Delete

Yup. I'm gonna delete this blog and my other one...

I'm tired of having to sign out as EVA and sign in as CONNIE so..... my first blog - Nothing Random - is being moved back over to my Eva account and you can find it here. And I've combined it with this site.....

So good bye from here... and I'll catch you over there.

Who?

LOL I don't know who I am.

Eva.

Connie.

Who cares?

So now I have two blogs out here and am not sure which to keep.... The first one? This one? Both?

For now it's both because I have so much of my life in the other one... heck, I might even delete this one and just keep that one. I don't know.

I do know there's just not much in my life that seems blog worthy these days.

PK came to visit. That was nice. We had a very relaxing time. One thing though that you need to know.... she SLEPT with Adam. Yes. Yes she did. What kind of friend does that? ROFLMAO

Yeah, yeah. I know.

I'm enjoying summer.

I always enjoy summer.

I've kept my weight off.

My grandchildren are adorable with a capital A!!! They keep me young and I adore them.

I hate work. I dread going back. If I could just hit the lottery I'd be able to do something about that. Maybe some day.

That's all I got. Sigh.

Sometimes I miss the good old days. Four years ago when I started this blog it was such a happy, fun little world. It amazed me that there were so many others out there just like me!! What happened to those days?

Oh, yeah. A few nutcases ruined it for me. Getting attacked on my own site was just so encouraging.

I wonder if we were to meet face to face if they still would have been so mean and nasty? And it was worse on other sites. I remember being told to "blow it out my ass." Nice.

That's where I've been... living in a world of "who needs this shit?" So if you're here and you're reading... well heck, I know who my loyal readers are... you aren't the ones who gave me grief. You know that. If you do however, recognize yourself as being one who said such things to me OR if you are tempted to say such things, please just leave. Your comments will be deleted.

I'm rambling. I do that from time to time.

Anyhow, I am still alive.... I'll probably never return to blogging like I used to. I do attempt to now and then but it just never seems to work.. so with that said, I might be back tomorrow. I might not be back for six months.. either way, it's nice seeing you again!!

Let's Not Forget

Yeah, yeah. I know. It's been a while. Time just slips by so fast. Two grandkids are a handful to keep up with... they are an adorable handful though so it's okay. Oh, and there's the wedding. That's right. Offspring number one is tying the not in September and we couldn't be happier. And offspring number two? She's taken a job somewhere in the south. It's a city that starts with the letter A and ends with the letter A. We couldn't be happier for her either. All three are doing well.. what with good jobs, two babies, etc etc life really couldn't be better.

It couldn't be more full either. Busy.

Too busy.

I just wanted to pop in and say hi. Summer's coming and those of you who know me best know that will provide more time for blogs such as this...

Maybe I'll even be able to think of something to say.

Remember tomorrow.... May 4, 1970. Where were you then? I was just a young punk but I remember. Then in later years, I went to college on the very campus where this took place. It's sobering when one comes across the campus memorial and realizes what took place 40 years ago. Oh, and May 5th three years later brought the death of my father.

Gosh, May has sucked in the past.

But hey, if you have a minute, watch this..... and remember....some of us will probably never forget.





And one more thing before I go. Say a prayer for Steve and Kathy. Their 14 year old son died from brain cancer this past Friday. They're a sweet family and it tears me up that they've had to experience this. I'm hoping they find peace in the days to come. We were close to them back in the day when we all went to the same church and both our families hosted Chernobyl Children in the summers. Our two Chernobyl girls were good friends. Their son was a preschooler back then. I can remember when his mom was pregnant with him. He was a cute little guy... always had to wear his cowboy boots... even in the summer with shorts. LOL

RIP Mason. You'll be missed.

Okay.. over and out. I need to walk my dog aka "the pup."

Just Bored

If you've been reading my comments you'll see that poor Angelbrat lost sleep over the meaning of HMW, but in the end she triumphed and figured out that yes, indeedy, HMW means Hitachi Magic Wand. For you old timers that I've known forever and a day you might remember that from back when blogland was a daily source of comedy. For those of you who don't own one of these gems, trust me, it's well worth the $$. WAY worth it!!

And in case you've never seen one, watch this... it's quite the entertaining find....



So yeah... in my opinion, everyone needs to own one of those things... and that was what was being referred to when Adam said he's buy me 4 of them... one for each hand... and 2 spare backups. Seriously, I can't imagine not having one of these things lying around the house. You got one? Like it?? I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't like it. Of course though it's not like I go around asking my real life friends these questions... although there's my friend from work.....

She recently was flipping her mattress. Have I already told you this? Anyhow, her son was helping.... wanted to know what "those things" were that became exposed when they moved the mattress....

Restraints... flipping restraints. I died laughing when she told the story. She told her son she had no idea, that they'd come with the bed. LOL I wanna know if the girl is a spanko but haven't asked. Once though after work, as I passed her in the hall she was talking to a group of people and I cracked her a good one on the @$$. She told me to come back and do it again. I'm pretty sure she might be one of those spanko sorts.

Anyhow....

I'm on spring break. This is one of the few days that isn't pulling me in 5 directions. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to be busy and I'm thankful for all the friends and family in my world who keep me going BUT it's nice to have a day of just me, the dog, and the computer.

Yesterday I watched baby 1 for a few hours while her mommy took her little sis to the doc. Poor baby is gassy and has a rock hard tummy. They switched formula. Baby 1 is amazing. She's a little over 14 months now and walks very well. Her vocab is limited so she grunts a lot. Her mommy is always saying "use your words." She's such the preschool teacher, my daughter is.

Oh and Adam's car is in the garage. Something about a universal joint or something... I'm stuck home with no car. Pity. What will I do with my time.... well heck, I suppose I could walk the dog...

or something...

And one more thing...

here's what I know as oscar salad....

Use spring mix lettuce
diced purple onion
diced green onion
tiny tomatoes
blackberries
glazed walnuts
feta cheese

use some type of raspberry vinaigrette dressing... we like Paul Newman's Lite raspberry walnut dressing

UH-mazing salad.

Okay... I'm thinking the dog and I need to get out into the sunshine for a bit.

Buh-bye

Bouncing Balls

So PK is over there on her site whining about that stupid facebook game. I think I have first place over all those she mentioned however I still have a couple friends who have me beat still that PK doesn't have on her list. I realized something about the game today and once I did my score went much higher. We won't tell PK the secret though, will we? It's more fun to watch her squirm, whine, and beg LOL.

I'm on spring break. Yeah me! I really needed the time to sleep in. Having time to cook is nice too. Tonight it was grilled steak, homemade sweet potato fries, and a veggie. Tomorrow we have a group of people coming. I'm thinking lasagna and salad. Do you know what an Oscar salad is? Adam and our son in law have me hooked. I'll make that to go with the lasagna.

So now we have TWO amazing little granddaughters. Hard to believe the new baby is 5 weeks old already and big sis is 14 months. Oh, and speaking of son in law... we're gaining another of those in September. Our oldest is officially engaged with the ring on her finger. Her hubby to be is a wonderful young man and we approve wholeheartedly. Besides, she's nearly 28 years old. I think she's ready to get settled down finally. She couldn't have picked a better guy to settle with.

I guess that's about all I have to say.....

Toodles....

Conversation Snippets

Me (With the HMW in my hand): If this thing ever breaks you're gonna have to buy me a new one ASAP.

Him: I'll buy you four. One for each hand. Two spares.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Him: Geeze. If I were to buy all these things I get email ads for, I'd have the biggest penis on the planet.

************************************

Him: I need to buy some balls.

Me: Excuse me?

Him: Balls. I need to buy some.

Me: I didn't know you could buy them.

Him: I think Walmart has them. We should go get some cuz the kids tennis rackets are still at the house.

Me: Ohhhhhhhhhh.... Balls. Yes, you need to buy some balls.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A Twofold Post

Life's amazingly busy and that's okay. I have two amazing granddaughters taking up a chunk of time these days. They are both adorable and have stolen my heart. The oldest is almost 14 months now. Baby sister is 3 weeks old. Big sissy now runs to me when I hold my arms out to her. That is the greatest, most wonderful thing ever.

So anyhow, a while back I promised two stories. One - the harassment of stepmum and two - the tale of my good friend's father's death. I'll tell you about step mum first. I think that would be saving the best for last.

Ten years ago as my MIL was in a nursing home dying from Huntington's Disease my FIL stood outside her door showing off his little blue pills. The little white pill was for his heart. The little blue one was ... well you know... Freakin' Viagra.

Now tell me why a man who has a dying wife would 1 - possess viagra and 2 - brag about it to his own children. Obviously he was having a fling on the side. He thought it was okay since his wife was unable to meet his needs.

Back then FIL drove us up a wall. He was always at our house. He'd show up in the morning wanting coffee. He'd show up wanting to know if there was money available to him. He couldn't write a check. When MIL became unable to handle the finances, that job fell to Adam. He's still Adam. I'm used to calling him that.

Anyhow, we were infuriated that FIL was having a fling. Bad enough at his age and all but as his wife was dying? How LOW can a man go? And further, he was annoying the heck out of us by being at our house more than we wished to see him. So the fling was with step mum who was a nurses aid at the nursing home where MIL was dying. What kind of woman takes care of another dying woman and is all the while screwing the dying woman's hubby?

On the day of MIL's funeral, FIL had to get back to town quickly. He and step mum were signing papers for the home they were about to purchase together. Are you kidding me? It was a time when we were about as disgusted with the two of them as we've ever been with anyone.

BUT...........

The day came when we realized in spite of it all they were married AND she had rescued us from having him camped out on our front porch daily.

So then we now fast forward 10 years. FIL died the day our second grandbaby was born. We hadn't been close to stepmum and FIL even though they reside(d) just two blocks from our home. Adam debated with himself the next morning after his father had died....

Call step mum?

Don't call?

Offer to help with the planning?

Don't offer?

Finally he decided to call and offer. He had - after all - been the one who planned his mom's funeral and preplanned his dad's funeral at the same time. He didn't even know if step mum knew that things had already been taken care of. It would be like FIL to never mention such things.

When she heard his voice she immediately started screaming "if you are calling to harass me too, just DON'T." Turns out there was already a family dispute over what to do with FIL's ashes. Two siblings want them buried next to MIL. Stepmum wants to keep them for herself. She says "He's with her in heaven.... she has him.. I want his ashes."

Once she realized Adam didn't much care what happened to the ashes she calmed down and gladly accepted help with the planning.

So there... that's how step mum got harassed.

Now for story number two.....

A few years back my friend Mary lost her father. She comes from a family of five kids. She grew up poor. Mom and dad never had much and honestly most of the family to this day doesn't have much but you will never ever meet a more fun-loving, generous, caring, purebred Italian family.

Weeks before, in anticipation of Dad's death, they had taken brother Michael (in his forties) shopping for a suit for Dad's funeral that loomed in the near future. On the day of the - depending on what part of the world you live in - visitation, viewing, calling hours Michael called Mary:

"I guess I'm NOT GOING TO DAD'S FUNERAL!!!"

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"I have NOTHING to wear!!"

"What are you talking about? You're wearing the suit we bought you."

"I can't!"

"What do you mean 'you can't'?"

"I can't!!!!"

"Why not?"

"Because DAD IS WEARING IT!!"

Turns out, they had sent a grandson to pull Dad's suit out of the closet and deliver it to the funeral parlor. Michael lived at home with mom and dad. And yup, you guessed it... grandsonny grabbed the WRONG suit. That suit was too big for Gramps but apparently the funeral home didn't bother to care or ask about that fact. They just did their thing.... slit it up the back and put it on the dead man leaving Michael finding his dad's suit in the other closet. That suit was naturally too small for Michael.

Did you know they cut clothes up the back to put them on a dead person? I didn't know that till then but it makes perfect sense. Besides, who would have wanted to wear it after it had been on a dead guy? So even if Michael's brand new suit hadn't been destroyed by the funeral home with scissors, he wasn't about to want to wear it after having been on his dead father's body.

So there you have it.....

Oh, and btw, Michael wore the only other suit he owned..... it looked kind of like this:
I'm not kidding. I swear. That's what he wore. It was when I asked Mary "What the heck is Michael wearing?" that she laughed and told me the story.

Is it as funny to you as it was to us? I guess maybe you had to be there.

Incompetence

May be it's just me. Maybe I only recall poor experiences while shoving the good experience memories to the back of my brain.

Why does it seem like people just don't do their jobs anymore? I hate to call customer service for anything because I always seem to get someone who doesn't know what they are doing. The employees in my doctor's office are always messing up. I once went TWO months without my thyroid medication because I kept being told they had called in my script to my mail order pharmacy that my insurance company forces me to use. Back then the only way to start a new script was to have it called in by my doc's office.

The employees in the office were forever telling me "we don't phone them in" while the pharmacy/insurance company was telling me "the only way to start a new script is for your doc to call it in." The doc's office went round and round about it. They finally relented and gave their word they would take care of it.

A week later the script showed up in my mailbox with instructions to mail it. Grrrr..... that happened a time or two before they finally agreed to CALL IT IN. Then I waited....... and waited... they never called it in. Needless to say by the time I got in to see my doc and told her what had happened she was ticked.

Since then the pharmacy/insurance company came up with a form for us to mail scripts in OR to actually request it ourselves on the net and they will call the doc for us to verify it.

Okay, that was a rant. Let me get to the point.

The point is that people can be incompetent. Ya think?

Here's what happened. My father in law died. The next morning .... CRAP... I need a new name for Adam.... heck let's just stick with Adam... or how about Ronnie? Connie and Ronnie.... Ronnie and Connie... LOL Whatever...

Anyhow, he called his dad's wife to let her know he was available for anything she needed help with. See, Adam/Ronnie had been there when his mom died 10 years ago helping dad through every step. He knew about all the pre-planned, pre-paid details.

When she heard his voice she became distraught thinking he was calling to "harass" her as his brother and one sister had done. That's yet ANOTHER post. Anyhow, once she realized that he was NOT about to do that and that he truly just wanted to offer assistance to her, the relief set in because she really had no one to help her through this. She wanted him to call the funeral home and find out what was going on because she didn't know where to begin.

Adam/Ronnie used to be in a line of work where he frequently dealt with funeral homes. He's now in a line of work where everyone in town knows him and people will bend over backwards for him. Seriously it can be ridiculous. ANYWHOOOO......

When he called the funeral home, not only did they NOT have his father's body, they weren't even aware that he'd died. Now step-mum KNEW which funeral home was to be used so this was a bit perplexing. She had - after all - requested it the evening before at the funeral home.

Adam/Ronnie got off the phone with the funeral home and called the hospital to find out WHERE his dad's body was and to let them know where they were to send it.

The hospital didn't know much. They told him "we released your dad's remains to the funeral home."

"Which funeral home?"

"I don't know...whichever one it was that his wife told us to release him to."

"Yeah? Wellllllll..... HE'S NOT THERE!!!"

Small town. Small funeral home. They KNOW Adam/Ronnie well. They would KNOW if they did or did not have his father's body.

At this point, I don't know if Adam/Ronnie wanted to laugh, cry, or bite someone's head off.

He asked them to PLEASE find out WHICH funeral home they had sent him to and to call back ASAP.

They called back within the hour. Turns out step-mum had granted permission to donate whatever tissue was worth harvesting and that he was at a donation bank place and that they would release the body within 24 hours to the funeral home.

Whew. Mystery solved. Dad had been sent two hours away but he'd been found and everything ended up fine.

And yes, we are laughing about how they lost dad. I mean seriously, if you can't laugh at these things then what can you laugh at?

So now I owe you the story about why step-mum was being harassed and another story has popped into my head. Remind me to tell you about my good friend's dad ............

That's two posts I owe you... this new blog is growing almost exponentially.

Later....

A Busy Day

Last Monday another beautiful girl entered the world. I tell ya, this grandma thing is okay!! Mom and baby and doing great. Dad is loving his baby girls. Big sister doesn't know what to think. And grammy and pappy are thinkin' this is what we were born to do.

We kept big sister the night before. Pappy went to the hospital for the C-section. Later in the day we took big sis in cuz mom wanted to see her. Big sis woke about 3 a.m. I changed her and handed her a bottle. Right back to zzzz-land she went. I - however - was too excited to sleep. I stayed up. Checked FB. Checked E-mail. Etc.

The day was exhausting. Taking care of a 13 month old, worrying about a newborn and her mommy.....the visits to the hospital... holding a newborn... meals... naps for big sister.... by the end of the day it all had taken its toll. Or is it tole? No matter. We were TIRED.

Daddy wanted big sis home with him that night so he could spend some time with her. He picked her up at our house around 8:30 that evening. We had just sat down with our laptops and put our feet up. That's when we got the call.

Pappy's own dad was being rushed to the hospital. His brother was calling to tell us they thought his dad had a stroke. He lives just 3 blocks from us. The hospital is just 5 blocks from us. There was a glitch, however. He wasn't in town.

This 75 year old man was still working. We always said he'd work till the day he died. So anyhow, he was at work driving truck about 40 minutes from here so he was being rushed to a hospital in that area. Pappy told his brother, "Call when you get there. We've been up since way too early. We'll come if needed but we're so exhausted it would be better for us to go tomorrow."

At that point we were truly exhausted and it wouldn't have been safe for us to be driving. About 30 minutes later the phone rang.

He didn't make it. They are pretty certain that it was a heart attack.

So yup, we welcomed a child and said goodbye to a father..... on the exact same day. Boo to that.

The next day, we couldn't locate his body but that's a post for another day... I'm slowing down and heading to bed..... right after American Idol.

I know... You can't wait to hear about the lost body. Soon. I promise.

Another Post

So yeah. I'm kinda likin' my new digs here. There's some pretty cool templates out there.

So let's see. What's new in my world? Another beautiful grandbaby... another beautiful baby girl. My first granddaughter is now over 13 months old and she's walking quite well these days. She says a few words here and there. She's got a limited vocab but is adding new words quite often.

Cracker.

Calculator. (for real.. and no, I did not teach her that)

Good girl.

Bubba (which can mean about anything starting with the letter B... bottle.. banana.... blanket...)

No (which does not mean no... it's how she says snow)

Ahhhhhh

Mmmmmmmmm.....

Mum-mum

Duh (for dad)

So as you can see her vocab is progressing right along.

And then there's her brand new baby sister. She's an angel, of course. Big sis loves her and shows her by smacking her head and poking her eyes. She's one. That's how it's done when you're one.

Today my daughter had to take little sis to the doctor. Her bilirubin (how do you spell that anyhow?) is still a bit high. The doc thought about putting her back in the hospital but is waiting one more day. Fingers crossed that the blood work tomorrow shows some improvement.

What else is new? Well, let's see......

I was in a wreck a month ago on February 1. A young guy pulled out in front of me. I was doing 50-55-ish on a state route. As I hit him I was thinking "dang it... my car gets paid off in 4 days!!!" Turns out it wasn't totaled so they fixed it. Anyhow, after I hit him I lost control and hit a guy sitting at the stop sign on the other side of the road. No one was seriously hurt. That's the main thing.

I said to the guy "I'm not mad. I know accidents happen but where was your head right then?"

::: Translated: "Were you texting or something?" :::

He said, "I just didn't see you."

Wow. Imagine that. It was dark. I had my headlights on. How does one not see THAT? And seriously I really was going a tad under the speed limit. I always drive a bit under in the morning on my way to work. Gotta watch out for the deer.

Oh well... that's old news.

Oh a happier note.... Winter is almost over. Bet you didn't know I hate winter.

Bring on springtime. I am more than ready.....

Here's the Deal

Just so there are no misunderstandings.....

Just so there is no bickering.....

Just so there is no thinking I was attempting to deceive......

I used to blog under another name....

My daughter found my blog which forced me to take it into seclusion. It wasn't much fun being private really and to be honest I lost interest.

Anyhow some of you knew me as Eva.

Yup it's me but I never really did like the name Eva much. It didn't suit me. I'm not sure that Connie suits me either but for a while Connie it is.

So there. That's the deal. No secrets. No deceit. No apologies.

I just needed a whole new start over place.

First Post

I'm not new to blogging. I'm just new to THIS blog.

I don't have anything to say really and I'm not sure why I'm even starting this blog. Being home sick with time on my hands lands in me in a rather bored state of life.

And speaking of life..... It's been busy lately. We've added a family member. We lost another. Work has become stressful. It is entirely possible however that my work stress is a figment of my own imagination which - on occasion - has landed me in a paranoid land of being..... my imagination, that is.

I love my family but often feel as though they view me as an unwanted, unneeded, unnecessary annoyance. I try my best to lay low and not annoy, interfere, criticize or anything else which might land me in a state of disfavor. No matter what I say or do, I always feel that I've annoyed them somehow.

It also seems as though when I have an issue they - my family - do not want to hear it. For instance, someone I know is doing something illegal and it drive me NUTS. It's not that I would ever do anything to harm the person who is doing this BUT it would be nice to be able to vent to someone who would help plan this person's imagined demise with me. No, I wouldn't carry it out. It would just be fun to bring him down in an imaginary world. Instead I just get griped at.

Whatever. They also didn't want to hear it when I tried to tell them where the wills are, some of our basic wishes if we happen to both die, etc. Fine. Let them hunt for them if the time comes. I'll get the last laugh on that one.

I believe I'm also viewed as inadequate in many ways. I get the feeling my family thinks I can't handle much at all and that all I do is get angry. Yeah well....I wonder if it ever has occurred to them that they underestimate me.

For instance....

Yesterday my DH decided to drive four of us into an area not touched by snow plows. The snow was about a foot deep. It didn't occur to him to put it into 4-wheel drive BEFORE plowing into the white crap. So what does he do? He gets us STUCK. And yes, I got ...ummm... not mad... frustrated. Yeah, that's it. I was FRUSTRATED at being stuck in the snow. I hate snow. I was receiving visions of tow trucks and cold feet since we were all in dress clothes. No boots.

It occurred to me as I watched him that he had NO CLUE as to what he was doing with the 4 wheel drive. When he got out with intentions of pushing in his suit and tie and dress shoes I slid over into the drivers seat, told him that I did NOT need pushing assistance, and I then popped it into four wheel drive and easily removed us from the dilemma.

We had come from his father's funeral. He wanted to place some flowers from the service on his sister's grave which is located in a very small, very ill-maintained (in the winter) cemetery. He and one of our daughters then began the search for the grave.

We don't go there often so we knew the general location of her grave but not the exact location. Having the stones covered in snow made it difficult to locate her so as I drove slowly through the snow along side of hubby and daughter I heard him say "Where is she? She should be right here where we left her." ROFL

But this time my frustration had vanished so I helped by shouting out the window for her. Our wonderful daughter began brushing snow from stones and soon found her. Of coursed his dearly deceased sister was certainly muttering "losers" from beneath the sod. That was her favorite term of endearment while she lived.

After placing the flowers the two of them hopped into the car. He apparently didn't want back behind the wheel as he climbed into the passenger's side. Meanwhile the two young-ins were cracking up in the back. Guess they thought mom bailing dad's sorry behind out from the near clutches of a tow truck was pretty amusing. And it was. Amusing. Honest. Okay so I suppose this is one of those "you had to be there" scenarios.

As I headed toward the main road DH says, "Thank you Lord for this woman who can drive a vehicle through anything." And he then tells our grown children he's never been so turned on in all his life. Yes, he said that. Good grief. Who says something like that to his own children?

And once again, they called me Hill-Jack-Jane.

Again? Yes, again. I got that name when I chopped a little firewood as though that is some feat worthy of the name.

So anyhow, here I go a-blogging again. I'm not sure what the topic will be. I don't think I want a topic. I'd rather just let it go where it wants to go. Might be fun to see where it ends up.