Crazy Antics and Dreams

Pet Peeves that IRRITATE Me the MOST

There are many things in life that are just TOO  irritating not to address here and now. Our lives are far too short not to confront these issues that are forced upon us by our inconsiderate fellow human beings.

Check out this list and see if I've included any of your pet peeves.

1. People who spit their used (chewed) chewing gum on the ground where  others can step on the sticky wads as they walk along the parking lot, sidewalks, etc. Since I don't chew gum, I certainly don't want to take used wads of gum home with me!

2. While stopped at a stop light, a vehicle pulls up next to you with a boom box blasting a rap song with more profane words used by all of the sailors in the world in a one year period. Usually, the song can be heard clearly over  your stereo and with the air conditioner on to boot.

3. People who walk their dog(s) past my corner yard and let their dog(s)  take a dump on my grass. I don't let my dogs poop in their yard so I don't want their animals to use my yard as a bathroom!

4. Drivers who don't, or can't, drive the speed limit on the expressway  and/or highway. My pet peeve here is that when I'm driving the legal speed limit and come over a hill only to find a vehicle driving at turtle speed at the bottom of the hill. Can't tell you how many times I've almost plowed into the rear of one of these snails.

5. Waiting in line at the cashier in a grocery store. The wait is longer while a woman with several large diamond rings, designer purse, and expensive  artificial nails uses her W.I.C. coupons and Food Stamp Card to pay for her groceries. To make this an even more irritating pet peeve, I see her loading her groceries into the truck of a Lexus sedan. I wish I could afford such a vehicle and still have John Q Taxpayer buy my groceries!

There are probably numerous other pet peeves that I have missed, but I will try to update these as I collect them. Have a pet peeve free day!

January 2011 is here!

January 2011 is already here and is speeding toward February at warp speed! Hope everyone had a very Happy New Year!

The Christmas Season is Here!

The Christmas Season is here and the shopping frenzy is in full force!

My solution for a stress-free shopping experience is to go online and order gifts from the catalog sites that are out there in cyberspace. The following reasons are why this method is effective:

1) The gasoline savings by not having to travel from mall to mall are noteworthy;

2) Many catalog sites do not charge taxes on your purchases;

3) Shipping fees are often minimal or in some cases free;

4) No wear and tear on you and your shoes from walking from store to store searching for the right gift;

5) You do not have to endure the hassle of the crowds at the malls and stores; and

6) The gifts are delivered to your door.

Now there is one more tip that you may find useful. Start purchasing Christmas gifts during the summer. Buy one or two gifts each week or payday. By doing this you will have finished your Christmas shopping long before Thanksgiving.

Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas Season!

 

Thanksgiving is almost here! Go figure.

As difficult as it is to believe, some stores are already playing Christmas  music and  it's not even Thanksgiving yet!

Time flies fast enough without the merchants putting the pedal to the metal!

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Or, Christmas?

Carved vs. Painted Jack 'O Lanterns

Pumpkins carved into Jack 'O Lanterns is a tradition dating back decades.  Pumpkins painted with scary Jack 'O Lantern faces have also become popular. So, what is your opinion as to which type of Jack 'O Lantern do you prefer?

CARVED PUMPKINS

  

PAINTED PUMPKINS

   

Please share your comments on this issue. Don't forget to click on the black cat!

 

October is My Favorite Month of the Year

The end of September brings not only cooler weather here in south Texas, but it  heralds the arrival of October. Perhaps because I was born during the month of October, I find the feel of the month exciting. Or, it may be that the end of summer is confirmed and winter is approaching quickly. I confess that I love October, especially the 31st; a.k.a. HALLOWEEN! Unfortunately my dogs, Sebastian (L) and Fiona (R), are not excited about Halloween to this day.

Halloween is the one time of year that we adults can "get    away with" wearing costumes. In addition, we usually receive candy and goodies at the parties we attend. What a barrel of fun it is! In the 1990s, I worked at a savings and loan where the employees were allowed to dress in costume on Halloween. Now that was a fun day at work! That's me in my clown costume on the right. 

All Hallows Eve, is what we now call Halloween; and it derives its origins from the Celtic word "Samhain" (pronounced: Sah-win), the original Celtic post-harvest celebration. No matter what we call this holiday, it's a great time to meet people and share a pumpkin or two! P.S. Click on the kitty.

Happy Halloween Memories

The first Halloween that I remember was spent at my Grandmother's house. Both my brother and I helped her to hand out the treats to the kids who visited her front door. Some of the older kids wore very scary masks that terrified me so badly that I still remember how hard it was to fall asleep on the foldout couch in Grandma's living room. To make it worse for a four or five year old girl, it was a full moon that year and the light from the moon lit up the entire room and caused strange shadows to dance across the windows.

Some years later, Halloween had become a fun excursion with the other kids in the  neighborhood. The Halloween outings that I remember the most were long walking trips throughout the four or five blocks where our friends lived. In those days, we knew all of the neighbors on our block as well as most of the families for blocks around. As we grew older, the more far ranging our Trick-or-Tricking took us. During some forays when my brother and I were pre-teens, we would cover the better part of six or seven blocks. The only problem was that our Treat Bags would become so heavy that we'd grudgingly returned home. Still, we loved every minute of the "sugar high" that followed!

A couple of years later, my brother and his friends played tricks on the younger children; draped toilet paper on the trees in the yards; and generally caused mayhem in the neighborhood.

During my high school years, Mom would send me out with our Basset Hound, Sadie,  to escort my two younger sisters and our cousin who lived up the street from us. The girls loved being able to go Trick-or-Treating and Sadie was quite content to tag along as our guard dog. Several of the older women on our block would have homemade goodies for the kids and they always had goodies for me too. Trust me, one lady made the best homemade Divinity I've ever tasted!

Since I was born in October, I seem to have a fondness for this season. I'm also a   fan of costumes and being able to wear funny clothes on Halloween and not be thought of as weird. Well, weirder than I am at times!

Commercial Ads Between and During Shows

There are so many commercial ads between cable shows nowadays. Doesn’t it distract and annoy you when you watch cable television shows? Specifically, I’m speaking about the little ads for other cable shows on the same channel. You know, the little characters that smile and stand next to the title of their show. So now the viewer is subjected to five or more minutes of commercial ads between the show segments and the little ads at the bottom of the screen. In addition, these ads during the shows have become more common and some are larger and more distracting.

Originally, cable channels charged in order to provide more show time and fewer advertisements. What happened to that concept? Just another example of consumers being  ripped off by a service we pay for at a premium price!

Consider this to be my annoying little advertisement. lol! ====>>>

 

Too HOT to Leave Home!

Okay, so here’s how it’s been lately. The late afternoon temperatures have been at least 100º and has gotten as high as 105º or more! You really can cook an egg on the sidewalk with these temperatures! Since the summer heat and I do not get along well, I try to do errands in the early mornings so I’m not in and out of a car that has been sitting in the sun for any length of time. Unfortunately for me, I was out and about to doctors’ appointments the other day. These little trips in the south Texas heat gave me a massive case of heat rash! How bad is it? I’m covered in this itching burning red rash over most of my body and this includes the palms of my hands! I never knew you could have a rash on your palms. Needless to say, I AM staying in the air conditioning for the next several days.

And the file cabinet came falling down!

Long ago in an office that I once entered from time to time, this painful antic occurred. The offices of the asset managers contained solid oak furniture including several four drawer lateral file cabinets. The cabinets were very heavy oak and were able to handle the heavy files that were used on a daily basis.

One of our young asset managers was the guardian of real estate files that I used every day. The first time that I opened the top drawer of one of the cabinets in her office, I noticed that the cabinet rocked forward when the drawer was open. Since the cabinet was supposed to be stable and balanced, I closed the drawer and investigated the problem by opening the bottom drawer. To my dismay, the bottom two drawers were empty. The first thing I did was to inform the asset manager that she needed to rearrange her files. As incredible as it may sound, she informed me that it was easier to get the files out of the upper drawers than the bottom drawers. Apparently, she didn’t want to bend down every time she needed a file. Did I mention that she was a blonde? Also, she had all of her large black binders on top of the cabinet. After her explanation, I returned to my office to continue working.

Not more than a day later, I returned to her office to put some documents on her desk. Before I could turn to leave, the top-heavy cabinet fell forward and pinned me to the front of the desk. As if that wasn’t a bad enough situation, all of the black binders battered my head and shoulders. Being alone in the office and too stunned to shout for help, I was happy to see our mail clerk passing by the office. She sprang into action and went for assistance because she was too petite to lift the cabinet herself. The president of our company was the closest man in our offices so she ran to his door and ordered him to help. He was so stunned to be ordered by the clerk that he just sat at his desk looking at her in disbelief. When he didn’t jump up right away, she ordered him again in a slightly higher voice. Fortunately for me, he left his office and ran after the clerk. By this time our IT manager was walking into our offices and helped the president raise the cabinet off of me and back into place.

Once I was freed from my predicament, I could barely stand so I sat in the nearest chair and cried from the pain and the embarrassment. By that time the entire staff came to the office to find out what the excitement was all about. While they removed all of the files from the cabinet, I tried to compose myself. The funny thing is that my boss, a very nice man indeed, was on the telephone in the adjacent office. He told me that he heard a loud thump, but since he didn’t hear anyone scream he wasn’t concerned.

All in all, I survived this catastrophe; let’s just say that I was badly bruised over eighty-percent of my body. The only good thing that came out of this incident is that all of the cabinets in our offices were inspected for stability.