Sunday, November 12, 2006

Sweet Silllllleeeeennnnncccceeee....Chirp

I was totally wrong about the outcome of the chirping. S4 changed only hers. Why? "I changed them all last year except for yours." Well, we all know about payback right.

We came home last night. I saw another nasty critter in the garage. Got me my handy Raid and sprayed it to death. Can't run from me. What? Centipede. After that horrible death, I came in and heard a chirp. I asked S4 did she hear that. Yep, she sure did and she went upstairs. She and I both thought it was one of the ones she did not change. Nope, it was hers again.

I went downstairs and search for the batteries in the good old kitchen junk draw. As I was thinking about changing batteries, I decided I mind as well change the batteries in the thermostat. While I was at it, I needed to turn the clock on the thermostat back, too.

End of the day, all got changed except the one in the basement and my bedroom. No more batteries. I would have had enough batteries if we did not have to replace S4's twice. All would have been changed except my bedroom because it has a catherdral ceiling which requires my ladder that my brother-in-law's friend borrowed and somehow wound up at my brother-in-law's and has not returned still.

Now off to Walmart to return books I already have (don't you hate buying stuff you already have *argh*) and pick up some more batteries. And, maybe some Popeyes for dinner *yummmmmmm*

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Chirp...Chirp...Chirp...Chirp

Ever since I got up, I would hear a chirp about every two minutes. It's late afternoon and the chirping is still happening. If I listen to the advice given, I might not get the pleasure of the chirping. I could stop the chirping, but I think I'll give the pleasure to my sister as the chirping is coming from her room -- definitely hers as I stood in her room for several minutes to make sure. It's only fair.

I went out early afternoon to drop mail off before the postman comeths and discovered the lovely present S4 left on the walkway. I scooped up a dead bird from the walkway last night. S4 decided to sanitize the walkway with bleach. Well, we only had color bleach which is a bit thick and it was a bit nippy up here. Boy, did she pour it on. I discovered a nice puddle of bleach on the walkway. I wonder what my neighbor thought of that bluish white blob on the walkway when he dropped off my paper on my stoop. It took four buckets of water to get rid of the blob.

Oh the chirping...It's pretty good advice but I'm a procrastinator at heart. Really one of those that start off doing something and get distracted by another thing and so on. Our state observes Daylight Savings Time. We did turn all the clocks back -- we had to if we wanted to get up at the right time to catch our plane to the bus to the ship...CRUISE. The other recommended thing to do is to change the batteries on the smoke detectors. Nope did not do it that night as we were still packing.

Now, we have our first chirping smoke detector. I'll make S4 change the others when she does hers. At the end of the day, I think I'll wind up doing them all. Oh well, it was a nice dream. I need to hunt down the batteries. I hope we have enough 9 volt batteries. We have 6 smoke detectors to be changed. No worries, detectors will continue to work provided we do not have power outage. They are hard wired. The batteries are just backups.

I mind as well change the battery on the thermostat, too. I guess.

Sunday, November 5, 2006

Great September & October

In September, I got to go annual Disney Pin Event. It wasn't the Pin Event so much as getting together with my internet pals again that I met last year at the event. It was also the pleasure of matching more faces to people I've meet and chatted with online for the last two years. My great pal from England even hopped over so we could at least spend the day together before I had to head on home. She and her hubby even introduced me to another couple that I've briefly corresponded with.

October was also a fantastic month also. I had a great reason to visit New Orleans, Louisiana. Sherrilyn Kenyon got over 300 fans together from Friday evening to Sunday morning. I got there a day early so I could check out NOLA before her convention started. Definitely got to come back and explore the city some more. I was only able to check out the French Quarter a bit. Through her BBS, I've met some great people. This was an great opportunity to put faces to the board names. I'm a bit shy and did not get into the groove until towards the end of event. I was able to talk to some. Others, I matched faces to board names from a far. However, there will be next time because Sherri will hold another get together for her fans again.

The month just ended with a 3-day, 4-night Disney Cruise with my oldest (S1) and youngest (S4) sisters. I was able to meet up with more of my Disney Pin friends -- yes, it was a pin event cruise. The weather did not cooperate with us when we docked at Nassau. My sisters and I stayed on the ship and split up to do our own thing. Now that I think about it, the whole cruise flew, or should I say sailed, by. It was too short. Highlights: S1 likes to eat, sleep and watch the movies/shows. S4 likes the soft serve ice cream and lying on the beach. S4 can hoola hoop and do the limbo on the lowest rung. They are lucky on the pin games than I am. I definitely suck. Lunch was great with Joette and Bill (hopefully he sends S4 his meatloaf). Pin trading with the ship's officiers. Experiencing a power outage while in an inside cabin -- it's pitch dark except for the glow in dark hands on the clock. The TSA loves opening my bag that contains the pins.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

People You Meet...

... through your interactions on the Internet, mainly message boards.

Through the years, I met and continue to meet some wonderful people through interactions on a variety of message boards. It's been great to meet them face to face through the years. I had the pleasure this week and two weeks ago to see some of them All my interactions with message board members have always been pleasant and good. When I sign off, I always have a smile on my face. Yes, there a times when there are unpleasant happenings on the board. My rule is if I don't have anything pleasant to say for all to read walk away. It's a joy to get email from the friends I've made.

In the last several months, I got to experience my first unpleasant encounter . Very heartbreaking for me as this is the first time negativity has come my way through the internet. And I'm not talking about spam. In the beginning, I thought it would be another great friendship in the making. Things were going fine the first couple of weeks. While on a short vacation in September, I got trashed (yes, I travel with a laptop). No explanation. No apologies. I wrote a very angry email. Maybe the individual did not like me responding to the trashing by copying two mutual friends about the individual's behavior. Maybe I should have kept the correspondence between the two of us. I just couldn't because I knew I would get no reponse. I did get a response from the friend I copied. That was so very sweet. She did warn me early on that the individual was not a great correspondent. To date, no response whatsoever.

As we hang on the same web sites, I tried to keep out of the individual's way. I tried to keep the mail between the two of us to minimum. I've kept the riff between us private so unpleasantness is not spread to others. Opinions and feelings I have about the person does not need to be spread by me. Hopefully the other party has, too. Who knows how the other party has handled our riff?

Well, it seems I stepped over the line this week again and badly stomped on those toes. Yes, I could not help myself. I wrote to the individual and ruffle some of feathers. I responded back and ruffled some more. I could not keep my trap shut and responded again. I got this statement in my mail today

"You had your moment [...] and were found wanting and even now you still find ways to poke and prod people into irritation."

This did not leave a good taste in my mouth . It bothered me on and off today. That's why there's even a blog. I'm a person who tries her best to leave all interactions on a positive note. I provide help and advice and even try to share a smile or two. I must be leaving a bad taste in several people's mouths for the individual to say I'm "prod[ding] people into irritation". It's been a long, long, long time, I don't remember how long, that I've been found "wanting" and "irritating". I've always gotten the opposite opinion.

I think I'm finally getting the message to stay out of the way of them toes and the rest of the body. However, I'm not giving this being the satisfaction of removing myself from the web sites we have in common. Nope, I enjoy the web sites too much and have made friends there.

This is one friendship I do not need. I'm not the loser in this interaction.