since was 24hrs, & all night managers seem to have the same characters...offbeat, they'll do anything for you (or to you, if you make them mad!) lol!! Thinking back, that store was almost entirely people in their teens & early 20's. The oldest people that worked there was one cashier in her 60's, she was totally sweet! The head cashier who was about 45, the meat manager, about 30-ish...he was married w/kids, & a devout Jehovah's Witness...so he said...etc, etc...like Autumnforest said, everyone's got a story. It's just kinda amazing how a bunch of "teenagers" ran this store! But, hey, it worked...the customers liked us. Actually, I think we were the 'comic relief' in their lives!

Some of the first people I met up there were the vendor/drivers...like FritoLay, beer, Coke/Pepsi...small companies that sell on their own, not through a store's warehouse. Some of them I still email with! They were the ones that brought in their own company's product. Since I was always there, I was always the one in charge of checking their product in, making sure that they were delivering what they charged for. After I had worked there a while, I was authorized to write the checks to those companies, like on Bert's (head cashier) day off. Now that's a total feeling of power! haha!

Okay, here's my first 'random story'! That store's safe was huge, like came- up-to-my-neck-huge...like a bank safe, and it was in the store's office. Well, one day in the early afternoon, I was up there for something, and Bert was rushing around, & left the office to go help a cashier with something. Of course,another girl was up there too...I just gave her the "leave it to me" look, and curled up in the safe & closed the door (wouldnt have done that without someone there to make sure I didnt accidentally get locked in~!).

Here came Bert, all hurrying back to get change for the cashier. She bent over by the safe to get some rolls of quarters, etc, and swung the door open. I was polite, didn't want to give her a heart attack or anything. I just grabbed her wrist when she reached in. Hell, I was gonna say "no" or "that's mine", but I didn't even have time to, she screamed so fast! Now how much more fun could that place be? Even customers were givng me hi-fives all day!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...back to the fun stuff...

Okay...the top two pictures are the huge haunted house & its garage on the "spookiest corner in town"! lol! My best friend Joe and I talked about renting that house in 1986, but we never went through with it...bummer! The bottom is an octagon house on stilts beside the lake I had on here last time...which is all one house away from that corner!

The first day I went to my new job up north, it felt kinda weird. The produce manager at that store was there with me for the first couple hours, just to go over what she did the first part of the day, and show me where everything was, then she went to the store she was transferring to! Things must've just fallen into place just right for that company that day! I became really good friends with everyone up there, and just kinda fit in like a square peg that finally found its square hole! lol! Seriously, all the people I worked with up there were great, and ready to laugh...which is what I was really good at, you know. We usually got together after work a couple nights a week and went to the bar down the road to drink for an hour or 4...but I only went out on Tuesdays & Saturday nights, cuz I was off on Wednesdays & Sunday mornings! I did go once on a Friday night for one beer, then stood up & said "I gotta go, I work tomorrow morning." and that hunky store manager stood up & threw his arms around me and kissed me loudly on the cheek, and said "See? Everybody, this is a good example for you all!!" Wow...that was a new one...nobody ever called me a good example...I was always the horrible warning..!

Soon I found out that one of the girls I now worked with was pregnant by the former produce mgr's bf...told ya they're everywhere, didn't I? A few weeks later, something else happened & the former produce mgr died...so that was the beginning of my two most interesting years of my life...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...not much to talk about today...

...I'm interupting the 80's job program for a day or 2...just cuz I've got a bunch of other stuff on my mind...

First of all....IT'S A GRANDSON!! We all met him Monday via an ultrasound! He's got super-long legs, and a super-strong heartbeat...and while the ultrasound lady was pointing out everything we were seeing...you know, "here's the heart, 2 kidneys, the cute little nose...and do y'all want to see his package?" OMG! lololololololol!! How cool!

There's all kinds of health crap going on this week. Well, this month! I haven't felt better after the tysabri Sept 1st at all...which is a totally depressing feeling! But I've gone in and had every test known to man in the last 2 weeks, it seems. Got a bone density test, which still looks like it did last time 2 years ago, which means I don't have osteoporosis...but I still need to take calcium+vit D, fosamax once a week, and "keepdrinkingmilk!" ...Also started drinking whole milk & Carnation instant breakfast, which has more fat, & is a LOT cheaper than Boost! I've gained a pound a week this month which puts me up to 94 lbs! Yippee! And I had another mri on my brain & cervical spine...No changes on my brain, but, this sucks...there's a node on my thyroid. I asked if maybe that had anything to do with the fact that I can't gain weight. Dr S said no, all my blood tests on my thyroid have come back normal. So I have to go have it ultrasounded Thursday...grrrrrrr! Exactly how much shit do ya want to throw at me?

The picture up there of the 666 carved into the stone post is, unbelievably, at the back parking lot of the huge Etowah church up there. That church used to be the Kings' mansion...the King family is who we (Mom & Dad, when I was 2!) bought our house from here in town, they lived in that house after the mansion/church. The lake-type thing is in someone's backyard, for heaven's sake, right across the street fron the church...the tree with the hole in it is on the other street on the other side of the church. My first apartment was on that street, with the scary attic & all. And I remember sitting on the front porch of that apartment, drinking a beer, and watching a neat little owl in the tree at the church! That whole area just seemed magical.

Okay, gotta go.

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

A run-in with a raccoon...in the middle of town!

The Psychiatrist and Proctologist

Two doctors, a psychiatrist and a proctologist, opened an office in a small town and put up a sign reading:"Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Hysterias and Posteriors."
The town council was not happy with the sign, so the doctors changed it to read, "Schizoids and Hemorrhoids."
This was not acceptable either, so in an effort to satisfy the council, they changed the sign to "Catatonics and High Colonics." No go.
Next, they tried "Manic Depressives and Anal Retentives." Thumbs down again.
Then came "Minds and Behinds." Still no good.
Another attempt resulted in "Lost Souls and Butt Holes." Unacceptable again!
So they tried "Analysis and Anal Cysts." Not a chance.
"Nuts and Butts?" No way.
"Freaks and Cheeks?" Still no go.
"Loons and Moons?" Forget it.
Almost at their wit's end, the doctors finally came up with:
Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones, "Odds and Ends."
Everyone loved it.

I'm starting to get addicted to dumbass jokes!

Before I transferred to my new store, a friend of mine wanted me to spend a weekend with him at his new house in Fort Wayne. So I made sure Mom & Dad would keep Tif that weekend, and I drove over there. Not a bad drive, I'm thinking it was maybe 3 hours...but, did I mention, I love to drive? Yeah...
So I went, had a great weekend, and drove home Sunday night...I still remember the song on the radio, Wang Chung...Everybody Have Fun Tonight! Wow! That brings back huge memories of coming home the last hour was on a dark & lonely country road....(sounds like the beginning of a good book, doesn't it?).
When I got back to town, I decided to drop my suitcase off at home before I picked Tif up. I pulled my car up in my parking space at my apartment, and started unloading my stuff. Then I walked across the back of the house, because the steps upstairs went along that side of the house. They were just a regular set of stairs up to my door at the second floor of the house. It was about 11 pm, and I wanted to hurry up, cuz to go to my new job an hour away, that meant that I'd have to get up at about 5:45 am, to get Tif up & ready, take a shower, feed her breakfast, do my hair & makeup & all that, take Tif a few blocks down the street to her babysitter's, and get back in the car & go get a can of Coke, and then get on route 23 north to get to work by 8. Phew...it never seemed like it was THAT much to do! 'Course, at that age, nothing is too much!
Well, here I was, lugging my big ol' suitcase, and I put my foot on the bottom step to my apartment, then I looked up, and realized I was staring a huge raccoon in the eye! OMG!! He was at the top of the steps...looked like he'd been knocking on the door or something! Scared the crap outta me! I backed down and away from the steps, & watched to see where he went. After about 10 minutes, he came walking slowly down the steps and went trotting toward the street. To his home. In the sewer!! Ick!!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

emergency!

"FLU UPDATE"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is the difference between Bird Flu and Swine Flu?

For bird flu you need tweetment and for swine flu you need oinkment.

* now do you still wonder why I live alone? *
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A guy with a black eye boards his plane bound for Pittsburgh and sits down in his seat. He notices immediately that the guy next to him has a black eye, too.
He says to him, "Hey, this is a coincidence, we both have black eyes; mind if I ask how you got yours?"
The other guy says, "Well, it just happened, it was a tongue twister accident.
See, I was at the ticket counter and this gorgeous blonde with the most massive breasts in the world was there. So, instead of saying, 'I'd like two tickets to Pittsburgh,' I accidentally said, 'I'd like two pickets to Tittsburgh'....so she socked me a good one."
The first guy replied, "Wow! This is unbelievable. Mine was a tongue-twister too.
I was at the breakfast table and I wanted to say to my wife, "Please pour me a bowl of Frosties, honey.'
But I accidentally said, 'You have ruined my life you evil, self-centered, fat-assed bitch.'

A lot of guys are laughing and looking over their shoulders to make sure they're alone...

I had fun being a produce manager at that store! I did that there for about a year at that store, learning what real physical work is all about, & how great it feels to do it, and do it well, and be a great mommy and bring Tif up to know that it's totally important to laugh & have fun while doing the important things you have to! In my life, the decade of laughter was the 80's! That truly was the VERY BEST time of my life!

Then 'Mr Whipple' started being even a bigger jerk than usual. He was an ok boss, just "bossy"! And I have a problem with being told what to do (ask anybody!). We went riding around Ohio so I could see some of the other stores (in the company), that was neat! We even would stop at a bar for a beer on the way home. No, not any 'funny business', we also had a mutual respect & friendship. Then all of a sudden, I got a produce supervisor up at the main office in Findlay. He came in one day & was talking about a lot of stuff. Mr Whipple was following us all around, & butting into the conversation. I could see new boss getting pissed at him...& I just bided my time. lol! All of a sudden New Boss said "I'd like to talk to my produce manager, okay?" *said quite sternly*! So we talked awhile...And in April, 1986, I got transferred to my new store, 55 miles north, Fostoria. I was SO freakin' happy! I only made $5.50/hour, but hell, I LOVED driving! I found out later they had bets on me either quitting or moving up there...I did neither. It was my dream job at a store for a boss I really liked (ok, yeah, he was REALLY really cute!) & married, which I wanted nothing to do with! We were great friends...Amazing the number of guys I used to hang out with just because we all laughed...nobody ever got all snippy because they thought they were getting laughed at! If you were that self-conscious, you had no business hanging with us! Luckily, Mom & Dad had bought me an '80 Honda Civic when I got that job, so I got gas about 3 times a week, and put about 1000 miles a week on that car...& Mom & Dad paid my insurance (I was blessed with them!)

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Saturday of Labor Day weekend...

Nature at its finest...here in town! Nope...there aren't any obvious creepy things...I'm sure they're hiding in there, but at least that's the decent thing for them to do!

When the produce manager at that store where I started quit, I started begging 'Mr Whipple' to let me have that department. At first he laughed at me, said "You aren't 'muscle-y' enough! No way could you unload trucks!" I DID only weigh 98 lbs then. But I kept bugging & begging & pleading for at least a chance to try it! So he brought a big skid up front and said "Okay...pick that up and carry it to the backroom...then we'll see." OMG! I did it, with lots of panting & huffing & puffing & sweat. But I did it, so he kept his word (amazing), and gave me some rudimentary explanations of what to do, like do orders every other day, unload trucks at least 3 times a week, then put it all on display on the racks, and any extra had to go in the cooler in back. No problem...hahahahaha! He forgot to mention that the first thing I had to do in the morning was pull anything off the rack that wasn't super fresh. Then throw it away...the last thing to do at night was trim and bag an extra cart full of lettuce for people to put out at night. Yeah...I had absolutely no clue how much work was involved, but I did it. Just because a department manager was a full time job, paying 4.50 an hour. Jeez, I was RICH! And, by the way, I gained 10 lbs almost immediately because I did build muscle, and I weighed 108 lbs from the time I was 20 till I was 40! That was the BEST job ever! It's evolved 100% since then, plus if the department is big enough, there are more people, not just 1!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Tuesday already???

The top picture up there is behind the first groc store I worked at here in Marion...I guess I started in maybe November 1984, right after Tif turned a year old and I left my first husband. That divorce took about a year and a half, but, in the long run, well, the hard things you go through and put a lot of time & work into are (for the most part) worth it. You just never know what you can do until you have to do it, right?

I forget what the purple bush up there in the middle is..hyacinth? maybe? And those wild looking flowers on the bottom, they're just different.

Anyway, I started getting a lot of hours at work, cuz, of course, once I had called off sick one day (a 4 hr day, I just hadn't felt like going! lazy!), I noticed how little money I had!! That's when I realized how truly broke I was! I was gonna say I was flat busted, but, why the hell should I just give all of you an easy one on me?? lol!

Actually, that just reminds me of a birthday card the head cashier at that store gave me a month later for my birthday...on the front it said "Listen, I'll tell you a joke so funny you'll laugh your tits off..."open it up..."Oh. I see you already heard it." Yeah, we all were great friends immediately...that was my birthday card in December, & I'd just started there in Nov!

When I was a cashier, well, it's so different looking at the front of a store now...there were no such things as scanners yet, remember? Prices were either stamped on in ink, or we used a label gun! I remember once when Tif & I were in there shopping, the assistant manager was using a label gun on stuff, and she stuck a price on Tif as we went by, and Tif was scared as hell of the loud click-clack it made! From then on until she was probably 4, Kathy always chased her with a label gun when we were in!

We had a lot of food stamp customers at that store, and I remember in the summer kids would come in (sent by their parents), and try to buy one pack of Kool-Aid for 17 cents and get the change for their parents, so they could buy cigarettes with the change from a couple packs of Kool-Aid. Wow. Brings all kinds of stuff back!

One afternoon, I was ringing up a customer's stuff, (& probably flirting with him too), my ex-husband's mom & sister came charging in, and both started giving me hell, for what I can't remember, but...they were yelling at me in front of anyone in there "You ruined my son's life!" (hmmm. maybe you shouldve taught your 27 year old son not to get an 18 yr old pregnant?) lol!

Naaahhhh...the customer & the head cashier calmed them down and made them leave. I'm glad, cuz that was before I was a real smartass, & I was shook up, & half crying...then the customer I had been helping smiled and said "Wow. Didja give him aids?" (remember...early 80's...). Man, I was good friends with him forever after that! I even remember, his name was Rhett...and I actually named my Mazda RX-7 that a few years later!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!