well, when nothing else is going on...go to walmart, right? i finally got a new desk lamp. my old one flickered off and on and i had to jiggle it to keep it working, so i decided it was better to get a new one for $10 than to risk burning my house down (even if it is just a mobil home).
i also bought something that when we run out of i always swear i will never buy again...Q-TIPS. there are a few things in this world worse than a nasty, used q-tip (cat shit, baby shit, dog shit...you see where this is going)? the reason i swear not to buy them is because no one in this house seems to be able to get a used q-tip, which is what? 2 1/2" long, into the bathroom wastebasket, which has an opening you could probably get an average size cat in. i must pick up used q-tips from behind the toilet (EWWW), beside the wastebasket and, next to the tub, almost every day. they would probably throw them into the tub too, except the shower doors are usually closed. so, why do i keep buying them? why do i care if everyone here gets nasty ass wax buildup in their ears...they don't listen to me anyway. maybe if i really did quit buying them, i could save the ear wax and make something to sell on e-bay. earwax candles or earwax
sculptures. boy, doesn't that give you something to worry about next time you blow out the birthday candles on your cake?
i suspect that is how madame tussaud got her start.
i also had to buy a new pair of winco pants. we must wear black slacks (not jeans). i hate slacks. i bought one pair when i started last march and i wear them every time i work there. i also wash them each time, so i figure they have been washed at least 100 times. a couple of weeks ago i noticed they had the same defect every pair of pants i ever buy has. they start wearing out in the thighs. someone told me once that it happens because my thighs rub together when i walk!!! could this be true? I DON'T THINK SO!!! anyway, last weekend one of the worn out sections wasn't just worn out..it was an honest to god hole. yikes! so i did what any self-respecting , mobil dwelling, portly redneck would do. i got duct tape and fixed 'em right up. (little scratchy between the legs..but that's the price of beauty). so today i got a new pair of pants. don't tell anyone at winco, but they are really jeans...they just don't look like jeans. and they are a little to big (i hope). it isn't my usual size, but they were on the closeout rack for $7. who could pass that up. i hate working a job with a dress code, sometimes it gets very expensive. for some people they furnish green winco shirts, but for others they only furnish the apron. you have to buy your own white blouse, black slacks and black shoes and if you want to be warm you can only wear a black sweater or jacket. sometimes i feel like dressing up as a ninja when i go in just to see if anyone even notices.
this week i took tim to the bank and had him open a bank account. he is my biggest worry in life. he is 19 now and still has elective mutism. i think perhaps 12 years ago when the child psycologist said he would outgrow it that he was wrong. every time i read web sites on line i worry about tim getting depressed because he isn't doing anything with his life. i don't want him to wake up some morning and realize his life is flying by and he is missing it because he doesn't talk. and what happens to him if something happens to me? he only talks to me, emily and his cousin james. 3 people in the whole world that he communicates with. between that and his messed up knees he could one day get really depressed about it. emily told me once that she would take care of him if i weren't here anymore, which was very sweet of her. but it isn't about taking care of him, he isn't mentally impaired. it's about him living his life and being happy doing something. one of my friends at work is always saying "what are you going to do about him? when are you going to make him get a job?" this is the same person who fixed up her shed in the TRAILER PARK where she lives, for her 30 year old step son to live in. and for rent he gives her $100 of his food stamp money (if he remembers). and she worries about my kid!
this is almost the end of my 2nd day off...only 2 more to go. thursday i get my crown (on my tooth, not my head). i survived this root canal without an infection, always a good thing.
i got an e-mail from mikes mom today. her and carol (mikes sister) are going to la soon for a taping of the oprah show. hot diggidy dog! color me green with envy. actually, i didn't even know she was still on tv, i'm never home for daytime tv. they are also going to go very early and try to get seats to see the stars on the red carpet for the oscars. DOUBLE HOT DIGGIDY DOG!!! I am just happy when i have a night off and the shows i usually dvr are not reruns so i get to watch them fresh. like ncis tonight and criminal minds tomorrow night. i wouldn't have thought mikes mom would be so lame as sitting hours waiting to see stars walk by. maybe carol just couldn't get anyone else to go with her. i have long thought that awards shows are all just a load of crap..just like reality tv shows. i have never seen survivor, lost ,american idol or any of that stuff. maybe if they had something like a reality murder show i would watch, but cast members might be hard to come by after a season or two.

i am not sure why i do this to myself. i sit here watching fox news every morning, knowing full well that i will eventually get more than irritated by the stories. i already heard about a possible $500 cut in medicare or medicaid (i only got the end of the story). now there is a story coming about mail service...raising the price of stamps and cutting one day of service. the post office is very much in the red. and these are the people that want to run the health care system? but, speaking of mail service, i don't have much anyway. my town isn't really big, but we do have a post office, but the service there makes me yearn for the pony express days. take yesterday, for example. we have the locking mail boxes on our road, so my son checks the mail and he brings home the key that opens the package mailbox. obviously, we have a package in there, but he can't get the key to work. so i go down..and ditto, the key won't turn. i mean, it fits into the keyhole, but it just won't turn. so i go home and call the post office and tell them of this dilemma. the guy says to just drop the key into the slot and they will leave a note for the mailman and "we will try to get it to you tomorrow". TRY??? whatever happened to "through rain and snow..."? i only live 100 yds up from the road. and unless something freaky happened with the weather while i wasn't looking, there was no snow or sleet or hail going on. i probably should stop there, but i won't. i must mention the service at the actual post office. it sucks...big time. no matter what time of day i go in there i have to wait a ridiculously long time in a very short line. why? because it seems every clerk in there is on a "first name, hey how are y'all, how's the littl'uns, you try that recipe for hog jowls i gave you" basis with every customer ahead of me. they used to have a vending machine in the lobby to buy stamps, and i used it when i needed them, but to my dismay, they removed it a few months ago, (probably was cutting into the clerks social life). i guess i resent the "workers" there partly because they make more money than i do at 2 jobs and i actually have to work hard for my money. and when i do go in there i always think of the pony express guys. do you know a letter of a half ounce cost $1.00 to send and it went 2000 miles in 8 or 9 days...on a horse..through hostile indian territory? and at the end of the line it wasn't locked up in a box that a person couldn't get open? gee's service has come a long way in 150 years!
i also have this week off!!! from my main job anyway. we have a new president as of a week ago (the old one was fired after 20 years). it seems kind of shitty to me to fire the president of a company in these economic times. we make "gourmet desserts" and candy and some really expensive things. how can the board or stock holders make a president of a company responsible for a lack of business? do they think he can convince people to buy a $40 cheesecake instead of some groceries? but, such is life for the upper crust. he walked away (was pushed out?) with around $5 million in compensation. i get $255 this week for unemployment...kind of hard to feel any pity for him. but, again, i digress. i have 4 full days off before i have to winco again. i already spent the first one just cleaning the mobil home. today i did 15 minutes on my elliptical (and lived to tell the tale), then i walked the dogs, read my kindle for a while...and now here i sit with FREE time. what do you do with free time? i just don't know. there is so much to do outside, but it's a raining now. good thing the anal neighbors mowed their lawn for the 5th time already...it's only march, for gods sake. i have a steadfast rule..no mowing until the first of april (unless there is a really, really big break in the weather in march) and absolutely no mowing after october. if lawns had hairstyles mine would be this:



and the neighbors would be this:
i also seem to have to much time to watch the news. do you know what a reporter said on fox this morning? he was in chile ( i always thought it was pronounced chili, like what you eat..but they all keep pronouncing it chilay). anyway, he was discussing rescue efforts and he actually said " they are looking for survivors who are still alive." DUH!! there was no one here with me, so i just looked at the 3 dogs to see if they caught it. they didn't. reminds me of that old riddle, if a plane crashes on the border between the u.s. and canada, where do they bury the survivors? well, obviously, they bury them in chilay.