Survivor

I survived the hectic Thanksgiving week pretty well. The things that I was stressing the most about didn't go as horrible as I imagined they could of.

Isn't it funny how you can picture something in your mind, get all worked up about it and when the time/moment actually arrives, it turns out to be not so bad? I think that politeness on the part of others had a lot to do with that, though. But regardless, I like it when reality is nicer than my imagination :) Then again, as Benjamin Franklin once said (or so I've heard): It's better to anticipate and be prepared for the worst than expect the best and be unprepared or disappointed.

I am amazed to see the number of people who have their Christmas lights up and on outside their houses already. While I don't mind Christmas music starting the day after Thanksgiving, I think that it's still too early for the Christmas lights yet. Once December hits, then it's OK. But that's just me.

I was looking at the list of Christmas shows for the month of December listed in today's TV Topics. There were a lot of the old classics, but there was also a bunch of them that I would never put on my 'must see' list for the holiday. I will pass on Shrek the Halls the COPS Ho Ho Ho special edition for sure...

Crazy

What another gorgeous autumn day we had today. I think I heard that it was in the 50's. That mixed with no wind made for a perfect day for me. I wish I had had off work today to enjoy it.

Well, with the help of my sister, I think I half of my Christmas chores are figured out. We got the lists pretty much done. The arduous task of the shopping is next. Ugh. But then after that comes the fun part - wrapping. I love to wrap gifts. I know it's kind of weird - most people love to shop and hate to wrap, but I'm the opposite. I don't know why. I guess I just like to make packages look nice. It's probably going to be a while before I wrap tho', because I'm sure that I will be putting off shopping as long as possible :)

Speaking of shopping, I saw a commercial on TV today for a store that will be opening at 4am the day after Thanksgiving. That's crazy. I can't think of a single thing that would on sale at such a great price that would make me want to wake up early enough to wait in line at a store ready to battle a mob of people that early in the morning to purchase. Now don't get me wrong: There are a few things that I don't mind getting up extra early in the morning to do, and I am always looking for a good bargain. However, I don't think that anyone could pay me to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Much less at 4:00 in the morning.

Mouse

Good news! I figured out my mouse problem. Thank goodness. I think that the receiver was too close to other electronic junk and that's why it was all wonky. After moving it, my mouse is back to its regular self. I really didn't want to have to use a mouse pad. Yay :)

Buffalo has already dropped to third place in the New York State Golden Snowball Award Contest. Depending on how you look at it, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. Personally, I'm OK with that for now. I wouldn't mind hanging back until we get closer to Christmas. I'd like to see snow on Christmas day and then we can get as much snow as it takes to win the contest afterwards. We don't have to win by an extra twenty feet... just an inch or two over the second place city would be just fine with me. I'm guessing most people don't, but I would really like to see Buffalo win for once. We already have the reputation. We may as well have a trophy to go along with it.

Buffalo Pundit posted about Complaints Choirs. I found this idea a lot of fun and something that everyone could relate to. Here's the trailer the Chicago group made. If you look at the related videos on the page, you can see a whole bunch of videos other cities have made. All the ones I watched were pretty entertaining. I can't sing worth a darn, but I'll bet that I could come up with a lot of ideas for a song. Especially about stupid drivers.

I have a crazy week ahead of me. The action is going to be pretty much non-stop until Sunday. But it should be all good (I hope). Saturday is going to be kind of a stressful day for me, but I think the toughest part this week is having to be at work two hours earlier than normal twice this week. It's good in that we'll get home earlier. However, I think that it's going to feel like we're going to lose a lot more than two hours sleep. Kind of like changing back to Standard Time.

Grass

So, it's a crisp mid-November day. It's 36 degrees outside. There is a little bit of snow falling from the sky. Naturally, I brought out the lawnmower and cut the grass. Actually, I've been wanting to get the grass cut one last time before winter really set in, so I took advantage of the time I had and the relatively decent weather. I didn't get it all done, but I got the parts done that really needed it. The grass should be good now until spring.

My nephew is now batting .600 in the fussy/non-fussy category. As of today, the non-fussy side is winning. The little guy is definitely getting bigger and his hair is really starting to grow in. When he isn't crying, he really is cute.

My Mom (or should I be calling her Grandma?) is really funny when it comes to the baby. The digital camera and video camera are both constantly out. And she is has taken to conveniently leaving little photo albums and envelopes of pictures lying about the house for us to 'notice'. My Dad is just happy to be holding him or having him in sight. As long as he isn't crying. :D

The Jillmobile hit 125125 miles today.

I took some pictures today after cleaning out the chicken coop. I also dug through my summer chicken pictures. Now you can see how funny my rooster looks without his manly tail feathers.

Before

(very manly)


Now
(not so much)

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the tail to grow back in. I've noticed that some of the hens are a little scraggly looking, too. It just seems like such a weird time of year for any animal to be losing it's insulation. You'd think that the chickens would be growing extra feathers to help keep them warm in the colder weather. I dunno.

Shopping

I hate shopping. I hate people being in my way. I hate rude people. I hate little kids running wild, unsupervised, through the store. I hate not finding what I want right away. I hate the way people drive in the parking lot. I hate the time that I waste when I have to shop. And it's all compounded during the holidays. Ugh. I try to avoid shopping as much as possible, but it's just one of those things that we can't escape. Today I had to go to three stores to finally find a(n overpriced) vacuum cleaner filter. And naturally that last store had all the vacuum cleaner stuff was in a really stupid part of the store, so it took forever to find. Honestly - why would the vacuum cleaners be in the electronics section of the store??? And I don't mean near the electronics section - I mean in the electronics section. Right between the stereos and the computer stuff. I'd love to know what they were thinking when they made out that plan-o-gram. Anyway, I really don't want to even think about Christmas shopping. If I was smart, I'd start now and order everything online. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to procrastinate and usually don't leave myself enough time for the shipping...

A couple of days ago, I changed tables that I have my computer on. The old one was white. This one is brown. Evidently cordless mouses don't like brown table tops. I hate using a mouse pad, but I think I'm going to have to get one. This stupid mouse is driving me crazy by not moving 75% of the time. And yes, I did put fresh batteries in it. As I said, I hate using a mouse pad, but I'm not switching tables again. Moving everything was a pain. I refuse to do it twice in a week's time :)

On a lighter note, I can't believe that next week is Thanksgiving already. This year is going to be the first year I can remember that I will actually have Thanksgiving Day off from work. It's still going to be a busy - and maybe nerve wracking - day, but I won't be working, and that's all that matters :)

Procrastinate Now!

It seems that over the years, I've tended to procrastinate more and more. I've learned that sometimes if you you put something off long enough, a good chunk of those things come to the point that you don't have to worry about them anymore. Which is great, because then I didn't waste time doing something that I didn't have to do from the beginning. But a lot of times the things that I didn't do come back to get me. As things stand right now, I have put off quite a few projects that I wish I had taken care of. It really didn't matter before tho' - the only person that my procrastinating ever affected was me. Things are changing. I need to learn to not procrastinate so much anymore.

I know I've mentioned before that I really didn't miss going without my TV and computer for a couple of days. That was because I was otherwise occupied. I do have to say that not having an internet connections when I do want to go online is maddening beyond belief. Fortunately all is well now, but not being able to get online when I want to drives me crazy.

I had to laugh when I came across the list Popular Mechanics had published: 25 Skills Every Man Should Know. I think that it's pretty funny that I have done 19 out of the 25 things on that list. And I'm pretty confident that I could do three others if the opportunity presented itself. I wonder what kind of man that makes me?

Busy

This weekend has been a busy one at El Casa Jill. I got stuck on the big project I really wanted to get done this weekend. While I am waiting for some advice so that I can finish that job, I got around to tackling about fifty others that I have been putting off since I hurt my back. My back is definitely sore and stiff, but it's not hurting anywhere near as much as did since before I switched jobs. That is very encouraging from my point of view :)

I've discovered over the past couple of weeks that chickens must molt their feathers at this time of year. I have to laugh at my rooster because normally he is a pretty handsome bird. I'll have to post a picture when I get a chance... He's a pretty light brown color with big manly white tail feathers that show everyone he is boss of his chicken coop. About a week ago, his big manly tail feathers fell out. He looks so funny now with these little stubby feathers sticking out his backside. I wonder how long it's going to take to grow back. Anyway, when I was cleaning out the coop yesterday, I couldn't believe how many feathers there were all over the place. I'll bet I could have filled a pillow with them. OK, maybe not that many, but there was a lot. I guess that when the hens molt, it's not so noticeable as with the rooster.

And my question for the day: Has anyone ever done a serious study on the Balance of the Universe? I want to know if it is true that for every good thing that happens, a bad one has to occur to even things out. I would love to see a study that says that isn't so.

No Way

You know, my truck has been running pretty good for most of the year. The past two days, I really needed the Jillmobile to be on it's best behavior so that we could get my trailer loaded and move a bunch of stuff with no issues. Naturally, that wasn't the case. I don't know what's wrong, but the truck is definitely not well. Fortunately we were able to move what we needed to, but I'm still going to have to get her into the shop. If something is going to break down or give me problems, why can't it be at a time when it isn't important? I guess it's just one of those mysteries of my universe.

The past week or so, it seems like I have been constantly on the move. I have watched hardly any TV for over a week and for the past two days I haven't even turned on my computer. If someone would have asked me a month ago if I could possibly do something like that and not go crazy, I would have emphatically said 'No way!'. Amazingly enough, it really hasn't bothered me. Granted, I taped the shows I wanted to watch and had a ton of email to go through when I finally did get around to my computer. I still have a lot of blogs to catch up on too, but the whole scenario is not as horrible as I thought it would have been. Not that I want to make a habit out of letting things pile up, but it's nice to know it's not so bad.

124816

So I had this morning all planned out. I got up nice and early so I would have plenty of time to accomplish everything I wanted to before going to work. Of course, I didn't take into account the fact that I didn't double check where I was supposed to go to vote. I have one place I'm supposed to go for school elections and another for general elections. For some reason, I just wasn't thinking this morning and went to the wrong building. I wanted to get to work a bit earlier today to go over some material from yesterday. Obviously I didn't get in as early as I had hoped...

My Stupid-Driver question of the day is: When there is construction going on, and there are no less than four signs warning you that lanes are closed up ahead, why do people wait until the. very. last. minute tocutinfrontofyou? Especially when there is no room for them to fit and there is miles of open road behind you? You would think all the bright orange cones all over the road and the florescent signs would clue people in that something is going on and that maybe they would try to pay attention.

And to the guy driving the red minivan: Once you are out of the construction zone, you are allowed to resume the normal speed limit.

I hit another milestone on my odometer today: 124816

I have more than a few changes going on in my life right now. I am finding it very amusing to be receiving a lot of advice from family and friends that I have handed out many times myself. On the one hand, I'd like to think that I am smart and mature enough to watch out for myself, but on the other hand it's nice to know that so many people are looking out for me. I can't help but smile when I think about that.

Golden Snowball

It looks like it's a pretty sure thing that we will be getting some snow this week. I was hoping to get my lawn cut one last time before the cold weather settled in for good. I guess it will just have to wait for spring :) Speaking of snow, The New York State Golden Snowball Award Contest web site is up and running again for the new winter season. After the October Surprise last year, I thought we would have at least been in the top two, but no such luck. It will be fun to see how Buffalo does this year. I mean, if we're going to get the snow anyway, we may as well have fun with it, right? :)

I can't believe what a hard time I am having tonight.... I have so much to say, but can't come up with anything to write. Is this what it is like to have writer's block? If it is... Ugh.

Bond

...Not James Bond, but Bond Lake. Today I took Randy out on his first Geocaching trip. We had a great hike near Bond Lake - the weather was perfect and the cache itself was really, really nice. It made for a wonderful afternoon. And a new geocacher has been added to the ranks today :)


I haven't been out on a hike since I changed jobs. I am so not used to the fresh air... I am going to fall asleep extra fast tonight!

And I would like to say to all those people out there who insist on driving in the left hand lane and stay even with the car in the right lane: Either drive faster or move over. People who drive like you only make the people behind you angry. That's how accidents happen.

R.I.P.

Well my TV has died and gone to that big cable company in the sky. Too bad it was the biggest TV that I have. I mean had. Not that it was really big set, but at least you see what was on from across the room. I guess worse things could have broken. I should be glad it was only the TV that decided to go and not something really important. Like my computer. Or my GPS. I shouldn't complain tho' - That's the first not-good thing that's happened to me in a few weeks :)

The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow. I think one of my projects for the day will to be winterize the chicken coop. It's going to be interesting to see what chickens actually do during the winter months. I am going to do my best tho' to (hopefully) keep them happy :) I've already noticed that they are eating a lot more feed than they have been during the summer. I'm guessing that it's because there are fewer bugs around for them to eat.

I have a list of about 149 things I'd like to get done tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how many of them I will actually accomplish.