Expired

Ben and I disagree on when food should be tossed.  I realize I am a little strict on my ideas about when food will go "bad".  Milk should be tossed no later than the expiration date.  I may even toss it the day before.  I had a bad experience with milk once.  So sue me.  Meat should never be consumed after the expiration date.  Though, the more I live with Ben, the more lenient I get on this particular subject.  I’ve even bought meat a couple days before the “Sell By” date in the supermarket and put it in the freezer.  I know - it scares me too.  Crackers, when they expired in September of 2009, need to be thrown away.  Ben thinks they are fine.  He can’t understand why I would waste perfectly good, unopened crackers.  He thinks I am stuck on the expiration date thing.  It’s really more that I don’t like stale food.  Chips need to be kept in bags that are tightly sealed and, if not consumed within a week, at most, need to be tossed.  Don’t get me started on bread or cereal or any other grain based product.  I’m a food snob - or an expiration snob, whichever you prefer.  I think I take after my father too much in this regard, but I am so completely okay with that. 

Interesting things

The interesting things I have seen so far this week:

While I was walking the dogs yesterday morning I saw two ducks checking out apartments.  It really looked like they were walking up the sidewalk to look in an apartment window and then they went down the sidewalk to another apartment.  Apparently, the marsh is a little too marshy this year and they wanted an upgrade. 

I went to the library today and on the way there I hit some construction and traffic was being diverted into one lane.  A flagman had us stopped so that the traffic coming from the opposite direction could come up the hill.  As I was sitting there waiting I noticed a little red car in the lane next to me that kept inching forward.  Only, the guy wasn’t inching forward like normal people do when they are moving their car forward while stuck in traffic.  This guy was more like feeting forward.  He was very aggressive in the way that he was going forward; as if the person in front of him was sitting there just to tick him off.  When traffic began moving again, the left lane (the one I was in), was the lane everyone needed to be in so they could continue on their merry way.  Of course, the guy in the red car was in the right lane and, immediately upon seeing the cars moving, tried to get in the left lane.  I refused to let him over.  I mean, come on, asshole.  We are all stuck in this line of traffic.  We all have places to go.  You are not any more important than the rest of us.  The guy behind me refused to let him in too, which I was very happy about.

After I left the library I was walking back to my car and saw a man sitting in front of a church smoking a cigarette.  The interesting thing was that I am pretty sure it was the pastor of the church who was sitting there in the little reflecting garden and trying to think up this Sunday’s sermon.  Okay, I’m surmising the trying to think up Sunday’s sermon, but that’s what it really looked like.  While there is nothing wrong with a pastor smoking, it is a free country, it was definitely interesting to see him sitting there puffing away.

Of course, I had to deal with traffic on the way home from the library.  This time I was the first person in line at a light, but when it changed to green there was a bus sitting right past the light on the other side of the road.  What was I supposed to do?  Cross the street and end up sitting in the middle of traffic?  I think that is what the guy behind me expected me to do.  It was a man on a motorcycle and he kept looking at me and then looking past my car like, “Why aren’t you moving?????”  I was gesturing to the bus and saying, out loud, of course, I can’t go forward, what do you want me to do.  Once the light changed again and I was able to cross the street, I was stopped once again by the bus.  Well, that motorcycle man wasn’t having any of that.  He decided it was much more important to risk his life and the lives of anyone coming the opposite direction than to sit in traffic for 30 more seconds.  He passed me, the three cars in front of me, and the bus, while he was in the opposite lane.  Thank God there wasn’t any oncoming traffic.

Like I said, some interesting things.

Until tomorrow.

A Walk with the Dog

Gracie loves kitties.  No matter what, she always whines and wants to go after them, tail wagging, looking for a little sniff and some affection.  The following poem is what it is like to take a walk with my dog. 

 

“Whine!”

“Graaaacie…”

“Whimper, whimper…”

“Leave IT!”

“But, mama…”

“Gracie, it’s a kitty!”

“it’s so pretty.”

“You have one at home.”

“But, not my own!”

“Gracie, let’s go!”

“Whine”

“Gracie!”

“Whimper, whimper…”

“Leave IT!”

Until tomorrow.

First Time

First of all, I want to apologize for not posting yesterday.  My neck and shoulder were very sore from moving on Wednesday and I couldn't bring myself to try and type.

I just blew up a blue peep in the microwave.  Somehow I think almost everyone reading this has done that at some point in their lives.  This was my first time.  It was awesome.  I tried to record it using Ben's phone, but his microwave has a black door, so you can't really see the peep blowing up.   Still, when Ben and I watched the video afterwards, it was hilarious.  Ben is trying to upload it to FB or YouTube.  It probably won't be nearly as fun to other people as it was to he and I.   If he ever gets it up there, I'll make sure to share it on my page so you all can check it out.

Until tomorrow!

Starving Students

The guys from Starving Students arrived this morning around 9.  I asked them to be there at 9:30, since I was coming from York, but it was okay that they were early.   They patiently waited until I got there at 9:20.  They had finished loading everything and we were on our way to York by noon.  Arrived in York around 1ish and they were on their way by 3.  Total cost with tip - $650.  Average quote I received from other movers - $1400.  Starving Students knocked it out of the park. 

Tonight

Okay, I am way too tired to put forth the effort needed to write a decent blog tonight.  Was up late last night finishing Dr. Who Season 5.  Woke up around 8:30 this morning and DID NOT go back to bed after Ben went to work.  Packed, packed, and packed (wasn't I doing that around this time last month too???).  Loaded some of the more fragile stuff in my car and headed to York with the pups at 8:30.  Forty minutes later and I started unloading the fragile stuff from my car much to the chagrin of the neighbors that had to deal with Frazier and his barking spell.  He has those "barking spells" a lot.  Especially when someone decides to leave his sight.  Which is slightly ironic, since he is blind.  Am trying to get all of my stuff that is still in the living room of the York apartment to its appropriate places in the house so the movers can bring stuff in tomorrow.  Have to stay up until at least 1 tonight so I can give Frazier his shot around then.  That way I won't have to worry about giving him his morning (1st shot of the day) shot until around 1 pm.  The movers are starting at 10 so they should be ready to drive by 12, I'd say.  Even if it means I have to help them.  Which I wasn't planning on doing cause my dogs (the feet kind) are tired, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.  I'll have to leave here no later than 8:15 to make sure I am back in Cockeysville by the time the movers show up at/around 9:30.  It's going to be a LONG day tomorrow, but hopefully it will all be over by 5.  So, not much of a post, but with the move happening tomorrow and my days being devoted to unpacking instead of packing, I'll hopefully have more time and energy to blog in earnest starting on Thursday.

Until tomorrow!

Another pet peeve

I have another pet peeve to discuss with you all.  If you have a child that is under the age of say, seven, you should not allow them to cross the street by themselves.  I might be okay with it if you walk them to the crosswalk and there is a crossing guard there.  Otherwise, you should be holding their hand.  What brings this on is that today, while leaving RiteAid, I saw a little girl, who was maybe 3, run across the street from her car.  Now, her father was carrying her little brother and her older sister was walking next to him.  Dad was talking on his cell phone and the little one just decided she had to cross the street.  It might have been okay if the father had hollered at the little girl or run after her.  He didn't.  He just nonchalantly crossed the road.  Then, the little girl ran into RiteAid and her dad and older sister started walking towards Food Lion.  At least the older sister went after the little girl.  Her dad didn't even seem to care.  What the hell?  I stood there and watched as she ran across the street to make sure there weren't any cars coming.  Can you imagine if some person, distracted by their cell phone or even their own kids, were to have hit that precious little baby?  I just don't understand how someone that has been blessed enough to have kids can just not care.  I realize sometimes people get distracted.  Accidents happen.  But, blatantly ignoring your kids is just plain wrong.

My biggest pet peeve - in verse

So you smoke,

Whatever.

It’s a free country, right?

You’re in your car

tooling down the road,

inhaling; blowing smoke out your nose.

Down comes the window

and your butt comes flying out.

Sparks sparking,

ashes ashing.

So, it’s your right to smoke.

I’ll grant you that.

But, it’s my right

to not have to worry that the trees next to the road

are going to go up in flames.

It’s my right to think that someday my children

will be able to breathe fresh air.

It's my right to wonder why someone,

who doesn't care that their lungs are covered in soot,

is so concerned that their car will have a cigarette butt in it,

that they have to throw their butt out the window

and litter my streets.

It's your right to smoke.

It's my right to care.

I absolutely hate litter.  I especially, absolutely hate people that are selfish and careless enough to throw cigarette butts out their windows.  How hard it is to use the ashtray that comes in most cars. And, if perchance your car doesn't come equipped with some fancy, schmancy ashtray, I know damn well that there are plastic ashtrays you can buy at Walmart to put in your fancy schmancy car so you DON'T have to throw your freaking lit cigarettes out the window.   Please people - Protect the Earth.  It's the only planet we've got.

Until tomorrow.

Today

This is what I did today.  Went to bed at 4 am.  Woke up at 11:30.  Laid around on the couch playing video games.  Tried watching Hulu Plus on the PS3, but that failed miserably.  It works fine on the PC.  It's a little irritating and makes me want to just stick with Netflix.  However, Hulu Plus does allow me to watch House the day after it airs on TV AND BBC America is available.  Do you know what that means?  BBC America starts showing the next season of Dr. Who at the end of this month.  Dr. Who!!!!!  My favorite show of all time.  It might be irritating that the only way I can watch it is by streaming on my PC, but I'm okay with that if it means I can watch Dr. Who AS IT AIRS instead of after the season is over and it comes, one disc at a time, on Netflix.  For that reason, I am excited about Hulu Plus.  After trying, and failing, to watch Hulu Plus, I laid around and started reading Mockingjay, the third installment in the Hunger Games trilogy.  I started the first book of the trilogy on Thursday, finished reading it and immediately bought the second book in the series.  The books are THAT good.  I'd have finished the third book by now, but after staying up until 4 in the morning 2 nights in a row, I decided I had to take a break and get some sleep.  I'd probably be almost finished with it right now, but Ben decided to start an episode of Reaper.  Reaper is a GREAT show.  Not sure if you've ever seen it or not.  If not, check it out.  I promise you'll like it.

Until tomorrow.

Seasons

 Spring is one of my favorite seasons.  Fall is the other.  Maybe there is something symbiotic in that. Spring brings life, fall brings death.  Interesting.  I never thought about it that way before.  For me, I think I love those two seasons the most because they bring such wonderful smells with them.  Spring with its approaching rain, blooming flowers, and the first mow for a lawn that's been lying dormant all Winter.  Fall with its decaying leaves, cold gusts carrying the smell of freshly ripened apples, and the first hint of chimney smoke in the air.  I also like the fact that for most of the Spring and the Fall I can sleep with my windows open.  I enjoy not being stuck in a stuffy house with the dehydrating heater or air conditioner on.  I become more active in the Spring and Fall too.  I don't mind going for long walks with the dogs or hiking through the woods - catching sight of all the new buds on the trees and the striking green of everything in Spring; crunching leaves and spying the brilliant colors of the trees as the leaves change from green, to gold, red, orange, and finally, brown in the Fall.  I feel much more alive during these two seasons than I do at any other time.  They leave me breathless with excitement over the possibilities of life and the release of death. 

Until tomorrow.

National Poetry Month - part 3

Instead of using a poetry prompt off the internet, I decided to write about the haircut I received today. 

What was that?
Do I need a shampoo?
I didn't realize,
my damp hair was dirty already.
I thought,
when I sat in your chair,
that you and your magic fingers,
would just cut my hair.

What was that?
Do I have a job?
I didn't realize,
this was an episode of Biography.
I thought,
when I sat in your chair,
that you and your magic fingers,
would just cut my hair.

What was that?
Do I want a blow dry?
I didn't realize,
wind was an accessory here.
I thought,
when I sat in your chair,
that you and your magic fingers,
would just cut my hair.

What was that?
Do I need some shampoo?
I didn't realize,
commercialism was part of your tools.
I thought,
when I sat in your chair,
that you and your magic fingers,
would just cut my hair.

Oh, what the hell.
Give me two.


Can you tell I'm not really found of dealing with the stylist when I get my hair cut?  :o)

Hope you like it!

Until tomorrow.

National Poetry Month - part 2

A couple of different types of poems.  This time, the prompts asked me to use three different words or elements in my poems.  Below are the results:

The Onion

Paper-like skin,
In the field you rest,
translucent, oh so thin.
preparing for harvest.
Rows of dusty onions,
Plucked from restful slumber,
calling out to loved ones.
Die in drastic numbers.

three words:
skin drastic dusty



Smoke Monster

Smoke flitted through
the keyless keyhole.
Stretching, reaching, trying
to find the recently
blown up,
helium filled,
stretchy texture
of the child's blue balloon.

three elements:
a balloon, smoke and a keyhole

Hope you like them.  I think I'm going to try to write poetry for the rest of the week.

Until tomorrow.

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month.  With that in mind, I went on the internet for some poetry prompts and decided to write the following poem:

I'll tell you what the prompt was at the end.

Oxygen emitter,
your fragile life hangs,
oh so precariously,
upon that shelf of words.

Your curling, twisted, tendrils,
reach forward still,
drawing, drawing,
the last rays of sun.

Your leafy offshoots crack,
browning, dying, drying.
At long last, your final,
oxygenated breath,
expelled.

Writing prompt:
Write about the sight of: a dying plant

I hope you enjoyed it.

Until tomorrow.

Nature - in pictures

I decided to take it easy today and share some pictures I took with my Kodak digital camera.  I apologize for the seeming disorganization of the pictures. I'm still trying to figure out how all this blogging stuff works.

This is my view of nature.

The first three pictures are of some flowers I've seen on my travels.  I shot the purple one in a courtyard of a church in Miami, Florida.  I think the second shot was from Monticello in Virginia and the third shot was from my front yard in Richmond. 

The following set of pictures are some sea inspired shots.  The first is a piece of brain coral that was lying on the beach in Miami.  Next is an interesting piece of flotsam I found on that same beach and the third is a picture of a ray I took while standing on a dock by a restaurant where I had the best black bean soup ever.  A little further down is a picture of four seagulls standing guard on Miami Beach.  You'll also see a pair of seagull tracks in the sand, which I took on Buxton Beach, North Carolina.  The sand crab picture and the picture of the stormy seas was also taken in Buxton.

The next set of pictures depict insects and fungi I have met along the way.  The ladybug and the picture of the double mushrooms were taken in the Blue Ridge mountains on a hike.  The praying mantis was taken in Mechanicsville, Virginia outside a Brewster's ice cream shop.  The millipede was taken on Skyline Drive in Virginia during a hike and the slug on a mushroom was taken in Ben's backyard in Richmond, Virginia.

That's if for now.  Just a little look inside my brain and they way I see the world.

Tomorrow I am going to try a little fiction.

Until then.

2 Dogs and a Cat

The picture on my profile shows all of my babies.  Gracie, the black dog on the left side of the picture, has been my baby for 7, almost 8, years now.  She was 3 when I got her and she’ll be turning 11 in July.  Wow.   We’ve had a really good life together.  I affectionately call Gracie, “Cuddle Bug”, because she loves to give hugs.  If I am sitting on the couch she will put her two front legs on my lap and then lean her head against me.  She also gives really good kisses.  Gracie absolutely loves it when someone says her name.  Just one utterance of Gracie and her tail starts to wag with what can only be described as unabashed enthusiasm.

Frazier, the tri-colored dog to the right, is actually Ben’s dog, but he has sort of adopted me.  Our relationship did not start out very well.  Ben and his mom saved Frazier from Death Row (which he had been on and saved from at least 3 other times) and he has some residual issues from that time in his life.  He plays all cute and cuddly until you try to touch him and then he snaps – literally.  I think he’s bitten me three or four times.  Thankfully, he’s only broken the skin a little and that was mostly my fault for trying to rescue my hand from his clenched teeth.  Underneath his gruff exterior (which is built purely of fear and distrust in mankind) is a very loving, protective, sweet, little dog.  My nickname for Frazier is Beedlebug.  It’s sort of an adaptation of Sesame Street’s Twiddlebugs.  Don’t ask me why I chose that name for him. It just seems to fit him.

The cat in the picture is my sweet baby Samantha.  She has been with me since she was a kitten.  While I really love the dogs, Sami has a special place in my heart.  As others can attest, the only person she likes is me.  I don’t know why.  I don’t believe anyone has ever done anything mean to her.  I just know that from the moment I walk in the house until the moment I go to bed she is there.  She follows me around the house, she sits on my lap, and she sleeps on the pillow by my head.  You’d think she was a dog.  I affectionately call Samantha, Pinky or Twinky or Pinky and the Brain (Gracie is the brain).  I know, it's a little weird, but, I'm okay with that.

Some days, I wish I could have a farm with hundreds of animals.  I'd have cows and chickens, alpacas and horses, mice and rats and rabbits, cats and dogs, a giraffe and a panda (okay, probably not, but that would be cool), pigs and ducks, and definitely goats and some sheep. Most days I'm just happy with the three adorable pets I already have.   I love them, they love me and that's all that matters.

Until tomorrow.

Employment

I filled out an application yesterday to be a Pharmacy Tech for CVS.  The application literally took me 40 minutes!  They asked me 200 questions about what I would do if, and do I do this, or that, or the other thing.  Seriously?  Yes, I do find people annoying sometimes, but if I “Agree” with that statement, you aren’t going to hire me because you’ll think I don’t like people.  If I “Disagree” with that statement, you’re going to know I am lying and not give me the job because you’ll think I am unethical.  Really, CVS? That is so not fair.  I realize they use these types of question to determine personality traits and to determine whether the applicant is a serial killer, but all those questions do is to freak people out and make then doubt the sincerity of their answers. 

Now, some of you are probably wondering why I was applying for a Pharmacy Tech job anyway.  If you don’t already know, I recently quit my job as a paralegal in Richmond, and moved North (Gasp, did I really just say that?!?) to York, Pennsylvania.  I never thought I’d be living in Pennsylvania again.  Heck, I never thought I’d be leaving the city of Richmond.  I like Richmond.  It’s a cute little city.  But, Ben, my boyfriend of almost four years, moved to Maryland a year ago and it was high time that I joined him.  As some of you more astute readers will say, “Maryland? You said you moved to Pennsylvania.”  The truth is that Ben lives in a small town in Maryland not too far from the PA border and, at the end of this month, will be moving up to York with me. 

Anyway, back to the whole point of this discourse.  I was applying for a job as a Pharmacy Tech, because I need to find a job.  In rural Pennsylvania there aren’t too many paralegal jobs.  In rural Pennsylvania there are definitely not any electronic discovery paralegal jobs.  Before I was a paralegal, I worked in manufacturing; warehouses in particular.  I enjoyed that type of work.  I like the physical aspect, the mental challenges that come with trying to tidy up month-end inventory, and the appeal of knowing, at the end of the day, that I had done an honest day’s work. When I left my last job, I was tired.  Tired of dealing with the inability to change things for the better.  Tired of being the only person responsible for certain tasks.  Tired.  York, and a retail/manufacturing/warehouse job, will give me a chance to recharge; remember why I liked being in a position with responsibility.  I'll work a 9 to 5 and be able to leave my problems, if there are any, at work when I leave.  I am so looking forward to that.

Until tomorrow.