The Screaming Banshee

I'm typing this on my new powerbook, so apparently the settings are different on safari (which explains the lack of bold in the title).

I'm liking this whole apple thing. The biggest headache was getting it on the network (still have some issues there to resolve), and converting quicken and quickbooks information. I took the coward's way out on quickbooks, and just plugged in the information manually.

For quicken, we have information from 1992 in there, and there's just no way I'm putting all that in, so I followed the intuit instructions for converting my data, then burned it to a CD. I installed quicken for mac and imported the information... and it worked. Of course there were some things it didn't do, and I have to set up all of my online payments and junk, but it converted all of the other data without a problem. I'm almost ready to beat the HP with a hammer now.

Of course, there are some differences between the windows version and the mac version, and until I can either figure out how to pay bills online (it's not very simplistic, and my quicken billpay username and password apprently don't work on the mac, for some reason, but it does work on the windows computer), I may just cancel the quicken billpay crap and just do online banking with my bank. Seems like an opportune time to do that, since most of our stuff is actually put on our amex anyway, just have to do the mortgage and truck payments.

So, hubby is feeling sickly (coughing, etc), and I've had half a migraine all day which pills and a nap couldn't help, but other than that, we've had a pretty good day... until... the bath tub faucet broke.

Yes, the evil bath tub faucet. When we moved in, we discovered that the hot water faucet just turns around and around. You just find the spot where it turns off, and life is good. It doesn't turn off anymore. It just dribbles at a pretty fast rate. We called a plumber to come out and tell us that he'll need to knock the whole wall out, and that'll be a zillion dollars (or the exact equivalent to the amount of money we spent on the powerbook and the 23" monitor).

Figures. I had a screaming banshee moment then. I'm fine now. I'll be home tomorrow when the plumber comes, so I'm sure I'll have another one when he tells me what it will cost to fix it. For now, we just have the hot water turned off to the tub, we'll shower downstairs in the scary shower (I just don't like it, too small). I'll laugh when he gives me the estimate, and tell him to go ahead, because what choice do we have. Guess if it happened before the powerbook/monitor purchase, then I would be really paranoid that something worse was going to happen. As in: we have oodles of money, is that jet having problems gaining altitude?

The Story of Steve

On the eve of my getting a powerbook, and taking all of my crappy HP Windows computers and beating them to pieces with a hammer, I thought I would share "The Story of Steve".

Two years ago in September, my brother-in-law was visiting, and as we always do, we all sit around and play computer games. The Unreal Tournament 2004 edition came out, so that was the one we wanted to play, except my crappy HP Windows 98 computer couldn't handle it. I was stuck without a gaming computer, and peeved.

Off to CompUSA we go, and I decide that I want the HP Pavilion a262n (which was on sale). I didn't want the crappy service plan, and I didn't need a monitor, I just wanted the CPU. A woman was looking at the same time I was, and since she was there first, I told the salesguy to help her, but she hadn't decided and told the salesguy to help me first.

"I want the HP Pavilion a262n, no monitor, no service plan", I announce.

"Um, well, you can get this other computer cheaper, and it comes with a service plan."

"No, I want the HP Pavilion a262n, no monitor, no service plan", I repeat.

"Well, this one comes with the service plan"

"but I don't want that one, I want the HP Pavilion a262n, no monitor, no service plan"

"well, you really need a service plan, what if, for instance, you get it home and there's a virus on it?"

"ok, how is a computer that comes straight out of a box have a virus on it, and besides, your service plan wouldn't cover that, I've read your service plan"

"but you really need the service plan, so why don't you get this other computer, because it comes with a service plan"

"I don't want that computer, I want the HP Pavilion a262n, no monitor, no service plan" voice getting higher in pitch and tone.

"but with the service plan..."

"I DON'T WANT A SERVICE PLAN..." (looking at name tag) "STEVE, I WANT THE HP Pavilion a262n, no monitor, no service plan" Yelling.

"but..."

"WHY AM I ARGUING WITH YOU, WHY AREN'T YOU GETTING A CART, GOING IN THE BACK ROOM AND GETTING THE COMPUTER I TOLD YOU TO GET STEVE?"

At this time, my brother-in-law is slinking away, laughing hysterically. Hubby had gone off to go find a switch that I could use for the old HP and the one I bought. I see him prairie dogging 5 aisles away, having heard my wrath, and he chuckles. I also notice that by now, someone is standing behind Steve with a badge that says "Manager".

"But with the service plan..."

"I DON'T WANT THE SERVICE PLAN, GET ME THE STUPID COMPUTER!"

The lady that was looking has now retreated into the Apple area of the store for safety. The manager puts a hand on Steve's shoulder, undoubtedly sensing that if Steve opened his mouth one more time, my foot would be in it, takes him away from me and they disappear into the back.

Steve dutifully comes back with a cart, and the CPU. He doesn't say a word as he wheels it toward the front toward checkout, then runs away. The cashier opens his mouth, and I say "NO, no service plan!". He has enough brains to realize not to ask if I'm sure.

After paying for it, we all go to Macaroni Grill to eat and calm me down, since I'm seething.

We get home after a good meal, and I plug the computer in and start the process. First thing I do is install and run antivirus... and IT HAS A FREAKIN VIRUS!!!!

Hmmm. Interesting how Steve had mentioned viruses. Hubby calls CompUSA (because I'm too busy cursing). I hear him explain that the computer has a virus, and then I hear him say "why yes, the salesman's name was Steve". Apparently we're not the first to call and complain about idiot boy. CompUSA denies any involvement in the virus, HP says the same thing, that they couldn't have possibly shipped a computer with a virus on it.

Whether or not its possible, I still blame evil Steve... who no longer worked at CompUSA the day AFTER we bought the computer... for some reason.

A week later the stupid thing started to blue screen of death every day. It took a year of online tech support (with people who barely spoke english, and wrote it worsely) before they finally decided that they needed to send someone out to replace the defective motherboard, hard drive and other stuff... after which the media cards wouldn't work. I tried to tell them it was their fault, but they actually insisted that the HP Pavilion a262n didn't come with media card slots... sigh... whatever, I give up.

So, effective the moment I receive my powerbook... the HPs are going to be smashed with a hammer, because Windows, and HP are dead to me.

Long live Mac!

Anyone want a cheap viewsonic monitor?

Geek Warning (This post is all about Quantum Leap)

Ok, I admit, I'm a HUGE Quantum Leap fan (note the present tense, I haven't given up on a new series or movie). I would also "do" Dean Stockwell in a heartbeat. Ok, probably too much information, but who cares.

I was totally pissed when the series was cancelled, but that was before I had a computer and could write e-mails to everyone and bitch. I do want to thank Don Bellisario for at least putting some closure on the series with the final episode "Mirror Image", which left me bawling for days, then going "huh?"

For years I've pondered the episode, trying to figure out what exactly made me cry like a little girl (probably that whole text thing at the end that said "Dr. Beckett never came home again"), and think about what really went on in the episode.

The reason I'm writing this now is because the SciFi channel just showed "Mirror Image", I watched it, and once again, cried like a baby. I searched the internet for a site that would say for sure what had really happened, but every other fan seems as clueless as me... offering their thoughts on what happened and why.

Here's my theory:

Al died in the POW camp in Viet Nam

Dr. Beckett lost his brother in Viet Nam

Dr. Beckett builds the time machine and leaps around willy nilly. Al helps him along (because Sam changed the past, Al didn't die)

When Sam leapt into Beth's life, he was suppose to save the policeman (which he did), but wasn't suppose to tell Beth that Al was alive (because he wasn't really).

In "Mirror Mirror" Sam figures out that he's the one leaping, changing stuff all the time. He realizes (and its said several times) that the dead come back to help the living.

He leaps back and tells Beth that Al is alive, and at the very end, the audience sees the picture of Al glistening blue and "leaping" (the dead coming back to help the living).

The reason that Dr. Beckett never makes it home is because he becomes Al (that whole, "which reality do you believe, the one you see or the one in the mirror" comment that Al the bartender makes to Sam), comes home, marries Beth and has two kids... that's his "sabbatical".

That was the one thing he couldn't do for Al, because Sam thought he had to continue leaping and "making right, what once went wrong".

So, that's my spin on it. Either that, or Sam was Al all along. Who freakin knows.

Dirt Weekend II (Electric Boogaloo)

Yes, we are insane. We got another load of dirt. After seeing how well the last pile made our lopsided yard look, the second front half of the yard looked even worse, so we got another pile of dirt.

Two friends were suppose to show up and help this morning. No shows. I'm sure they have a very good excuse like: "who the hell wants to go wheelbarrow dirt for someone else". Not me, that's for sure.

Bright and early (9:30am) we start. This time we're prepared, we bought a dirt roller that you fill up with water for weight to roll over the dirt once its in place. I lost count around 30 wheelbarrows full, and we've only made a slight dent in the pile, but that huge crevass in our yard is almost filled in. Hubby managed to run himself over with the roller a few times (that's gotta hurt). Since there was such a slope to begin with, the stupid thing would roll back out of control, and he bravely would fling himself under it, rather than have it go shooting through the fence.

By 1:30pm, we're both so tired we can barely walk, and after hubby nearly lost a foot to the roller in another run-a-way incident, we said screw it. We'll start again tomorrow.

We do have plans to go out tonight, meet some friends (maybe) around 9pm at a club, but who knows if they'll show up. Even after a nap and a very hot shower, I'm boneless chicken woman, and my left thumb is totally numb now. I don't even have the strength to blow dry my hair.

It seems to be the day of people saying they'll do something, and not. I'm trying to get rid of some of our junk, so I freecycled it. I've had one person say "never mind", another who 'forgot", and one who just plain hasn't shown up, so at this point, whoever shows up and takes the stuff on the porch... bless you. I'm about to throw it all on the curb with a big "free" sign on it.

ugh, I guess I'd better do laundry or something now... if only I could walk. I'll post the before and after pics when we're done tomorrow... I hope we're done tomorrow.

The Weekend from ... You'll see

Saturday
Ok, so we wake up bright and early and take Loki to the vet for his annual vaccines. He's healthy and not happy about being poked.

Back home, feed the dogs, then off to Lowes for a new wheelbarrow to replace the one whose parts didn't fit, one of those little tractor sprinklers that travel the length of the hose and squirt (very cute), and a gazillion other things I can't even remember.

To the liquor store for refreshments for the guys that were coming sunday to help us move the dirt pile. While hubby was getting beers, I was in Kohls buying some new work clothes, since I've been wearing the same things every day for two years.

Home
It occurs to us that it's not raining, why not start dragging some of the dirt to the back yard. After all, its not such a big pile. Two hours later, tails dragging, we decide that we're going to need some boards to hold back the dirt, as the angle of the washout is a bit bigger than we first thought, and dirt is VERY freakin heavy.

To Lowes for 4x4x6 and spikes

Home
The dogs enjoy eating the dirt while we lay the boards and hammer in the spikes.

8pm: warm up some leftover Baja Fresh in the wave, eat it half cold, fall into bed around 9pm

Sunday

We get up at 7am, well, we slowly roll out of bed and drink as much coffee and take handfuls of motrin to wake up, and stop the pain.

9am, the guys arrive, and after raining all night we find that our side yard, after a few wheelbarrow full, turns into quicksand. We decide that instead of hauling dirt and spreading it out nicely, the best thing to do is just get the dirt into the back yard, and hubby and I will spread it out. Parts of the yard are now molten goop from drainage, and around noon we get the whole pile of dirt into the back yard, then go to Denny's to eat.

To Lowes: for that carpet stuff that you lay down on top of grass seed, and more grass seed.

Home: while we spread the dirt around, the dogs are playing gleefully in the dirt, eating the dirt, and playing king of tarp. Around 3pm, we've just about finished spreading the dirt to where everything is even, and stomping it down, when Sam and Loki decide they each want a special dirt clod. They argue over the dirt clod, they begin fighting over the dirt clod. Gil grabs Loki, but I was in no position to grab Sam, so he took advantage of that and nailed Loki twice in the leg. Loki, in retaliation, went after Sam, but got me on the hand, luckily he has great bite inhibition and barely broke the skin.

We break them up and Loki is holding up his none mutant leg. We go to look and he whines and falls over, all pathetic. He has a sizeable puncture under the armpit and another farther down on the leg.

Lock the dogs up and off we go with Loki to the ER Vet. Spent an hour there, they shaved the spots, gave him an antibiotic shot and some antibiotics to take for the next week, and told us to put hot compresses on it three times a day, he'll be very sore for a week.

Home: Introduce the pups to each other again, and Sam and Loki sorta kiss and make up. Out we go again, this time to lay grass seed, the seed carpet (didn't get enough of that), then hook up the hose to the tractor and start watering. So far the tractor has fallen over in dog holes twice, which is fun getting out there to right it, but so far so good.

The dogs have eaten and I'm making them lay down and behave. Loki is limping pretty badly because his leg is getting sore, but I'm sure he'll heal just fine, but I feel sorry for the poor little guy. Sam knows he's in the craphouse, he's slinking around all guilty and trying to suck up. Meeshka is sucking up too because she knows she should have stopped it, but stood by and watched.

We're covered in goo, exhausted, sore, I have a sore on my mouth (that is growing a head I fear), a scrape on the back of my right hand, a dog bite on the back of my left hand, every muscle in my body aches, and I have no idea what we're having for dinner.

I think we'll just look out the window and watch the tractor spray the yard.

Our Dirt Pile

Today the Dirt Pile people came out and dumped our mulch/top soil mix into the driveway. This is our pile of dirt. We will be hauling this pile of dirt into the backyard to fill in the soil that has washed into the back of our yard. Of course, the weatherpeople say that it will rain all day tomorrow, so you'll probably see us on CNN trying to save our house from the mudslide that will ensue from the giant mound of dirt.

We bought a wheelbarrow the other day. We already have one, but felt that two would be good to have (you can never have too many wheelbarrows). The wheelbarrow (unlike the first one we bought) came in pieces. There were boxes that you had to choose from, depending on what sized wheelbarrow you bought. Of course, we grabbed the wrong box, so the parts fit a much LARGER wheelbarrow. Back to Lowes we go, and I'm hoping that if I act helpless enough (hey, the large sore on the corner of my mouth may at least scare them enough) they will put one together for us.

I've moved my computers out of the downstairs computer room and into the nook. Of course, all I did was move them to another room, but Microsoft's networking got confused and couldn't figure out what happened. I had to reboot the router and modem before it recognized that I was still here... just in a different room. I hate microsoft, just in case you hadn't noticed. Now I'm sitting at my new computer table (a real computer table, not a fold up table posing as a computer table), and hopefully this weekend, while its raining, or while we're recovering from hauling dirt all over the place, we'll move the server into the computer room, and I'll have a real living room once again.

This is our "new" kitchen

The $200 Garbage Can

The $200 Garbage Can

We went a little nuts yesterday.

We kept expecting Amex to call us and say "ok, you've gone insane, and you must stop".
Our first trip was to take Meeshka to the vet for her annual shots, which is always expensive. Then we measured the kitchen and took off for Ikea. Hubby was not a big Ikea fan, but then he started coming around to the wonders of Ikea when he noticed how nice some of the furniture is, and you just can't beat the price. So he started saying "we can get this until we can afford nicer furniture"... riiight.

So, we went to Ikea to get a kitchen table and chairs, because for 11 years in this house, we had a kitchen table (that the dogs peed on), but no chairs. For 11 years we ate, scrunched over the coffee table downstairs, while the dogs did their best to steal our food. It was not a pleasant eating experience. We also went to get me a computer desk, since I've been stuck at a fold up church table desk for 11 years, and wanted to move up to a real desk, up in the nook. There are more reasons, but I won't go into that now.

Hubby had seen some modular kitchen furniture, complete with wine racks, and he decided that we needed those (and we did), so we decided while we were there... why not. So we picked out the units we needed, and loaded two carts worth of junk. I won't go into the idiot that made his mother stand in the loading area, then nearly ran into hubby and his mother to get to the spot (morons).

Came home, and dragged everything in before the major thunderstorm, and spent hours putting everything together. The dogs were very helpful, of course. Tons of space on the shelves, and we realized that we'd only need (for now) one more shelf to get rid of the crappy plastic shelf, so... back to Ikea we go today.

We also realized that we had no place left for a trash container, or dog food bins, so off we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond (that evil succubus of household items), and ended up getting a table cloth, place settings (gee, if only we had the gingerbread man era stuff now), plastic glassware (a neccesity with huskies), rugs for the dogs (who can't eat without standing on a rug for some reason), and THE TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR TRASH CONTAINER.

It's a simplehuman brand (simplehuman is aptly named, because only a simple human would pay $200 for a trash container), with a pedal that opens two doors. But it was what we wanted, it would fit in the space we had... so we got it, after swallowing our tongues and gagging. Stopped off at the petstore for stackable dog food containers, then home to assemble our new "look".

We discovered that we need more rugs for the dogs, as they are too bunched up and ate their food like pretzels, so back to BB&B tomorrow for more rugs. Still have to put the computer table together, but by the time we got home, the Amex was smoking and we were exhausted.

We waved something simple to eat and sat at the table. The dogs were totally confused as to why we were eating on this tall thing that they couldn't reach, so they sat, dejected near the table. What a feeling, to be able to eat without fighting dogs off for my food.

I feel almost human now... a simple human, with my really cool, totally unbelievable, handy dandy $200 trash can.

Refinancing

Since our house went up in price, along with our taxes, we decided to use that equity to refinance, pay off our credit card debt (that we've been trying to pay off for 17 years), put a new deck on the house (one that we weren't fearful of our lives the moment we stepped on it), and do some things to the house, like finally buy some furniture to sit on.

We started the process 6 years ago... ok, a month ago, but in stress time it seems like 6 years. The hoops you have to jump through in order to get money from your house is amazing. Papers you have to submit to prove that you are worthy of a loan (we need the money, therefore we can't get a loan, but if you don't need the money, they literally shovel money on you theory), then there's the phone calls:

1.) Oh, we need to have your house appraised, because even though the state of Maryland thinks that your house is worth a gazillion dollars, it may not be. (it was)

.) The last time you refinanced, well, that payoff never got recorded, would you happen to have a small slip of paper that says it was paid off that you were sent 3 years ago? (we dug it up).

.) Since your house is worth a gazillion dollars, we'll need you to up your insurance (which we did, but then the computer ate our policy, it was a whole fiasco).

.) I know you said you were making this much, but your stubs only say this much, so we'll need to know how much money you're worth should you croak suddenly. (401K paperwork sent).

It's been a roller coaster of fun. But we finally have a close date and time to sign the paperwork, barring any stupid things happening, a mere 6 days away and I'll get to tell all of our credit card people to shove their disability insurance fees up their ass, don't even call me again, bite me. I can't wait for that.

In 7 days I'll call the deck people and we'll start the stress of having the super mondo huge, sturdy, within county ordinance deck put up, buy a grill, lounge on the new deck in style. I can't wait. Before that happens we have to get fill dirt/mulch, topsoil dumped into the back yard to fix the slope that has made our yard into a waterfall, plant some grass (there's a miracle, what with the dogs), and do a zillion other things to get ready for grill fest 2005.

Helpful Huskies

Since most of our foundation has washed away due to the ever diligent digging of the herd, I decided (what was I thinking) that I should take the large pile of dirt that was once our foundation but was now sitting at the back of our yard, and haul it back up to the house.

Step 1: Get out the wheelbarrow. Notice (after shoveling dirt into wheelbarrow) that tire is completely flat. Note to those not in the know: tires are VERY important on wheelbarrows.

Step 2: Abandon wheelbarrow, try dragging dirt on tarp. Note to those not in the know: when you have three huskies, they will think its really funny to jump on the tarp and catch a ride with the dirt. Three huskies = 150 lbs. They will then decide to fight over who gets to sit on the tarp and not move.

Step 3: Abandon tarp, shop online for wheelbarrow wheels. Note to those not in the know: wheelbarrow wheels cost as much as the freakin wheelbarrow. Decide on getting new plastic 2-wheeled cart thing instead of wheelbarrow.

Step 4: Go get the new wheelbarrow. Note to those not in the know: if Lowes says its in stock, odds are it isn't. Opt to buy wheelbarrow wheel similar to the one that went flat, as the flatless ones that fit my wheelbarrow were not in stock.

Step 5: Put new wheel on wheelbarrow. Not to those not in the know: it was easy and it actually fit.

Step 6: Realize that 500 lbs of dirt compacts to nothing, but sucks the life blood from you. Turn around after load #568 to discover huskies digging a huge hole in the dirt I just dumped out. Now I have no dirt near the foundation, and three very muddy huskies.

Step 7: Hire someone to put top soil in.

While I was at Lowes, I decided to get some stainless steel cleaner, as our stainless steel fridge looked like a horror show. Apparently stainless steel requires "special" cleaners. I would think that all of those DeLorean owners would have come up with a better cleaner by now. I find the product, called "Stainless Steel Magic" and grab a bottle. With a name like that, I would expect that its a simple matter of spray and wipe.

As I stood in line (apparently Good Friday is the day to buy home improvement supplies), I read the directions, that went something like this:

1.) Remove all food from your house, store it in a concrete bunker miles away.
2.) Don the protective suit (sold separately), and respirator
3.) Unplug your appliance and make sure it's cool to the touch as product is highly flammable.
4.) Spray product on appliance and run like hell, dialing 911 as you dash and scream like a little girl.
5.) For God's sake don't touch anything!
6.) Wipe with a cloth that has no sentimental value, as the product will cause the cloth to disintegrate in your gloved hand.
7.) Don't touch the appliance for 10 years.
8.) Eat out, or prepare foods in someone else's home for the next millenium.

I got out of line, put it back on the shelf (gently, as to not set off a horrible chain reaction), and bought some Simple Green... I really don't know why, but it seemed safe and friendly.

When I got home and relayed the story to my friend, she suggested that I wipe down the fridge with olive oil, as apparently this was a suggestion she had read in a magazine.

So, after scraping off the dried gunk, that's what I did... and it works!

Of course, I can't keep the dogs from licking the fridge, but where they can't reach is nice and shiny.

The Flat Tire

Two weeks ago I mentioned to hubby "hey, your rear passenger side tire looks low, better take care of it".

One week ago I mentioned to hubby "hey, your rear passenger side tire is almost flat, better take care of it this week, because next week is busy".

Today, Sunday, at 3:30pm, as we were going to Costco "Your tire is a pancake".

This is how my husband's family deals with everything:

Step 1: Ignore it. It'll go away on its own or resolve itself.

Step 2: Do something about it, don't fix it, just deal with it as little as possible, then ignore it again.

Step 3: Bemoan the fact that everything happens at the worst possible time when eventually you're faced with actually DOING something about it.

As in the case of pancake tire, his "solution" was to drive it to a gas station and put air in it.

A.) You don't drive on a flat. Not only will you end up buying a new tire, but you'll also be buying new rims, AND probably stuck out in the middle of nowhere when it finally disintigrates.

B.) What is air going to give you? Another day to ignore it?

I suggested (since hubby is currently on muscle relaxers for a bad back) that we call AAA and have someone come out and put the spare on. Ok, so it's in our driveway, who cares, I pay those people 200 bucks a year, they need to earn their money somehow!

His suggestion: change it ourselves. Which we did. It wasn't too much of a pain, but it was an hour of our time, and he's now laying in bed barely able to move.

So, here's a contest for you all: How long will it take him to take care of the now flat tire that is a spare on his truck? Please consult the family rules above before you answer that question.

My guess? The moment he gets another flat tire.

The Pups At Work

The pups at work

We don't have grass in our yard, and this is the reason why.
I don't mind that the pups dig, that's why we bought the house with a big fenced in yard, for them to play and have fun in. They can dig anywhere in the yard they want, except for near the fence, and they do.

I didn't know that grubs were a delicacy, but apparently they are, and they have an uncanny knack for smelling them out, digging them up and eating them, which is incredibly gross, but I read they're high in protein, so I guess it's ok.

We use to have moles in the yard, you could tell by the raised tracks through the yard. They can smell moles too, and they've caught them. One time, at night, Sammy caught something. Hubby and I chased them down, and I grabbed whatever it was out of his mouth but wasn't expecting something warm and fuzzy. I flung it, hitting hubby in the chest, Meeshka caught it on the ricchochet, then we had to chase her down and retrieve the now deceased mole from her.

This afternoon they had a big project. Digging to China is high on their agenda, and the hole they managed to dig in an hour's time was quite impressive. I have no idea what they were going after, but if it required a hole that big, I'm sure it was nothing short of a yeti. I had no problem with it, until they started fighting over who the hole belonged to. Loki was very adament that it was his, Meeshka begged to differ, Sam just wanted to look in the hole. Loki went after Sam, Meeshka claimed the hole, Loki came back to claim it, and chaos ensued. I had to shove Loki off of Meeshka, and wait for the neighbors to call the police after us with all the racket, screaming, snarling and yelling going on.

Sure, it looks ferocious, but not a drop of blood was spilled, not even a hair out of place, but I don't want them fighting over a dirt hole. They're now trying to suck up to me because I'm "disappointed" of them and ignoring them. They hate when I ignore them. "Hey, we're cute and fluffy, don't be mad at us".

I filled the hole up and made them come inside. After a half hour, whatever was out there made its escape and they're no longer interested in that hole. They'll start another one somewhere else tomorrow, I'm sure.

This is Pathetic

Hubby wanted nice hangers for his suits (NO WIRE HANGERS.... EVER!), so off we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond, where we can actually walk through it to get to Starbucks without a problem, but if we actually need 1 thing, will exit the store with arms full.

The hanger selection is astounding. Who knew there were all types and styles of coat hangers. He found the ones he wanted that had the little bar for securing pants, and I turned around and saw the shelf that had little hanging hook things. Cool!

We developed a habit of walking in the door, up the stairs, turn to the desks and unload all of our crap, then drape our coats on the railing that keeps you from plumetting to your death down the stairs. With the weather being wacky (60 degrees, then 2 degrees, then 70 degrees, then snow, then rain), the railing is beginning to buckle from the variety of coats we've thrown on it.

What could be more perfect than a little rack you can hang on a door to put our coats on. I bought it, and a stool for the kitchen table (11 years in the house, no chairs in the kitchen, finally a place to sit while I guard the dogs from things cooking on the stove, instead of sitting on a counter top... yes the same counter top I prepare foods on... lunch anyone?)

We get home, I hang the hook thing on the door. The closet door. The closet door that is a mere foot away from where we drape our coats. The closet that has all of our coats in it. I then realize that we are incredibly lazy. We're capable of hanging our coats on hooks on the very closet door that contains our coats, but somehow are incapable of opening the closet door and hanging our coats IN the closet.

Sigh.