Category: Personal
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Appliance Hell
Appliances seem to have it in for me lately. It must be some conspiracy they have going to see if they can drive me batshit in short order. I am a complete idiot when it comes to electronics and gadgetry ... however, computers seem to fall outside of that generality. That I can build, upgrade and repair my own PC hardware amazes no one more than myself. But a stupid can opener can thwart my attempts at gaining access to the food inside like no one's business.
This latest round of household madness started about a month ago. I went to warm up some tortilla chips in the microwave. About 5 seconds after starting the oven, it made the most ungodly noise and there were flashes of light inside. After turning it off, I saw by the metal plate thingy a scorched area. I later learned that the magnetron had gone kablooey. (These are all technical terms for the gadget idiot, you know). Ahh well ... it had served me well for 5 years. It was a house-warming/Christmas gift from my parents when I moved in here. Off to Best Buy the next day, I found a nice Panasonic model with all the bells and whistles for $80. I had $50 in BB gift certificates on hand, so that made the hit on the wallet a little less painful. Then the next day, it went on sale for $12 less. Sweet! A new nukulator for 18 bucks.
Next up was the coffee maker. I cannot live without my coffee in the morning. This is a vital piece of equipment in my abode. The warming plate wasn't working right, it wasn't keeping the pot of coffee warm. Just about the time I decided to look for a new one, I tripped across one of those Gevalia offers for a pound of coffee, a coffee maker and two mugs for $15. Nice. I'll take one. Just gotta remember to cancel the subscription or set it to send coffee only every 6 months. That stuff is exPENsive!
Of course, on the heels of the demise of the coffee maker goes the coffee grinder. It is still functioning ... barely. The tip of one of the grinding blades broke off. It takes twice as long to grind the coffee, but it is, for now, still working. A new one is on my shopping list.
This morning, my hair dryer blew up. No really ... it did. It started making a weird buzzing noise. I turned it off and shook it to see if something was rattling around inside. Then I turned it back on. The buzzing turned to grinding then KA-BLOWIE! A little flash and a puff of smoke and it was dead silent. And my hair was still half wet.
That was just the start of a very bad day all around ...
which included nearly breaking my ankle stepping off the porch while simultaneously spilling coffee all over my new coat, a trick I would repeat later while driving to work. A morning at work (first day back after a 5 day weekend, no less!) with bosses grumbling about everything imaginable. A lunch hour spent at Walmart shopping for a new hair dryer (forgot to look at coffee grinders though).
I figured I'd pick up some diet Coke while I was there. The 12 packs were way too expensive, two dollars more and I could get a 24-pack. On the way back to the registers, I spied a 4 pound bag of yummy-yummy trail mix so I grabbed one and plopped it on top of the hair dryer and case of Cokes. Did I mention that I was dumb enough to think I could forego a shopping cart in the interest of saving time? Oy vey ... and not a single abandoned cart to be found, when usually I am tripping over the damn things all over the place. I finally plopped my stuff down and went to get a cart. Did I mention I was wearing my new, extremely warm coat? Over a very thick sweater? Sweat was running down the middle of my back, my mouth was dry and I was totally out of breath by the time I got to the check-out. And wouldn't you know it ... the check-out I chose had the slowest, dumbest clerk to ever work in a Walmart. And that's sayin something ...
Somehow, I also managed to break the zippy-thing I keep my work building access card clipped to my belt loop with. I stuffed it into my purse figuring I could straighten it out when I got back to work. And where does one find zippy-things for badges and stuff like that? Walmart, natch ...
You really wanna know about the rest of my day? I ain't done yet ... OK, you asked for it ...
Back at work, I put my lunch in the microwave to heat up. Two minutes should do. I went over to chat with a co-worker and after a while I thought it odd that the microwave hadn't beeped yet. Somehow I had pushed the zero three times ... 20 minutes. I caught it after it had cooked for 5 minutes. Chicken and rice don't fare too well at being overly nuked. There was a tiny bit of rice in the middle that was still edible, but the chicken was like leather.
I had no cash because, like an idiot, I forgot to get an extra $20 when I swiped my check card at Walmart. Not that it would have helped since all we have is vending machines and no way to get change. So a couple bites of over-cooked rice comprised my lunch. Then I sat and gabbed with a co-worker until I was late getting back. A very naughty thing to do where I work.
The rest of the afternoon passed unremarkably. Then I got home. Nothing like ending a really bad day by coming home to a surly teen-ager sulking around the house and a freshly-scooped-yesterday cat box that stinks to high heaven.
Some days it just don't pay to even get out of bed ....
« Hush me up!
Posted by
LissaKay on 03/02/05 at 03:37 AM in
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Thursday, February 03, 2005
I just wanted my lunch!
I rarely go to the grocery store in the middle of the day during the week. Today, I remembered why. I usually go either after work, or on the weekend. Weekday evenings, most of the shoppers are, like me, on the way home from work, stopping in to grab a few items. Everyone moves briskly along, picking up what they need and bolting on out. Weekends are much the same, with the same gang of people in sweats and Ts instead of their work clothes.
The middle of the weekdays is a whole 'nother ball of wax. Oy vey! I have the day off today, I took my son to school so I could speak with his teachers and the attendance people ... got a nasty gram saying he's had five unexcused absences ... uh, bullshit. I know of each and every day he was out, and why. He can't cut school, the bus picks him up right in front of the house, and if he isn't there, the driver honks on the horn 50-bazillion times. So, I have to get them to correct their records. Grrr ... buncha ding dongs.
Anyway, on the way home, I decided to run into the grocery store to get something yummy for my lunch, as well as a couple other items that won't wait until my weekend load-up trip. It would have been SO much easier to swing through a fast-food place, but it wasn't quite lunch time, and I was out of milk and cat food.
The weekday crowd is composed mostly of young mothers and the elderly. The moms usually have a kid or two, one in the cart and one running around like a banshee. If the kid isn't running around, it's because mom is screeching at him/her every 30 seconds to come back here stop that put that down don't touch get off that come here no you can't have it come ON!
The store has decided to provide moms and dads with these grotesque shopping carts made for toting the kiddies ... they look like they were made by Little Tykes, they are huge, plastic and are meant to look like race cars ... I guess. They are about 30% wider than a regular shopping cart. Parents typically will not cozy up to side of the aisle because that would make it possible for little Billy or Suzy to grab stuff off the shelves. So they stop right in the middle of the aisle. Even without a cart, one can barely squeeze by. If one dares to move the cart just a teensy bit to be able to get by, one is met with a glare from mom that would whither the bravest of souls. I would very dearly like to find the person who thought up the marvelous idea of these behemoth carts and crush their head like a grape.
Now, the little old men and the little old ladies that share the aisles with the young mothers and their broods don't seem to mind waiting to move along. They move slower than snails anyway. Not so much that they aren't able to walk quickly, but they tend to study nearly every aspect of every item they are contemplating buying. They read the ingredient list, the nutrition label, compare the per-unit price with every other brand and all sizes available. If it is a couple, they have these deep discussions on the merits of buying the larger size versus the availability of storage in their cupboards, and whether it is more important to get the low-sodium version or the low-fat, and why can't they make a version that is low-sodium AND low-fat. They too, for some reason, park their carts right in the middle of the aisle. But if you move their cart, they apologize like they just killed your best friend.
"Ohhhh! I am SO sorry! Oh dear, oh my. Henry, get the cart! Move it over! Oh my goodness, honey ... I apologize! It is just SO rude of me to be in the way like that! Oh dear!" and she flutters her hands in the air as if waving off her bad manners.
I have an instant guilt attack. "Oh no! It's OK! Really! I can squeeze by ... I didn't mean to bother you. It's OK ... really!" I just want to get my lunch, dear. Don't have a heart attack ... please?
I finally got the stuff for my lunch ... shrimp fajitas. Yum! And grab the other things I needed, then I ran the gauntlet back to the front of the store. At least the check-yourself lanes are clear. Moms and the older folks apparently prefer to have their stuff checked and bagged by the clerks.
I was exhausted by the time I got out of there. If there is a next time that I visit the grocery store on a weekday morning, I will have to remind myself that it will take longer, and I won't be able to do my racer walk up and down the aisles. It's just a whole different crowd.
« Hush me up!
Posted by
LissaKay on 02/03/05 at 10:19 PM in
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Saturday, January 29, 2005
In Remembrance
Happy birthday, lil bro ...
It doesn't seem like it has been almost ten years.
We miss you.
Posted by
LissaKay on 01/29/05 at 03:09 AM in
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Monday, December 20, 2004
I need a vacation
... from my vacation!
Oy vey! I have been going non-stop since Thursday and I am pooped! Son's doctor appointment Thursday morning, then his counselor that evening ... in between I shampooed the living room carpet. Friday was a little slower paced ... I had my eye exam, which was about 3 years overdue. However, the closest preferred network provider on my vision plan from work was IN the mall! I thought it was a vision center that is located outside the mall one street over ... but nooo! INSIDE the freaking mall one week before Christmas! And then, I thought the place was on the south end of the mall ... nooo again! It was wayyyy over on the other side!
Feh ... and my astigmatism is much worse. My new glasses will be 30% more powerful. But I got some really snazzy rimless ones that are light as a feather. I will get a pair of prescription sunglasses as well. I shall be stylin' and profilin'! Rock on, baby.
Vacation day 3 ... after many fruitless attempts to get in to my regular hair guy (heh heh ... get it? Fruitless? Uhhh ... my hair guy is gay as hell ... swish swish swish, baby!) I had given up and decided to do it myself. Not much I can do about the length, but I can handle the color and cut my bangs. I did it for years that way, when blowing 50 bucks on my hair would have been unheard of, I could eat on that for two weeks. So I went by the beauty supply store and got the stuff for my color (I do a two-tone, medium and dark auburn). I arrived home and my son announced he was going with a friend and his dad and would be back around 6. Groovy ... plenty of time to do the hair. Right ... of course not.
At 3, he comes waltzing back in. I was just finishing the application of the medium color. Just then, his grandfather (dad's dad) calls. My son hollers up at me that Grandpa wants to take him to their family Christmas party. "That's nice dear ... when?"
"He said he'd be here in about 45 minutes."
I told him to get his nice clothes out and ready. They needed ironing. Badly. Teen-age boys are not known for their skills in taking care of their clothes. I thought I'd teach him how to iron, but in the interest of speed, I went ahead and did it myself ... with color still in my hair. The ironing was done just at the end of the processing time. I got through the shower and back into clothes only minutes before Grandpa got there. Whew!
With sonny boy gone for the evening, I was able to finish up my hair, including a bang trim and then get a take out order for dinner. The first time in three days that I actually sat down and relaxed. I watched Pirates of the Carribean (is Johnny Depp like the hottest or what?
) and played with the kitties.
Day 4 of vacation ... I needed to rearrange the living room furniture so I have a place for the Christmas tree. Then I decided that my computer desk also needed tidying up ... the wires and cables were a rat's nest back there. So I unplugged absolutely everything, pulled the desk out, vacuumed up 5 years of dust bunnies behind the desk, retrieved all the items that had fallen back there, moved a chair and table, shampooed the carpet where the chair and table had been, put the computer and desk back together, moved the sofa where the chair and table had been, moved another table, put the chair there, vacuumed the rest of the floor ... and said screw it, I'll put up the tree tomorrow ... I am POOPED!
But I still needed to fix dinner ... ugghhh! Luckily I had some ready-made roast beef and gravy on hand. Hot beef sandwiches, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans ... heaven on a plate! And peppermint ice cream for dessert. Other than to rinse dishes and put them in the dishwasher, I haven't really moved since ... I have sore muscles that I didn't even know I had.
I told my mom that I think I am rushing around trying to get all these things done so I can sit down and rest. I am a bit obsessive that way ... I get a list of things that need to be done, and I barrel ahead full steam until I am finished. But there is light at the end of the tunnel ... all my Christmas shopping is done. Well, almost. There is still one elusive item that I am still trying to find. The tree needs to go up, be decorated, gifts wrapped and some goodies made. And I have five whole days to do it all.
I hope I survive this vacation. I will go back to work next week to get some rest.
« Hush me up!
Posted by
LissaKay on 12/20/04 at 02:43 AM in
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Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Two more days
Is it Wednesday yet?
When I leave work Wednesday night, I will not have to return for 11 days! Woo hoo! For 11 whole days I will not have to go to work, or even think about work. I need this ... badly.
It's not that I hate my job ... it has its fair share of frustrations and stress, but it is challenging and never boring. But I do need a break. NOW.
I'm not quite sure what I am going to do for a week and a half. Christmas stuff will certainly take up some of that time, doing dinner and all with mom and dad. The house could use a good going over, but who wants to spend vacation time doing that? I will be putting up the tree and some decorating, but nothing too extensive. I do plan to devote some time to this site ... it needs some updating software wise ... back-end stuff.
I wish I could plan some warm, fuzzy bonding time with my son. But as is typical for teen boys, he'd rather have teeth pulled than do stuff with mom ... unless it involves food, of course. I am holding out a teensy ray of hope that my daughter will come around for a little bit of Christmas, even if only for an afternoon. That would be a most awesome Christmas present.
Meh ... I should know better than to try to blog from work. It's taken me two hours to get this far ...
Posted by
LissaKay on 12/14/04 at 03:27 PM in
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