Images of Christmas

I absolutly could not choose which pictures to post, so I picked these. No real reason, but Im gonna show you more another day. Christmas day was great. We had 25 people over for dinner. Let me tell ya, if you have ever had a sit down dinner for 25 people in a 975 sq ft house, you may understand some of the challenges we faced. My Uncle Bill from England and his wife were here. I have not seen them since I was 8 so it was wonderful! Let me explain the pics, #1 is some decoration I have on my wall. Its Santas clothes on a clothesline, and below it is the bommerang my Uncle George brought back from Austrailia for me. Pic #2 is Turkey #1 that my Daddy did on the BBQ roticery. It was YUM YUM YUMMY! I love California! Pic #3 is the fire in the backyard that we all gathered around to listen to my cousin play my Dads new guitar, and pic #4 is one of the bows I tied as decoration around work. Thats all for now, its late but I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Christmas Shopping in the BIG CITY

Saturday, I went Christmas shopping in San Francisco with a couple of friends. We took the Ferry across the bay and hopped onto BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit, sort of like a subway system) and went to Nordstrom, Bloomingdales (my FIRST TIME EVER in there!) and a few other stores. It was SOOOOO COOOOLD but fun! Im pretty sure that you've all heard of Bloomingdales. I have NEVER held a purse that cost $1000! WOW! It was fun! My friend bought me a little purse at Bloomingdales its pink with sunglasses and shoes on it. It was only like $20 but now I get to say, I have a purse from Bloomingdales! The first pic is a guy that we spotted on the Ferry on the way back. We thought it was really funny because the ferry was pretty packed and the table next to him was full of middle aged women desperately clinging to their youth by playing quarters and enhancing their already drunken state with children present. *****cough****LOOSERS****cough**** The last pic is me and my Disney World companion. We are waiting for the ferry and decided to have THE BEST COFFEE ANYWHERE! If you dont have a Peets Coffee in your neighboorhood, Im REALLY SORRY. It was a good day. This comming up Saturday will be even better because my bestest friend in the whole big wide world will be in town for the holiday! WOOOHOOOO! I wish I could see her every week. Who knows, maybe God will like a little bit and drop my dream job in my lap that will "force" me to move down to her. Boy that would be just horrible, NOT! N E Way, thats all for now! TTFN! 

My home town

So every day when I drive to work, I get to pass some pretty amazing sites. My commute to work takes me about 45 minutes. I dont mind because this are the things I see. The last picture is beyond my office, but its my favorite place in the valley. It is the historic Berringer Winery Rhine House, it is over 125 years old. Thats all I have today. I just wanted to share some beauty with you all! By the way, these pics were takes with my new digital camera!


 

My new Job

If I have not shared thenews with you, I am sorry. I have found a new job. I am a banker at an up Valley bank. Honestly, when I took the job I was not thrilled. Ive done banking before and hated it so much, I quit after just over a month. Why on earth would i take yet another banking job then? Well the pay is pretty good, not fantastic great, but good. And, I was so ready to leave my other job, I was thrilled to just get something with "regular" hours and better pay. Because its up Valley, it is closed on Saturdays. Very cool! I get weekends off! I sleep in until 630 or 7ooam! My old job, I was up at 4am! Sometimes I was working until 4am and beyond. I was at work ALL THE TIME! This job will allow me to seek out some sort of life!

I have just completed my first week at the new job. I went into it with EXTREMELY LOW expectations. The last bank I was in was horrid! The job was boring, and the people I worked with were complete assholes! The people at this place are actually nice. They have that thing, uhm, whats it called, oh A SENSE OF HUMOR! I hope this will be a job that I can make a somewhat peacefull living out of.

Joke I found for you all, enjoy!
Tickle Me ElmoThere is a factory in Northern Minnesota which makes the Tickle Me Elmo toys.The toy laughs when you tickle it under the arms.Well, Lena is hired at The Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 8:00 AMThe next day at 8:45 AM there is a knock at the Personnel Manager's door.The Foreman throws open the door and begins to rant about the new employee.He complains that she is incredibly slow and the whole line is backing up, putting the entire production line behind schedule.The Personnel Manager decides he should see this for himself, so the 2 men march down to the factory floor.When they get there the line is so backed up that there are Tickle Me Elmo's all over the factory floor and they're really beginning to pile up.At the end of the line stands Lena surrounded by mountains of Tickle Me Elmo's.She has a roll of plush red fabric and a huge bag of small marbles.The 2 men watch in amazement as she cuts a little piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles and begins to carefully sew the little package between Elmo's legs.The Personnel Manager bursts into laughter. After several minutes of hysterics he pulls himself together and approaches Lena "I'm sorry," he says to her, barely able to keep a straight face,"but I think you misunderstood the instructions I gave you yesterday...""Your job is to give Elmo two test tickles.Not 2 Testicles

My 1st Xmas party this year

I had the pleasure of going to a Christmas party this evening. It was with a bunch of former co-workers from work. We still get together about once a month to do something. Every year we have a xmas party at T's house cause its the biggest one! The first picture is of me and my friend Jen-ney! I love her to death. If shes telling a funny story, she can NEVER get thru it without laughing her butt off! The best thing about Jen-ney (thats how I say her name, it cracks her up) is that caffine has the same effect on her as alcohol has the average person. So we get her drunk by giving her coke & pepsi! Picture #2 is the dessert & gift table! Choclate cake, carrot cake (made from scratch! YUM YUM!) mini cheese cakes, chocolate peanut butter cups, cookies of all kinds, rasberry filled pasteries YUM YUM, and the best of them all, my sex in pan! The last picture is the cleaning of the dessert buffet! I also brought some Jack Daniels meatballs. One of the girls asked me if I themed what I was bringing. I said "uhm no.....why?" She replied "well you brough SEX-in-a-Pan and MeatBALLS?" LOL! Cheeky arent I? LOL!
 

Blogger dropped one!

STOOOOOOOOOPID blogger dropped one! This beauty has a fun story. My Great Auntie Diddles came to visit us from Scotland. Her nickname is Diddles because they say she diddled death a number of times throughout her life. Anyway, she had always wanted to go to Disneyland, so we were happy to grant her that wish. I was the lucky sibling chosen to go right in the middle of the school year! While in Fantasyland my Mom spotted a Christmas shop and since she loved all things christmas, we headed right in. She spotted Angle Duck and bought her instantly! No, its not Donald or any other Disney Chatacter, its just a duck, an Angel Duck! She has adorned the top of our Christmas every year since I was in 8th grade! 

Its Christmas Time!

Its that time of year! I just LOVE this time of year! We have decked our halls and trimmed our tree! With my new digital camera, I have taken some picture of my favorite tree trinkets. The first picture is an ornament I got when I was 7. We used to go to a Fire House Xmas party that was put on by the volunteers wives. Our neighborhood fire house only had 2 full time paid firemen, the rest of the station was made up of volunteers, like my Daddy. For a while, the volunteers wives would put on a big xmas party with Santa, gifts & stuffed stockings, dinner & games. It was their way of thanking the volunteers. At the last Xmas party they had I got Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls and in my stocking amongst ooooddddllleees of candy was this cute little Angel ornament. Picture #2 is cute little thing I picked up last year. Her name is Cookie Doe. Can you tell what she is made up of? Take a close look. Picture #3 is me having fun. Can you guess what it is a picture of?

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well today is the day we here in the USA give thanks for what we have. Its not a world wide holiday, but I think it should be. We need to be thankfull everyday, but its nice to pick one day a year and focus on it. Later today I will get the pleasure of gorging myself with turkey, stuffing, and the best part of Thankgiving dinner, dessert! I'll be having Sex-in-a-Pan! Its the best dessert ever! Take a minute today to say thank you to your friends, family, loved ones, cats, etc.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

A small glimpse of what my Best Friend can do!

So, I was on Karins blog reading how she got the title "Chocolate Cars", which I already knew but thats my job! Any-whey she said she didnt have any pics on her computer of her amazing work! Well, being the totally cool person that I am, I HAVE ONE! Look how cool they are! I saw her make a red one and it looked really cool! She put an amazing amount of detail on each of them. So there you have it, one of Karins talents!

As for me, the job hunt continues. Im not looking for the first thing to drop into my lap. Im kind of holding out for something sort of good. So keep the good thoughts comming! Hopefully something will bite! I was offered an Executive position at my current job. They want to to take on GOBS more responsability for a mere $2 more per hour. It took everything I had to NOT burst out laughing in their face. Youd be proud, I was very professional and turned them down the next day. It wasnt easy though! I left that day, got into my car and BURST OUT LAUGHING! Sad really! Enjoy! 

An update on the dentist from HELL

Okay so a while back I told you guys about going to the dentist. The Dentist I went to is Dr. Moheb of Trancas Dental in Napa, CA. Supposedly, this destist has been in Napa for over 36 years. If this is true, I cant see how because they are the worst dentist Ive ever been too. They were pokin around in my mouth with a pointy metal thing and whenI jumped from pain, she said "hold still or Ill stab you" She also said to me "breathe through your nose your foggin up my mirror and I cant see" . I requested another shot of novicane and she gives it to me in the ROOF OF MY MOUTH!!!!! OOOUUUUCCHHHHHH!!!!!! I still have a scar. They screwed up my first set of impressions and I had to go to them, to find this out. My last trip to this dentist, I had to give them yet another $450! I was pissed!!! They told me that my insurance company denied my claim and didnt say why. I asked them if they resubmitted it and their response was, "We dont do that". I couldnt leave until I paid, so luckily I had a credit card with me that wasnt max'd out. So I paid & left pissed off!!!!!! I then went home, called my insurance company, and BITCHED BIG TIME! They told me I could file a grievance and the dentist would HAVE to cooperate with them. So I did. They received my grievance on OCtober 31, 2006. Today (November 9, 2006) I got a letter from my insurance company. They are paying me $385.50 and they are looking at the service complaint because apparently it's not the first one. So you see my fellow bloggers, it really does pay to BITCH in writing! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!

Guilt is a wonderful thing

If I could have taken a picture I would have. Dead batteries in the cam. Anyway, my niece K (the older one) got the surprise of a life time today. You see, she has only recently started to build a relationship with her biological father. I think its going on 3 years now. I believe they met around her 16th bday. Its been really weird for us because all we know is what my sister told us. Come to find out, she told everyone a different story so lord only knows what really happened. Any-whoo, I come home from hell today (aka: work) and my Mom tells me that K's Father has bought her a car, a white 2002 Dodge Neon. Its not loaded or anyting its a pretty basic model, 5 speed, manual windows & locks, etc. She doesnt care about the trimmings, but is THRILLED TO DEATH to have a pretty new car. She hated the other car she was abusing. Apparently her father said he wanted to show K how much she really does mean to him. He called up my Dad and talked to him about it. Funny huh, you'd think he would callmy sister and talk to her, but he was smart and called the level headed clear thinking one of the family. From what I was told, he broached the subject with his wife and she said "Dont you think you should talk to her mother first?" His reply "No, shes 18 and not living with her anymore" Good boy. No doubt if he has "asked" my sister for her permission she'd have said no just out of spite. She never has been one to think of the kids first. Sad part is they know that. Well congrats K! Its about time something good happened to you besides having the worlds coolest and bestest Auntie!

Why I hate people

Okay my best friend and I have a lot in common. Most of all, we both hate people because 95% of them are stupid. For example, I work in a major retail store. We open our doors at 9am. You can tell we are open because when you walk up to the doors and push on them, they open. Someone walked into my store, walked up to me and said "Hi are you open?" I replied to him "Well we dont usually leave the doors unlocked when we are closed sir" His companions roared in laughter at him. This ASSHOLE shown here in the red Ford is yet another reason why I hate people. This ASSHOLE drove down the shoulder of the highway illegally, then cut into traffic. Normally, I would have moved my car into position so he would not be able to pass. It would accomplish two things, #1 it would piss him off that would make me jolly. #2 it would prevent him from completing his illegal manouver and force his stupid ass to sit in traffic like the rest of us have to. I didnt perform my usual manouver beacuse the ASSHOLE was speeding down the shoulder!! If I had moved, he would have smashed my pretty car to bits, and I wasnt really in the mood to be broken and cut. Here is the funny Karma part. I was able to snap this shot with my cell phone because Mario Andretti here was able to get to the signal 4th! I was right behind him :) So, all of his rushing and illegal manouvers, got him nowhere faster. He also got stuck behing a Semi Truck, AND hit every red light though town, just behind me :) I giggled and honked at him as I passed! My other HUGE pet peve on the road, tailgaters! Just a friendly note to all you tailgaters out there. IF you happen upon my pretty car, and decide that you like it sooooo much that you have tocrawl up my ass, I WILL slam on my breaks and force you to slam into me. I will then very rapidly grab my neck and haul your ass into court for as much as the state and federal govn't will allow me to! Tailgating will get you nothing but a ticket from an observent and bored cop and a really pissed off driver in front of you. Remember that in all rear ender accidents, it is ALWAYS the back cars fault. Okay, Im done bitching now I feel soooo much better :o) 

Looking for something?

Yes indeed I am. I was soooo angry at work this morning, I was actually yelling at my boss! I had to stop myself and use EXTREME RESTRAINT not to just walk out. I love what I do, Im just sooo tired of the bullshit that I have to put up with at work. The so called executives putting all the work on me and 2 other people, then asking us why our work isnt geting done. BECAUSE WE ARE DOING ALL YOUR WORK JACKASS! I am now officially on the hunt for a new job. Hopefully I can find one soon. I dont know how much longer I can take it! Isnt my baby cute! 

How to eat witha cone on your head

SO here are a couple more pics of Rajah. It didnt take him long to figure out how to eat with a cone on his head. The first pic was taken just after he finished trying to back out of his cone. He approached his bowl and the first attempt, he shoved it a few inches with his cone while trying to get a nibble. Second attempt, success! The Second picture I took of Rajah yesterday. My niece was blow drying her hair. We have dubbed the hair dryer "The Monster". Rajah absolutly HATES it.........BUT..........he cant not look at it. If you closed the door, the opens it. If you point the hair dryer at him, he will freak out in all directions! As soon as you turn the dryer back to yourself, he is here staring The Monster down! He is a crack up! 

My baby's booboo

So, I was reading The Mad Hatters blog (HEEEEEEEY!!! Look at me Susiebadoozie I figured it out!) and she was talking about her kitty getting an operation. I know first hand what it is like to worry yourself sick when your baby is in surgery. In 2002, when Rajah was just 1 year old, he ran away and was gone for 2 weeks!! Since he is my first kitty EVER, I was beside myself with worry. Finally one day he showed up on our porch. He was really banged up. His beautiful fluffy tail (see up there in pic #1) was draging on the ground, he looked like someone or something had thrown him off a 10 story building! Since it was late at night, we decided take him to the vet first thing in the morning. He was walking, but he was obviously in lots of pain. After a quick exam the vet determined that he had been clipped by a car/truck. From his injuries, it looked like he had been running across the road and the car/truck hit him around the hip/back legs area. His tail was broken where it attaches to the spine, there was nerve damage, and his hips were dislodged. We started with the most immediate injury his tail. We had to amputate his beautiful trade mark tail. He is a Maine Coone, and their trademark is their racoon-like tail. The vet was not sure about the nerve damage, or his hips. He said to take him home and wait about a week and watch him closely. He said sometimes mother nature takes over and the body compensates for injuries and repaires itself. If he goes pee and poo normally without straining, and if he walks, jumps, and you can tickle his back feet, he will be fine. If not, then the only place that could fix him would be a university hospital and it was not going to be cheap. We were looking at possibly thousands of dollars in bills. So we took my poor shaved, tail-less kitty (seen in pic #2) home. Pic #2 shows how much he loved his protective cone. He tried to back out of it for about 45 minutes. I had to take the top off of his litter box, cause he couldnt fit into it with his cone on. (poor baby!) So I took it off and set it aside and later on that day, he decided to dag some of my shirts into it and make it his sick bed. (see pic #3) As soon as he was better, he wouldnt sleep in it anymore. The results of his ordeal........well he goes outside still but never goes any farther than the back yard and front yard. When he hears a truck, he goes RUNNING, so we figured it was a truck that hit him. He never did that before he lost his tail. He also absolutly will NOT let anyone touch his hips, if you start to run your hand along his back and get too close, he will turn to bite you. He runs, jumps, rolls, climbs just like any normal cat. No problem peeing or pooing. So no big vet bill. Just $500 to amputate his tail. Think about that. $500 to remove an apendage of sorts from a cat. I paid out of pocket nearly $700 for 1 stinkin tooth and the insurance was billed for $1200! I get a metal tooth for $1900, and my cat has his entire tail removed for $500. Hmmmmmmm. Rajah has been examined since then and given a clean bill of health. So you see Maddy muh sweets, dont worry as Karin would say "Your Fur Baby" will be just fine :)

 

Things that make you go awwweeeee!

So Im out of my funk now. I would like to thank everyone who cyber huged me! Its a good feeling to know that people care about you. Every so often we (especially me) need to hear it or see it. So go ahead and give yourself a HUGE MONDO HUG from me!

I was flipin through Picasa2 to see what pics it found on this computers hard drive. See this computer Im using, I took from my sis. My folks bought it for my nieces when they got their own place last year. They needed a computer for school work. Last New Years they were flooded out. We are talking over 4 feet of water in the garage alone! Luckily the computer survived. However, since then, it has been sitting unused. So I went and took it back. Cleaned it up and now its in my room. I just have to get a new computer chair. Right now Im using a kitchen chair and all I have to say is OUCH! Here you see some pics of my nieces when they were nice to each other. They are teens now so they arent really fond of each other right now. I know they will grow out of it (crosses her fingers). Its fun to look at these pics and remember the cutsie times. The first one is of them in some of their Grandfathers Firefighter equipment. My sister is actually under the jacket of my niece on the right holding her up, cause she kept tipping over! It was SOOOOO FUNNY. Even R was doing her cute little giggle! The second pic R is on the left and around a year (I think) and K on the left (the one with 2 tatoos now) is like 2-3. You'd never catch K in a pink flower dress now! Look what a good big sis, holdingher little sister up! The last pic is my favorite pic EVER of them. This was taken at their Preschool Little Friends, which is no longer in business. R was 2 (on the right) K was 4 (on the left). K's teachers used to call her Precious Moments cause they said she looked like the Precious Moments dolls. R, they called her saucer eyes cause her eyes were HUGE. Its like her head had to catch up to the size of her eyes. R actually had her first little boyfriend there. His name was Caleb. For Valentines day he gave her a diamond sucker ring and a Polly Pocket Wedding play set. It was soooo cute!
 

Im in a funk!

Okay, your going to have to bare with me. Im in a funk. I have been for the last few days. I dont why I ge this way, but I do. K knows and thankfully she bares with me and waits for me on the other side. Lord knows she doesnt have to but I guess that is what true friends do, they wait for you to finish your funk, and sometimes, if necessary, they trudge through it with you.

I dont know what it is but the last few days I seem to have been bombarded by "loving couples". Let me tell you, as someone who is flying solo, its really fkn annoying to see "loving couples" around every turn. Especailly if they are people who you see and think to your solo self "self, im totally hotter than her, why am I alone STILL???" Then you answer yourself and go "oh yeah...thats why" So, how do you embrase your flaws that you hate, yet still make yourself attractive to others? I have not figured this out yet. Either I dont want to figure it out cause when Im ready to drop my guard, I get stepped on, or I honestly dont know how. I have a job that I love, with a paycheck that I hate. WHy cant life ver just give you 2 things that are great at the same time? Is that REALLY too much to ask. Even people at work are asking me whats wrong cause Im snapping at everyone, eventhe ones who have the power to fire me. I suppose I should worry about that part, but I dont. The difference between a lot of you in blogger-ville and me is a good 90% of you that Im aware of, have someone there with you to hold your hand, hold your head, hug you and tell you they love you, they are there for yu inthe morning when you wake up. I dont have that. Sure I have the bestest friend in the entire world, K but shes 400 miles away. Yes its just a phone call away, and I do utilize that A LOT LOT LOT. I dont get to run to her face to face with the things that bug me. I dont get have her pat me on the back, give me ahug or make a funny face at me to make me stop crying or just to make me laugh. Sometimes I just feel totally isolated. I will unfunk soon, I always do, but I just needed to get this off my chest. Its large enough already.

Frustration!!!!!!!

I went to work today to half the staff I was supposed to have. I was writing a note to the opening executive and I misspelled a word. Holy shit Susan spelled something wrong?! Everyone in that building is calling on me for one thing or another. It frustrated the crap out of me because I cant actually get my job done. When I make a mistake, everyone acts like the world just shifted on its access. They expect perfection out of me and when I fall short as humans tend to do, I get this look of shock! I wish I could just disconnect from everything and go live in a cave somewhere. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Wook at da widdle kit-ttty!

Okay after I posted earlier this evening I went out into my living room and my cute as can be kitty Rajah decided to use a c=grocery bag as a bed. First he crawled in and wiggled all around to find that perfect spot. As soon as he found it, he went to sleep. These are shots of him finding that perfect snooooze spot. Isnt he cute??? 

Tatoos

So my niece K is 18. This is a picture of her first tatoo that she got on July 4 of this year. Surprised? Yes I was. Shocked..........not in the least. She is doing some rebelling which is to be expected at 18. She is not doing anything that will ruin her life. Shes not pregnant, shes not doing drugs, shes enrolled at the local JC taking classes towards her Sports Medicine degree that she wants. She also has 2 jobs and is volunteering at a Middle School as a dance instructor. I have to give her props. She has gotten 2 tatoos, and I cant even work up the courage to get one that I have talked about getting since my early twenties. The second tatoo, a Celtic Cross, she got today. Its a nod towards her faith and heritage. Is she perfect? Oh HEEEEEEEELLLLL NO! She has definately pissed me off a time or 6! BUT......she is slowly growing up into an adult which is the best I can ask for.