20-year tag

20 Years Tag

20 years ago I was:
1. Thirty-one years old.
2. Thinking about having another baby.
3. Working nights, weekends and holidays as a pharmacy technician.
4. Still getting perms.
5. Gardening up a storm
6. Teaching Katie to read and chasing a toddler.

10 years ago I was:
1. Forty-one years old.
2. Changing jobs from pharmacy to sales rep for a wholesaler.
3. So depressed I could hardly breathe.
4. Worried about Dylan being off track alone.
5. Running carpools and going to the kids' ball games and school activities.
6. Very involved as a volunteer at the elementary school.

5 years ago I was:
1. Forty-six years old.
2. Newly divorced and petrified of not being able to survive financially.
3. Working two jobs--one at the prison and the other at the rec center.
4. Starting to date.
5. Working out a lot and losing weight.
6. Breaking up fights between my two boys.

3 years ago I was:
1. Forty-nine years old.
2. Beginning and ending relationships.
3. Still working two jobs.
4. Traveling to New York and Washington D.C.
5. Really enjoying my children.
6. Discovering the joys of hiking.

1 year ago I was:
1. Fifty years old.
2. Engaged to be married.
3. Taking moonlight hikes at Bryce Canyon.
4. Still working two jobs.
5. Trying to get rid of junk.
6. Making a lot of car trips to the Ogden area.

So far this year I have:
1. Been dreadfully unhappy for a time, but am greatly improved!
2. Started ending my marriage.
3. Started working more hours at the gym again and overtime at the prison.
4. Painted my bedroom and purchased new furniture.
5. Started online banking, using an Ipod and blogging in earnest.
6. Dyed my hair at home for the first time ever (thanks to Bug).

Yesterday I:
1. Went to work as always. Worked extremely hard to get things ready for the new quarter and school year which begins Tuesday.
2. Left work early to meet my friend, Shirley, for lunch.
3. Made Rice Krispy treats for Dylan and his friends.
4. Did laundry.
5. Pulled mountains of weeds.
6. Played catch with a mitt for the firt time in my life (thanks to Dylan). It was fun!

Today I:
1. Showered twice because I couldn't get my hair right. I tried to rinse it in the sink, but it got all over my face and ruined my makeup.
2. Worked at the gym.
3. Talked to a couple of people about do-it-yourself divorces.
4. Went to WalMart and Home Depot.
5. Got online to register for credit reporting. My U of U Healthcare records were among those stolen.
6. Pulled another mountain of weeds.

Tomorrow I:
1. Will work at the gym from 7 am to noon.
2. Will meet Nadia for lunch.
3. Plan to go to Target and Barnes & Noble.
4. Want to start painting my closet doors.
5. Want to mow the back lawn and pull another mountain of weeds.
6. Plan to go to the Water Conservancy District demo gardens to get ideas. I would love to start xeriscaping portions of my yard.

In the Next Year I:
1. Hope to be divorced and have a new life.
2. Plan to work very hard toward paying off the house.
3. Will drive as little as possible.
4. Will try to be a good mom to my wonderful children.
5. Would like to take a simple trip somewhere.
6. Would like to have a small garden.

Wow!!! That was hard!!!!

I will tag my sister Claudia.

The Mystery of the Missing Soap

A few months ago I bought some dishwashing soap to keep at work. It was very fragrant and actually had an air freshener at the bottom of the container. Everyone enjoyed having it in the rest room. I always eat breakfast at work and often lunch. I keep a few basic dishes and utensils there for my use. Keep in mind that we do not have a break room. I almost always eat at my desk and wash my dishes in the staff rest room. I put the soap in the rest room so that others could use it, too. Well, I went to use it today and voila, it's gone. Disappeared. No where to be found. Immediately you would think a thieving inmate took it. But we keep the staff restroom locked. That means an employee took it. One of our officers went looking for it in areas where known thieving officers reside, but to no avail. We think someone took a fancy to it and took it home. Brother!!!!!! If you can't trust corrections officers, who can you trust???? It was not a huge loss and can be easily replaced, but it puts a damper on your good feelings about your fellow man. :o( And I place my life and safety in their hands every day. hahaha Other things that have come up missing are a toaster, a large jug of Mt. Olympus water for our cooler, many food items, radio batteries, entire computers and printers, etc. Amazing isn't it?

Here's another amazing phenomenon. Have you ever noticed that if you ever lose anything, the best way to find it is to buy a replacement? My sunglasses have been missing for weeks. I had looked everywhere. I finally caved in and bought some on Saturday. Well, lo and behold, guess what I found today? My sunglasses. I was vacuuming my car. They were under the front passenger seat. They were just far enough under that they could not be easily reached or seen. I was happy to find them--having a second pair is always good. But it's still a little bit annoying. Does anyone else experience this as often as I do???

I'm happy to say that I was able to repair my broken disposal. It was all jammed up on Sunday, and I couldn't get it unjammed, even by using the little allen wrench. I found the owner's manual and was going to read up on how to take the thing apart. I was not looking forward to the prospect because I knew it was going to be stinky and slimy! GAG!!! I had not yet had time to read up on it yesterday. I was cleaning up the kitchen and that side of the sink was draining so slowly. I figured someone had put food down there so I reached inside once again to clear out any food that might be sitting in there. Disgusting job. Low and behold, I felt something long and skinny poking out of one of the edges. I wiggled it around and it broke free. It was a two-inch screw! What was a two-inch screw doing wedged in my disposal???? It's a mystery to me. But all's well that ends well. I hit the reset button on the bottom of the appliance and it runs like a charm!!! What a relief!!!

Tonight I edged the front lawn and also got the weed wacker running. I was able to trim around the sprinklers. Hopefully they will be a little more efficient now. Now I need to really start tackling my weed problem. I just can't seem to find enough hours in the week to get everything done. My closet doors are STILL waiting to be painted. And it's driving me crazy. I am planning to take a couple of days off before the 4th of July. Perhaps I'll get to it then, unless I get called in to work at the gym. I volunteered my services on those two days.

Work is insane and I have aready put in about 4.5 hours of overtime this week. Our clearance process has changed and I can no longer generate a clearance from our database. It has to be manually entered into an Excel spreadsheet. Most of our students will have to be entered on this spreadsheet at least 12 times, some of them up to 26 times. Multiply that by about 150 students and you can see what a job it's going to be. Thank goodness we are running a small program during July. Maybe I'll figure out some things to make it a little easier.

Well, I've bored you with enough of the mundane things that make up my life. Maybe the next few days will bring more exciting entries.

Spontaneous Adventures Rock

I can't say enough about spontaneous adventures. I had one today that I wouldn't trade for anything! So much for all the "chores" I wanted to do today! Ehhh, they'll be waiting for me another day.......

I got a phone call from Bug (Katie) this morning. She asked if I wanted to go get some breakfast. I said sure, and we hooked up at Kneaders for a croissant breakfast sandwich. Afterward we went to Target where I needed to shop for a couple of items. We also went to Ross and tried on about 30 different things. If you ever want to really enjoy shopping, go with Katie. She's a scream! On our way back to the car, Katie noticed the halo of gray hair emanating from my scalp. She suggested that we go back into Target and get a box of hair dye. I have always had it done by a professional, so I kind of recoiled. But next thing you know, we were in my bathroom dying each other's hair (we were actually highlighting her hair). I was petrified!!! But you know, it actually turned out alright! After we were finished, she styled it too. Man, I was in heaven!!!!

We ended up spending nearly the entire day together--and what a treat that was for me!!!

I did get a few things on my list accomplished today. I filled up my car and the gas cans, did most of the laundry, dragged the hose around, paid bills and did paperwork, and visited with my friend Elisabeth who has been so sick.

It has been a lovely day. Thanks, Bug, for sharing it with me! :o)

Oh, and by the way, Katie decided she had to know what famous people I looked like. So take a gander at the little clip on the right. The picture of me morphs into someone very famous. I would never have guessed we looked anything alike. You be the judge. But just so you know, the website that sponsors that little "morph" also thought I looked like Heather Locklear, Emma Thompson, and even ALEC BALDWIN!!! YIKES!!!!! Shoot me now!!! hahaha

Let me know what you think.....

Cool Adventures

I've been having such grand adventures!!! You will laugh when you hear them and wonder that I am so easily entertained.

First of all, with the onset of much warmer weather, we found it necessary to get the old swamper up and running. We had a few VERY warm nights in the house when we found it difficult to sleep. So, up onto the shed roof I went to get started. I was able (with Dan's help) to get the panels off, the pads pulled and and replaced and things put back together. I must say that I always put this chore off because there is ALWAYS something that has to be replaced or repaired. This year was no different. This time it was the drain. I worked on it for a good half hour before my neighbor took pity on me and came to see if he could help. He had trouble with it, too. But we finally got it fixed. We filled it and it was running beautifully. Later, after it was dark, I heard water POURING from the drain. My other neighbor heard it too and called me. I shut the water supply off and left it for another day. I knew that it was a "float" problem.

This evening I got back up there and immediately discovered the problem. The float is very close to the front panel of the cooler. When I put the panel on last night, it caused the float to get stuck and not rise and turn off the water supply. So, the silly thing overflowed. I was able to bend the float the other direction. And Hallelujah!!! We have it running. In fact, I just had to close my bedroom doors because I'm FREEZING!!!! And we did it all with only ONE trip to Home Depot!

So now, you know a whole lot more than you ever wanted to know about swamp coolers!!! I figured if I have to know, so do you!

I went to a cooking class this week (a Mother's Day gift from Dylan.) It was a Summer Salads class, and I really enjoyed it. I learned a few new things and left absolutely stuffed with delicious salads. First of all I learned that if you have arthritis or gout, you should not eat lentils. They cause those diseases to flare up. I guess this applies to all legumes, but lentils are the worst offenders. I also learned that when you're grilling steak, if you try to turn it over and it sticks to the grill, that means "leave me alone." It's just not ready to turn. Don't turn it over until it pulls away from the grill easily. One of the garnishes they used on the steak salad was little tiny julienned pieces of fresh ginger. I mean tiny--smaller than toothpicks. You fry them in a little olive oil then drain them on a paper towel. And my favorite thing was a garnish he prepared for a Ceasar Salad. He grated some Asiago cheese and covered the bottom of a saute pan--maybe 8 inches. He cooked the cheese until it started to turn golden brown around the edges and was dry. He then slid the cheese out of the pan and put it on top of an inverted bowl. When the cheese cooled, it was like a little bowl. You serve these "bowls" with the salad. You crumble the cheese and put it on top. Yummy stuff!!!!!

I have the day off tomorrow. YIPPPEEEE!!!! I have SO many things I'd like to accomplish. I need to clean up some big tool and paint supplies messes in the kitchen, do laundry, do paperwork, go to Sears, visit my ailing friend Elizabeth, do yard work, paint my closet doors, go to Barnes and Noble, wash and vacuum my car, clean the bathroom, drag the hose around, rob a bank so I can fill my gas tank and the gas cans, get my sweaters back on my shelves, shampoo carpet, and more. Do you think I can get it all done?????? Probably not. But it will all be waiting for me on another day. I will certainly not be in danger of being bored. I am taking a couple of vacation days in early July, so I hope to make some real progress in the coming weeks.

Wow, where does the time go? It's nearly midnight. I am so happy to be able to turn off the alarm clock and sleep until my body wants to wake up. Of course, that will probably be 5 am! Argh.

G'night all.

I know -- it's about time I posted

It's about time for another post, I suppose. Katie has posted at least my last two blogs. I don't know why I don't do this more often, other than the fact that I am truly the most boring person on the planet and have nothing to say that would be of interest to anyone else!

So I'll catch you up on a bunch of not much that's been happening in my life:

1. More hours of work. I have picked up more hours at my second job to help me pay for gas and other things affected by the price of gas. I am now working every Sunday and the 2nd and 4th Saturday mornings of the month. I am still working the Friday shift every week. This means I have two Saturdays off during the month. It's kind of a rough schedule, but it won't be forever, I hope. The upside is that it is an easy, brainless job; and I have met so many nice people that I get to visit with every week! :o)

2. Prison graduation. We had our graduation ceremony at the prison. We topped our record and awarded 270 high school diplomas this year. This is really amazing because we had so many changes in requirements this year. The ceremony was great; however, I nearly froze to death.

3. Bedroom progress. I continue to make a little progress on my bedroom every week. I am trying to find some time to paint my closet doors and hang pictures, etc., on the walls. Otherwise, it is mostly completed. I'm really enjoying it and love having my clothes out of boxes and into drawers and closets again. :o)

4. Green grass. My lawn looks better than it ever has before. I think part of it is the cool, damp spring we've had. The other part is having a lawn care company come to apply fertilizer and weed killer on a regular basis. It has been a challenge keeping it mowed--it grows so fast. And it doesn't help when someone vandalizes your mower. I'm happy to say that the mischievious trick was easily reversed and it's running better than ever.

5. I LOVE SPRING!!!!!

6. Tomato plants. Mom gave me three tomato plants this year. One of them actually has blossoms on it, and I'm so thrilled. It's been several years since I grew anything in the garden. I truly love puttering in the soil, but my time has just been so limited in recent years. It is my dream to get back to it before too many years pass.

7. Goodbye big red purse. The red minivan that Dylan has been driving finally gave up the ghost. The transmission finally blew up. I was able to find a buyer that gave me $200 for it and towed it away. I drove a lot of carpools in that van, and both Katie and Dylan depended on it for years. I realize it was kind of embarrassing for them, but it was "wheels." So farewell, good friend. Sniff.

8. Car shopping. I spent some time car shopping with Dylan. We needed to get him into something quickly. It took about a week, but we finally found a cute little 2005 Suzuki Forenza. He's really enjoying it and it's a relief not to be worrying about him getting stranded somewhere.

9. Baseball game. I finally got to go to a baseball game!!!!! I went with Katie and Troy. It turns out a good friend of mine was there, and I ended up sitting with him while K & T sought out her friends and coworkers. The Bees lost that night, but it was delightful anyway. I so love baseball.

10. The Scottish Festival. I went with a couple of friends to the annual Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We watched the Highland Games, ate junk food, got sunburned even with sunblock, wandered among the booths and listened to a lot of good music. If you want a sample of the band we heard, go to You Tube and type in Wicked Tinkers. They are what you might call the hard rock of traditional Scottish music with bagpipes, drums and even a digeridoo. There's actually one of their numbers on my playlist. You'll love em, I promise.

11. Father's Day. I truly have the best dad in the whole universe. He is truly the one man in my life that I have always been able to count on. He is ALWAYS there for me, cheering me on, whether I deserved it or not. I was not having a good day yesterday (Father's Day). His big hug brought me so much comfort. Add to that the fact that he and mom drove clear out here last night to help me figure out my lawn mower situation. He helped me drain the mower of its tainted gas, and it fired right up. I was in a near panic because the mower was broken and my lawn was halfway to my knees. Thanks, dad, for rescuing me once again. I love you bunches.

Well, I think I had better sign off. Tomorrow is trash pickup and I need to go fill up those cans and then get to bed. I truly do intend to get better about this. I'll try to find some things to make my life a little more exciting so I have something to write about. haha

I love you all.......