a clean apartment is a wonderful thing

Well, Dave and I broke down (in light of the horrible asthma attacks this fall and last fall) and hired Dave's previous housecleaning service. They came today (two of them for the first time) and cleaned the whole apartment, top to bottom. Wow, it feels so good. They will be coming every other week, and I have to believe that my asthma will be getting better real fast. I already am feeling a little better. I know it is a little more expensive to have someone else clean my apartment, but it is better than me spending money going to the doctor.

Little Sister/Big Sister

Being a big sister can be a big responsibility. But I don't remember ever really having to do much as a big sister. My sister and brother were fairly self-sufficient, and didn't need me to help them. Plus, I have a terrible memory. I do remember when I was six and my sister was five that I had to walk home from school with her. As we grew up, Cindi and I were either pals or enemies. As we got older, we developed different interests and went off in different directions. I know I was fairly insecure for much of my life and felt that my little sister was more domineering and self-assured. I was even a little jealous of her. For many years now, I have not felt that sisterly relationship that I am sure we had at one time. Distance and busy lives make it easy to not even think about it. But 47 years later, I had the chance to be the big sister again. And it felt good. My sister was sleighted by someone and it hurt her feelings. I had the chance to say something to the other person in defense of my sister. What surprised me was how this affected me and my sister. Cindi called to thank me for sticking up for her and being her big sister. I was very touched by her words. It felt very good to be the big sister again.

I don't tell my brother or sister enough that I love them, but I do. So I hope they are reading this.

Email the service men/women overseas

I just sent an email to all the service men in the Army. I went to http://operationdearabby.net and there you can send a email for free to any service branch. I think this is very cool. I plan to send emails throughout the year. I feel very strongly that whether the war is right or wrong, it is important to the morale of the troops that they do not feel like they are alone over there.

Sparky, the lovebird

Our child, Sparky, is sick. He has a bladder infection. He is to get two drops of antiobiotics twice a day for 10 days. Luckily, the vet said that otherwise, he seemed to be pretty healthy. I had noticed that it looked like Sparky had blood in his urine and he was acting a little different, wanting to be in his cage even when we were watching TV. Just seemed a little lethargic. So I am glad I took him to the vet today......don't want the bladder infection to turn into kidney failure or anything like that.

The vet also said that there is a thing called allergy relief for birds that should help with my asthma. You wipe the bird down with it.

I cleaned the apartment pretty good and plan on not having Sparky out of his cage most of the day (instead of him sitting on my shoulder while I work). I have asked Dave to keep Sparky out of the bedroom if at all possible. I still have to find a cleaning lady to come to clean twice a month and possibly buy a humdifier for the bedroom.

Water, and other little things

Kari, I am drinking more water and hardly any soda. You will be proud of me. I have to counter act the prednisone that I am taking by trying to really lose some weight. The prednisone is going to give me a puffy face and make me look like I have gained, but I hope to not gain, and even lose a little.

Thank you Mindy

Mindy, thanks to your EasyGiftExchange idea I am all done with Xmas shopping and can relax. It feels so good.

Dave has taken care of New Years Eve......we are giving ourselves a gift of a romantic night at the Sheraton, champagne, evening snack, breakfast in bed, free movie. Just my kind of party.

Okay, okay, I give up, I have asthma

Yep, asthma supposedly is what is causing my "illness". Crud. I am fighting the fact that I have asthma. I have to start making major changes in my living area to prevent me from not being able to control the asthma.

Here is the list:

• Get rid of the lovebird (not going to happen)
• Okay, then decrease amount of time spent with lovebird.
• Clean apartment so that it is very clean (yeah, right) -
• Someone other than me has to vacuum weekly (I have purchased face masks to wear so that I can vacuum and will look into hiring a cleaning lady)
• No curtains (nope, don't have any)
• No carpets (cannot remove carpets in apartment - have to move)
• No feather pillows (we have two; mine has a plastic cover and a cotton zippered cover and Dave's has two cotton covers.)
• Change sheets weekly (well, I will certainly try)
• Take all medications - advair, singular, claritin, flonase, astelin, prednisone (for 10 days), sudafed

I am going to clean the bedroom today (real good and use my face mask). As Joanie, Kari and Mindy know, this will involve probably rearranging the bedroom, and as Joanie knows, that will "bother" Dave. But I know that the bedroom is very dusty and the only way to decrease that is to move furniture, therefore, I might as well rearrange. I will let you know how I do.

_______________________________

Well, the bedroom is clean and I didn't rearrange anything. It is so small that there isn't any real good way to position things.

Tommorrow I will try to tackle the office. I will see if I can get Dave to vacuum the front room and hallway.

I am learning the art of pacing myself.

Dave and I are going to pick a 3.95 movie to watch on cable. Cheaper than going out or renting one.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

free time

It looks like this weekend we do not have anything scheduled. Oh my....what will I do. Nevermind, don't answer that. I know what we will do.....NOTHING.

I thought of something the other day......I tend to live in the moment a lot of the time. If the doctor asks me how I feel. I tell him how I am feeling at that moment. The problem with that is that I probably was feeling rotten for days before that. I find that I rally and feel better when I am out and about and around people. I think it is a survival mechanism inherent to all animals and humans. You don't want to be perceived as weak or ill. I can usually make myself "feel" a little better for short periods of time. But even more than that, if anyone asks me how I am doing, the answer is always how I am doing at that very moment. I could be having a horrible day, but then one good thing happens to me and then someone asks me how I am doing, it will be, Great!

Weird.

Cathy Bates

Do I look like Cathy Bates? Someone told me that I did. But I want to know which movie?

Shopping

We had a great time shopping with Mom Joanie last Sunday.

Dad in WWII

I am having a fun time. My dad has a computer. He is slowly learning how to use it. He can receive email and send emails (doesn't know how to reply yet). I am sending him links to look at on the internet of his wartime experiences. He was in the 503rd infantry when they landed on Corregidor. He was a parachuter. Here is a picture that I believe is him. He is the eighth one from the left on the 1st row.

The weekend so far

I took my daughter's advice and "puttered" yesterday. I thought I wouldn't be able to because Dave was home and he usually has something planned for us. He wanted to write a couple of articles for the website. I was able to take my time and vacuum and dust and reorganize a little bit the living and dining rooms. I still have more to do, but feel better that I accomplished that much. I was even able to watch two Lifetime movies. Something that is unheard of when Dave is home. He is better at realizing that I need to watch my programs sometimes.

We then went out to eat and did some shopping for Xmas gifts. I am way ahead of schedule on buying gifts for Xmas. This is because of my daughter's wonderful idea to use EasyGiftExchange. I used to have such a problem trying to find something to buy for my sons-in-law and my children, not knowing what they have already and what they want.

I am an idiot

Just thought I would confirm what everyone suspected. Yes, I am a dumb blonde.

Proof: I took more than 100 pictures at the MAC Championship game. (Did anyone watch? Did you see me on the sidelines?) I thought I uploaded all the files to my computer and then deleted the files off the digital camera. Well, I lost all of the files. :(

busy week

We are having a busy week. I quit my part-time evening job so that I could get more rest. But the week has been full. Besides working my daytime job.....

Monday, I went to Smokehouse Blues with Dave for the EMU Coaches show on WAAM. One of the announcers was not feeling so well, so they asked Dave to stay for the last hour of the show to be the second announcer. Dave is getting some good experience.

Tuesday, we went to the EMU basketball game.

Wednesday was the MRO radio program and then I called my dad to see if I could help him with his computer. That is another story.

Tonight, we go to Ford Field for the MAC Championship game.

Friday, looks like we do not have anything to do.

how do i publish to my profile

I can't figure out how to get this picture on my profile. I feel like a dunce.

reorganizing

Kari mentioned in her blog that she loves to reorganize. I do also. Mom Joanie commented that she also loves to reorganize, especially the house, but that Les loves to have things stay the same way forever. Dave is like that also. I find it ironic that Dave loves to have things stay the same, he is very routine oriented, yet he loves to flip channels on the TV or the radio. In an hour's time, we can be watching four different shows. Is that attention deficit disorder?

Can you have it your way at Burger King anymore?

It has been a long time since I have been to a fast-food restaurant. Dave and I were both hungry after the radio show and were on our way home. I needed to get back to home so that I could call my dad. I am going to see if I can have him connect to my computer with his so that I can fix some settings on his computer. Anyway, Dave and I thought we would get something quick to eat. We chose Burger King because we can get a fish sandwich and a chicken sandwich there. We chose one on the way home. Dave ordered a chicken whopper, mayo only. I ordered my standard fish sandwich. I was not looking forward to eating it really because they always put too much lettuce and sauce on, so that in the dark car it gets all over everything. But still it is better than McDonald's, I told myself. We pay and then get handed a bag with our two sandwiches in it. I'm ready to take off, thinking that our order was not a difficult order, so it is probably okay. But no, Dave has to check to make sure that there is no rabbit food on his sandwich. I open the wrappers and low and behold, there is lettuce and tomato slathered on his chicken sandwich. Everyone knows that lettuce and tomato is Dave's kryptonite. Nothing turns him off more than lettuce and tomato touching his chicken. I think even the thought that lettuce and tomato has been in the vicinity of his sandwich makes him ill. Well, me being the "problem solver" that I am, I tell him to park and I will take the sandwich in and tell them they made a mistake and get it fixed. I am confident in my ability to be forceful in a friendly, but not condescending manner and to get my loving husband the sandwich that he, by now, so desperately wants.

I go inside to the counter and proclaim that the order was wrong, we asked for a chicken sandwich with mayo only, but clearly we did not get what we asked for. I then open the wrapped sandwich with a flourish and lift off the bun to show the "manager" what I mean. She takes it from me, while explaining that I should have asked for a grilled chicken sandwich, plain, with mayo only. She then turns to her cook staff and asks for that very item. I wait a few minutes, a sandwich then appears at the warming shoot, and the "manager" hands me my sandwich. I thank her, turn and leave, not even thinking of checking it again. That would be silly. How could they not get it right this time?

I get back in the car. Before Dave starts the car I decide I better check the sandwich again. Yep, you know what happens. Lettuce and tomato is again on the sandwich. Now steam is coming out of my ears. I grab both sandwiches and go back into the restaurant (if you can call it that).

I show the "manager" that there is again lettuce and tomato on the sandwich. I tell her that we do not want either sandwich anymore, we just want our money back. She throws the chicken sandwich into the trash.
She says, "Where is the rest of the food?"
I say, "That is all of it."
She says, "No, where is the rest of the food?"
"We only bought two sandwiches. We haven't been to a fast food place in a long time and I guess this is why."
"How much did you pay?"
"$6.71"
"Oh"

Morale of the story - You cannot have it your way at Burger King anymore.

Thanksgiving in Akron

Well, the football game in Akron was fun. It was a blizzard. I took some pictures from the sidelines and then returned to the press box to get out of the cold. After the game, Dave and I looked around for a grocery store that was open so that we could get the fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner. We finally found one and bought the fixings to cook at the motel. (We had a suite with a stove, refrigerator, and microwave.) While dinner was cooking we tried to watch the football games that were on. The Lions' game was disappointing. Dave and I called our families to keep in touch with everyone. It was a very relaxing time at the motel. We slept in a little. Then drove home. The rest of the weekend Dave spent writing articles for the website. I read a mystery and did a little bit of work on the computer, but mostly I tried to rest. Illness still getting me down.

I go to a pulmonologist tomorrow. I have to find out why I am not getting any better.

My dad got a computer, and wants people to email him. I have to try to help him figure out why he is not able to send emails, though. I will be working on his computer via gotomeeting on Wednesday, so I hope I can help him get it fixed.

Well, it is getting late. I will blog more later.

Wednesday

As soon as Dave got home from work, he and I packed up our stuff as fast as we could for our trip to Akron for the football game tomorrow morning. Dave was miffed at me because he thought I would have more things ready and he felt we didn't have much time, what with the bad weather and all. I was just getting out of the shower. Work today was a little time consuming, but plus I worked on our website, getting a Windows Media Player movie to play when you go to the website. It is an add for the MAC championship game at Ford Field. They had sent it to me as a Quicktime movie and I had to buy a program to convert it to Windows Media Player format. I did first put it on the website with the Quicktime format, but we thought that for it to be more convenient for more people, it would be better to have it in Windows Media Player format.

Anyway, we got on the road to head down to Milan to go to Al Fellhauer's house to do the MAC report radio program. On the way, I realized that I didn't have my reading glasses with me. I didn't even have my spare pair in my purse and I am all out of contacts. I have to go to the eye doctor to get more. So here I am without reading glasses. We stopped at a gas station and all they had was a magnifying glass. I bought it, as I needed to be able read the maps that Dave had for our trip to Akron.

We are staying in Streetsboro, I think. Dave is sleeping now, but for some reason I cannot sleep.

I am using the magnifying feature on Windows XP so that I can see what I am doing.

Well, I hope that everyone blogs how their Thanksgiving went, and I will also.

sickness

Darn it, darn it, darn it. I completed my ten days of antibiotics on Monday. Today, started coughing my fool head off again. Went to the doctor. Running a fever, still hears noise in my lungs. Got a chest x-ray, don't know what the results are yet. Probably will find out tomorrow. I was suppose to work tonight, but I think I will have to quit starting today. I know, I know. You all have told me that I should. But I am stubborn, but obviously my body is trying to tell me something.

Sorry about Thanksgiving

Just wanted to let everyone know that we will miss you all on Thanksgiving. Dave and I will be enjoying two nights at a motel and a football game. I will try to call everyone on Thanksgiving to say hi. Pretty soon, Dave and I's honeymoon will be over and all of you will get tired of seeing us.

Sunday afternoon

Well, we are home now. It has been a full weekend. We stopped at Niagra Falls, since both Dave and I had been there when we were little (me a little more long ago than him), and we felt we might not take the time to go there again in the very near future.

Here are some pictures.

Relaxing Weekend

Dave and I are relaxing, no really, we are.

Friday

1. 2:00 p.m. - Got two new tires for my car, as I had a slow leak in one. I need four, but they only two in my size.
2. 4:45 p.m. - Tried out a new hairdresser. His name is Manny. I was assured that it was very unusual that I could get an appointment with Manny, as he was the "best", especially with color. I was tried to a deep conditioner and an awesome haircut/style. He is good. I have finally found "my hairdresser". I will be getting my hair colored soon by Manny. I did feel out of my comfort zone slightly though, as Manny is probably gay and white, but all the other clients in the place were black. It was fun. I loved it.
3. 6:00 p.m. - Left apt. for Eastern. Alumni reception (food), and men's basketball game. We initially were not going to stay for the whole game as Dave thought it would be a blowout with Eastern losing. They played the University of California - Berkeley Golden Bears, a PAC 10 team. The deal on this game was that the new Eastern Basketball Head Coach, Charles Ramsey, was the assistant for the Ben Braun, the Bears' Head Coach. Ben Braun, who used to be Eastern's head coach between 1986 and 1996, was the winningest head coach in Eastern's history. So when it looked like Eastern might have a chance to win, we had to stay. Eastern won by two points. Hoohah.
4. After the game, we went home to pack for our trip to Buffalo to see the last Eastern football game of the year. We got on the road around 10:00 p.m. or so. We stopped for the night in Canada somewhere halfway between Livonia and Buffalo.
5. We left for Buffalo in the morning and experiencing an hour long back up at the Canadian/American customs we finally arrived at the football stadium at 1:00 p.m.
6. We went to the press box first to get stats and check in with other media people that we know. After the game started at 1:30, we went down to the field to take pictures and watch the action up close. Eastern played pretty well. We watched the last half of the game from the press box because it got pretty cold on the field and I am still recovering from my whatever it was.
7. Then after Eastern won the game (finally a win), we left to get something to eat.
8. Now we are relaxing at the Residence Inn. We have a suite with a couch and kitchen and king size bed. There is wireless internet, our two laptops, football on the TV, and Dave is again soring on the couch (minus Sparky the lovebird).
9. Tomorrow we will be driving back home. Might stop to see one of his coworkers on the way back. Then home to start getting the information together to right the recap for the Saturday MAC football games.
10. I have some work that I will try to do tonight, as I was not able to get it done on Friday because I had to go get the tires.
11. Soon, I will be shutting down the computer, cuddling up with a warm blanket and a mystery and hopefully relax enough to get a good night's sleep.

Never a dull moment with Dave, that's for sure.

Dave and his best friend

Two Sleeping Beauties

I couldn't resist taking this picture and posting it on here. This is where you will find Dave and Sparky (lovebird) most evenings.

SLI

I have SLI - street lamp interference. I cause street lamps to go out when I drive under them. This usually happens when I am concentrating on a problem in my head and the problem has me a little stressed.

I think that Dave is noticing that we are having to replace lightbulbs in our apartment at a greater rate than when he lived here alone.

I cannot wear a watch. It quits after a week of wearing it.

I sometimes can "fix" computers, printers, and other "electrical" equipment.

Strange but true.

Two passengers

Okay, this will be controversial. A pregnant lady has been using the commuter lane ever since she became pregnant. She was stopped by the police because there was only one person in the car. The rule for the commuter lane is that there has to be at least two passengers in the car. She stated that because she is pregnant, there are two passengers in the car. I believe if I was the judge I would have to rule that she is correct. If she were killed, then the person who killed her would be convicted of manslaughter of two people. If she was hit by another car and died, then the other person would have committed vehicular manslaughter of two people. And the right to lifers believe that the unborn fetus is a human being with rights at the time of conception. Therefore, this lady is correct, there are two passengers in the car. Does anyone else agree or do you disagree?

A raise

Shameless patting of the back:

Hip, hip, hooray! I got a dollar raise. This is really good for my self-esteem. My boss said that he has been getting some really good feedback from his client on my helpfulness to his business and theirs. So he decided to give me a dollar raise. Now I am making 2 dollars more than when I was working for the Kalamazoo company. Also, having been fired because "my telephone skills were not adequate", this just proves to me once again that the company that fired me was just using me. Not sure why, but as with all "bad things that happen", it has now turned into a good thing that I was fired. The radiology account that I transcribe is still a pain, but they also are very happy with the quality of my work. They do QA on 10 of my reports every other month and I have been getting 99% accuracy since I started working for them. I am sure they are unhappy with the amount of work that I have been doing, though. As it is hard to work all day and then work in the evening also. Oh well. Can't be perfect. (but I can certainly try).

PS: I bet Onstar employees feel like I do. I solve problems. If feels good.

Sunday afternoon

Just to be typing something......I need the practice. Maybe something will come to me as I am typing and letting my thoughts out. I am kind of impressed with how much Brett and Kari actually type in their blogs and the comments to other blogs. It is interesting because I think they are the two kids that I find hardest to get them to talk to me. Not because they don't want to, but because of circumstances and allowance of time. Mindy and I "chat" off by phone, but I love reading her blogs also.

Sunday afternoon. It is a beautiful day, sun intermittently (mostly) shining and very windy. The windows are slightly open so you can hear the wind in the trees and get some fresh air. Watching the Lions. They are up 16 to nothing. I am hopeful that Joey has gotten his groove and the team will actually win this game, but after yesterday's disappointing football game, I have my reservations. It is funny, the Eastern Eagles football team has mimiced the Lions for the last two years. Makes you wonder.

Yesterday also was a beautiful day, especially for football. The game was suppose to be at 1:00, but was rescheduled for 6:00. That was a little disappointing, but it allowed Dave and I straighten up the apartment and do a little shopping. I had to buy a new monitor because I was using Dave's old one and it was going bad. I wanted a flat screen, but they are still too expensive and I cannot convince myself that I really need it when a regular monitor works just as well.

Eastern was having a green and white basketball game and tailgate at the Convo Center. They had a really good chicken dinner for five dollars. The chicken was grilled, a full half of chicken, baked beans, delicious potato salad (and I am picky about my potato salad), and hard rolls with butter. A wetnap was also provided. They had three big screen TVs and a larger projection screen with football games on. Dave and I pigged out on the dinner and watched Western beat Central.

At the game, we were on the sidelines again. I love being on the sidelines. We are getting to know quite a few of the personalities on the sidelines. Most people still do not recognize me unless I am with Dave (he is quite recognizable), but there are a few camera men that know me. Two games ago I lent my extra gloves to one of them, as his fingers were red and raw from the cold wind. One of the bummer things about the game being later in the day is that my camera does not take action/zoom pictures in that kind of light. I need a bigger and better camera. I was astounded when I asked one of the camera men what his camera set up cost. $3,000 for the camera, $1600 for the lens. Guess I won't be getting one of those any time soon. :)

Well, Eastern was playing Ball State (Cardinals) and we were ahead 22/0 at the half. The defense was playing good and actually the offense was doing fairly good. Had to settle for quite a few field goals, but still, doing well. (Note that Detroit is playing the Arizona Cardinals, ahead 16/3 in the first half with 1 minute to go). When Eastern came back from the halftime, they fell apart. Especially in the 4th quarter. I don't know what the coach was trying to do, but it didn't work. We lost at the very end 25/26. We should have won that game. (Hopefully the Lions are more mature and will come out of the halftime still a winning team.)

Today has been nice so far......sleep late, take our time getting ready for the day, breakfast at our favorite place (Baker's Square) and now watching the game, Dave writing his reviews of the three MAC games yesterday. I am going to try to do my nails, freeze some turkey patties for Dave, and some mending of some clothes that need buttons, and other repairs.

I am still not feeling up to par with my cold/virus/whatever. Lots of rumbles in my chest and coughing. The coughing is controled with medication, so that helps. But there are times that I have bouts of coughing, especially first thing in the morning. I will get a chest x-ray next week if I am not any better. I have only been on the antibiotics for 2 1/2 days.


Football groupie - On October 1, while on the sidelines, I took this picture of Charlie Batch. (He is the one on the left. Al Fellhauer, McDonalds mogul and Dave's radio co-host on Wednesday nights is the one in the middle.)I was that close to him.....but was not introduced, darn. Now he is filling in for Ben Roethlisberger. Cool. Al knows everyone, every where we go. I don't know who the other gentleman is, but he obviously was a friend of Charlie's. I just don't know if he is a Pittsburgh Steelers teammate or not.

Well that is all for now. I think I did pretty good just typing my thoughts and it isn't too boring. Hope everyone who reads this is having a wonderful day also. The sun is still shining. It is balmy (and it is 14 minutes into the 3rd quarter and the Lions are ahead 26/11. Life is good.

Hurray! Lions won.

doctors

Well, Dave and I went to a new doctor this evening. The other doctor was too far away, he had crappy hours and he was a brat. I didn't like the fact that he always was having Dave and I come back in three months. It was like if we didn't come back in three months, he wouldn't be able to keep his practice in business. Anyway, I found a clinic nearby that had evening hours and Saturday hours. They had more than one physician. And they accepted our insurance. We were both scheduled to see the same physician, a woman, a D.O., internal medicine physician. We got to the clinic and were greeted with a friendly receptionist. Within minutes, we were called in to the exam room. The assistant was friendly also and she was fairly efficient in taking our blood pressures, weight, and medication history. Then the physician promptly came into the room. She was not put off that we both were being seen for the first time. Dave explained that he was just establishing himself with her as a new patient explaining that he has a condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia, very well controlled, as long as he takes his medications regularly. She seemed to know what CAH was, so that was good. I explained that I had been sick for about 4 weeks with the same thing that I had last year at this time and also again in May of last year. She said she heard crackles in all my lung fields, but I was not running a fever. I guess I had some fluid in my ears also. She prescribed antibiotics and cough medicine. The cool thing was that she put all the medication orders on the computer in the exam room and then submitted the orders to the Walgreens pharmacy immediately. The prescriptions would be ready when we got to the pharmacy, as a fax was sent to them and they would fill the order. She also put in an order for lab work for Dave to be done when ever he had time in 4-6 weeks. I love the technology. Our previous physician was in the dark ages. He hand wrote all his notes and didn't have a transcriptionist. Archaic! I think this will be a good change.

Also, I should be starting to feel better quicker with the antibiotics. Dave will be glad, he is getting tired of the coughing. Me too.

Work - the internet brings the world closer

At work today I had to cover for my boss who is in Arizona. I work from Michigan and he is based in Arizona. I have never met this man. I have only talked to him on the phone. His name is Dave Drabo. I really like working for him. I answer the phones for the company from 8 to 4 EST and then Dave has the phones the rest of the time. He has two or three programmers that work on the Intrascript program. Dave gets clients lined up and he and I train the new clients on the program. We also answer and troubleshoot problems that the clients have. It can sometimes get quite busy. One of the clients is paying extra to use me as their main help person for the Intrascript program. Anyway, today Dave had all his wisdom teeth pulled, so I was fielding all the calls. A lot of the times I communicate with clients through MSN messenger and also with Dave. Well, he IMd me and told me that someone had called and left a message and asked me to call them back. Then he IMd me saying Help, and asked me to call his mother to tell her to bring him some more gauze because he was bleeding more, oh, and sorry to gross me out. So I called his mother. It took me a little bit to explain to her that I was her son's new employee in Michigan, calling her to let her know that her son needed some help from her. She was confused at first, but I finally was able to explain to her what was going on. She was pleased to talk to the smart lady in Michigan who she had heard about, but had not heard what my name was. She wondered why her son hadn't called her himself. I explained that he probably couldn't talk. She finally said that she would go over to his house and hung up. I IMd Dave back and told him that she was on her way. What a strange work day. It makes you think about how close we all are because of the internet. To be able to help someone and work for a company that is Arizona. I talk to clients in Portland, Oregon, and Florida, and Georgia, and everywhere in between.

Weekend - updated

After reading Brett's blog, I am inspired to tell about my weekend. It doubt that it will be as intertaining as Brett's, but I will give it a try.

Saturday, Dave and I woke up. We both showered and got ready to go to Ford Field for the Western Michigan/Eastern Michigan football game. We were to meet someone at the Detroit Beer Company. Jonathan Israel wants to help us with our website when he has time. He had other friends that were also meeting him at the beer company. They were all fairly young compared to me and Dave. Although I don't think they realized how old I was. It helps to look younger than my age. We didn't stay very long, just had an appetizer (Asagio cheese dip and nacho chips). We then made our way over to Ford Field. On the way, we passed a restaurant where a bunch of Eastern Michigan people were outside. Said hi to Greg, at student at Eastern who we have meet and talked to a few times. He might ride with us to Buffalo when we go to that game.

Once inside Ford Field, we headed for the Alumni get together. The food wasn't very good, but there was a lot of people there. It was getting close to kick off time, so we headed to the media center to get the stats. They had more food there for free for the media, so we grabbed a hotdog and some drinks.

Then Dave and I split up. I had gotten some pennents and stuff for Eric and Kumiko Holtzclaw and went to meet up with them. They are the parents of one of the players who have been emailing us. They live in Oklahoma and made a special trip just for this game. (more later)

Finally, I am going to try to finish this post.

After a disappointing loss, where Eastern was within one point of tying the game, but the coach decided to go for two points (which I predicted that he would do), Eastern lost. The game was against Western. If Eastern had won, they would have won the trophy for the Michigan MAC Championship. Western has the chance to win the trophy now if they beat CMU this Saturday.

I wasn't feeling up to par because of this cold/bronchitis/sinusitis/walking pneumonia/flu crud that I have been dealing with for four weeks now. So I sat in the seats instead of hanging out on the sidelines. Usually I like being on the sidelines. I wish I could get better at taking action shots. I think I need to take a class or something.

Anyway, we headed home, but the freeway is under construction and we ended up going out of our way, so we decided to stop to eat on the way home. Dave knew about a place called the Cloverleaf that had pizza. Surprize, surprize. More pizza. I am going to turn into a pizza soon. We were sat in the patio where there were some loud groups. It wasn't very relaxing. But the pizza was fairly good, so that made up for it.

Well, that pretty much ended our day. In rereading this, it seems very boring, but really it was fun. I just don't tell it very well. I might keep trying. Maybe. Maybe not.

restaurants with silly stupid birthday songs

Why do restaurants feel the need to gang up on birthday people and sing a stupid chant? The only thing I can see good about it is that the waiters and waitresses get a break in doing their real job, waiting on people. It is annoying. You are having a quiet dinner with your spouse/friend/lover and all of a sudden a herd of wait staff come toward you clapping and singing off key and getting louder and louder. You think to yourself. Is it my birthday? Why are they making so much noise? Does anyone really like to have all the employees in the restaurant sing a stupid song for their birthday? Most people I know would rather have a tooth pulled than to have this singfest at their table. Give me the free dessert and skip the annoying overture.

slow down, you move too fast

That is a song lyric. "slow down, you move too fast" Does anyone recognize it?

out of touch

I feel out touch because I have been under the weather. Dave says it is just a virus. I called the doctor today and even he says it just a virus. Hard to feel like it is "just a virus" when I cough all the time and feel like I am hacking up a lung. But I am doing a little better. I just am trying to tough it out, as in the past even when I got antiobiotics, it still took me forever to get better. I don't understand my body at all. Dave still has a cough, but he is feeling a lot better.

The days are getting shorter and my sleep pattern is changing. I get sleepy earlier. It seems so weird to have it get dark at 6 at night.

Guilt and sickness

I am feeling very guilty. I hate the fact that I cannot do my second job as well as they need me to do. They know that I am working at another job, but still I put this pressure on myself to keep doing a full-time amout of work. But I am falling short by a lot. And I hate every minute that I am working the second job. That is why I am typing this instead of transcribing reports.

Dave has a nasty cold and now my throat is feeling tingly and starting to get raspy. Yikes, there is nothing worse than two sick people in the same house with one bathroom and lots of work to do.

Keeping in touch

I called all my fathers today.  I have three right now.  I get behind keeping in touch with them.  My dad is feeling good he says.  My call put him behind on his daily morning bike ride.  His doctors are watching his eyesight just in case the tumor on his pituitary gland grows and starts causing him blindness.  He also has a cyst on his kidney, but has had that for a while and it doesn't seem to cause any problems.  He is sort of mad at his girlfriend because she is going to stay with her daughter for a week and did not invite him along.  He is also upset that none of his kids come and see him.  

Ken is feeling a little better, in that he isn't anemic any longer.  But he has an aortic aneurysm that might need to be surgically taken care of.  He has lost 20 pounds and is on a diet, exercises, and other therapies.

Dave's Dad just had two stents put in his arteries to his heart.  He is doing okay, but probably needs to rest a little more before galavanting around town.

Dave is fighting a cold.  Mostly he is coughing.  He has a tight, wheezy cough.  I hope that he starts feeling better soon.  

This is a test

This is a test of the email blog publishing.

 

Deb

just ramblings

I have to keep telling myself to slow down, take it easy.  You will be able to get all the stuff done that you need to.  It is crazy, but the new job is keeping me busier than I thought it would.   Part of the problem is that I am not very organized and I can always find more to do.

I am still trying to learn all the clients and their accounts.  There is one person who bought the program two years ago, but now wants support and all the new upgrades, but doesn't want to pay for them.  She keeps calling me asking me questions, but my boss doesn't want me to help her until she pays for some support.

I woke up with a horrible headache this morning.  It hurt in the front of my head and the back and down the neck.  Earlier in the morning (about 3 a.m.), I put some ice on my head.  Later (about 6 a.m.), I took three Tylenol (I have recently found that I am allergic to ibuprofen) and washed out my nasal passages with salt water (sinus infection prophylaxis).  Then I tried putting a hot wet washcloth on my head.  Then I remembered that I had not had any Pepsi yesterday, and so I took a couple sips of Pepsi.  I think I was suffering from caffeine withdrawal.  It makes you wonder why we poison ourselves with something that makes that kind of pain (if that is what caused it).  

I kind of like this blogging thing for keeping in touch with everyone.  

Weekend Recap

Dave and I had a good weekend.  We went to DeKalb, Illinois so that Eastern could lose again to another MAC team.  Sheesh, what is with those guys.  

Then we stayed overnight at a Super 8.  Did a little on the computer, slept, worked a little more on the computer for www.macreportonline.com and then drove the 5 1/2 hours home.

Once home, we spent a little "quality" time with the lovebird, Sparky, and then got ready to go to the Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush concert in Ferndale.

Dave took the day off so that he could write his Week 7 review of the MAC football games.  Plus I think he is finding a cold.

Downloaded the Blogger for Word, and am testing it out.

Ladybugs and cornfields

Has anyone ever heard of someone being allergic to ladybugs?  Do they bite?

The reason I ask is that I have developed spots were I was either bitten by a bug or I have hives.  My neck and face have a slight rash.  The football field that I went to this weekend had a ton of ladybugs flying around.

But on second thought, I think I am allergic to corn silk and stuff, and the football field was surrounded by cornfields.

Weekend

Hurray, it is close to the weekend. So close I can almost taste it. This weekend, Dave and I are traveling to Illinois to see the NIU/Eastern football game. I will be taking more pictures. The pictures from Toledo are a little disappointing because as good as my camera is, it doesn't take action shots in the dark very well.

Starting 10/24, I will be working the second job three days a week. That should help a lot. M,T, Th will be the days that I am working evenings for the transcription company. Wednesday nights, Dave and I will be producing that radio program with Al.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Well, I have Mom Joanie now blogging and reading everyone else's blogs. That is good. This way we can all keep in touch.

I am really loving my day job. I get to solve problems all day long.

Today, though, I almost burned down the apartment complex. I put a hamburger on to cook and I was browning the buns. Well, I went back to the computer and forgot about them. Yep, the apartment was full of smoke and the smoke detector was going off. Boy do I feel stupid. I told Dave that I would not be cooking myself meals during the day anymore. My kids know that I am notorious for burning things, toast and such.

Good nite all......

hitting your head against a brick wall, does it give away finally?

Dave and I are spending a lot of time on our website. Dave spends just about every night and part of his work day writing up articles, contacting SIDs, coaches, and radio station personnel. I spend time updating the website and sending emails. We also try to attend all football functions and media events that we can. Sunday is spent printing out stats and quotes and Dave writing the review of all the games. Then I upload it to the website. Then Dave writes a short note for the main bulletin board and I post that noted on the 12 other school's bulletin boards. I also have to review all the photos that I took, crop them and put them on the website gallery.

My hope is that with all this work we are doing, trying to be professional about this and doing the best we can do (both of us are very anal about having all our t's crossed and i's dotted, and still we find small errors or other people find them for us), this will work into a full time career for Dave and possibly me (if our website starts making money for us). Are we being foolish to work so hard for so little result (at least right now)? My heart says that we should keep trying. Don't give up. It will pay off in the end somehow.

cooking for the husband

Why don't I cook for my husband? This is why. I found a recipe that had all the ingredients in it that he likes. The one iffy one was cilantro. I left out the chili peppers and onions, but it had chicken, black beans, pinto beans, corn, and rice. It did have diced tomatoes. I should have used pureed. I had it hot and ready when he got home from work. He ate the chicken and picked at the rest. Sheesh. I still might try the recipe again, leaving out the cilantro and using pureed tomatoes. Oh, well, for a while he will have to fend for himself.

I did make the turkey pita sandwich that Mark told us about. He liked that. He liked it so much he asked me to get out of bed in the morning and make for him to take to work. Pushy, isn't he?

Irresponsibility

Okay, I am irresponsible. I bought the parakeets and then two years later, I decide that they are too much trouble, so I get rid of them. I think I found a good home for them, but still I feel very guilty that I did not take better care of them. I bought them when Dave and I were dating and I didn't have much hope of he and I getting together. I thought I could live my lonely life as a bird woman. But then he changed his mind and we tried to bring our "family" together. Dave, me, Sparky the lovebird, and the two noisy, unsociable parakeets. I can't help it. They were driving us insane. Now with working from home and having to talk on the phone to customers, I can't have that noise in the background either. Well, judge me as you will. I am a terrible parakeet mother.

What I have learned from my children and parakeets

These are only a few of the things that I have learned.

From parakeets: They are noisy, but they like to do their own thing and not interact with anyone else. They are harder to put up with than children.

From Brett: humor and quiet observation.

From Mindy: compassionate and faithful to her friends and family

From Kari: adventurous and fiercely self-reliant.

Dave's first internet radio program

Check out www.macreportonline.com and the MAC Report. Dave and Al Fellhauer (McDonald's mogul) are hosting a new show. I know most of you do not enjoy sports talk shows, but this is your "dad", so check it out if you can. It is live on Wednesday nite at 6:05 p.m., but can be listened to later if you miss it.

Next week it will be even better.

Coming soon to this blog is 1) the why and how of owning (and giving up) the parakeets 2) what we learn from our children 3) reflections of seeing a child at play at the grocery store

When will I learn?

I got up at 6:00 a.m. , ran to the grocery store, ran home, didn't put all groceries away, worked both jobs. It is now almost 8 p.m. and I am falling asleep at the computer, but I still have a lot of typing to do. I have a lot of documenting to do for the other job, but I will have to find time for that tomorrow, but I was hoping that I could get up early in the a.m. tomorrow to finish the shopping that I didn't finish today. I also have to get to the bird feed store to get more bird seed. I just want to crawl into bed though. Maybe I could hook up my laptop tonight and then sleep in in the morning and work from my bed for a while. Go to the store later in the day when I go get the bird seed. Hmmmm, sounds good. I might do that.

Saturday College Football & bye bye birdies

I had a great time at the Eastern Michigan game yesterday. Kari and Mark were able to come for the tailgating and the game. I feel so bad for Mark, with his back hurting as bad as it does. But I think they had fun. At least we had chair back seats for them. Dave and I went down to the field for some of the game, well most of the game. But we spent time with K & M before and after the game.

Then after dinner and K & M went home, Dave and I went over the Al Fellhauer's house. We needed to set up the logistics of the radio show that Dave and Al will be hosting next Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. It will be live on www.SportsAmericaRadio.com and then will be archived. The archive might be on www.bcmonsters.com.

Today, two people from the Rainbow Feathers bird club came to pick up the two parakeets. They think they have someone to take the parakeets. I feel bad that we had to give them up, but they were driving us insane in this small apartment and with me working from home. I think they are going to a good home.

Why did I get the birds in the first place? I will detail that in the next blog, as Dave is having me work on the MAC Report Online stuff right now. We have a lot of stuff to do with that and my radiology transcription accounts wants me to transcribe reports tonight if I can because the weekend transcriptionist's dad is in the hospital.

Hope this was interesting to someone...... more later.

Worn out

I am getting worn out. For some reason I have had diarrhea every day for the last two weeks. Plus I think I need to get more sleep. Every morning it is hard for me to get up, although I want to get up. I have a lot to get up for. My new job is very challenging and exciting. I love problem solving and trying to document all the answers to the problems. Sometimes it is overwhelming, but still I like it better than just straight transcribing reports.

First Post

Okay, I am going to use this blogger, since the yahoo one didn't seem to allow people to see my posts. Probably still no one will have any comments because I think I am pretty boring when it comes to writing about my thoughts and feelings. Basically I will be talking about work, football, and other mundane things. Sometimes, I will be writing about my thoughts about my children. That should be a hoot. I probably am overly proud of them, but maybe they don't know that.

I am loving my new job with Intrascript. I love training people and problem solving software issues and problems.

But I am having trouble "quitting" my other job. I hate to leave them in a lurch, but I don't know how long I can keep working two jobs. Dave wants me to quit.

will finish later.........