The Daily Bug

Hi, folks.

Happy Sunday and, to include some more panic, there's only 20 shopping days left until Christmas.

Dragonfly, Saffron's just uses a basic pastry rolled very thin for their pumpkin pie squares. A chocolate pastry sounds good, though.

Ylee, Gams and Karen, thanks for the concern. Yes, Hubby walked in shortly after my last post. I apologize; I got busy and never got back online to allay everyone's fears.

That call obviously was a wrong number. Or a telemarketer.

Though I can't hear on the phone, I will pick up the receiver to another phone that is on the same line and go into my answering machine spiel: "Hi, you have reached the (______) residence. If you need to speak with me, please call back through the Relay System for the Deaf. That number is 711. Give the operator my number and he/she will assist you with your call. If you need to speak with (Hubby), please call back later. He is not available at the moment. Thank you."

Nine times out of ten, no one ever calls back. Those calls can be worrysome, though, when Hubby is not home.

On the bright side, I don't have to deal with telemarketers. I obviously have no problems with prank or obscene phone calls, either.

I went out to the shops yesterday afternoon. It reminded me why I hate Christmas shopping. The traffic. The crowds. The lines at the cash registers.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular, except some personal items I got from the drug store. I pottered about Big Lots for a while. Got mostly juice and canned goods but I did find a little two foot artificial tree for $6.00. It is perfect for the table by the door.

Our house is very small and we really don't have room for a tree. I used to put one up but when we got Thor, there was no way that cat and a Christmas tree would get along. So, we quit putting one up. We don't have children/grandchildren who would expect a tree nor do we have any coming over. It was just easier to let it slide. Not to mention not having to dodge a tree every time you walk throught the living room.

I do decorate a bit but not extensively. A wreath on the door. A few items scattered around. Maybe a Christmas table cloth and centerpiece on the table in the dining room. A couple of those battery operated candles in the front windows. The incoming Christmas cards.

Anyway, after I got home, I dug around for some small ornaments. Found some in the front closet. I had no idea where or even if I had any ornament hooks. Probably up in the attic but I wasn't about to go grubbing about up there last night. I made my own out of florist's wire. Got my little tree decorated and on the table with a ceramic Santa and a small Nativity underneath. The whole thing sits on a Christmas placemat. I didn't bother with lights. I know you can get short strings but there's really nowhere to plug them in right there. It still looks nice.

I still have to redo my wreath. My uncle made me some grapevine wreaths a few years ago. I use artificial greenery, flowers, etc and change it out, as the seasons go by. It has autumn leaves and sunflowers in it now. I need to get it down and re-do it for Christmas this afternoon.

Also on the agenda today: continue the search for my Christmas cards. Lord knows what I did with them last year.

Dinner menu today:

Chicken tender strips, browned and then simmered in cream of chicken soup, for a gravy.
Rice
Green beans
Carrots

Thanks, ylee. I know that makes my Dad happy.
The last two games were very disappointing.

Esp. the loss against USC last weekend.

Hubby and I will start pricing bedding and hopefully have our new set in by Christmas or New Years. No big rush; I'm hoping for a sale! It helps that we have just a full, or double, bed. Not a queen or king.

Oh, Lord, Shore! That Simon's Cat just cracks me up.

This one shows exactly why I never put up a tree while I had Thor.

am running really short on time.

OneHanesPlace is having a sale on unmentionables. I never got around to ordering this weekend, so have spent most of my lunch break online, shopping.

I think I've finally come up with a Christmas idea for a new thread. I may have done this before but, not having come up with other options, I'm going to do it anyway.

Will try to set it up tonight. Unless a good movie is on. Oh, Antiques Roadshow and Americal Pickers is on tonight. I'll have to get online early or do it during commercials.

Hey, everyone.

Yeah, Sandi, I wound up ensconced front of the TV and that was pretty much it. Antiques Roadshow wasn't on. PBS is doing fund raising so the regular schedule gets thrown out. I did watch American Pickers before going to bed.

I did get my wreath redone, so I got something accomplished.

RE: cats in trees....I had to call a tree guy one time to get Daisy out of a tree. She was just a little thing and kept climbing higher and higher. She was up there almost 3 days. She wasn't very happy about being bunged into a pillowcase for the trip back to earth but she sure was happy to get inside for something to eat and drink.

Happy Wednesday, folks.

Really busy at work. Still finding oddities and snafus with the new program.

The Tacky Christmas Decorating Gnomes have invaded the office. If we have any Jewish, Muslim, agnostics, atheists or pagans in the office, they're having their sensibilities assaulted. I know mine are. Most of it is just plastered around without much thought of how it looks. It's a bit too much, IMHO.

The little inflatable snowmen outside the kitchen door are a bit on the scary looking side; almost as if they've escaped from Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I have this overriding desire to drop kick one of them down the aisle every time I walk by.

We were just informed that there will be a Christmas stocking decorating contest. My unit has a 3 foot high red and green stocking to decorate. Lord knows what we're gonna do with the thing. They'll be judged 12/14 and there's supposed to be some kind of prize.

Redneck Christmas, anyone? LOL

I like the patchwork idea.

I have a bunch of old Christmas cards we could use instead of fabric. We could use wrapping ribbon instead of rick rack. We're just going to decorate one side of the stocking. It's about a foot wide and almost 3 feet tall.

I've presented the idea, with an accompanying picture, to the group. Will await their comments.

Hi, ho, everyone.

Boy, did it turn COLD! It was about 75 yesterday afternoon. I knew the temps were to drop but it sure was a shock when I nipped out this a.m. in my jammies to get the paper.

We got a bit of rain late yesterday. The sky had cleared off by 10 p.m. I think we're to get some off and on rain for the next few days.

Peace, that's an idea but I don't think we have enough of one type card to do something like that.

Four of us rummaged in closets and drawers and Christmas storage boxes last night and brought in a fairly wide selection of miscellaneous odds and ends and the all important glue gun. Small decorations, some fake greenery, ornaments, bows, bells, ribbons, etc.

I think we've enough stuff to work with but we'll have to really push to out-do two areas that have theirs done. They did very professional jobs and their stocking look fabulous. Like something you'd see for sale in an upscale store. Or in their holiday window display. I think it's a foregone conclusion that the winner will be one of those two.

Well, we'll give it our best shot.

Hi, ho, everyone.

It's finally Friday.

LOL, Sandi. I don't know of anyone around here that gets their paper shoved through the door. That sure would be convenient.

Unless you have a newspaper delivery box at the curb, the carriers just fling the paper out the car window to land somewhere in the yard. Not quite as badly as the mailman in the movie "Funny Farm", with Chevy Chase, though. Our paper is usually in the same general area every morning.

The stocking is still in debate. I want to get that thing finished up today. Next week is going to be busy and I'm not going to have time to be fiddling with it.

We've laid it out but haven't glued anything yet. We've got some artificial greenery at the top. A red/white/green holly themed bow with a red jingle bell hanging from the knot. There's some thin red/silver cord laid out around the edges of the leg and foot part. That's where I want to leave it.

Some of the others say it needs more stuff, such as glitter and lights. You just start adding stuff willy nilly and all you wind up with is an overcluttered mess. I like simple and elegant.

But this is a 'group' effort, so the majority will rule.

We'll see.

Good morning.

A bit of a grey day here and damp. I think it must have misted rain overnight.

The forecast says partly cloudy so I'm hoping it will clear up some later on.

We did not finish decorating the stocking yesterday. Only two of us were happy with what we had arranged. The rest decided it was 'too serious' and all the other stocking were 'serious'. I think they meant 'pretty' or 'nice'.

They wanted something funny, to be different. Elves with our faces on them all arranged around a fireplace with champagne. Drunken elves, if you will. Lots of glitter and battery operated flashing lights.

Personally, I find the idea a tad distasteful. I'm not saying it couldn't be funny but I think it is inappropriate for the office.

They kept asking me what I thought about the new idea. I just said that I was happy with what we'd laid out but if they wanted to do something different, then that's what we'd do. I'm not going to have much time to help with next week. I had time this week.

I think these things are supposed to be finished by Monday. Judging is on Wednesday.

Nothing like democracy in action, huh?

I'll be off to visit my cousin later this morning. She has a small live tree to decorate. She mentioned that she needs some help getting the lights on it, so that's probably what I'll do while I'm over there. The tree is a table top size, in a pot. It will be planted after Christmas. What kind, I don't know yet. Her grandchildren brought it over for her this week.

I've a few errands to run this afternoon. Walmart for gas and another prescription refill.

I did find some of my Christmas cards but I know there are at least two other boxes, somewhere... I've a suspicion that by the time I find them, the envelopes will be all gummed up and useless. That's happened to me before.

It dawned on me yesterday that we probably don't have enough stamps. I checked last night and we don't. That's another thing to add to the list.

BBL

Plapman, nice of you to stop by. It hasn't exactly been the Sunny South down here today but I'm sure it was likely warmer than up in your neck of the woods.

Gams, glad I could give you a few laughs.

It sure sounds like your employer is much, much more PC than mine.

I never did cut my computer on this morning. I woke up feeling really draggy. Headache, stuffy nose, a general 'blah' feeling. I just hope I'm not coming down with something or that I didn't take it with me over to my cousin's house yesterday.

We did have a nice little visit, BTW.

I do have an idea for a new entry but I just don't feel like putting it up right now.

Hopefully, tomorrow.

Oh, joy... It's Monday.

Sandi, I'm at work and soldiering on. Still a bit headachy behind the eyes; it may be sinus problems.

It is wet and cold here today. The morning commute wasn't too bad. I got out of the house a few minutes earlier.

They're doing roadwork on The Crosstown to try and fix the flooding/drainage problems. The thing is, they're closing down 2 of the six lanes for 6 months, the expected length of time for repairs. This has got traffic all snarled up during the daily commutes.

I tried a couple of alternate routes but they take me twice as long to circle around to my parking lot than it does to just come into town using my usual route, traffic or no. I just shift over one lane to get around the worst of it, then shift back after I pass The Crosstown.

So, Caro, if you're reading this, you might want to make note, in case you have any appts. Septima Clark Project.

Really busy today; we get three days worth of work on Mondays. Whoopee.

Ylee, so you finally got to read a link and ran right into a rant! LOL

The Crosstown is not pretty. It's just a way to get from one side of peninsular Charleston to the other. Very utilitarian.

I could live with that, though I'm sure the folks that live within a block or two would find that statement debatable. It's the flooding issues that are a problem. When you sit at sea level and some of the underground drainage systems are over 100 years old and rotting...... well, you get the picture. I've seen water over there thigh deep. Stalled cars as far as the eye could see.

When the mayor, Joe Riley (aka 'Little Joe') announced the 'Septima Clark Beautification Project', there was a roar of outrage. "Beautification?! The hell with beautification. Fix the DAMN drainage problem!"

OK... end rant here! lol

Busy here as usual.

Feeling a little better than Sunday and yesterday but still a bit 'iffy'. The kind of 'iffy' that makes ya want to go ahead and come down with whatever is so that you can get on with the business of getting over it.

Hi, Peace.

I'm doing OK, I guess. Still not quite right but not out and out sick.

They've been working on the stocking. I haven't had time this week to mess about with decorating. I haven't even seen it yet.

I don't know about this weather. Highs of 52 or so one day and then up to 70 or more a couple of days later. I don't mind the warmth; it's the roller coaster part I don't like. My clothes are so jumbled up in the closet, I can't find anything to put on. I usually have warm, cool and cold weather stuff separated, which makes it easier to pull something out in the mornings for work.

Now, it's "Where's that shirt? I know it's here somewhere. Where?" Dig, dig, dig in the closet.

I don't have time for that in the mornings!

Note: I try to do this the evening before but sometimes Hubby goes to bed before I can.

Enough grumbling.

here's a link to the Angel Tree toy donation parade and whatnot over on the main campus last week: Link

Hi, ho, everyone.

Apparently, drunk elves take the cake and win the prize. There were two others in there that I really liked and I'm a bit surprised one of them didn't win.

We had a huge breakfast set up this morning. Sausage, waffles, scrambled eggs, hash browns, misc danish, muffins, etc. OJ, apple juice and fancy creamers for coffee.

The coverd dish dinner spread is huge. I am going to be a good girl and not over-indulge. I think I saw a fruit compote in there. I may take a bit of that for dessert. I've got red rice, brown rice, green beans, two wings, half a deviled egg and some pasta salad. Rather heavy on the starches so I'll be nodding this afternoon.

I'm feeling a bit better today; just tired. I think all this stress at work, learning the new system and being backlogged, is contributing to my 'blahs'.

I even nodded out in my recliner last night. I woke up to find Christmas cards slithered all over the floor. I was trying to get some done to go in the mail today. So much for that.

Shore, sorry to hear you have the lurgy, as well. I imagine it was easier to Elf Dixie than it would have been to try to induce her to cooperate in person!

Sandi, I used to have several of those sleeveless body warmers. I'm down to one now, which is un-padded. I'll have to look for one or two more.

Ylee, you have a problem similiar to mine. I have to dress for outside as well as inside the office. Except my office is kept as cold as a meat locker.

It's not just me. There's women in here that wear fleece throws, sweaters, hoodies, etc. all day long. I have two shawls and a fleece throw at my desk.

YECH!!! Who makes their deviled eggs SWEET?

Dang, I had my mouth all set for a good deviled egg. I don't see sweet relish in there. It tastes like someone added sugar to the yolk mixture.

The rices were good, the green beans were excellent. the Italian pasta salad is good. I don't know where they got the fried chicken from (it is not homemade) but it's pretty good.

time to check out dessert.

They ran out of ice so I'm drinking my lemonade rock-less.

Ylee, Shore, I guess it's all what you are used to or what you grew up with. Different strokes for different folks but I've never in my life run across a sweet deviled egg. It ranks right up there with sweet cornbread.

Ylee, if they do the steak and potato again and you opt out, are you going to get a bunch of flak for not participating? Get called a 'Scrooge'?

I've opted out of a few special occasion lunches here at work, mostly because we'd ordered from the places so many times, I was tired of them. Caught an unbelievable amount of grief about it and made to feel like I was being unreasonable.

It can remind me of kindergarten!

Shore, thank your lucky stars you fled Corporate America.

I know your job has its share of problems and difficult characters but your time is your own and, ultimately, you answer to no one but yourself.

Am leaving work a little early today, as I have a couple of errands to run before 5:00. Not everyone stays open until 6, 7 or later at night.