Does it work?

Last month I bought a Strivectin starter kit from QVC. The fella making the pitch said to take a photo of your face before using the product, then take a photo a month later. You'll see dramatic results.

I took the photo on October 11. Today, November 10, I took another photo. If anything, my face is more red, and still as wrinkled. Pfffft.

A few years back I used a similar product called Strixaderm. Stinks to high heaven, but I liked it better. I sold it in the vitamin store, and I could see improvement in the faces of the ladies who bought & used it. Even my DM used it, and her skin improved, particularly around the eyes.

I'll finish up my Strivectin and see if anything happens. Maybe I'll get some more Strixaderm.

This was in my mailbox last week.....I'm so impressed that the post office could deliver it with those black blotches on it. :P

The package came from Autumn Leaves, who latched on to my comment that I would love to have a calorimetry. She picked out some awesome yarn that goes beautifully with my casual jacket (as if I had a dressy jacket!), and I'm just pleased as punch to finally have this cool head gear that won't smash my buns. OK, guys, that's Hair-Do Buns, not those Other Buns.
Sherry also made a matching scarf, which I love! My scarf that I've worn for, oh, 15 years or more is really long and hangs out from under this jacket. My new one is just the right length to tuck inside without dangling ends. Very smart thinker, that Sherry!

Laurel has already threatened to take it away from me. I'll be guarding my new bonnet and scarf very closely.

Work continues to be work. I can see that Mata Hari is going to find opportunities to insult/embarass me in front of groups of coworkers. I find lots of mistakes that she makes in the paperwork, and in the past I've just corrected it and gone on. It's all getting documented, now, just in case my annual review comes around and I'm told that I don't play nic

I'm off to bed. Later!

Somebody Sent Me A Present!

And as soon as this jackhammer leaves my head, I'll show you what it is! (wink!)

How to Make an Ugly Pie

Ingredients:
Two Pet Ritz deep dish pie shells
One can of store-bought apple pie filling (don't use the brand pictured... it tastes flat)
Domestic utensils

Using your Kitchen Aid can opener (available at Taget stores across the nation), open your can of apple pie filling.

Yummy.

Using your Kitchen Aid spatula (available a Target stores across the country), scrape those yummy, soggy apples into the pre-prepared pie shell.


Be sure to scrape all of that tasty jelly stuff out of the can.

Oops! Doesn't quite fill that deep dish shell. Hmmmm.... Guess it'll have to do.

Next, you want to use the other pre-prepared frozen pie crust to make the top of the pie. Very carefully attempt to remove the now-softened pie crust from the aluminum pie tin.
When you can't get it out.....


Have a hissy fit, wad it up, and throw it back into the pie tin.
Don't forget to call it a few names.
After you calm down, turn the soggy crust out onto a floured surface, pat it into a reasonable piece of dough, and cut it into haphazard strips for lattice crust.
You now have an ugly pie ready to bake.
Want to try to make it look cute?
Add some sprinkles!

Even though the kitties want to help, don't let them. All they do is make messes.

Put some foil around the edge of the crust so it doesn't burn. Oopsie! I forgot to do this.
Bake it at a nice, pie-baking temperature for however long it takes to get done.

Ta-Da!
Ugly Apple Pie!

That's All, Folks!

Cultured Head Bangers

I haven't particularly enjoyed the trend that music has taken over the past 20 years. Having grown up listening to what is now considered "classic" rock, I've really gotten tired of listening to the same old Aerosmith cd's. Hubby is more into metal... I like the instrumentals but not the singing. It's just a little too monotone for this former student of classical music.

Last week, as I was listening to the random selections of music at Amazon - you know, the "people who bought this cd also bought...." suggestions - when I discovered symphonic metal. Oh, Em Gee! I'm hooked!

What I hate about it is that it apparently hasn't caught on in this country - we're still grunting and moaning and rapping. All the selections I saw were from Europe.

This is one of my favorites. I bought one of their cd's and will probably buy more. It's heavy metal with class.

Ouch! That Knife Wound Hurts!

I got the call today: "Debbie, [the boss] wants to see us in his office."

I met my coworker in the penthouse, where the boss proceeded to lecture us on attitude and the importance of all the meetings we have to attend in order for the business to become accredited, and how he'd been told we were complaining about having to attend said meetings.

WT...?

"Exactly who told you I was complaining about attending the meetings?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, it was an email," he replied. OK. I get it now.

If ever I wanted to cuss at work, today was the day. Ya see, we had the first of the monthly mandatory meetings last month, and it was a free-for-all. It was combined with a potluck luncheon, and at the appointed meeting time, everyone was still playing with their food. The meeting started 45 minutes late, there was no organization, people kept laughing and talking out of turn... In short, it was a circus.

When the memo came 'round for this months meeting, I replied, "Could we have an agenda this time, and maybe play with food afterwards so the meeting could start on time? Last month was a little frustrating." Did that sound like, "I don't want to attend this meeting?" Seriously, if I'm going to waste my time, I want it to be doing what I want to do! Ain't no fun sitting in a conference room, hungry, smelling roasting chicken.

Here's a bit of a scenic detour -

The gal who is putting these meetings together has a reputation for being a back-stabber. I've played nice with her, listened to her complain about every other person in the building, and was sympathetic when she gritched (gripe & bitch) about new hires being told that she was difficult to work with. She's different, but I had no gripe with her.

Yeah, well, that changed today. I'll still play nice, as I don't want her to be able to say I'm showing her ill will. Now I know, though, that she can't be trusted. The boss understood, and actually apologized for jumping on us without getting all the facts from Mata Hari.

Now, back onto the main road-

As for the other girl who got called in - her infraction against Mata was even less offensive than mine. But during our lecture, I heard her sniffle. That's all it took for my eyes to run over. I think that was more painful than being stabbed in the back.

I do so love working in an office full of women!

Oh, I still forgot to get cat litter. At this point, it's getting serious.

The Artist's Rendition

If you haven't been to iowntheworld, you really should stop by.

How I spent my Tuesday: finished the sales tax submission, cleaned up the report data, started on new reports due Thursday, forgot to go buy cat litter. I really, really hate it when I forget to buy cat litter. We had burgers and chips for dinner, La & I got the kitchen all cleaned up, wiped down, dishes loaded in the dishwasher and started, floor swept, and we watched today's intallment of Y&R.

I cannot beeleeeve Nick and Phyllis are selling the magazine to Billy.

This is starting to sound like a blog post at LHC. I just need to post how much medicine I took and how much I exercised, and I'll be there.

4 Advil, a.m. & p.m., zero exercise, unless you count up & down the stairs three times at work.

Oh, yeah, WO, air dry, pony tail.

OK, well, I have now totally wasted your time, so I'll go to bed. :)

Office Politics

I tried to stay out of it, but someone decided it was time I got dragged thru the mud.

Last week, I was helping Hubby with some programming work, something that is defined in my job description. To do this, I go across the street where he is. The witch queen of the office decided I had no business doing what I was doing, so she text'd/called The Boss and told him I was needed in my office. Boss text'd Hubby and told him I was needed in my office.

Excuse me? The woman is not part of my department nor does she have any say over what I do. Hubby was livid. I'm not too happy, myself. I'm a big girl and don't need her telling me what to do.

I returned to my cave like a good little worker drone where I sat for three hours before I had anything to do.

Total stupid jealousy. I'm not playing that game.

The daughter and I did some sightseeing this afternoon.
I miss the hills around Tulsa, but this is a completely different kind of beauty.

IRS Time

It is I, the Great Procrastinator, putting off filing my taxes for another night. I'll be sitting here at midnight on October 15th, trying to get the darned thing to go thru. That will be the night the internet crashes.

I only had an extra six months to file.

Know what's great about filing an extension? You get to enjoy the stress of tax filing twice in one year! Glutton for punishment, I am.

Laurel and I went for a walk in the mist this evening. It was a pleasant stroll, not too cool, not too rainy, but my glasses got all water-spotted, and then it was hard to see.

Boss is hiring more people and looking for ways to condense employees. All I can say is, I am too fat to be condensed, and I'm too cranky to spend my days living with another woman. I fear the consequence if someone decides I have to share my cave.

Sunday, Sunday

There are not enough days in the weekend, nor enough hours in the weekend days. I spend what seems like and entire day hunting and foraging in the local wilderness called WalMart. Then next day I spend carrying clothes down to the river to beat them with a rock, just so we can get them dirty all over again. Tomorrow I go back to the salt mill for another five days, and the cycle repeats itself, over and over and over.

I really hate being tethered to an office. I really wonder if this was my calling, or if some time ago I had my music turned up to loud and missed the announcement that I was to be the next Florence Nightengale.

My very personal opinion is that most women hate the office tether. While the post-modernistic society would have us believe that we love the daily corporate grind and would be most depressed if our tether was to the kitchen cooking for our men, I do heartily disagree. I would love to be a full time homebody. I think my full and entire reason for being 100+ pounds over weight is because I hate the direction my life has gone (this does not include the hubby and daughter) and for the past 25 years I have found solace in Doritos and salsa.

Unfortunately for me, I also found solace in plastic, and now I have to work or file bankruptcy, and the latter is not an option.

So, enough pissin' and moanin'. I am in this 40-ft-deep rut by my own doing.


Breakfast!

I love breakfast. I spend most of Saturday & Sunday mornings cooking breakfast. Sometimes it's just sausage and eggs. Other times I go all out. This morning I made a breakfast casserole.

Remember when Bisquick's impossible pies were popular? I'm assuming they aren't advertised any more (but since the extent of my commercial tv viewing is one or two programs played back on the dvr - commercials skipped - I couldn't swear to it). I think the whole impossible pie concept is marvelous. A creative cook can whip up any number of International impossible pies with just a box of Bisquick, a couple of eggs, a little milk, and whatever ingredients you want to toss in the baking dish.

This morning we had sausage, ham, onions, and cheddar cheese, baked up golden brown, topped with more cheddar, and browned nicely.

Top it up with a little sour cream and salsa, and Yum!
Hubby would probably have preferred cinnamon rolls or doughnuts, but I'm just not much of a pastry person.

Want to know what I've done with that plastic lately? I bought a new coffee machine so Hubby could take the old one to work. They're not a coffee pot on his side of the street, and he's severely caffeine deprived.

I also replace my dead Oster mixer. This little puppy is great. It doesn't fit under the dad-gummed cabinet, however, so I don't know where I'm going to keep it!

I've made progress on the sewing room. I've unpacked four or five boxes of fabric, along with a few boxes of plain-ol' assorted junk. I still have fabric in boxes, so I hope it'll all fit in the cabinets.

It's probably getting time to start sewing and stop buying. I'm not to the point of hoarding, but, by golly, I certainly love to go fabric shopping!

On the work front, I managed to make it thru a billing cycle without any major blunders this month. I'm still slow, but considering I goofed up some stuff last month by trying to be speedy, I figured slow is better. One of the other girls in accounting kept asking me if she could help me with anything. I was floored that she was finished with her accounts and had time to work on mine. I finally asked her how she got everything out so fast, and she told me she has no accounts to bill. She only helps everyone else. What a load off that was!

It's cold and we don't have heat yet. This house has a gas furnace and I want it checked out before we light it - also want to get an CO detector. The house at the farm has electric heat, so all we had to do was flip a switch, smell the dust burn off the heating elements, and listen to the smoke alarm for half an hour or so. After that, we had heat.

I think it's time to set up the space heater so the bedrooms will be warm for night.

TTFN.

It's been difficult to find something interesting about which to blog. I'm tethered to my little office at the end of the hall where no one bothers me... and where I seldom receive visitors.... so 45 hours of my week is not worthy of blogging.

The rest is occupied with meals, laundry, and sleeping. Oh, yeah, DVR'd episodes of The Young & The Restless.

Not much exciting going on these days.

I did order a swimsuit so we could take advantange of the YMCA membership which I've now paid for three months and never used. Laurel is after me to take her swimming, the ideal exercise for rebuilding after her dance injuries. I'm not very keen on pouring my lumpy white potato belly into a swim suit, and I'm less keen on exposing my dented and sagging lower appendages. I'm not sure if I can swim in my bath robe, but I'm certainly giving it thought.

We had grand plans to walk in the evenings, too. Let me tell ya, I'm just too danged lazy to get up off the couch. Sitting in an office chair is hard work, and I'm pooped when I get home. Seriously - my feet hurt. I don't know if they still think they've been stood upon for 8 hours as they had been before... I think it's odd that I'm as tired as I was when I had to stand all day. It must be all that physical activity required to run that scanner 8 hours a day.

Hubby has a date with a flight instructor to go up on an introductory ride tomorrow morning. He's wanted to get his pilot's license for longer than I've known him. Boss has planes, and part of the moving incentive was that Hub gets to learn to fly. I'm excited for him. I'm not so excited to think that he will expect me to go riding around with him once he gets his license. I prefer to keep my feet fairly close to the ground, thank you very much.

Gotta hit the sack before my HeMan comes to see why I'm still up.

One Pictures Worth A Thousand Words

SO freakin' glad we homeschool!

This was filmed around June 19, 2009 at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, NJ

Lyrics
========
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said that all must lend a hand [?]
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be clear today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said Red, Yellow, Black or White
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
Yes
Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

segue to

Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all [do? doth??] say "hooray!"
Hooray Mr. President! You're number one!
The first Black American to lead this great na-TION!
Hooray, Mr. President something-something-some
A-something-something-something-some economy is number one again!
Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And the same for all Americans [in?] the great Red White and Blue!
So something Mr. President we all just something-some,
So here's a hearty hip-hooray a-something-something-some!
Hip, hip hooray! (3x)


Excuse me now while I go lose my breakfast.

Found this incredible piece of art at the forge. I think I'll have a portrait made to hang over the gaping yaw fireplace.

Speaking of the yaw, remember it? Hubby dubbed it the gaping yaw, and the name stuck. It's pretty gaping and bleak.

I've been hanging on to the old gas heater from the original house at the farm for years. I never had a place to put it, but now it lives in the gaping yaw.
Laurel says this thing is so ugly. I think it's way cool.


Going back to the farm now means the tedious chore of sorting through junk and trash, sleeping on the floor, and eating pop tarts and PB&J sandwiches. We still haven't talked to the neighbors about buying the place. I have a feeling they'll turn it down. We'll then have to paint, replace flooring, and make the yard pretty in order to sell. Man, I really don't want to go through all that, one weekend at a time.

We made the next-to-last Driller game last weekend. They advertised a magnanamous fantasmagorical fireworks show. I couldn't tell that it was so bigger and better than the others, but it was still fireworks!Work is plugging along. I sit in my office at the end of the hall, no one bothers me, everyone ignores me, I've even gotten locked in a couple of times. Yep, the last key holder leaves without clearing the building, and I'm still there. I'm not technically locked in, but I can't dead bolt the door from the outside, so I have to call someone to come back and lock up again. Now, who knows whether they actually come back. At that point, it's not my problem.

I'm dying to hit a fabric store and drop some dollars on pretty colors. I was gonna call Aunt Jo tonight to see what she was doing this weekend, and again, I let time slip by and it's too late (by my mother's rules, which were pounded into me relentlessly during my youth).

Whirlwind

What a month it's been! It's certainly different being in an office as opposed to working from home. Mainly: I have no free time! Weekends are usually spent going back to the farm to clean and pack up more junk. Weeknights are usually gone once dinner is eaten and the kitchen cleaned up. It's really an adjustment. My social life is suffering!

Monthly billing was the event of this last week. Long hours and lots of time staring at the computer screen. I never dreamed it could be as tiring as it was, but I was in bed asleep before 9 more than once this week. I had planned to call Aunt Jo to see if she'd like to go garage saleing tomorrow. Here it is, 9:30 p.m., and I've yet to make the call.

Whiiiiiiiine!

In all, I enjoy the job. When I started last month, I did billing for one pharmacy and it took the entire week. This month I did billing for two, the second being larger, and I did it in three days. Yippee!

Tomorrow I get to stay home - no trips to the farm. Sunday we're going back for the Driller's next-to-last game and the final uber-mega-spectacular fireworks show ever at Driller Stadium. We'll come back Monday, after I have lunch with a good friend from college. Last time we got together, I was pregnant with the 18-year-old princess. Yep, it's been a while, and we only lived an hour from each other.

Kit's doing great. After that one night that we thought she was a goner, she rallied and has become quite a chunky monkey. She's been introduced to the other cats and they get along better than I expected.

My cats who would not stay inside at the farm now refuse to go outside. Lucky will go out for five minutes, then has had enough. They're all a bunch of wuss cats.