Taking A Day Off

I finally took a Friday off.  Wow!  I almost don't know what to do with myself.  I may have every other Friday off from my job, but I usually go and work at a previous job that is kind enough to let me show up randomly to earn a little extra cash.  Not today!  Today I am going to have a me day.  A day all to myself in which I don't have any structure or obligations.  I may need to be a little tighter on my budget these next 2 weeks, but it is so worth it.

Rain On My Face

As I do everyday I was sitting outside under a pinetree during my lunch break.  I decided to lay down for a moment and just feel the world around me.  I focused on the breeze, the rustling of the leaves, and the commotion of all the people moving by.  Out of nowhere I feel moisture drip onto my face.  First one, then two, then multiple more.  I could have jumped up and ran for shelter, but I wanted to just lay there and feel the rain on my face.

Let The Games Begin

So...I have put off buying groceries ALL week.  I just have not had the desire to go shopping for food.  I am becoming very adequate at living off of very little.  I used to have cans of food that continually remained in my cupboards as food storage, but lately those cans have actually been used as real food stuff (can I call canned food real food stuff).  The only problem with living this way is that eventually I run out of all things that are eatable and I HAVE to to buy something that can be used to sustain life.  Here in comes my dilemma.   I am VERY VERY bored of what I have been eating.  Every time I go to the grocery store I inevitably end up purchasing the exact same things.  Why, you might ask?  Because it is cheap and doesn't take much thought or time.  As I have mentioned before I am more than capable of preparing food and some may even say that I have a talent in the field of cooking, but when it is just you it is easier to not put forth the effort.  Now I come to the point of all of this.  I have decided that in my need to go to the store tonight I will purchase nothing (yes, is said nothing) that I normally buy.  This could very well be the most exciting shopping trip of my life if not at least my day.  Who knows what I will come back with.  Cross your fingers and your toes that this works out for me and let the games begin.

Flash Flood Warning

The rain is beating down outside of my window.  The phrase "raining cats and dogs" doesn't even come close to the monsoon type waterfall cascading down the ledge of my apartment.  Luckily I am warm and dry as I lie in my bed watching the storm.

Suddenly out of the blue I hear a beep, beep, beep.  It reminds me of the warning signal that comes across the television when an emergency message is being broadcast.  Startled I look around confused because I have no tv in my room and I know my computer isn't making that noise.  Riffling through papers I discover my phone is what is making that noise.  I never knew that I could receive a warning broadcast over my phone.  It makes sense that this is possible and is a good way to inform people of danger, but it still surprises me that I can get a flash flood warning over my phone.

If you are in this storm or any storm stay safe!

Fruit Stands

One of my favorite things about this time of year would be the road side fruit stand.  All along the roads that I take small farms have erected makeshift and permanent pavilions in order to sell the wonderful fruits and vegetables that they have so lovingly grown.  Each succulent bite from one of these freshly grown delicacies makes the taste buds on your tongue dance in ecstasy.  I will need to hurry as not miss out on my chance this year to experience all that these fruit stands have to offer.

The Ill Conceived Idea Part 2

I was told in no uncertain terms that I needed to finish the story that I started a couple days ago.  Sorry, sorry, sorry it took me so long.  Don't worry my "adoring fans" I am back and am here to finish that which I started.  Please forgive me for leaving you hanging for soooo long (I would put an emoticon here of a smile with a tongue sticking out, but I didn't want to go through the effort so therefore I spent more effort writing out the fact that I didn't want to take the effort to put an emoticon here).

Now back to the story.  If I remember correctly I had finally made it to the bike path to continue my arduous journey across 3 cities to my brothers house.  It was smooth sailing from here (well sort of).  The path was actually very nice.  There weren't many hills and since it is fairly new it doesn't have any rough parts.  Just flat cement laid out for miles ahead to be ridden or walked on.  I guess you could do a number of other activities like running or rollerblading or even skateboarding, but since I don't participate in any of those (mostly for my own safety) I tend to focus on those riding their bikes or walking along looking at the scenery which was quite resplendent when I would look up from staring at my handle bars.

Mile after mile the cement just continued on ahead of me.  How much further was it?  I swear it didn't look this long on the map?  At least I'm keeping up with those 2 bikers that look like they do this a lot.  That's a bonus.  I'm not lagging behind or peddling so slowly that I might as well be walking.  Boy is my backside starting to hurt.  I never noticed how painful my small skinny bike seat could be.  These were just a few of the thoughts that ran across my brain as my legs just kept moving up and down, up and down.

As I peddled along I started to realize that I was getting close enough to my desired destination that I would need to leave the path sooner rather than later in order to not pass up the road I had to take to make it to my brothers house.  I didn't want to go further north than was necessary, that would have just been dumb.

Instead of going too far north I timed my exit of the bike path just a couple roads too early.  As such I ended up barreling down a very steep hill and realized that I really should have planned my exit better.  It was not a good idea to be going so quickly down a steep hill while not wearing a helmet (no, I did not have a helmet...dumb, I know).  All I could do was pray that I wouldn't hit a bump that would make me fly over my handlebars and hold on for dear life.  I made it to the bottom.

Once I was solidly on a flat road again I came to the knowledge that I still had at least 2 miles to go if not more.  I put my head down and watched the light on the front of my bike brighten up the way in front of me.  Did I mention that it was now getting fairly dark (another reason that I am no good at judging time)?  I continued to pump my legs in order to keep going.  I then reached the point in my trek that I just couldn't make myself go any further.  Yes, I only had probably a little over a mile left to go but it seemed to daunting.  I had to call my brother to rescue me, which he was wonderful and did.  It was so good to sit in a nice soft truck and be driven the rest of the way.

The final facts to my tale include the points that I was crazy sore the next day,  I had the weighting notion over my head that I would most likely need to ride my bike back home at some point, and I still had at least a partial day of working in a hot warehouse to get through.  Good thing I made it through the work day, I muscled through the pain, and my brother was kind enough to drive me home.

I told a friend that I was no longer allowed to attempt such an en devour unless I had worked up to it first.  And thus ends this adventure.

The Ill Conceived Idea Part 1

I have a part of my personality that at some times can be construed as a character flaw while at other times I feel is a huge benefit to have.  If I decide to do something I do it.  I don't take a long time debating the pros and cons of the situation.  Most of the time this is a good thing in my opinion and it has allowed me to experience some wonderful things, but at other times I look back and think...I should have probably thought about that some more before deciding to jump in head first with a running start.  This portion of my personality can every once cause me not to make the best choices.
 
The most recent idea that I decided to go full steam ahead with was definitely not the best choice on my side.  Yesterday after sitting in my apartment for a couple of hours once work had ended the thought occurred to myself that I could ride my bike over to my brothers house and spend the night.  I would need to be near his house the next day since I work at my previous place of employment every other Friday, and that previous place of employment resides very near his current place of residency.  The flaw to this reasoning....my brother lives 3 cities away.  Yes, count them, 3!  I should also mention that since it has been EXTREMELY hot lately with it being summer I have not ridden my bike as much as I would have liked.  I am very out of practice and very low on bike riding endurance, but I was not to be deterred by any of this.

I made the conscious choice to get my bike off of my balcony, make a quick detour at my uncles house to pump up my tires (the heat had caused them to deflate), and find the new bike path that had been constructed "near" my apartment that goes through the cities that would get me to my brothers house.  On I went.

The first hiccuped happened not far from my uncles house.  I was peddling along and tried to change gears (my bike doesn't like its gears to be changed, it tends to cause the chain to catch) and my bike made a terrible crunching noise signifying the fact that my chain had just become lodged deep into my gears.  I of course had to stop, flip my bike over, and try as I might to yank the chain out of its mangled caught state.  I spent a good 10 minute pulling and yanking on the chain until an old man decided to pull over on the side of the rode and help me.  He walked over, flipped one lever on my bike, twisted the chain, and pulled it straight out.  I was thoroughly schooled.  Never again will I allow my bike chain to get the better of me because of what I learned from that old man (at least I hope I wont let it get the better of me again).  I was once again on my way.

The second hiccup took place as I peddled up the hill towards the elusive bike path.  I have learned that I am no judge of distance or time.  Looking at the map to the bike path earlier on my computer the bike path really didn't look that far from my apartment.  Boy, was I wrong. The farther I peddled the farther I realized I had to go.  I thought that I could probably make it to my brothers house in a good 30 to 40 minutes.  Nope, it took me a good 30 to 40 minutes just to get to the bike path.  Finally I make it to the path and continued on my way.

To be continued......

What Was He Thinking?

I attended a coworkers wedding reception and the way that he introduced me to his new wife was that I was the one that kept him sane at work.  Really???  Most of the time I am moments away from insanity at work.  How in the world could an insane person help someone else be sane?

Blood Red Sun

As I was driving this evening I glanced up at the sun and was amazed at what I saw.  The sun peaked through the gathering clouds in a red glow that reached out to all around it.  It was beautiful.  The epitome of a blood red sun.  As I glanced at it every now and then (because since I was driving I couldn't continually watch it) I traced its slow decent behind the west mountains.  The lower it sank the brighter the sun shown forth its red reaching rays.  When it finally dipped behind the peaks it looked as if the mountains were on fire.

Queen Of The Pool

Have you ever had a swimming pool completely and blissfully to yourself?  I'm not talking about the small blow up kind that you can fit in your front or back yard, but the full scale (5 foot deep) cement legitimate kind.  Well I'll let you in on a secret....it is heaven.  No one else's ripples diverging on yours.  No need to dodge or pay close attention to the people slowing creeping in on your water space.  All the water and room in the pool are yours.  I will say it once again, HEAVEN.

The Embarrassment of Me

If you haven't figured this out by now, I will let you in on a secret, I am the epitome of cool and collected.  I never do anything that would cause me to be embarrassed or flustered.  Nothing ever ruffles my feathers.  I could walk through a raging storm and come out looking like a beauty queen and smelling like freshly picked roses.  NOT!  I have come to the conclusion that at least once a day something has to occur in which I realized how human I am and that I will never make it through a day without being knocked off the small pedestal of perfectness that I try to build for myself.  Did you notice the subtle use of the word small in the last sentence?

I will let you in on a couple of the embarrassments that have happened to me lately and the fact that a lot of them (at least the ones that I will convey) have happened at my local grocery store that I frequent at least once a week in order to purchase groceries.  The way things are going I really should find myself a new place to shop.  They don't seem to get the best of me.

The most recent event in the field of embarrassment happened yesterday on my weekly grocery trip.  I took my time roaming each isle of the store. I didn't have anywhere to go and I didn't have any time constraints so I just leisurely walked everywhere, which you would think could possibly be bad for the pocketbook as you have more chance to purchase want items, but I actually did better than normal and came in under budget.  I tell you the fact that I took a long time in the store because as I was leaving after procuring my weekly rations I realized that the zipper on my pants had been at half mast all day.  I had walked slowly ALL OVER the store with a zipper that was not all the way up as it should have been.  How many people saw me?  How many people got to snicker behind their hands because of me?

On to the next story.  Lets rewind a couple of weeks.  Again this takes place at my local grocery store.  After finding all the items that I needed (and wanted) to buy on this particular weekly trip I proceeded to the check out stand.  The sweet cashier rang up all of my items and proceeded to read off the final total of my purchases and the amount that needed to be payed.  I pulled out my handy debit card (important fact because this particular store does not take credit cards), swiped it through the machine as I had done many times before, put in my pin, and received a decline notice.  I had forgotten my pin.  A number that I have had for years simply slipped my memory.  I tried 2 more times until the system locked me out and I had to leave my groceries there at the checkout stand as I walked away with a bright red face.  This wouldn't have been so bad except that it happened the next week the exact same way.  Oh, the embarrassment.  What was my pin number?  Why did it stay in the dark recesses of my mind?  Why didn't I have any cash on me both of those days so that I didn't go home empty handed?  Why did I keep going back to that store after I had so thoroughly embarrassed myself?  Why didn't I just go to a store that took credit cards?  Instead I just spent those 2 long weeks depleting my "food storage" and thoroughly emptying the shelf at my apartment.

Good thing I finally did remember my pin and was able to once again purchase what had become luxury items like milk, eggs, fruits and vegetables.  Also as you can tell from the fact that my last embarrassing story occurred only yesterday at the same grocery store that I did not take my business to another establishment even though they probably have a picture of my embarrassed face in the back room that reads. "If you serve this girl beware.  She might have to leave her unpaid for groceries at your check out stand or she will walk around with a half open zipper on her pants."

See I have nothing that ever happens to me that would cause me to squirm even the slightest bit.

A Very Sarcastic Thanks

I am a one show at a time girl.  I don't diversify a lot.  If I like a show, that is what I watch and that is pretty much all that I watch.  It is even made easier now that you can watch an entire season or series of a show one episode at a time one after another.  The problem, if I like a show I watch the whole show at one time.  It may take me awhile because of the length of the seasons, but I still do it.

For a couple of months I have been good.  I haven't had a show that I was hooked on.  I haven't really even cared to find one.  If I was in the mood to watch something I would just toss on an old episode of a show that I previously enjoyed and be done once it was over.  It wasn't a big deal.  Too bad it wasn't to last.

Today after work ended I walked into my apartment to my roommates watching a show.  I was tired from the long day so I decided to sit down and watch a little bit of it with them.  Since I had only ever seen a couple of the episode before in my life my roommates decided that I needed to start from the beginning.  4 episodes later we called it quits for the night.  Thanks to my roomies I am now hooked.  I will be finishing all the episodes of this show sometime in the following months.  I say months because there are a lot of seasons and a lot of episodes in each season to get through.

THANKS A LOT! (Said in the most sarcastic way possible)

One, Two, Three....Eleven, Twelve

The best part of my day happened as I was driving home from work this afternoon.  Actually it happened while I was at a complete stop waiting for the turn signal to flash green so that I could continue on my merry way.  First one, then two, then three old school hot rods drove past as I waited at that red light.  They were then closely followed by 9 more old school hot rods driven by little old men.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was the coolest thing that I have seen in a long time.

See Me Again In 2 Days

With life, hopefully love, and the pursuit of happiness (and even maybe a little stress from work) I will be pretty busy and I won't be able to write an update on any of my experiences for a bit so come and check back in a couple of days.  I promise to have something more exciting than clipping my toenails to tell you.

Caught Red Handed

Yesterday was an extremely busy but satisfying day.  I spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon painting fire hydrants for an Eagle project my neighbor was doing.  It was fun, hot, and a very good use of my time if I do say so myself.  The only downside (and I wouldn't even call it too much of a down side) was that I left the service project with my hands covered in red paint.  I looked like I had been involved in a boxing match and bloodied up my hands.  As people would notice my hands they would ask what had happened to them.  What had I done to have so many cuts and sores?  My arm even got a little of the paint action and I have a splotch on it that looks like a pretty decent bruise.  My response to their question was that the I was now the new heavy weight boxing champion for this district.  Other responses included that I couldn't talk about fight club and that you should see the other guy.  Of course I am the type of person that can't leave a story with someone if it is just a joke so I would inevitably let them in on the true fact that I had spent the day painting fire hydrants red, but the reactions that I would receive from the first version of the story were quite amusing.

Yes, this looks a lot like blood but luckily
it is not and I was able to get most of
it off.

My "beat up" hands

You should see the other guy.

The Creepiness Of Antique Stores

I was on an errand for my mother.  The goal, an elaborate hand held mirror.  Where would you find a beautiful antique hand mirror?  The obvious answer (to myself) was an antique store.  In museums and homes that are decorated from previous decades you always see hand mirrors associated with the old hairbrushes, so why wouldn't an antique store have a brush and hand mirror set for sale?  It seemed the most likely place.  Onward I went to search out antique stores.

My first stop was a store that I thought for certain would have what I wanted.  They have been around for years and have set up their shop to emulate a working store from the 50's while selling new and antique products.  I searched high and low to no avail.  If you want antique dishes and modern-day fabrics then they are the store for you.  Too bad this wasn't my goal.

The second "antique" store that I walked into I must admit was more of a junk store.  Yes, most of the items for sale were old and some could be considered "antiquated", but really it was just piles and piles of junk.  I'm amazed I made it out of there alive.  Rows and rows of shelving were stacked high with useless objects.  Sure, somewhere in that mess, there are probably some amazing treasures to be found, but I neither had the time nor truly the desire to go through every single isle and pile to find such a treasure.

Now comes in the creepiness.  I know that antique stores can carry all sorts of old things, but why do they insist on carrying the creepy items?  I do not like turning around a corner and running into a disconnected dummy head!  Seriously, is someone really going to walk into an antique store, take one look at a head from a mannequin and decide on the spot that it is something that they just have to have. No!  Not going to happen.

A few more antique stores were visited and many more creepy items were come across that I wont get into in order to save this blog from becoming extreme in its length, but the day was not a waste.  I did finally find the perfect hand mirror.....at a local craft store.  Why didn't I think of that first???

In Over My Head

Have you ever done something and somewhere during the beginning of it you feel like you are learning Incan while speaking Chinese and living in Greece?  This is the feeling that I just had while trying to learn my new position at work.  I know that I can do this job and that before I know it all these things that seem like a completely different language and skill will become second nature, but until that point I am just hoping that I can tread water long enough to get there.