Visit to Vanderbilt

Well, we all got up early yesterday morning running ragged trying to get out of the house and get to our Vanderbilt appointment yesterday at 10:00 a.m. for the Vanderbilt University tour for TheTeen. None of us move very quickly on a Saturday morning either. George decided suddenly yesterday morning that we needed to leave 15 minutes earlier than he told us when we set our alarms the night before so that put an interesting spin on all of us getting ready. I think we were all still dressing as we headed out the door.

The campus was very pretty and although I retrieved this photo below from the internet, the campus colors looked like this. There is one of every species of trees on campus. That was kinda cool. And they said the squirrels outnumber students 3:1. lol I had never been on campus there in the academic or residential sections anyway. So it was a neat campus with some old buildings that I classed as "scholarly looking". It is a big research school and very diverse.
The dorms have recently been redone and they call them "houses" instead of "dorms" in an effort to revitalize the images that are in students heads. The dorm room was very small. Much smaller than what I had at Lipscomb. The desks were also under a bunk bed and made the study area very dark. You know that I'm an HGTV person so I'm going to be very critical. And yes, I know that a dorm is not going to be like home but I'm just sayin', it was cramped in there and I was not pleased with the study/desk area. I guess that is why they all go study in library's anyway. lol But the dorm area was nice. There were things like picnic tables and umbrellas outside on the decks of the main building...lots of outside areas for the students to enjoy the sunshine and the pretty scenery of campus. Lots of eating places on campus and beside campus. This is one of the main dorm areas below...

The dorms were "co ed" but had "girl floors" and "boy floors". It was interesting as each of the houses had something the students might need: one house had laundry facilities, and another had a market type thing, and so forth - so you have to go to the various houses to do various things but they are all next to one another. That was kinda neat. What I liked was the way that you could exist on campus in a little community-in the dorm area...but the area was spread out and there would be lots of walking. At least it would be pretty walking and even though it is set in busy part of the city - you are not walking amongst traffic but b/w trees and buildings.

I am sorry but I forgot what building this was. I was fooling with the camera (on my phone) while our tour guide was talking. This was a pretty view and my phone does not do well when the sun is shining directly into it. I was even guessing at taking the picture b/c I could not see what I was taking. I believe this was on the Peabody side of the campus.

Just a pretty shot of the trees. I believe this was on the way to the dorms (houses)...we took that path there through the trees. We walked a couple of miles yesterday I'm sure. lol


One of the downsides is that freshman cannot have cars there. I told her I would never go visit her there b/c I wouldn't know where to park and would be driving around in circles. lol I don't drive downtown for this reason either. I don't like to have to park in garages and search for parking places. I don't want to fool with that. I want to know where I am going and know there will be a space for me to be. I refuse to battle the area on a hunt for a place to park. Absolutely refuse it. I am dead serious about that. I guess that is one of my pet peeves and fears - is that I won't have a place to park. I am not very good at watching traffic and looking for parking places at the same time. One will most certainly be sacrificed at the other. I might find a parking spot but wreck finding it. Or I'll have been safe in traffic and miss the one parking that is left. It is a trade off and so I just don't go park in places like this.

But, the acceptance rate is about 37% early decision and about 15% after early decision time has passed. So you can see our chances of getting accepted. They gave us an hour long explanation of what Vanderbilt is about and of the acceptance process and of the financial aid.

After the meeting and the tour, we left to go to TED's MONTANA GRILL. The traffic on west end was HORRIBLE. We got behind some motorcycle convention. We were just stuck in one place for a long time. Finally when we came close to Ted's and I told TheTeen they had burgers, she said "stop here'. Luckily there was a parking place and so we had lunch. I did not get the Bison burger but just the regular beef. Actually TheTeen and I split "The George's Cadilac" burger which had bacon, BBQ sauce, and cheese. It was all really good. Our table got onion rings too.

Then we headed to Donelson to try and get the passport done for TheTeen but there were too many people in line and we did not want to have to wait an hour so we left to go home.

TheTeen had to be back at her friend's house to finish up their filming at 3:30...and Hubby and I went back to the house where he watched games and this was my only time of the weekend to try and get anything done...our day today is shot with plans ---church this morning and going to G-Town this afternoon to take Hubby's Mom's birthday present and so forth.

So I got the sheets done and several loads of laundry, put up the Christmas gifts we've bought so far in the hallway closet and worked on the guest room some. I had the Christmas stuff spread out on the guest bed. But I'm trying to talk Momma in to coming next weekend to visit. So I thought I'd get things ready in case she comes. She is worried about how Fancy will do (her poodle). I think she will be fine. We'll see. Next weekend is our only weekend with no plans in November. So I thought that would be the best weekend for Mom to come. I hope she will.

Well I gotta go take a shower. Unfortuneately everyone else needs to take a shower too and we all try to go at the same time. We have two showers but the water pressure and temperature is hard to moderate when there are two at once. So we'll be late as usual. Everyone waits til the last minute. It is because none of us really wants to go anywhere. We don't get enough down time! But we are off to church this morning and then on to our busy afternoon. I don't when the heck we'll get grocery time in? ARghhhh....

Blog

I am not happy with the blog change. The hosting service I used changed servers and I could not find the blog back ground I had or one that would accomplish the look I wanted. :-/ Now I'm in a hurry and it will have to be like this until I can change it. I like the background ok but I think the text is hard to read...I will play around with it later. eeeeek. I don't like leaving being unhappy with my blog. There must be blog serenity and peace! lol Keep reading below...I made an earlier post today. Thanks!

Update: Ok, I'm better now...it's all fixed! lol Now I'm at peace! Still a different background but not so hard to read now!

How Often do you Change the Sheets & other stuff..

Wow, this whole week has flown by so quickly. And now the weekend is here. It will be a busy weekend too with not as much home time.

At work I have managed to keep my quota going of 10 people entered a day on the benefit annual enrollment. I've had to go around and nudge a few folks to go ahead and turn in forms. This means I'm about 35% entered. I have next week and the week after that. So about 80 more folks to enter and I will be done except for the auditing. I'm happy to say that at least most of the normal HR work that comes in has been light the last few days, allowing me the data entry time. It has worked out well. Now that I have said this, the spirits will unleash and next week I'll have a ball of hell coming at me when I walk in the front door. There are still a few high maintenance situations though that just never go away. Noticed I used the word "situation" as I would never say the word "people" in my blog. lol No sir.

But it is the weekend and I don't want to talk about work...work will have to wait til next week to get more attention from me!

TheTeen and I went to her school's annual "Shopping Extravaganza". It worked out well, since I went in for 3rd shift early yesterday and got off early - then I actually could browse through while I was still awake and alert yesterday afternoon. The Teen and I bought a few birthday gifts and a few Christmas gifts. We also bought her some "spirit wear" (a sweatshirt and 2 t-shirts) which she was happy to have. They had some new things in there and she has just about worn her other sweatshirt out. We had a nice time.

I bid on a few silent auction items. There was 3 hours left so I'm not sure if we won anything. They will call us if we did. One thing about the silent auctions - if it is for charitable or gift giving expense - we can use our tithing money. So I bid away....but I'm sure someone out bid since there was so much time left. I guess we'll see if we get a call. lol

TheTeen and I went out to eat after that at Panera. She wanted to go out to eat so bad. I was not all that hungry as Judy (Ms. Makeready) and I had hit the Iron Porkchop for lunch and they had spaghetti on the menu for the first time ever. I had to have it! But we went to Panera, leaving Hubby to go home and take care of the critters. TheTeen had to be somewhere at 6 so I knew Hubby would not have time to go home and then come back and eat with us...so I felt "in the middle" not knowing what to do but I finally just decided to go out to eat as she and I don't get to do that as much since she has her own car and so busy now. So we went...and had a nice talk. Then she went to a friend/schoolmate's house as she and several others are working on a film for school. I think they have a good excuse to all get together. lol

Well, today is the first of four college visits. At least today's visit is local. Well, in Nashville. We have 3 college visits in November and then one next March. We have to be there at 10 and it lasts til 12:30. There has been some talk of going shopping today, but I'm not sure if we will. George seemed to think we could shop another time. I figured there must be some ball games on he wanted to see. I really don't care as I like to stay home myself. lol I will go with the flow. I just don't want to be in a situation where everyone goes shopping b/c everyone thinks that everyone else wants to and then no one has fun b/c everyone wants to be home. lol

Well, I guess I better get up and at 'em this morning. There are mountains of laundry to be tackled. It has been a bear for about 3 weeks for some reason. It's like we have two extra people in the house. I've not figured out where they are hiding!!! But they are turning in their laundry...lol

I want to get starting wrapping gifts and I know it is early but I really want to try and stay on top of things so we can enjoy the season. Don't I say this every year for those of you who have read? At least I have some vacation days in December planned - one for shopping and one for wrapping.

Oh Momma called me yesterday and I was supposed to call her back. I need to call her this morning. She called at work to say "I'm shopping today what do you want for Christmas"....I had corporate safety manager on one line with a 2nd line ringing, a mad employee in the lobby, a GM down the hall waiting for me to come to a meeting, and an impromptu visit from the uniform manager explaining the humdrums of why not being able to fill a uniform order in two months. I had to tell Mom "ummm I can't talk now"...there was no way I could even switch to Christmas mode at that point. Then I couldn't call after work b/c of the extravaganza and then I forgot by the time we got home and crashed. lol Hope she is not mad at me.

I also have to change the sheets...would you honestly tell me how often you change the sheets? I will tell you. I change ours every other weekend. I would love to do it every weekend but for time purposes I have always done it every other. Feels grungy after that! lol

I better go get a shower and get ready and try and get started on things around here.
Have a great weekend. Let me know what you are doing this weekend and how often you change your sheets! lol

A few notes....

Good morning! I do not feel well this morning but I am going to work anyway. My back is hurting - not like back pain but like kidney pain and I feel like I have knots in my stomach. I'll throw down some ibuprofin though and head out. I am going to switch from coffee to cranberry juice here in a few. I kinda need a little coffee to get going. I had to go back to bed for a little while this morning. This entry will be short then so I can get to work on time.

Yesterday TheTeen got off on her high school retreat. She and McFriend went to Waffle House before hand. They were ready to go at 6:30 - dressed and everything, and left the house like they were going on an expedition with sleeping bags, duffels, pillows and such. They were in their sweat shirts and jeans! Amazing they were up and had enough time to go eat first.

I met my goal yesterday in getting 10 entries done for the day for open enrollment. There are 125 employees to enroll. As long as I keep this goal then I won't be stuck on the last day entering like 38 of them or something at once. This has happened before and it is torture. I've even had to have TheTeen enter them for me one Saturday while I sat and told her what to click - b/c my hands and wrists were so sore. I vowed this would never happen again. So I've divided the number of employees by the number of data entry days I have and those entries will be made before I go to sleep each day!

Also got our new hire on payroll and sent a request to IT for her getting on our systems. Got the weekly data entry done on our data base and the FMLA processing done.

Also Long Horn day was fun with the girls. I got a free meal as my card was "punched" full. Then we got a free dessert b/c all the ladies wanted a bacon wrapped steak and they were out of the bourbon sauce for it. That is ok as the steak I got was awesome. But we got the chocolate stampede dessert and it was still too much for all of us to split and there were 4 of us. The chocolate and textures in that dessert was wonderful. Dark chocolate icing, a whipped thick type of fudge (gnoch?) and the silky (french silk) type of fudge on top of a cake with whip cream and ice cream and chocolate syrup! OMGosh!

Well apparently TheTeen's computer that I am on this morning has downloaded Norton only it is not the "true" norton insignia. I predict this is a virus. None of us downloaded this. I suspect it is on the other computer too as it restarted overnight - I heard the windows tune going off and figured windows must have updated. I have not looked at it yet. All I know is it had a black screen when I tried to get on it and I restarted it again and came in here to use TheTeen's computer. So I've not even looked again at the other one. Anyway, I've tried unsuccessfully to uninstall the Norton. So...I need to go try again. It would not uninstall while my Avira scan was going. My Avira says it detected nothing. Oh well.

I best get going...everyone have a good day.

Wednesday's Words.............

Good morning! Tis mid-week already and that surprises me. It's been a fast week. I am happy to say that I got a lot done yesterday at the office. Although there were many interruptions, I was able get a lot crossed off the "to do" list. That is nice but there is twice more on the list that needs to be done.

I made the 10 entries for benefit enrollments yesterday but had to bring home some of them last night to get in my "10 per day" quota. The entries would be easier but the beneficiaries are missing for everyone in the system (some gliche?). So I am having to pull everyone's files and go back and see who they had selected on a former enrollment form and make those entries. Everyone always checks "no change" or "keep same beneficiary" every year and so I keep having to go back to 08 or 07 or 06 (back when we had better forms) to find who they last selected as a beneficiary. So that is a pain. Employees also do not know what they selected on plans last year so many of them are coming to me to ask. Our old forms used to indicate what plans they currently were enrolled in. The "no change" check box is convenient, but you cannot look at a current year enrollment form and tell what the person has enrolled in. You have to keep going back year after year until you find a form where a selection was made instead of a "no change" box checked to show proof of what was selected. I don't like that. An 09 election form, once completed, should show exactly what you are enrolled in if pulled. I'm just sayin'.

Hubby fixed a nice dinner for us last night....baked bbq chicken, sauted spinach in garlic and olive oil and then sprinkled with lemon juice. We also had parmesan wafers which was amazing on top of the spinach. And then a wonderful and flavorful rice that housed the last few butter beans pulled from the garden this week. We had a freeze last night (I think)..so there should not be any more butter beans.

McFriend spent the night with us last night. The girls are going on the highschool retreat this morning. So please pray for their safe travels with the school. They will actually be close to my Mom. Wish they could meet up. lol The retreat was supposed to be in September I think but was postponed b/c of the flu going around.

Now TheTeen has got up this morning with her wrist hurting. She said it was hurting some yesterday but really hurting this morning. I guess it is a sprain from cheerleading - or it could be from making t-shirts last night...who knows. I told her to wrap it up and if it is still hurting when back from her trip which is only one overnight (two days), then I will take her to the doc to have it looked at. It is NOT swollen and she can move it, so I figure it is just a sprain and will be fine. It is also chilly this morning and I'm sure that does not help.

Well, I am enjoying my book (see yesterday's entry)....I like hearing about the food and wine in Italy and all the other stuff Michael Tucker is talking about while on their "vacation" in Italy. I read some before bed last night. And supposedly they find a house and end up buying it! I guess I'll get to that part tonight.

It's Long Horn day and I'm looking forward to that treat mid-day today. When we leave Long Horn, we are on the down side of the day. I'm thinking about that bacon wrapped steak and a loaded baked potato...lol

The moon sure was pretty last night driving home from work....it was parked up in the sky and right above the interstate as we were driving home. I couldn't help but think about ET and "going home" while seeing that big huge moon. It did not look real and I felt we were in a scene from that movie... only instead of being on a bike in the sky with a moon as a backdrop, we were in the Toyota RAV 4.

Better get going for the day. I hope I get a little motivation in me...I think I might be a little tired this morning. lol Coffee is not working too well.

Michael Tucker & Jill Eikenberry NEXT BOOK

Last year about this time, while browsing a bookstore, I ran across this one! It's Living a Foreign Language by Michael Tucker. I was supposed to be Christmas shopping but knew I had to have this book for myself! So...Hubby wrapped it up and gave it to me for Christmas (lol). I've had a lot of other books in front of this one but it's finally time to read it and I'm very excited to do so. I read the first chapter last night. I really like Michael Tucker's writing style. In the first chapter he talks about their purchase of a house in Italy and also reflects back to when he and Jill met, the beginnings of L.A. Law, and Jill's diagnosis of cancer. I'll let you know how it goes, but I'm glad to feel connection to a book with the first chapter. That is always a good sign. And of course, he will be mentioning food and wine, which always catches my attention. I never knew the book existed...this is why it is always good to browse a book store huh? Or a good yard sale!

Yesterday was a bit zooooo like. First of all I had the hungriest tummy when I woke up. I could not tame the growls. So....on to Chic Fil-A for their "chicken mini's", tiny tater tots, and unsweet ice tea. The unsweet ice tea cancels out the calories in the tater tots. Doesn't it help that their miniature tater tots? Anyway, stopping for food really put me late as then I was in the volume of "last minute gotta get to Nashville in a hurry but I can't go anywhere" traffic. It was 1/2 of our town and the next three towns over all trying to get to Nashville by 8:00. You'd have thought entire towns were evacuating. Hubby and I usually hit this traffic when we ride together. I'm usually reading or we are talking...and we can get in the HOV lane...and scoot past the traffic too. But not today as I was driving in by myself since I needed the car to run a company errand. (BTW, 2 people are required to be in a vehicle to use the HOV lane - an effort to get more folks to commute.)

Once in the building, I had an orientation at 8:00 a.m. which I made it in time for. And that lasted until 11:30 ish...then I ran my errand to Second Harvest Food bank to pick up the boxes for our food drive, then a quick burrito at taco bell. Yes I was a fast fooder yesterday! After scarfing down the burrito, I headed back to work.

Once back in the building...I finished putting stickers on the benefit open enrollment packets with their form due dates and then handed out 1st shift packets, explaining verbally their instructions - even though the instructions are bullet pointed inside the packet. By then it was about 2:30. Once back in my office....it was wild. Phones ringing, people coming in wanting to talk benefits, plant manager wanting to pin me down for questions and pull files, etc. And my GM wanted to talk to me to catch up on a few things. We had an employee meeting with someone also and then it was time to hand out 2nd shift's packets.

Finally once first shift was gone, and some of the managers gone...I was able to spend the last hour of the day organizing my desk. I have so many papers on my desk and so many things going on. (For some reason HR explodes at the end of the year - it all happens at once!) Normally I can stack everything up in a big stack all priorities - not today. So many pieces of paper, so many things going on, and I can't find things easily in the stack. So I started lining things up against the wall in stacks. Now I can peer over, get what I need, when I need it instead of going thru a 2 foot high stack of stuff. lol

Then I took out a notebook pad and began listing the things that needed to be done on Tuesday...then listed things that could wait til after those things were accomplished. So basically I then numbered everything from 1 to 10. And felt better! I left work later than I meant to but at least being better organized will help me. It's like I have been out of the office for days (hearing exams, shopping for chili fest, doing the chili fest, putting together the benefit packets, handing the packets out, and doing an orientation session, and numerous impromptu meetings -and I've not had time to tackle the projects that have come from those meetings). So now I'm back in my office to tackle all these projects, while in the middle of open enrollment. Today I only have a benefit meeting for new hires at 9:00 - then I'll have desk time. Yay!

Once I got home last night, Hubby and I ran to the store. He took care of the critters as he got home before me...so when I pulled in, he had list ready and coupons too...that I had left on the counter....so we did a Kroger run. We got a few good sale meats and things for the freezer, used a few coupons to get some deals for stuff we use a lot - that the coupons were about to expire, and stocked up on a few things. We mainly went for dog/cat food - but you know how we are - our grocery shopping excursions are entertainment for us. We love the "hunt" of a bargain and love to "imagine" the dish that will be created. Love to stock up! Love to have choices for dinner too. So we enjoyed ourselves and also bought sale candy (cheap leftover bags of candy that did not sell at Halloween!). Bad Bad - but I have a "mini" snicker, or a mini butterfinger, or a mini M&M pack with lunch (or with mid afternoon coffee) every day. I can't account for Hubby G though - I think that they munch on it all day at work. Then he comes home and says he didn't eat lunch. lol

Anyway, we had pizza last night, I did some laundry as we are about to "tame that mountain"! George watched a Disney movie from Netflix "Greatest Game in the World" or something like that. It was about Golf. I chose to do Facebook Bejeweled and then read. I burned my dessert yesterday somehow on YoVille - I think I hit 12 hours by mistake instead of 1 day. And of course I thought it was one day so they burned. lol. Oh well.

Hoping to have a good day and get a few things done. I have figured if I get 10 forms entered on Tues - Fridays for the next 3 weeks, I'll be doing good with benefits open enrollment and not behind. May have to bring work home though to get it done. I'm riding in with the Hubster today - I think.

Everyone have a great day.

Nice Day of Rest & Julie & Julia book review....

It worked out well having yesterday at home. In the month of November I think there is only one weekend that is free with no plans, and rest assured, someone will come up with plans! I had a lot of time to reflect on a few things yesterday and it was good for the soul and spirit.

I am not sure what happened to the laundry. It was pretty much in control last week and all was almost done by Saturday but then it exploded on Sunday. OK yes I do know what happened. lol "Someone" cleaned their room up and brought clothes, sheets, muddy shoes, bedspread, blanket, all week's school clothes, practice clothes and cheer outfits.....all to be done on Sunday. Great Goofers - what on earth? Between she and I we kept the washer going all day. Even when I went to bed her sheets were drying. She needs to bring the clothes in each day, not the last day of the weekend. It was very overwhelming and we could hardly even walk in the laundry room to get to the washer and dryer. arrgggh.

My house really needed cleaning since we were not there Saturday to do the Saturday cleaning...so yesterday was it. Vacuuming, dusting, windexing, mopping, fantasticking...I just remembered as I typed this that I forgot to clean the bathroom. Oh well. Maybe I can get to that tonight. I did change the linens in there (hand towel, bath rug).

We did not get to the store though to finish getting things on the grocery list. I may have to run to the store tonight OR tomorrow night.

I downloaded some graphics from being in the graphic group in 2008. Yes it's been that long and I've not had time or desire to do it. They are Christmas graphics (tubes for PSP)...I was down to the big scraps files - the kind that take time to download either thru winrar or another type of file sending program. So that was kindof fun now to empty out some of these emails and to have some new things to "play with" to make Christmas graphics with - like I have the time. lol But this is relaxing to me - to download and to make the graphics. I missed being in a graphic group this year...but since the email is overwhelming I just could NOT do it this year. I'm going to have to find more ways to simplify my life I think.

I finished the Julie & Julia book. I enjoyed reading the part about her experiences cooking the entire cookbook in a year Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The book was hilarious in parts and I enjoyed hearing about her life in New York with her Hubby and all the things that went wrong with the apartment life there. lol But I was not pleased with her foul mouth - and she knows that many of her readers do not like her foul mouth so it is irreverent in many ways. I can understand while Julia Child was not a fan of Julie Powell. Julie also makes a lot of references to sex in the book - either comparing the making of food to sex....or talking about her friends sex life, or her own sex life. I did not prefer that to be in the book and I think that if she had cleaned that up some...it would have been better. I am glad I read it though, but it was not quite what I was hoping it would be. Now I'm on to my next book which I will talk about later.

Hubby and TheTeen went to the Paramore concert last night. They took FriendK. I ate with them at the new hot dog place in town.....before they left. So I did have to get out once yesterday! But I did not put on any makeup - just mascara! lol
TheTeen said that Taylor Swift was there in the audience to see Paramore!

Well, there is only so much to say about having a nice day at home. I need to finish getting ready for work. I have a new hire orientation today as our new scheduler starts today...and also have to go to Second Harvest Food bank for materials to start our food drive and then hand out benefit open enrollment packets. Busy day today....

Everyone have a good one.

Saturday's Situations.....

Good morning...Yesterday was a very busy day...we left yesterday morning around 9:30 and hit Bed, Bath and Beyond, looking for specific Christmas presents. We did not find exactly what we went for but found they had what we needed on line and will order that hopefully today. We DID find other things though for Christmas that we had not thought about. I enjoyed getting out and seeing all the kitchen gadgets and new things they had there.

Then on to Peebles, a small department store in our neck of the woods...and it was a neat little store. I bought a red Christmas vest that is corduroy. I love it and have not seen anything like it. That will last for years. So it is mine. lol We found a few Christmas presents in there as well. I wanted to buy TheTeen this cute soft teddy bear that I fell in love with...but...George said she has outgrown it. lol Yeah I guess so. It would have matched her decor and looked cute on her bed. But he's right. We found some birthday presents in there too.

Then on to Aldi's! We love the place. We can stock up on things cheaply...we also bought a smoked turkey - they have wonderful smoked turkey's and also spiral hams. Go get you one!

We came home and I fixed scrambled eggs and we had sausage/biscuits. It was lunch time - actually past lunch time for me - lol but since I'd not had breakfast and I am fond of breakfast on the weekend - then I fixed it!!! Tugie the Toy P got her own egg too. She likes hers scrambled!

TheTeen came home from ElleFriend's house and got ready and then we headed out. Her phone is having issues as it turns off unexpectedly. So we told Hubby G we needed to run by Verizon while we were out. I do not think he was pleased with us as this was not in the plan. I suggested we get it checked out while he was with us in case we had to buy a new phone and he could be in on the decisions. I don't think he was fond of being in on those decisions since he had not been before. I think he just likes to stay out of it. All I know is that she needs a phone and it is not working properly and I don't want her to be in a situation where she cannot call one of us if she needs to. So we got in some long funky check in line at Verizon. Ok wrong idea. We should have waited til some other day. But some guy tells us that it is most likely her phone and not the battery. He grins when I say "I figured as much..it's too easy to get out of here just buying a battery." No we did not take the insurance and no it is not time yet for our "new every two". Her phones never seem to last the 2 years. I asked the guy why the phones won't last for two years. lol TheTeen looked at her Dad as if "oh no, is Mom going to start something here"....lol No, but I am truly curious why a phone cannot last the two years. I know, I know...her phone probably gets more use since she is a teen, but....still...it's very expensive to have to buy a new phone every year, especially when you just took a vacation, paying for leather furniture, ordering a senior ring, paying for a Greece trip, and it is the Christmas season. This is why I wanted Mr. Money Bags (Hubby) with us. He could say "charge it, pay cash, use the Christmas money....etc....". But, Hubby chose to stay out of it and really would not give an opinion. "Whatever ya'll want to do". He didn't really want to be there in the first place.

So...I suggested we go to Best Buy....and buy a new phone there as I've heard that is a cheaper route. So....we walked across the parking lot to Best Buy and the person in charge of the phone department was neck deep with customers and all involved in setting someone up. I'm thinking "geez, we don't have time for this" and "this is Saturday and they have one little person who looks like he's fresh out of 6th grade" and he looked very confused at what he was doing. So I knew this was NOT the time to do this. I needed support from the Hubster, and also money, and also attention from the salesperson....none of which was aligning with the stars at that moment. So I throw my hands up in the air and tell them. We cannot do this today. And we head to the car.

Now, we've wasted an hour and we were already about an hour late leaving in the first place...for our afternoon of shopping where Hubby wanted to shop before visiting with his parents and then on to dinner.

Hubby gets on the interstate and suddenly I have the feeling like I've "taken off" and in an "airplane". It feels like lift off is about to happen. I'm in the back seat and TheTeen is in the front. I look at the speedometer and Hubby is doing 85 in a 65 zone. I'm thinking, "geez, he normally does not drive like this". I have noticed that his driving is little more aggressive lately but usually he does not speed - at least when we are in the car. I cannot answer for when he drives by himself, but I have only imagined him as a safe driver. I'm not saying that 85 is particularly dangerous...I have driven this before myself in my younger days and also on occasion when I did not realize I was going so fast on a straight interstate but I do not prefer to drive this fast. We were on the outskirts of Nashville going north to mall suburbia and there was lots of traffic everywhere...so I did not want to say much but I did say "is there some reason you are going fast?" He said something like "just driving and trying to get us there" - something generic... I just prayed and hoped all went well but it really kinda ticked me off that he was driving 15 miles over the speed limit when cops are widely known to circumvent speeders in that area and it was Halloween. Luckily we made it.

We went to Barnes and Nobles. Tried to get a book they were out of but ended up buying a birthday present there. We ordered the book we wanted though and they'll ship it home to us.

Then no one wanted to say where they wanted to shop next. I did not know what shops were there and I figured if Hubster was driving so fast he must have an agenda of things he wanted to do. So I told him to go wherever he wanted to go since he was in such a hurry to get there. No I didn't really say that but was having to zip my tongue not to say it. He wanted to go to the Frisbee store. He had been saying all week he wanted to go there. So I said "let's go to your frisbee store" and he said "well they have weird hours and now they are closed". I said "At 3:00 in the afternoon, on a Saturday, a frisbee store is closed?" He said "yep, we missed it".
-----------Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh -----now the the whole afternoon is making sense. That is why he did not want to be at Verizon and that is why he was in such a hurry....but we missed the store closing deadline. Well, I felt bad. I did not know the store would close early...I did not know we were causing him to miss this. I wish he had just told us this instead of being a non-participant at verizon and risking our lives on the interstate. But what can you do? So there we were walking around the shops at Exit 7 and none of us really wanted to be there. I call that "the Abilene Complex"...based on a training video that I watched one time which was really about communication ---it showed how an entire family drove in from the country to go eat in Abilene thinking they were all pleasing one another and really every last one of them wanted to stay at home. None had a good time.

So we went on George's parents. No one was in the mood to see the more exciting shops at Exit 6 - which I personally, had been thinking we might go to the World Market. No one really seemed interested in that when I mentioned it.....so on to George's parents.

We had a nice time visiting there. George's Dad is not feeling his best and they were going to go with us to eat but felt they really just needed to stay home. Since they had been planning on going with us, they did not have any Halloween candy...so it was funny...we sat in the dark and talked so the trick or treaters would not come to the door for candy since we had none there. We pretended we were not there. No one knocked while we were there anyway, but they were coming...as we left we saw a big group of them in the neighborhood. Granny tells good stories in the dark though. lol We had a nice time.

Then we headed out to see our friends at the Casa Vieja Mexican restaurant. We practically had the place to ourselves. Mental note....Halloween is a great time to eat out....!! Four TV's in the place and so there were games on everywhere which please several in our crowd. One of the restaurant workers changed the station to Family Guy and got a lot of reaction from what few were there - lol! They were laughing before they did it so I knew it had been planned. lol But they changed it back. I guess that was our "trick" for the night before our "treats" came.

So Hubby and I have ordered this one meal "Paradilla for two" about three times. We love the dish. And so I ask Hubby if he wants to order "that dish for two that we get"....he said sure...so he points to something on the menu for two and tells the waiter.

Later this big fish platter comes out that the waiter sets between us....and then he sets a plate of rice at my place that has a taco with shrimp in it. I look at George and said "this is not right, this is not what we ordered"....I explained to him what we should have had. He raised his voice at me and said "I SCREWED UP - ok!".........I clammed up at that point, shut my mouth, and tried to eat the fish. He said he could not read the names in spanish so he messed up. That is fine to mess up, I was thinking, but there are descriptions underneath in English....lol So I think he wanted fish as he likes to get fish there. I think we had a total lack of synoptic flow of communication on that order. I vowed then an there that was the end of the "ordering for two". I did not want fish - I wanted mexican food. Something with tomato sauces and cheese sauces and flavor. I will admit that the fried shrimp was excellent and probably better than any Floridian restaurant. So I scooted the boiled shrimp out of my one tortilla and put fried shrimp in it. It was better by itself. I tried to create a mexican dish with rice, tortilla chips, and lettuce - so I could pretend I had ordered something I wanted. But anyway, at least the fried shrimp was good and I left the rest of the fish for the Hubster who seemed to enjoy it. I enjoyed our company though. But couldn't help thinking that somehow the afternoon and evening had gone awry b/w Hubby and me.

It seems we have a communication problem sometimes and I am not sure how to fix it. To say what you need to say doesn't work and to not say what you need to say doesn't work. It is just very frustrating. We have to repeat nearly everything to one another and that is irritating. We tune one another out too without meaning to. He says he tells me things and I have a horrible memory now and I don't know if I don't hear it or if I just don't remember it. But he gets extremely frustrated with me in our communication issues. I am thinking that it's not processing what he tells me sometimes as so much other is going on. I'm not sure what the problem is but I don't think it is entirely my fault. But I'm sure some of it is my fault - even though I don't know that it is and it is unintentional. I don't know if it is overload, or if I truly have very little memory. I also know that I have a harder time communicating with some men in general as it seems they just think differently. I also know that I switch thoughts midstream a lot and probably confuse others when I talk. A lot of women do this and we seem to all understand one another. lol. I know that I often do not make an effort at trying to remember things b/c life seems so fast and heavy at times that I really mentally cannot store some things. It has to be in writing for dates, details, and specifics. I know that sometimes the family talks to me when they are in another room and I've told them...if I'm not in the same room with you...I didn't hear you and even if I am there is no guarantee if I'm concentrating on something else. So Hubby keeps bringing up the communication issue and I'm having a hard time with this. I don't know what to do. I'm trying to be more attentive. I am actually trying to talk less and more precise so he can understand me and not be frustrated with me. I don't know if I am getting old and going crazy or if this is normal - if it is him - or if it is me. But it is very very frustrating.

See, I started not to do this blog entry b/c I knew I'd end up going here. lol. But it is very cathartic to spew forth the things going on in my head since things are bothering me about all this. I am not worried about making anyone mad. Hubby said he quit reading my blog along time ago b/c it made him mad. He also told me to feel free to blog on so I can be all therapeutic. I thank him for that. Despite the irritating as heck communications issue (which is not a new issue but escalated recently) I still love him to death. He is my soul mate. And perhaps we can grow old together and just smile at one another if we can't talk, hear, or understand. At least a smile is universal. That'll work til the sight goes. Then we'll just have to hit each other on the rear - if we can find it.

I have woken up this morning with stuffiness (nose and ear), stubborness, rebelliousness and anger. I do not feel good. I am not in a good mood. And so I told Hubby I am not feeling good and staying home today from church. This is the total opposite of what I should have done. I should have gone anyway. But...God makes good out of all things and by having some time this morning, he's helping me sort thru some thoughts and issues still lingering from yesterday and also from the past few weeks and even from the past year. So maybe having this time has been helpful. I am often irritated at NOT having enough time. I have plenty of me time I think. I just use it in the wrong way. I need to use more of my me time for reflection and planning, for meditation, reading, thinking. Perhaps this will wake up the part of my brain that can't seem to take in new information and store it? lol

I have a lot of other things swirling around my head but I want to have a devotion to make today go better. It needs to be a devotion that I need not one someone else has prepared that they think I need. So this is a good thing to have this time this morning.

Hope everyone has a good day. I will be doing my normal Saturday housework, may have to take TheTeen to get her phone today, will wrap some birthday gifts, and may even wrap the Christmas gifts we bought...TheTeen and Hubby are going to the Paramore concert tonight so I will fix myself some dinner and prepare myself for a another busy work week.

What are you doing today? Have fun. And may your situations be lacking communication issues, you get what you order, and you don't have to buy new phones. lol