Wednesday's air

[Snowflake]

I have to start by opening the window and letting the air in.

Had a domestic spell yesterday and made homemade spaghetti sauce, with some ground venison and spicy sausage. The sauce bubbled along the better part of the day, then it was time for the pasta and the garlic bread.

We are living in a rented house, so the appliances are not top of the line and they are not new. The biggest issue are the knobs for the oven and the dryer. They're stripped. Had to grab a pair of pliers to turn on the oven, and have the boy standing on his head to see when the pilot lit the broiler... The beginning of the insanity.

Put the garlic bread in the oven while boiling the pasta, no smoke, not even a puff, yet the smoke alarm went off, causing me to almost wet myself. Some genius installed it on the wall about three feet from the stove. Seriously.

The boy grabs a magazine and fans the air away from the screeching detector, no smoke, nothing is burning. Moments later, the startling shrillness strikes again. This time, I took it off the wall and laid it on the bed. Problem solved, right?

Not at all, a few minutes later, it's screeching again, as well as the one in the bedroom joining in - but it "talks". So there's the screeching and a computerized voice speaking "Fire.....fire......fire.....fire". Liar, there was NO FIRE, NO SMOKE, nothing.

Boy is now totally disgusted, fans the air around the two detectors in the bedroom (the one on the wall and the one that was thrown on the bed) and yet, there's still a loud shriek sounding through the house. What the heck? Yeah, it's a THIRD smoke alarm going off in the hall. Three Alarm Spaghetti...

...and a very sarcastic teenager telling his mother (the one with the soiled drawers) that she should have shut the door to at least keep the bedroom duet quiet.

Ahhhh, the excitement we have doing the simple things...

Dinner tomorrow? A bowl of raisin bran!

Enjoy your morning, I'm off to bed.

[Annette]

Thank you for the early morning chuckle! The last house I lived in did that on several occasions - but mine was when my teenage daughter and her friends "cooked" something. Sometimes I thought we would never get the burn smell to go away - I'm thinking your three alarm spaghetti would be much much better.

Once again dealing with the slowest internet on earth at work - if they don't have it fixed by tomorrow I'm gonna have to do something - I have a report to write - LOL - me write with a deadline - who are they kidding. I'm thinking I should have taken a Xanax this morning cause the panic is setting in.

Guess I better hit it - since everything is in slow motion around here -

grrr

Annette

[Bud Baker]

Good morning, everyone!

It was 45 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 75.

MI Judy, I hope you're having a better day today. Annette is right. There's nothing wrong with sharing with friends that you're having a tough day. Too many of us tend to just not post when things aren't going well. None of us can be sunny all the time; we all have ups and downs, and I would rather hear about the downs than hear nothing.

Eric, I hope you get the date of your separation worked out. It's amazing how some bosses will go out of their way to make things hard.

Great story about the three alarm spaghetti, Becky. Rose has set off our smoke detector a few times cooking, but there was always really smoke.

Katie, all the new LUNGevity stuff looks great. I think it's great that LUNGevity is partnering with Dr. West to do more webinars and such. I know he was struggling to fund that kind of thing on his own.

Time for me to get back to work. Have a great day, all!

[ginnyde]

Green is my color today - that is green with envy with Judy FL on the high seas. I hope she is having a superlative time.

Beck, my husband tried to blacken fish in our kitchen. We almost had to move out. Found out that you only blacken fish outside or in a restaurant with an industrial exhaust fan.

Annette, a slow computer is so frustrating and yet even slow think how much better it is than that abacus we used to use.

Judy MI, if you read the list of stress causing situations your life is now topping the charts. Just hope your husband does't start alphabetizing your spices. I wish I could offload some of your stuff.

Funny story on myself. My pp was bright yellow. I was sure I was eating myself away from the inside. Finally had the internal fortitude to check it out on the net. Yep, I had added a B complex to my vitamin pool, and guess what excess B2 does?

Best get back to work. I only work 2 days a week (I'm really old). But I am so excited, my golf league starts in 37 days. If you are my friend on FB you will see how I am counting down the days. I am anal. Holy cow, pp and anal in the same post. Better go.

[Joppette]

Hi All,

AH I LOVE you people. So many wrote and helped me yesterday and today. You are right Bud, it's so much better to write it out rather keep it inside. I did have a good cry yesterday and it felt good.

Ah Becky, I love your stories! They are so good and I know they are true! I can just picture the whole thing. We have several smoke alarms in our home. Every year when the time changes, we change the batteries whether they need it or not. We learned this years ago when we did not do that and ALL of them went off at the same time! Randy was not home, and I'm climbing ladders trying to pull the batteries out in all the bedrooms, kitchen, greatroom, etc. Ack!

Ginny, so good to see you back! There have been several posts of us worrywarts wondering if all was okay with you! Thanks for you kind words. You made me laugh with the alphabetizing of the spices. You see, he has already alphabetized them! He's very picky about that! LOL

As for the pp and anal. So funny. Yeah, taking the B vitamin will do that. And it's okay. My Mom used to tell me to take Vitamins c and b and take them until my p turned yellow. She said that's when I knew I was taking enough!

Still strugging with this awful cough/cold thing, but I think it turned the corner. I'm still coughing so hard my ribs hurt, but I'm coughing less today.

As we begin the snow melt and spring coming, I'm learning something new about my Olive Oyle, Labradoodle. She goes nuts when a squirrel is in the yard. So much so that she jumped on the screen so hard she ripped it! NOT! I need to nip this in the bud now! Now...where is that dog training manual I had...............

See ya laters!

MI Judy

[eric byrne]

Good Evening Everyone.

We are being spoiled with our weather this week,every day this week so far,blue skies and sunshine,got to scrape the frost off the car in the morning though,small price to pay for clear overnight skies,long may this continue.

I got my voluntary severance acceptance conditions to sign yesterday,we had only 24 hours to sign and return,I was concerned about the leaving date 24th June,when I would prefer end April,I spoke to my Principal today,and she reassured me that I can sign without predudice,the leaving date is negociable,she only wants me to stay to give a bit of "Handing over the ropes to my successor" to ease them into the post.I had it out with my HOD regarding his poor attitude with me at the time I was off having my treatments,with relation to what I see as" his dog in a manger" attitude to wanting me to stay,he was embarassed and mumbled something like with hindsight blah,blah...,I rebuked him for his lack of social skills,respect and empathy towards me,which he took without reply,but we parted with me feeling better that I had at last, got everything off my chest.

Bit of fun going into college this morning,I was prevented at the main doors from entering the building,staff and students had formed a picket line,protesting about government cuts in the funding of Further Education in Scotland,I was given a plackard to hold,it was blooming freezing,all I was dying for was one of my packets of cuppa soup in a mug in my staffroom.The Labour party Education MSP,turned up and gave a rousing speech in support of the colleges action,Mr Cameron and Co, must be really worried now.

Went to Stobhill Hospital Lung Cancer Support Group meeting this afternoon,sadly Barbara, one of the original members had passed away since our last meeting a month ago,she had been unwell recently but no one was expecting this.We always have a guest speaker each meeting,today we had Pamela,a Pulmonary Physiotherapist-have you ever heard of such an occupation?I hadnt,she runs classes in what she calls Pulmonary Re-hab,what a interesting speaker she was too,I mentioned getting a bit breathless climbing slopes,well she mentioned a new breathing technique to take account of lung surgery that she can teach me and also offered our group if they were willing to attend a weekly exercise class to help improve everyones quality of life,well everyone was only too happy to join in,so thats set the wheels in motion.Watch this space.

Well what have you all been up to?Becky loved the smoke alarm story,mentioning pliarsto an appliance,gosh that take me back some years,as a young boy we had a TV,the channel changing knob broke off,so we used a pair of pliars instead,what fun,I remember my mother also renting a TV,did you do that at one time in America?was quite common in my youth,well this one came with a meter,you would be half way into a prog and suddenly the TV would blank,then a row would break out on whose turn it was to put two shillings into the meter,it was frenetic scene all of us desparate to continue the viewing coupled with the desire to avoid paying in the money,oh bring back the poverty days they were much more fun.

Bud hope the hot and cold treatments on the legs have been effective.

Well my my type writer ribbon is needing changing,so I am off,see you all to-morrow,goodnight everyone.

[Snowflake]

Eric, how do you get posts online if you're using a typewriter? Is it an electric typewriter and you plug it in to your CPU or what?

Oh, Judy, I know EXACTLY where your spouse is, am there myself, having been unemployed over two years now! I'm finding that I spend more and more time mindlessly surfing the internet and don't even bother with simple housework any more. Need to get the place organized, we moved in back at Christmas time, and I still have tubs in the bedrooms to put away or pack in storage... Also, should flip down the treadmill. If I spent as much time on that treadmill as I do on my fanny, there'd be considerably less of my fanny!

I sure hope Eric clears me up on the typewriter, I have an old one somewhere, I think. Sure would be cheaper than upgrading laptops!

[eric byrne]

Hi Becky,

I am still on line when I caught your post,just thinking since I started teaching 39 years ago,I bought a cheapie typewriter to begin the long process of writing teaching notes,its never ending,we didnt even have a photocopier then,we used to run out our notes on a Banda machine,you manually turned a handle and out would come your handout,what a mess it would sometimes make,later the first photocopiers came out,staff had to have a chitty signed by their line manager to have copies of your notes reproduced,it was always the same interogation,do you really need so many notes for your students,could they not hand write some of these,you know you have clocked up 500 copies so far this week.

Now I have at my disposal two machines,laptops and a huge smartboard,wish I was just starting my career,teachers today are spoiled rotten,and the learning environment for the students now is just wonderful.Anyone want to buy an old typewriter?

[Joppette]

LOL about the old typewriters! I so remember those days. My first typewriter was one given to me by my Grandmother. In order to get the keys to make an impression on the old ribbon, you had to pound the keys as hard as you could! Then I got to highschool, and they had them new fangled electric ones! LOL!

I got kicked out of typing class after one year. I'd been playing piano for years, and took to the typewriter like a seal to water. I was typing 90 words a minute , and the Sister kicked me out because I was so bored, I was messing with the other kids, disturbing them! How funny. Have not thought about that in years.

MI Judy