WordsWorth

Saturday Shopping

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:48:46 -0500

Did a lot of running around today.

We bought a new office chair for me, the old one was hurting my back and I needed one with more support since I am online a lot and also am doing my cross stitch work. We went to the Office Max store where Brian works, thinking we were doing a good thing---that he would get credit for the sale. We found out we were mistaken. Family purchases have to be credited to another employee. We were bummed, but nothing we can do about it. The new chair is heaven, by the way. I could fall asleep in it.

We also went to Barnes & Noble to buy a typing book for Mike. Yes, one very similar to the ones we used in high school when we were forced to take typing class(es). Mike wants to learn to type so he can apply for an office job with Comcast. Working in the weather, demands of his tech job, and Mike's age are all combining to make his job tough so he wants to get out of the field. More on that later.

We also went to a local quilt shop that I like. The owner opened her shop yesterday in a new location so we went to check it out. The place she used to have was really tiny, like 700 square feet. I don't know the size of the new shop she has, but she has two storefronts put together. So, I'm guessing about 2500 square feet now. The shop's not fully 'put together' There were family members and other people putting fabrics and other things in their places, but there were about 300 bolts of fabric out for sale and she had steady traffic. Might as well ring up some sales even if the place isn't completely ready.

On the way home from all this shopping, we saw bunches of girls selling Girl Scout cookies in various parking lots. Mike LOVES Girl Scout cookies, so we stopped and bought some boxes. I had forgotten that February and March are cookie selling time for the Girl Scouts around here. When I was a Girl Scout, we could sell door-to-door, but today the world is too dangerous for that.

Now, we're enjoying dinner and relaxing. Next week there will be a lot going on. Mike will be on vacation as we take our car to the dealership for minor repairs (we hope nothing major is found in addition to this). Then, Wednesday we have a window company rep coming over to measure our bedroom window frames. We are getting at least one new window, maybe two. The windows are vinyl tilt-ins. One won't stay in place, the tilt clips are broken and the window tilts into our room unless we tape it to the frame with packaging tape. If the price is right, we'll get matching windows and Marbelite sills. We really need that window to work properly, because we don't have A/C in this house.

I'm tired from shopping. Tomorrow I'm not going anywhere, LOL.

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Heart In Coffee Mug

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:11:47 -0500

HeartInCoffeeMug

It's a little blurry, but I had to take a photo of this. After I drank my coffee, I glanced at my mug. See the heart?

Wow. Appropriate for February isn't it? LOL.

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My Newest Cookbook

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:42:05 -0500

Cookbook Bible Cake Mix

We bought this book this past weekend. It was in the bargain area of Barnes and Noble. This book has some great recipes. I made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies today and they are a hit! The yellow cake mix makes a better cookie dough than homemade cookie dough...the cookies just have a better flavor. I had to add more time to the baking time than the recipe called for. I'm not sure if it's my oven or the recipe. I should check the oven temperature one of these days.

There are plenty of fancier recipes for occasions such as picnics, holidays, etc.

In all, a really handy book and one I'm sure I'll use quite a bit.

**Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies**

1--box yellow cake mix (MY note: butter recipe is good)

1 cup quick cooking oatmeal

1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened (very soft)

2 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

In large bowl, mix cake mix, oatmeal, softened butter and eggs. Mix well. (MY note: Batter will be stiff and will take a while to mix properly). Add chocolate chips and mix well. Drop dough by rounded spoonful onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake in 350 oven for 10-15 minutes. (MY note: 15 minutes seems to be the best baking time.)

I guess you could substitute chocolate cake mix for the yellow cake mix and have double chocolate oatmeal cookies.

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Scam Notice Update

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:18:58 -0500

I want to let everyone know that our Credit Union took care of the unauthorized withdrawal. We will get a credit to our account by Tuesday at the latest.

A little annoying side note however: The Credit Union rep did say 'you have to be careful who you give your account number to'. Excuse me? I was nice to her--I mean really, I'm not mean. But--'we' didn't 'give' anything to anyone! I know what she meant though. Even paying our bills online, there's no telling who can 'get' the account number.

But, I told Mike in the car later "It's really something how banks want everyone to do online banking, but then when there's a problem--like ours--they want to blame us!"

Anyway, everything is cleared up and the Credit Union will stop payment on the check 'on the other end' and also report this to the proper authorities.

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Bitter Cold Again

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:48:53 -0500

Like some of my neighbors here on Vox, we're in the middle of a real cold snap. The second bitter-cold cold front in a week here. It's 14 degrees outside right now (-3 with wind chill) and there's a Winter Storm Watch up for Michigan from tonight until Friday morning. We might get 6 inches of snow. A lot of the time we don't get as much snow as predicted, but we'll see what happens overnight.

It's cold down here on the first floor, so I'm going to finish up dinner dishes, gather some needlework to stitch and head upstairs. The bedroom TV awaits. I'll watch TV and work on my needlework while keeping warm.

'Night peeps! Be back tomorrow. Stay warm!

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Vox Hunt: I Love This Cover

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:30:12 -0500

Graceland

Show us your favorite album cover.

I love this cover because the artwork is so unique.

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QotD: On "American Idol"

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:12:17 -0500

The seventh season of "American Idol" premieres tonight. Will you be watching, or are you over it?

I've never watched 'American Idol' and don't plan to.

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Friday Stuff...

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:09:52 -0500

Not much to post about, as I said before I'm trying to post everyday.

Have to write up the bills today and I just don't feel like it. I'm procrastinating like crazy.

Brian found out last night the promotion/raise he was told he would get is now not going to happen. In early November a manager who likes Brian told him he'd get a promotion. I got pieces of the story this morning, and there's a new manager in the store who I guess doesn't like Brian as much. He feels Brian is 'not enthusiastic enough' about his job. Whatever that means. Brian sells more computers and other products than any employee in the store, and has for months, so how is that not enthusiastic?

Does management want him to smile and joke around? I don't know. But when Mike and I shopped at Brian's store a week or so ago, no one smiled at us and only one other person other than Brian (Brian's girlfriend) said 'hello' to us. The enthusiasm thing is an excuse.

Brian is upset and dejected and I don't blame him. He's in a job that he thought would pan out for him. He bought his car (against my advice) and my name's involved in the loan. This means, just like most of us, he has to put up with the disappointment of his job and pay his bills, like it or not. Brian's looking for another job that will pay him enough to pay his car payment, insurance, and gasoline. He can't quit at Office Max--at least not yet--but now wonders if he will eventually be let go. What I wish for him more than anything is for him to find a job and settle into it for about five years. I guess that's too much to ask.

It's stressful and I know there's not a thing I can do to help him.

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Update...

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:09:42 -0500

Not a whole lot going on, but wanted to post something for today. Mike went back to work yesterday after two weeks off, and was very tired last night. He had to work OT, which is great for the paycheck, but tough on him. He came home at 7 p.m. I was glad to see him, as it was bitter cold out yesterday. The weather's the same today, but Monday the temp is 'supposed' to be in the 50's. We'll see.

I was doing fine with my cross stitch project, Persian Iris Garden, when I found a big mistake (an extra row) and had to take it out. The extra row was in the bottom of one of the finished columns, so I had to take it completely out. Obviously leaving in the extra row would have affected everything else. I was so frustrated about it, but now that I've started re-stitching the column I feel better. In a couple of days, I should be back to the point I was previously. Sometimes in needlework, it's two steps ahead, one step back.

We are switching our phone service from AT&T to Comcast. We get an employee discount on Comcast Voice (phone) so we figured we might as well save money where we can. While reading the form Mike has to turn in to request new service, I saw that in order to keep our phone number our previous service must be in the same name as the new Comcast service. Since this new bill has to be in Mike's name and the AT&T bill was in my name, we have to get a new phone number. Oh well. We'll have to contact everyone who has our number, but I guess that's no big deal.

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End of Year

nobody@vox.com(Carol) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:56:00 -0500

Well, guys, 2007 is about to come to an end. Who knows what will be in store for all of us in this new year? I hope all my neighbors (friends on Vox) have their health (or improve it) and get whatever else they're striving for.

I have a short list of things I hope to accomplish. Number one on my list is to save more money. Mike and I have not done this well at all within the last two years so I really want to focus on saving money in 2008. Two, I want to lose weight. At this point, I would be satisfied with losing 20 pounds. Three, I want to read my Bible more and continue to apply what I read to my life. I could do a lot better on the part called Forgiving, so that will be a specific thing I'll work on in 2008.

For those of you who commented on my last post about visiting my my oldest son, Steve and then my brother and sister-in-law, the visits were great.

First, we went to see Steve. We went to a city called Monroe, it's about 30 minutes north of Toledo, Ohio, and an hour south of us. Monroe is the home of Monroe automotive parts (shocks and struts) and also LazyBoy furniture. It's also the boyhood home of General George Armstrong Custer (Battle of Little Bighorn).

When I was in my 20s I spent a lot of time in Monroe--every Saturday and Sunday for four years--taking care of my elderly paternal grandma. Back then, Monroe was nowhere as large as it is now. Today there is every store imaginable--from Sears, to Kohl's, Panera Bread, Coffee Beanery (no Starbucks, which I think is unusual), all the fast food restaurants, Wal-Mart, Target, Applebee's, and on and on. It was quite a shock to me to see all of the malls, stores and restaurants after all these years. I guess I was naive to not expect progress there when everywhere else has changed.

We took some food with us for Steve since he is going through the 'down time' at the tattoo shop. There aren't many customers during the week in the winter and so money is tight for him. We visited for a while at Steve's apartment and then we took him to lunch at Panera Bread. After that, Steve had to get ready to leave for band practice, so we said goodbye. I didn't want to leave, as I only see him about two or three times a year. During our visit I could tell that Steve is lonely. When you're a parent you want to take care of your kids and you hate to see them feeling bad. I can't fix the things in his life that are causing him problems. But, I was glad to hear that this week he's adopting a cat, so he'll have a little companionship at his apartment.

Right after we left Monroe we went to my brother's house. They had a small meal "out of boxes and bags" my brother said. LOL. We had pre-made lasagne, with salad and bread; and later, blueberry pie ala mode. We sat and talked around the kitchen table and played a card game called Golf (Six card). Mike and I had never played this card game before. We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot. Mary showed us the artwork she's finished in preparation for crafts shows coming up in the spring. I was surprised when she let me have any two pieces of her art work. This is the second time she's given me some of her work, which she puts many hours of time and effort into. I was very touched that she would give me more of her work, as she charges well over $30 for many of her pieces. I will take a photo and post after this one so you can see what my gifts were. And, by the way---I felt fine all day yesterday. I don't know why I felt like I was coming down with the flu Saturday, but yesterday I was fine. Since my brother often doesn't feel well I'm not sure when we will be able to visit again.

Tonight we're expecting another snow storm. Five to 10 inches of snow with ice too. (Sigh). Steve and Brian will be at the same New Year's Eve party tonight, at a friend's home. Thankfully, neither Steve nor Brian drink. Steve is staying the night there. We're staying in. No booze for us, just a quiet night.

Happy New Year!

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