Stupid things

I am pretty sure I'm not the only person in the universe who has done this particular stupid thing, but sometimes I am overwhelmed by something I do. I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened too. I was jamming too many pots and pans into the drawer underneath the stove. A handle got wedged in, in such a way that I couldn't open the drawer anymore. I suppose I could have taken this as an opportunity to eat out more often. Wayne is sure we will have to get a new stove and a new set of pots and pans. But all it took was a call to the repair shop. I fixed it soon after. I know, miraculous.

And life goes on.

traveling cats

Lisa, my niece, emailed me today with exciting news. Purina Cat Chow is conducting interviews for people who would be willing to travel with their cat and blog about it. She thought I might be a likely candidate, since I do have a cat and I like to write. She doesn't know my cat. Feature this--Whenever I have an appointment for Sabrina either for the vet or the groomer, she always knows ahead of time, even though we never speak of it out loud, and I always write it in code on my calendar. When it comes time to leave, she's disappeared. Usually it is under my bed. There is only one side of the bed against the wall and yet she manages to scrunch up in the middle, against the wall. I had to crawl under the bed and grab her. And even though she has no front claws, she somehow grabs onto something, and we wrestle our way out. By now I'm covered in dust elephants, I've moved on from bunnies, and my hair is all askew. When I arrive at the groomers they aren't sure which one of us needs grooming more. And I think I failed to mention that we repeated this performance outside in the parking lot because she always manages to wedge her way under a seat before we arrive. I know what you are thinking. I should get a carrier. I tried that. It was always amazing to me that a 9 pound animal could make herself too large for a carrier. It became a 4 person job to get her in a carrier. And then when we get into the groomer's, she is wrapped around my neck like a mink stole. I am not certain I would want to repeat this on a daily basis over a period of time. I am sure she must have suffered some sort of unspeakable kittenhood trauma.

search engines

Who would have ever dreamed I would be using 'search engine' in a sentence?

I was trying to place a grocery order online this afternoon. There were just a few little oddities. The way this particular website works, you can type in an item you are needing to buy, and a whole page of selections magically appears, presumably, various brands and sizes of the item you need. Can someone explain to me why, when I type in 'dishwasher soap', they present me with 'Ortega Taco Seasoning', 'Lean Cuisine Cheese Ravioli', and the best yet, 'Charmin Toilet Paper'? But when I tried to find bath soap, again one of my selections was 'Ortega Taco Seasoning', along with 'Pepperidge Farm Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns' and 'Northern Quilted Bath Tissue'. Now, it may be just me, but, seriously, something is wrong with the search engine. Either that, or they got a really good buy on Taco Seasoning and Bath Tissue, and they are hoping, by subliminal suggestion, to sell more of it. I guess I should have conducted further examination of the site. I wonder what the selection would be if I typed in Taco Seasoning.

One thing is certain. It has brought grocery shopping to a new, exciting level of interest. Trying to find appropriate items is always interesting.

A visit to the post office

Granted, today was not the optimum day to visit the post office. But there I am, along with everyone else in the northern suburbs. There are at least 25 people ahead of me, and another 25 in line at the DIY machine. (I have been known to lie at the machine. When they ask "Will this label fit on your box", I always think, "Somehow, that sucker is going on the box, no matter what." So define 'fit'. But I digress. I was fortunate to be between 2 ladies who had a sense of humor. Of course, there was only one window open. And we were laughing at the lack of concern for speed. One lady had bills to mail, along with her package. We figured she would be asked if there was anything fragile, liquid or perishable in them, and then they would be subject to the slot test to see if they were too fat to go for the regular first class postage. We thought if they had provided cookies it would have gone a long way to maintaining a spirit of holiday. The other lady said she could open the box of chocolates she was mailing. That sounded like a good idea. Then she could tell the friends she had donated a box of chocolates in their name.

I had to fill out some customs forms for 2 of my packages. They were different than the last time. But I gamely scribbled out all the information while I stood in line. But, when I got to the window, I found out that I had not pressed hard enough to make the multiple copies needed. So, I had to rewrite everything, while others waited. Oops, I started one of them on the second sheet, not the first one. Not to worry. The postal worker told me he was going to throw that one out anyway. Go figure.

So, it's finally time to go, and say farewell to all my new friends. I feel like I have known them forever. The elderly lady who had been behind me, followed me out the door. "Now where in the world is my car?" she says. "I parked it right here and it's not here anymore." Now you have to understand that this lot is about the size of a postage stamp, itself. I offered to help locate it. "What color is it?" "It's the same color as this car," she says. "Are you sure it's not this car?" "I'm sure." "Okay, try your door opener and see if any of them blink." Nothing. So then I ask her, "What kind of car is it?" "It's a Buick LeSabre." "Well, this one's a Buick LeSabre. Are you sure this isn't your car?" So she tried the door. It worked. Then she says, "That darned husband of mine. He must have put the new plates on it without telling me." Then she hopped in and drove off. I'm thinking, this will no doubt be me in another 10 years.

Too busy

I just hung the Christmas stockings by the fireplace. Somehow I hung too many hooks. But the saddest part is that I hung one more than I originally thought I needed which was also too many. I needed 11, decided to hang 13 and when all was said and done, I had 14 up there. How does a person do something like that? Now the worst part is that I don't have any more Command adhesive for the hooks which means that if I take them down and reorganize, I have nothing left to hang them back up there. I've decided that the only answer to this conundrum is to adopt. We obviously need 3 more family members. I think I need to lie down.

Floss

I was so grateful when someone invented travel sized floss. It allows me to get so much more in my suitcase now. What a life saver!!

Another wedding

I was a week behind on when I should have gotten my hair done, but my hair person was on vacation. I was trying to negotiate with him about checking with me before he scheduled trips, but he didn't agree. The result of this little debacle was that I showed up at this wedding looking a little worse for the wear. I told the mother of the groom that I did it just for her, so that every time I stood close to her she looked marvelous. It seemed to work because she did look marvelous. And it was a very fun weekend. And for the record, I behaved myself all weekend. There was no butting in the buffet line, and no public humiliation.