The "Oh SHIT" moment

Ever have one of those "OH SHIT!!" moments?

Most of us who have driven for any length of time know the moment - it's when you KNOW that you're going to be in an accident - and there's dickall you can do about it... OH SHIT.

Or you watch in horror as the crystal candydish begins a slow-motion freefall off the countertop toward the tile floor, 2 armslength out of reach, because you pushed just that TOUCH too hard on the plastic tumbler you were trying to balance on the side of the sink? OH SHIT.

Yesterday was windy as hell here. Ok, bad analogy. Windy as.... a really, really windy place with lots of strong wind! (Yes, Chicago is "The Windy City" - no, it doesn't have anything to do with the weather. Actually, the nickname came about because of all the hot air blowing out of the Chicago City Council chambers. REALLY!!)

But I digress.

So last night I got home late because I had to stop and pay the mortgage, then I stopped to pick up drugs (at the PHARMACY, you perv!!) and then stopped at JoAnn Fabrics where I found some utterly delightful winter fabric with penguins all over it.

So I'm schlumping down the back alley in the dark, and I get to my gate, which is blown open again (nothing new) - and go for the back door... which is open.

I never leave the door open. I especially never leave the door open when it's freaking COLD outside. I'm horror-struck. Someone must have broken in?? What about my TV? The computer? The Stereo? The CATS!!!??

Now - sensible me - did I call the cops? Fuck no. I flipped on the kitchen light and looked about. Microwave? Check. TV? Check. VCR/DVD/Stereo? Check. Computer? Check. Cats? Maow... Maowwwwwowwwww!!! Check.

It was very windy yesterday morning when I left for work. Windy as a really, really windy place with lots of strong wind. Last nite my bedroom was hotter than hell. (See how we get back to hell again? Works that way.) I'm guessing that in my hurry to not be late for work, I didn't pull the door real tight and check it twice like I usually do, and the only "unauthorized entrance" was from the wind.

Goddess, I hope so, because I'd hate to find out later that someone had been in there and stole all my Raisin Bran or something...

Who knew??

.
The George W. Bush Loyalty Quiz

10 Questions to Test Your Allegiance to President Bush


"Your score is 0 on a scale of 1 to 10. You hate Bush with a writhing passion. You think he is an idiot, a liar, and a warmonger who has been an utterly incompetent, miserable failure of a president. Nothing would give you greater pleasure than seeing him impeached and run out of the White House, except maybe seeing him dragged away in handcuffs."


Who knew??!!

What do you mean you knew? Bah!!! *giggle*

Why cant' it be "Follow the Butterflies?"

.
Leandra and I were on the phone laughing about that the other nite. If you aren't already aware, in one of the Harry Potter books, Harry and his friend Ron are told to "Follow the spiders". Ron starts to whimper and says "I hate Spiders! Why does it have to be follow the spiders? Why can't it be follow the butterflies?"

It seems like I spend an inordinate amount of time "following the spiders" both literally and figuratively.

Figurative spiders like bills, chores, obligations - that tend to sneak up from behind and create "webs" that snag you into a frenzy of futile cleanup, only to find that the suckers have been breeding and piling up behind you while you were cleaning up the last batch.

Real spiders, who seem to think my house is Club Med for the winter. They're small ones, hardly can find one - but they make HUGE webs. And every time I take out my long-handled dusting thingy (it looks like a very longhaired cattail fern on the end of an adjustable pole), and think I've gotten them all, I find 1/2 dozen more the minute I put it away. I need to find some lavendar oil spray, I think. I'm told it keeps spiders away. I'll just spray it everywhere. So what if my house smells like the stage for a remake of Arsenic and Old Lace? It would be worth it.

Speaking of Arsenic and Old Lace - I want to find an Aspidistra. I have many, many patterns for antimacassars, but I want an Aspidistra - they say they are darn near impossible to kill, and I HATE Mother-in-law's Tongue (the other kill-proof houseplant), so I want one. Although I don't know if cats eat them. If they do, then I want one as soon as the cats depart for their afterlife.

Picked up a copy of "The DaVinci Code" movie DVD at Costco last nite. I liked that movie. I am thinking of getting my air conditioning fixed next month. YES I KNOW IT'S DECEMBER!! I figure the AC repair guys will be happy to get some work. Besides, it is a 3-paycheck month. :o)

Ok, back to the joy of Accounts Payable! Fun!! Excitement!! Receiver Matching and GL Coding!!! and if that's not good enough - I HAVE A BANK STATEMENT TO BALANCE!!!!

Just shoot me now, ok?

Theories of Relativity

Somehow, the vast majority of 2006 has gone flying by without bothering to stop, hang around, be noticed, make me anything but a year older (except for shackling the Shrub). The older I get, the faster it seems the years go past.

Sometimes it seems just like yesterday that it was 1976 and I had gotten my brand-new Buick Skylark without a spare tire (Anyone else remember the "rubber shortage"?)

Then I think about how much has happened since then - and yeah, it's 30 years worth of "things". Married, had a kid, divorced, lost my Mom, 3 other cars, bought a house, sold the house, bought a townhouse-condo, been hospitalized for a lot of icky things.

Why is it that Monday goes so sloooowwww, and Sunday goes by like the blink of an eye - in fact, if I blink on a Sunday, sometimes several hours pass before my eyes open up again.

A guy who talked to me for a while (a friend of a friend who was real nice for a while, then completely flaked out) used to say "I'll sleep when I'm dead". Sometimes the afterlife seems like an attractive alternative to being so TIRED all the time. No, no, no - I'm not going to do anything to HASTEN that along any. Just sayin'.

Why is it that I can go to Safeway and bring home $100 in groceries and have just 3 or 4 bags to show for it - but I can go to Caputo's and bring home $100 in groceries and have to park the car out front to unload from the trunk in 2 or 3 trips? The Safeway stores aren't all THAT much nicer than Caputo's, they don't have as nice of meat, and their fresh fruits/veggies are all hard as rocks.

The bigger the car, the worse the driver. Soccer Mom's in SUV's need to be banned from the streets during rush hour. Just sayin'.

Thanksgiving is almost here. I'll buy a turkey this weekend, I suppose. I do hate to scrape all the meat off them, but it's better for me than beef, I suppose, so I'll do it. Once a year, I can probably handle. I'm going to try making Pumpkin pie with Splenda. I'll keep you informed. If it's not TOO vile, I'll post a recipe.

Blessed Be:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.












Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

It's Monday again...

How the hell did that happen? Seems to do it about the same time every week.

I really don't want to have to get up and showered and dressed and off to work - not that I want to skip work exactly - I just want to stay here where it is warm (is COLD out there!!) and sleep. I can't seem to get enough sleep lately. I'm always tired.

Tonight is grocery-shopping night again. Seems I did NOT have good memory when I left my list of what all I need at home, so at least half of the stuff I got was unnecessary, and 1/2 of what is on the list I forgot to get. Figures. Memory is the 2nd thing to go, as they say.

Been re-reading "A Tale of Two Cities" - boy, Dickens was boring. The story is good, but the interminable amounts of description and exposition and side-color are just miserable to have to slog through. Cut to the chase, Chuck!!

I also watched "Star Wars, Episode IV - A New Hope" over the weekend. You remember? Luke and R2D2 and C3PO and Han and Leia and Obiwan? Back in the day, it was so BIG and overpowering and impressive. Maybe it's just my small TV and the lack of "Surround Sound" - but it just looked small and choppy and not-very-well made anymore.

Part of it may have been because I was watching the DVD which has some added scenes, and as soon as the additional material came in, my brain clicked out of "Movie-goer" mode and into "Movie Critic" mode. I NOTICED something different, and so I stopped being part of the story and became just an observer who observed a lot of kitsch and hackney.

Boy was Harrison Ford YOUNG then. Damn cute tho.

Ok - I have stalled long enough. Time to face the cold blast of shower before the warm kicks in - and deal with the horror that is my commute to work. Have a wonderful day, everyone.

Burbblings

Ok, just to keep The Dark One from complaining, I'll sandbag the politics for a post and talk about me.

Gah. Boring!!!

Life at work has been boring (I'm an accountant. Comes with the territory) and overwhelming to an extent. I have to admit a lot of it is my own fault - I've allowed my desk to get out of control and now I'm having to whip it back into submission. It doesn't like this, and hides papers on me.

I have, however, in this spurt of desk-discipline, also managed to do a bit of extra cleanup at home. Nothing spectacular, mind you, but I'm working on getting the back garden to look more like a, well, back garden, and less like a rubbish heap.

Not that there's all that much rubbish back there, but when the guys put the new vinyl siding on the houses, they took all my pots and pothangers and wire-pot-holders & stuff and kind of chucked it willy-nilly into the garden part. So now if I want to get it out, I have to put on shoes that I don't mind having get all nasty and muddy and slog thru the muddy mush to get them out, hose them off and then stack neatly until spring. All the lawn-edging between the garden part and the patio part is fardleschnockered up too, so I need to rework that. THAT has to wait for a sunny day that is not too cold, since I need to dig a trench and re-sink the edging.

Actually, I may wait until spring for the edging, because all the freezing and thawing and heaving that goes on during the winter will probably just uproot it again.

I'm not quite certain what to do about the Peony dilemma. Should I hope that the roots are still there and go ahead and wait for Spring, or should I go out now and find another one to plop in the ground and hope that IT makes it thru the winter?

Or just give up and plant more daylillies...?

Hypocrite - thy name is Bush

Oh isn't this just fucking amusing? Less than a month after the Shrub signs himself a bill allowing him to hold American Citizens incommunicado without benefit of a lawyer, without charges being brought against them, without the ability to consult with an attorney or examine the evidence - to destroy the Constitutionally guaranteed right of Habeus Corpus... the Shrub puts pressure on Vietnam to stop holding 3 Vietnamese-Americans being held as terrorists without charges and without a trial.

Fucking hypocrite. Close Guantanamo and all your fucking "Secret Prisons" you asshat.

Breathing again...

Well, it looks like the "Decider" has lost his pet congress. Thank the Goddess. I'm breathing again. Not as well, but breathing. Unfortunate that the Democrats did not get a clear 2/3 majority in both houses so they could take back America right NOW - but at least the Chimp has been shackled. Thank you, America.

The voting machines issue was a non-issue in my precinct. Yes, they had them - but the precinct workers offered the electronic machines - or a paper ballot.

ALL of the people who voted while I was there chose the paper ballot. I found it VERY VERY telling. Nobody trusted the electronics. Folks were waiting in line for the paper ballot booths. The American People in my area do not trust Diebold, it appears. I applaud their astute judgement.

No, the problem here is that they moved our voting site from the field house where it's always been, to some church just up the road. The field house is undergoing major renovations. Unfortunately, nobody MENTIONED to anybody that the polling place had been moved - and the church had an evangelical message on it's message board out front, not an announcement that it was the new polling place. Thank the Goddess again for the League of Women Voters and their website! Several people in the line complained about this - and it makes me wonder how many OTHER folks were not informed and therefore did not vote.

The good guys didn't take the 6th district - that would have been too much to expect in DuPage... but the Shrub is shackled. I can breathe.

Thank you, America.

Vote Early, Vote Often

Vote.
Vote as if your country's way of life and form of government depended upon it.
Vote - because it does.

If you don't want to see the United States of America become a theocratic dictatorship - VOTE. Vote Democrat.

VOTE.... TODAY. VOTE.

Don't let the Republicans scare you into voting for them. If the Democrats win, they will NOT "raise your taxes". There's something you need to realize - the ONLY person who can raise your taxes is George W. Bush. The congress can pass as many tax-raising bills as it wants - but unless George Walker Bush signs them, they won't become law, and your taxes won't go up.

Let me say that again - THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN RAISE YOUR TAXES IS GEORGE WALKER BUSH.
So if the Democrats gain control of congress, there is NO WAY they can raise your taxes UNLESS GEORGE WALKER BUSH SIGNS OFF ON IT AND ALLOWS IT.

Don't let the Republicans scare you into staying home and not voting - into thinking your vote won't count, or that if you vote Democratic you'll be in the poorhouse.

VOTE.
Vote for the Constitution of the United States. Vote for Freedom of Speech, Habeus Corpus, for the right to an attorney being present at any questioning, for the right to face your accusers and to examine the evidence against you. Vote for Peace. Vote for the continued right, privilege and obligation to vote! Don't let the Republicans continue to rubber-stamp George Walker Bush's initiatives to becoming the first American Dictator and removing your right to vote.

VOTE.
NOW. GO DO IT. RIGHT NOW. GO VOTE.
Or I will send morbidly obese rabid feral wombats after you.


GO VOTE.