This One Is A Head Scratcher

After a day of grocery shopping with my husband (we go to two stores), we needed a little something to eat to hold us over till dinner time at home.  We both felt pizza would do the trick.  We stopped at a place on our way home; it is not a place we frequent but all we wanted was two slices.

After ordering the two slices, the girl told us in broken English that with our order we would get a free soda.  There was also a sign on the wall that I saw later stating the same thing.

We ate our pizza and my husband drank the soda.  Too much sodium in it for me.  When my husband went to pay he handed the girl a $5 bill and she said, “That will be five dollars” and didn’t bother to ring it up.  Here is the remainder of the conversation between her and myself:

Me:  What?  Five dollars?
Her:  Yes, five dollars.
Me:  The soda is free and now you’re charging for it?
Her:  My boss says to always charge $5.
Me:  But the soda is free and you’re charging a dollar extra for it.
Her:  My boss always says to get $5 for it.
Me:  Look, 2 slices at $2 a piece is $4 plus 6% sales tax is 24¢ added together makes     $4.24, so why are you asking for $5?
Her: (she repeated what she says her boss told her)
Me:  Well you tell your boss that he is wrong.  Free is free, you don’t tell someone they qualify for a free soda and then charge extra for it.  And we won't be back.

Meanwhile my husband was standing there holding out the five dollar bill.  Finally she took the bill, rang up the order and the cash register had $4.24 on it…and she handed a dollar bill back to my husband instead of giving him 76¢ in change. 

I thought I had lost my marbles with this exchange of words.  When we got into our truck I asked my husband, Did that conversation just take place? 

Is she telling that to everyone who gets 2 slices that they get a free soda and then charges them a flat $5?  Is she pocketing that extra money?  Or is she just that damn stupid?

She is either making a lot of money for her boss on that particular deal or she is ripping him off.

Just A Few Words...

It's freakin' cold!

I Am A Sore Loser

Yes, I am very sad that Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers could not pull off a win against those despicable Seahawks.  Any team that beats my football teams (NY Giants and SF 49ers) are despicable.  I know...it's not nice to say that about other teams but it's the way I feel right now.

I can only hope that Eli's brother, Peyton Manning, along with the Denver Broncos, annihilates that despicable team in the Super Bowl.  And, yes, I felt the same way about the Baltimore Ravens last year.

As I usually say:  there's always next year.

 

Football

Most of you know that the NY Giants are one of my favorite teams.  This is due to two facts:  I am a huge Manning fan, both Eli and Peyton, and I was raised in New York from the time I was a small child until I graduated high school.  I spent every summer in Manhattan first and then Long Island.

I didn't become a Giants fan until Eli became their quarterback.  Up until then I was a San Francisco 49ers fan dating back to the early 70's.  I thought at that time that Joe Montana hung the moon.  He did, didn't he?  After he left Steve Young took over the reins and did just as good a job as Montana.  But he wasn't Joe.

After Steve left I sort of, kind of, lost interest because there was no quarterback they brought into the fold that caught my attention.  Alex Smith sort of did that but he was so hot and cold and never did stir up my interest.  I know there are a lot of people, once they latch onto a favorite team, that never lose interest in that team no matter how good or how bad they play.

Toward the end of the 2012 season the 49ers needed a quarterback to take over for the injured Smith.  His name is Colin Kaepernick.  He came out of nowhere.  And, boy, did he ever catch my attention.  Since that first time I saw him play I have watched every televised 49ers game.  

Needless to say, I am quite elated to find the team where they are right now.  Of course, being a fan, I hope they go all the way.  But if they don't, it's like we say in any other sport, there's always next year.

I will continue to support both the Giants and the 49ers.  Please don't hate on me for that.  I am sure I am not the only football fan with at least two favorite teams.

 

Still Here, Still Bitching

I am slowly thawing out...somewhat.  We are in the middle of an ascending heat wave, if a heat wave can ascend.  It is currently 34° and will be much warmer the next two days at least.  

The holidays are over.  Thank goodness for that.  My husband has seen two doctors already this year...his knee surgeon and his cardiologist.  Next week I will see my dentist and get another appointment out of the way so we can enjoy this new year.  I don't visit my family doctor until March and I will have a bone to pick with him at that time.  

Here's what happened.  Last November I had my regular visit with my doctor.  I paid my co-pay before I left.  A week later, as instructed by my doctor, I went back to his office and had a nurse (?) take my blood pressure.  That's all that was done.  I did not see the doctor.  It took all of five minutes if that.  Weeks later I received a bill for another co-pay.  After calling my insurance people I was given the wrong information and was told to sort of fight it out with the billing department, which is what I did.  Twice.  The second time I hung up on the person I was speaking to.  I was so damn mad, you can't imagine.  They billed $140 for the first visit and I paid the usual co-pay.  They billed $35 for the so-called limited office visit (blood pressure reading) and the co-pay was the same.  Wouldn't you be mad?  How the hell do they justify that?  Oh yeah, that's right, they're the big business insurance company and there's no use trying to fight them.

I finally got everything straightened out when I called the insurance people again yesterday.  I was told there is a co-pay no matter who I see or what I have done while there.  Too bad they don't tell you that in the benefits book they send you.  Well guess what?  Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me.  I will never fall into that trap again. Ever.  I can walk into any store with a pharmacy and take my own blood pressure reading.  I just bought a new blood pressure machine as well.  So next time doc says stop by and we'll take your reading I will tell him only if you pay my co-pay.

Sorry, I got sidetracked.  I was talking about the holidays being over and meant to go in a different direction than I did.  The thing is, now that the holidays are over and everything is put back into its little nooks and crannies in the basement, you would think that I had all the time in the world to get important things done.  Sorry, that is not the case.  I am up late at night and I get up late in the morning as a result.  So when I do get up late most of the morning is gone and before I know it there I am making dinner.  What a merry-go-round my life has become.

I am not complaining.  I only wish I could maybe work a little faster and get things done in the hours I have between getting out of bed and setting up housekeeping in my recliner at 8:00 when my TV shows begin.

Much Too Cold To Do Anything

It is currently one degree outside.  That's all I need to see.  Hibernation here I come.

Maybe We Can Get It Right In 2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

We're all just hanging around waiting for Santa...

Lucky Me

Pennsylvania has scratch-off cards and right now the promotion is a lot of Christmas-themed cards.

If you buy one (or two or more) and they are non-winners, the cards can be entered at the lottery site online for a second chance drawing.

Knowing this, I have been checking out the waste baskets placed alongside the machines in the grocery store we visit once a week.  We were in that grocery store today because we were in the vicinity for another errand, so my husband bought us two scratch-off cards.  I won $10 on mine; his was a dud.  I will take his dud and enter it online for the second chance drawing along with the others I found.

There were quite a few cast offs that people did not win so they tossed them into the waste baskets.  I retrieved as many as I could before I started to look like a vagrant.  As I was double checking them on the way home I made an astounding discovery.  Someone threw away a winner.

I scored $100.00 due to someone's stupidity.  This may never happen again, or I may find a winner with a lesser amount, but you can bet your bottom dollar I won't be stopping my waste basket diving in the future. 

Hey! I'm Still Alive

Believe it or not I am still kicking.  There hasn't been much happening and our days have been filled with lots of shopping for groceries, cat food, and whatever else we felt like shopping for.

I decorated for Christmas both inside and outside and didn't complain at all about having to do it as I do other years.  I think that is a first for me.  It's not that I am looking forward to Christmas, it's just that the house needed some color.

All the gifts have been bought but not wrapped yet.  I usually do that the last minute.  I have a few cards to write out and send.  Since the stamps are going up another 3¢ the first of the year, I felt I had better buy a bunch now.  I am hoping I don't have to buy any for a few years.  With the problems the post office is having we may just go back to the pony express.

A snowstorm is on its way to us and should arrive Saturday morning.  They are predicting anywhere from six to eight or nine inches of the stuff.  Rain, sleet and ice are supposed to follow late Saturday toward the evening.  Time will tell.

Anyway, the snow blower is ready, we are well situated as far as food goes for us and for the cats, inside and outside, so no problems there.

I have my to-do list for myself that will keep me busy this weekend.  I also have a bunch of photos in both my cameras that need to be put into the computer.  Maybe I will have more to write about once I do that.

Poor Little Ol' Me

My head cold symptoms first set in the Saturday evening before the holiday week.  And I had my husband to thank for it since he had his the week before.

My husband's cold lasted all of four days.  I figured mine would too since we both had the same thing.  My cold was supposed to go away by Wednesday.  It didn't.  
I did make it to the doctor Wednesday morning for a quick blood pressure check since it was out of whack the week before for my regular visit.  Thank goodness it was well within its limits and I was okay.

That evening I lost my sense of smell and taste.  I figured it would return for Thanksgiving Day and I could make our meal.  It didn't.  Therefore, I had to postpone the meal.  I spent the entire day wrapped up in my recliner watching the parades and football.

Friday morning was a different story.  I could smell and I could taste.  Hallelujah!
Getting the meal together didn't exactly go smoothly.  I had bought a stuffed turkey breast and put it into the freezer.  I neglected to read everything on the carton.  I was supposed to thaw it in the refrigerator overnight.  That never happened.  I ended up boiling it for 30 minutes (it was encased in a hard plastic bag) and letting it rest so it would thaw all the way through by the time I was ready to make it for dinner. 

The turkey breast was the only thing that went wrong, which was made right by what I did.  All the other sides as well as the pumpkin pie and whipped cream were devoured by the two of us.  Of course, I couldn't eat as much as I had liked since my stomach was a little shrunken from not eating much all week.  But Saturday was another day and there was enough left over for the two of us to have a second meal just like the first one.  

This time, instead of pumpkin pie and whipped cream, we had cheesecake.  I rarely eat cheesecake but I felt after what I went through I certainly deserved to have it.  

 

Going To Be A Busy Week

Last week my husband came down with a nasty head cold.  His symptoms set in Sunday a week ago, but by Thursday he was a lot better.  Since he can't take medication for a cold he relies on good old chicken noodle soup.  

I told him not to give his stinking cold to me.  He didn't listen.  This past Saturday night my throat was slightly sore.  And again last night.  I take HB Coricidin due to my blood pressure pills.  I, however, cannot eat chicken noodle soup.  I could not stand all that sodium at one time.  That would kill me for certain.

Tuesday (today) we have to travel to the other side of the county it seems because my husband has to have two tests done for his cardiologist.   They are going to check his carotid arteries and keep an eye on his abdominal aneurysm.  It's there...it just hasn't gotten any worse since they first found it a few years ago.  Nothing to worry about now but they need to check on it at least once a year.

Since we will be in never never land we will be stopping in at one of the bulk warehouses and do a little shopping.  This might be the last year for that since my annual renewal has risen another $10.  Traveling that far just doesn't justify the savings.  They used to be near us but decided they needed to build a new place near the airport right smack dab in the middle of a new gigantic shopping center.

Wednesday morning I have to make a quick stop at my family doctor so the nurse can take my blood pressure reading.  When I was at the doctor last week it was rather high when the nurse took it and ten minutes later when the doctor took it, the top number went up another 10 points.  He took it in the other arm and that went up another 10 points.  Well, with that reading I should have fallen on the floor writhing like a maniac.

After we leave the doctor we will probably stop in at a local diner and grab some breakfast and then it is off to the grocery store.  I have everything I need for our Thanksgiving dinner except the pumpkin pie.   And to me it ain't Thanksgiving without some pumpkin pie.

Thursday, of course, is the big day.  Football, turkey, and all the trimmings.  It's just the two of us this year but we do have a great time.  I wouldn't want it any other way.  

Meanwhile, there is a nasty storm headed our way and should be here within the next day or two.  

Pros And Cons Of Getting Older

I could list many things for both pros and cons, but there are far too many.  I will list a few of the cons:

1) Your body slows down.

That's all I can think of right now, so let's just get to the meat of the post and go with the pros:

1) You can stop working and retire and become your own boss.  Unless you worked for yourself before, this one doesn't matter.

2)  You can wake up at any time of the day, eat at any time of the day, work around the house doing household things whenever you feel like it; in other words, do what you want when you want.

But here is my favorite pro:

When you have something to say, you can say it without having to worry about who you said it to or why you said it.  For some reason, as people get older they also get bolder.  I know I certainly have.

When I was younger I always thought twice before saying anything that was bothering me, whether it was about something or someone.   A lot of times I just said nothing at all and kept my thoughts to myself.

Now?

Screw everybody ~ if they don't like what I have to say it's no big deal to me.  Now of course I mean within reason.  I don't mean spouting super nasty things to peoples' faces, but if there is something I don't like with a certain product I have used I do not hesitate to let someone know about it.  I still choose to talk about certain people I don't like behind their backs.  I would say that's fairly wise.

Still, nothing much holds me back from stating my thoughts and ideas to anyone these days.  So if I have something to say, I usually say it.

A Recent Leaf-Finding Expedition

Two days after our efforts to find Autumn leaves locally, we decided to head north toward the Pocono area.  We left around 10:30am, had breakfast, put gas in the truck, and headed north on route 145.

As you can see the sun was out; had it not been out the trip would have been postponed for another day.

Still heading north with sunshine accompanying our drive:

 This is Big Boulder Lake.  You can see the choppiness of the water ~ it was cold and windy.  Also, it was at this point when the sun decided to say Goodbye sucker, nice try.

This cluster of tree leaves on our side of the lake caught my eye:

 Further north we came upon Lake Harmony.  I have no idea whether my parents ever took us here because I do not remember.  Most of our trips were usually to the Jersey shore, to Long Island NY, or south of where we lived...rarely north.  I do have some memories of the area though from when I was a little girl now that I have given it some more thought.

This is Mauch Chunk Lake which is located in Jim Thorpe, PA.  It supposedly is a man-made lake with a huge beach for summer swimming and plenty of boating activities.

 These impatiens were still blooming like it was the middle of summer, but they were very protected from the elements.  They were a breath of fresh air after losing the sun for the remainder of the day.

The last hurrah before heading home:

On our way home we stopped at the Beacon Diner in Hometown PA for coffee.  We left the diner around 3:00 and although we did head for home, my husband took the long way.  We actually did not get to our area until around 5:00 so we stopped in at our local Cracker Barrel for our dinner. 

It was a fun day but I would have preferred the sun to be out for better photos.  I also would have loved it had we been able to take the bike, but the weather was just not cooperative for that ambition.

On the way home I decided that next Spring when it is warmer and the trees are in blossom, we will take the bike on another excursion to the same areas.   I have already started a folder for the trip.

Goodbye Daylight Saving Time

It's always sad to see it go.  I was never a fan of having to turn the clocks back in the Fall.  One of my favorite things was turning the clocks ahead in the Spring.  That always meant longer days.  It would be nice if we had Daylight Saving Time year round.  I wouldn't complain about that.

The one good thing about the season we are entering is that I can make a lot of the dishes I love:  chili, stuffed peppers, spaghetti (although I make that all year long it still qualifies for a cold weather meal).  

Speaking of stuffed peppers, I made four very large peppers a few days ago.  All summer long I would look at the price of peppers and just shake my head.  In both of the grocery stores I visit weekly, the peppers had been a dollar a piece.  Come on!  That is totally ridiculous.  How easy it is to grow them, so why are they that expensive?  And when did they get that expensive?  Well, eventually that price went away and I needed one pepper because I was in the mood for raw pepper on my hamburgers.  So I bought one.  I paid $1.59 for the darn thing because the price had gone up to something like $3.89 per pound.

Last weekend my husband and I went to a Home Show which is across from our Farmers Market.  So when we finished walking around the show we visited the market.  I am so glad we did.  I found huge peppers that were four for $2.00.  So I bought four of the biggest ones I could find and made stuffed peppers.  

Another find at that market was the 16oz. bag of salt free potato chips.  I have been buying 5oz. bags at two for $5.00.  So when I found the one pound bag made by one of my favorite chip makers, I bought a bag.  I weigh the chips in one ounce increments and put them in small containers to eat for a snack at night while watching TV.  Since I put myself on the low sodium diet I have been reading every nutrition label of a food item that I might buy.  If the sodium content is way out of line, I simply do not buy the product.  But I will search high and low until I find an equivalent with a lot less sodium.

There are, however, a lot of foods that I used to eat and had to give up.  Foods like the National Hebrew beef hot dogs, cheese, creamy and other types of salad dressings, any kind of soup, pickles, crackers, and a lot of other things.  Am I upset by that?  Not really, because I have found things to eat that I normally would never think about eating.  I also am eating things I never knew existed.

The next time you are in the supermarket, pick up a can of soup and read the sodium content.  And remember, there are normally two servings in each can so you have to double that amount that is shown since it is listed for only one serving.  Be prepared to be shocked as I was.

Another Cartoon I Absolutely Love

Still Here, Still Pissed

,,,still hoping the damn site crashes and burns.

Dark And Gloomy

That's what we're headed for...dark and gloomy.  Six months of cold, nasty weather for the most part.  Because of that I decided to change my background.  Next Spring I will go back to the sunshine and blue skies.  It's hibernation time for me. 

I wish I could find a den with most of the comforts of home where I could spend these upcoming six months away from everything and everyone except my husband and my four fur babies.  I guess maybe I should have been a bear instead of human.  I know ~ six months is a big chunk out of a human life, so it would be nice if the body didn't age during those six months.

We were able to head north on Saturday and I took some fairly decent pictures before the sun decided it was tired of me and went behind the clouds never to come out the remainder of the day.  I will post those in the upcoming days.  I also want to post a little story about our new neighbors that moved alongside of us eleven months ago.  They are a real treat, believe me.

About the football season...

For me, it almost sucks.  The Giants are 0 for 6.  They play the Vikings tonight and will probably lose another one.  The Eagles played yesterday using their secondary quarterback who now has a concussion that he received during the game.  The unknown third choice quarterback stepped in to finish the game which they lost against the Cowboys.  I heard today that the Eagles are now worried as to which quarterback to put in the game against the Giants next week.  I said to my husband, they shouldn't worry about playing against the Giants...they can use their coach as a quarterback and they will still win the game.  Don't ask me what the hell is going on with my Giants.  The majority of the guys just aren't playing and that includes the quarterback, Eli Manning.  I know they have been plagued with injuries but that's no excuse either.

The 49ers, on the other hand, are playing well thanks to Gore and Kaepernick.  That game yesterday wasn't televised so I didn't get to see it.  As a matter of fact, I didn't watch any football yesterday.  I did watch the NASCAR race from Talladega.  What a stupid ending to that race.  Dale Jr. was running second behind Jamie McMurray for almost 14 laps and was going to pull out from behind him on the backstretch of the last lap to try and win the race.  Well, that never happened thanks to two rookies who messed everything up causing a caution to come out on that last lap and therefore the race was over at that point.  We'll never know whether Junior could have pulled that move off.  So he had to settle for second place...again.

Oh well, there's always next week.  On to Martinsville short track racing.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...

Well, not exactly; however, the day was gloomy.  The TV meteorologist said today would be warm and around 70°.  She added that this would be the last day before the cold weather sets in.  I wish she would have told me there wouldn't be any sun.

I didn't want to waste a so-called nice day before it got too cold, so my husband and I decided we would drive around with the truck instead of the bike, since we weren't sure just exactly when the rain would move in.  

We were off to see the foliage and hopefully I would be able to get some decent shots.   These are the best I could do:

All of these were taken out my window while the truck was in motion.  I love my Canon cameras.

The second last photo is to show how the sky looked most of the day.  Just above the horizon is where the sun was trying to peak through but the sucker never did come out till we were home.  And only for a little while.  Teaser.

The bottom photo is just a couple of cows, and after I shot them (with the camera, of course) I realized I should have aimed a little higher but my window of opportunity was quite small and I was lucky to get that shot.

You might notice in the foliage photos that there are no red leaves.  We haven't gotten a good, hard frost in this area but once we do the oaks will bring out all their glory.  That is, of course, if the trees still have most of their leaves yet. One thing we did notice today was the large amount of trees that have no leaves on them.  We can only assume it is due to the steamy hot weather we had over the summer months.

We're going to try and do this again Saturday but we are going to travel farther north toward the Poconos.  If it doesn't rain, that is.  I haven't checked the weather situation yet for Saturday.  Maybe I shouldn't.  They lie anyway.

Keeping Busy

It's that time of the year.  Cooler weather makes me want to clean.  I'm not one of those clean freaks though.  I do just enough to get by.

I have to take a break though and get outside so I can weed the bed alongside the garage.  A mess of Spring bulbs arrived a few days ago and they must get into the ground soon.  I ordered them back in May.  Things looked a lot brighter back then and knowing they wouldn't arrive till now made it seem as if once they did arrive it would be a snap to get them into the ground.  Of course where they are going wasn't full of weeds then.

We were not able to get away Sunday on the bike to see the foliage change north of us.  Sunday was the perfect day:  The area where we were going predicted it was the height of Fall Foliage viewing, there weren't any races on TV, neither of my football teams' games was televised, so only one thing stopped us.  Nasty weather.  It was overcast, cool, and misty in the morning into the early afternoon.  By late afternoon the sun did come out but it was too late.

Now we will have to just settle for a drive around our area in a few weeks when we have our own foliage change.  I am not equipped (clothing-wise) to ride in cool weather.  I never had to before we got this bike.  Now, all I want to do is get on it at the drop of a hat and just take off for places far and wide. I guess I have to get some leathers like my husband.  I'll think about it.