The Best Laid Plans of Mice and (wo)men

5/7/2016

Let's refer to yesterday's blog shall we?  You remember that Jeff was flying off for a flying formation class.  I, on the other hand, was planning a weekend of junk food and crappy television.  Here's the thing: if Jeff and I didn't have bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all.  Trust me on this.

In the afternoon, Jeff took off for the airport.  I grabbed up my raincoat because it was raining hard, and took myself off to the grocery store.  What did I buy? Glad you asked.  I bought bagels (sort of healthy), a couple of sour cream doughnuts, three magazines and a saucer-sized Chocolate Eclair Pie.  Yummmy for the tummy!

After shopping, I went to McDonalds for my lunch.  I bought a small burger, small fries and even though I wanted a bigger size, went with a small milkshake.  I went home and got in my favorite chair to read and eat, or eat and read, whichever you prefer.

I noticed a message on the answering machine from Jeff.  Apparently, just as he was taking off, he received an error message on the plane concerning an alternator.  The plane has two of them but it's illegal to fly with only one.  He taxied back to the hangar and put the plane away.  Okay, his plans for the weekend had been dashed, but I was okay with that.  I could still go to Five Guys on Saturday for a hamburger, if I wanted.

When Jeff gets home, he tells me that Andy had called from Disney World, and the prior arrangements they had made for dog sitting of Gus (Anatolian Shepherd puppy - i.e., big) wasn't working out.  Andy wanted us to pick Gus up and bring him to our house until Tuesday.  Maggie and Sam were friendlier than I thought they would be about having Gus in the house.  

When it was time for bed, we put Gus in our bedroom and closed the door.  Gus believed that he should be on the bed with Sam and Maggie, but there just wasn't any extra room.  Throughout the night, I would occasionally wake up to hear Maggie giving a quiet warning to Gus.  You know the kind where she "politely" let Gus know that this is her bed.

So here we are on Saturday morning, both of us doing exactly what we didn't have planned for ourselves.  Since we have been served up lemons, we're just going to have to make lemon pie!

Here's a picture of a dog like Gus:

 
 

P

Batching It!

5/6/2016

I don't know what the name is when a woman is home alone for the weekend.  Batching brings to mind, ball games, pizza, beer and soda.  So whatever it's called, I'm alone for the weekend.

Jeff is flying to Connecticut this afternoon to attend a formation flying clinic.  He'll leave this afternoon and be back on Sunday.  I've made some tentative plans with myself, which could include: cheeseburger from Five Guys, ice cream from Cold Stone, a movie or none of the above.  It's not going to be a nice weekend weather wise and because I'm made of sugar (it's okay to laugh now), I shouldn't get wet because I might dissolve!

I will do some laundry (yawn) and tidy up some rooms (bigger yawn) and probably take a nap both today and Saturday.  It will be a tough weekend, but I'll manage somehow.  I'll go to the grocery store this afternoon and get some junk food.  Definitely not cooking today or tomorrow.

So a well balanced meal for tonight will probably include pizza, maybe popcorn or ice cream.  Or, if I'm feeling super sinful - all three!

Jeff will enjoy his weekend, and I'll enjoy mine.  My Kindle is fully loaded with books to read and I have a large number of junk television to watch while I eat junk food!

I hope your weekend will be as good as mine.

P

Cinco De Mayo

5/5/2016

Forty-two years ago today, Jeff and I had our first date.  It was a blind date set up my Dad and Jeff's sister.  I was divorced and lonely.  When my Dad came home one night, he said this guy (Jeff) was going to call me and ask me for a date - oh, and I was to say yes.

On the other side of town, Jeff's sister, Jill told him he was to call me and ask me out and that I would say yes.  Recipe for a disaster?  Could have been, but it wasn't.  We both were in the right spot at the right time - stars were aligned - and here we are 42 years later.

I knew Jeff was a good man when he took me and my son grocery shopping.  I was on a very tight budget (i.e., I was broke) and when I went to the grocery store I headed for the heavily discounted items, bent cans, old bread, stuff like that.  I was pushing my cart around looking for the best way to spend probably $20.00, though I can't remember for sure.  Jeff, on the other hand, was putting lots of food in his cart and when we went to the checkout, I was dreading how much all of those groceries were going to cost me.  Turns out that I didn't pay anything for the groceries that day or any day since.

My grandmother told me that long engagements don't necessarily make for long marriages.  Keeping that in mind, we were married on September 21, 1974.  We honeymooned in San Francisco and tried to not spend too much money.  Jeff had promised me that with the money we took back home, he would buy a washing machine and a dryer.  Okay, that may sound odd to you, but up to that point, I had been using a wringer washing machine and laundromats.  I couldn't have been happier, and would gladly have turned down the Hope Diamond for my own appliances.

In almost every situation, when given a choice, I choose a new appliance, or an upgrade to something I already own.  I have no hankering to own more jewelry and already have a super nice car to ride about town in.  

I know some women are offended when given let's say a vacuum cleaner as a gift.  I would accept that gift gladly and realize it wasn't a reference to how I keep my house!  So what's on my list of things I would like to have: retractable awnings for my kitchen windows.  The back of the house gets the afternoon sun and during the summer, it gets super hot in the kitchen.

Before I walked down the aisle those many years ago, my Dad patted my arm and told me that Jeff was a keeper.  Dad was right.  Jeff was/is definitely a keeper.  He has always been my rock and now that my brain seems to be working about half the time, he continuously tries to make things easier for me.

I love you Jeff.   

Watson and Fashion

4/4/2016

Everybody knows about Watson, the IBM super computer.  Watson played Jeopardy, and he played it well.  He won the game with $77,147 leaving Rutter and Jennings in the dust with $21,600 and $24,000 respectively. 

Now Watson is turning his attention to fashion design.  Five key human emotions  (joy, passion, excitement, encouragement and curiosity) that Marchesa wanted the dress to convey. This data was then fed into a cognitive color design tool developed by IBM Research that understands the psychological effects of colors. Watson was also fed hundreds of images associated with Marchesa dresses to “understand and learn” the brand’s color palette. The supercomputer then suggested color palettes that were in keeping with Marchesa’s brand and the identified emotions.

The dress after it was made was fitted with LED lights that will change colors as conversation at the event unfolds.   The theme of the Met Gala is ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology’.  The dress is beautiful.  Apparently, there is nothing that Watson can't do!

P

Policing up the Backyard

5/3/2016

This morning while I was on my daily "p&p (pee and poo) duty in the backyard, I noticed quite a large pile of trash in a corner.  Since I was in my slippers, and the ground was muddy, I didn't venture past the concrete steps.  Later today, I will put on my outside Crocs and pick up the trash that Maggie has accumulated.
 
What I could see was the contents of Jeff's lunch box from Friday, when I had carelessly left in on the floor in the kitchen.  I found a paper plate, torn paper from a cookie bar, as well as a variety of other things.

Years ago, we had a lab named Suzie.  As a young dog, she wandered away in a snowstorm and she was gone long enough that we feared we would never see her again.  Eventually, the humane society found her under someone's deck and returned her to us.  Trouble was, Suzie was never the same again.  If she suspected there was some food (hard candy) in the buffet drawer, she would use her teeth and pull the drawer open!

Cell phone cases?  No problem for her.  She would take them outside and chew through the wrapper, which generally resulted in the cases no longer usable.  We could literally leave nothing to chance.  She would cruise the kitchen counter, and would take what she could reach.  Her muddy paws on the kitchen counter occasionally, spoke to how motivated she was at getting food.  

Apparently, while living under someone's deck, she would go out on trash day and dump all the cans over scrounging for food.  Unfortunately, that instinct for survival never left her, which made her a difficult dog to live with.  She would even tear into Christmas presents if she thought there was something inside that she could eat!

When Scott build his house on acreage, he was good enough to take Suzie to live with him.  She died peacefully last year.   

When we go to bed at night, Maggie comes upstairs with us, but then sneaks back downstairs to "patrol" the kitchen and den looking for something to eat!

P

Sleeping With A CPAP Machine

5/2/2016

Jeff and I both have sleep apnea.  We've used our CPAP machines and assorted types of headgear for years.  When Benjamin sleeps over, he always pulls my mask over to my pillow, so that it's easy to reach.

Wearing a mask takes some getting used to, and trust me there's nothing even remotely sexy about one!  But each night, we dutifully "gear" up and sleep very well.  And, yes, we travel with our machines.  When you have sleep apnea, you must take the machine with you.  

Yesterday, I was ambitious and I took my water chamber apart to wash it and remove some of the build-up from the minerals in the water.  The chamber looked good as new.  Jeff was gone most of the day at Andy's house, and by the time he got back and went to bed, I had forgotten that my water chamber was still in two pieces.

Now it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to put two (count 'em two) pieces of plastic together.  I tried for over 30 minutes to get these pieces put together and finally gave up.  I knew I wouldn't sleep well without my machine, but I didn't want to wake Jeff up at midnight to tell him that I was incapable of accomplishing such a simple task.  

Needless to say, I didn't sleep well at all.  When I don't use my machine, I become a mouth snorer, which gives me a very dry mouth.  I got up early this morning to feed Maggie, because she was convinced that she would die without breakfast this moment.

Once I got into the kitchen, I found that Jeff had seen my problem and had assembled my water chamber.  Thanks so much Jeff.  I took the chamber upstairs, filled it with water and slept until 11:00 this morning.  Since retiring, there is very little chance of me being the early bird who catches a worm.

My sleep from 7:00 to 11:00 was restorative, and when I woke up felt much more energized than I did at 7:00.

The message is simple: if you have sleep apnea, and you have a CPAP machine, wear it every time you go to sleep.

P

Apologies!

5/1/2016

Apparently, I can no longer read the calendar.  Yesterday, I posted a blog about it being Scott's birthday.  Actually, today is Scott's birthday!

We went to Scott's house yesterday for lunch/dinner.  Scott asked that we bring deviled eggs and coleslaw, which we did.  There were burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, pasta salad, and macaroni and cheese.  Jackie (DIL) had made two cakes and filled the layers of both cakes with ice cream.  The chocolate cake had cookies 'n cream ice cream and the other cake was layered with sherbet.  The food was very good and I appreciate the work that Jackie put into getting the meal together.

Since most of the people who came were or are friends or peers that all worked in the computer industry.  I had brought a crossword puzzle book along with me, because I knew with 100% certainty that all conversations would eventually lead to the land of "ones" and "zeros".  I wasn't wrong.  I know next to nothing about computers, except how to turn one on!

We took the new car to Scott's house and rode with the top down and windows up.  Not a great day for a convertible, we take every opportunity we can get.  On the way home, it wasn't just sprinkling, it was raining and we had to put the top up.  Bummer. 

Once home, we settled into our respective recliners to watch some mind-numbing television (which is a specialty of mine) before going off to bed.  The dogs were happy to see us, because they normally get their evening snack at 5:00 and we didn't get home until 8:00.  Once the dogs were given their snack, they settled down for the rest of the evening.  Sam has gotten to be quite the lap dog and this makes me very happy.  

On today's agenda is Jeff going out to Andy's house to try and put a new belt on the tractor and possibly mowing the lawn.  He also mentioned something about going to the hangar at some point today.  

I will stay home.  I have a week's worth of television shows to schedule on my Tivo and need to do some laundry.  I made spaghetti a week or so ago and have taken the remains out of the freezer for dinner tonight.  

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday and that it's shining wherever you are.

P