Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Disappearing Act

I once heard that if you have dogs that like to dig you should refill the holes and put dog poop on top of them in order to deter the dogs from digging. Well, I have put this suggestion to the test and found it to work..........until now.

Out of the three dogs I now own I have discovered that one of my dogs occasionally goes through a poop eating phase. Much to my dismay, of course.

The dogs got into some mischief over the last week and I found myself with rake in hand as I tried to fill the holes that had appeared on either end of the house. It was an ongoing battle trying to keep the holes filled and preventing the dogs from re-digging the holes until I remembered the "poop deterrence". I immediately went outside and placed a handful of ripe poopies on each of the holes. This process has worked fabulously in the past and present but I'm noticing something missing as of late...............poop.

Every time I go outside I notice that there are less and less poops covering the holes that the dogs have dug. I thought it odd that dog poop was seeming to simply disappear until I saw it with my own eyes. Out in the middle of the yard I noticed our boy pup chomping down on something abnormal looking. After rushing outside for a closer look I soon realized who our poop culprit was. Not only does he move the poop from its strategically placed location on the holes but he also makes it disappear.

Talk about cleaning up after yourself. LOL!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Hell's Kitchen

Today I survived working in the restaurant business for the first time ever.

As much as I love watching restaurant shows and reality cooking shows on TV I have never had a desire to work in the restaurant scene. Today however gave me a glimpse into the restaurant business I won't soon forget.

I was asked by family friends to help work in their catering/drive-up lunch window restaurant. I have never worked in the food industry and have even had nightmares over working a cash register machine but low and behold I agreed to do it. I showed up bright and early this morning at the back door to the restaurant and was welcomed in by the training committee.

Before I knew it I had donned an apron and was thrown into Training 101 on how to use a cash register. My biggest foe. I believe my tummy was in a ball of knots due to the anticipation but I soon figured out how to operate the machine. While processing a few to-go orders the machine blatantly beeped at me showing displeasure at my commands but I shook it off and continued onward. I wasn't about to let the machine frazzle me and it seemed my mouth made more blunders than anything.

While I was giving a customer a description of the main entree I caught myself saying, "We have a chickadee pattie that is fried...." It was supposed to be chickpea and as soon as I said chickadee I felt like slapping my hand to my forehead in embarrassment. Not only did the customer hear my mixed words but the construction worker across the lane was staring right at me as I rambled on about chickadee and chickpea. I laughed it off and quickly corrected my blunder. (Much to the customer's amusement I'm sure.) LOL!

I sent a lady out with a pita sandwich instead of a salad today but hopefully she'll forgive me because...............

I'll be back tomorrow and will face another fast paced lunch hour of filling customers orders and taking money.

Here's to another day in my own personal Hell's Kitchen episode. (It's pure bliss!)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Swat the Season

How is it that fly swatters can be a seasonal item in stores?

I have had so much trouble with flies in our trailer. They fly in and I can't seem to get rid of them. I have looked everywhere for a fly swatter and nobody has them. I have tried using my flip flops but the flies are just too fast for the shoe slamming towards them. I find myself thinking, "Wait 2 or 3 days, then they'll slow down a bit and be easier to kill......." I'm trying to be patient but I need a fly swatter now!

Out of desperation I finally stopped at a Walgreen's pharmacy today and asked the cashier if they carried any. I informed her I looked on the mop aisle where they are typically kept and found nothing. Much to my dismay she replied that IF they had any they would be by the mops. She then went on to tell me that fly swatters are a seasonal item and they only order them once a year. Once they are out, they are out. Sold, zilch, gone.

Nearly every household in America has a fly swatter..........so why can't mine?

Why must finding a fly swatter be so difficult?!

Spirits of 66

These days I find myself in the town of Claremore, OK. While my husband and I travel around throughout the year to new destinations I enjoy picking up postcards here and there and sending them to loved ones.

As I made my way through Claremore last week I continued to pass a store called "Spirits of 66". Claremore sits on the famous Route 66 and I figured they would have nostalgia for everything Route 66, including postcards.

I finally decided to stop in today and browse around the store to see what nostalgic items they had. I was certain I would find exactly what I needed at that store, whether it be postcards or at least a souvenir. I pulled into the parking lot and just so happened to glance in the windows of the "Spirits of 66" store and made the instant connection. All I saw was bottle after bottle of liquor lined up on the shelves. I seem to frequently forget that "spirits" around these parts refers to "liquor". How wrong I was thinking that "Spirits of 66" might possibly be referring to the history and memorabilia of Route 66.

What was I thinking...........LOL!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Stuck in a Hard Spot

My husband and I relocated to a new town yesterday and we are in Northeast Oklahoma. As it is with any new place we travel to I like to take in my surroundings. This was my first morning in Oklahoma and after rising from a fitful night of sleep I set about opening the trailer blinds to let in the sunshine.

I came to the large living room window at the back of the trailer and raised the first accordion style blind and then went to move the second. I was viewing the scene before me when I noticed some strings hanging towards the bottom of the raised blinds. I couldn't imagine what might have torn the fabric on the blinds to create frayed strings so I leaned closer to examine them. I automatically raised my hand and gave one of the strings a slight tug and immediately drew my hand back. What I thought was a string was in fact not a string at all. I cautiously pulled the blinds down a tad and took notice of the spider body stuck between the accordion blinds. I had just tugged on a 3 inch spider leg. The only thought running through my head was, "WHAT? How did that get in the house?" My eyes were wide and my heart had definitely picked up its pace as I realized I had a freakishly large spider in the house. My imagination was running wild.

When I pulled the blinds up this morning that spider must have gotten stuck between the accordion style flaps and was being held prisoner. I watched in horror as the spider began moving and twitching his legs around. I was running through all possible scenarios of how to get rid of this spider and it was nearly making me sick.

Worst case scenario was that the spider would drop from the blinds and fall behind the couch and I did NOT want a loose spider on the run. I knew I had to get a grip.

I pulled the blinds down just a tad and could make out the spiders body. I fought back my feelings of heebie-jeebies and grabbed a tissue. Before pulling the blinds down all the way I used the tissue to grab the spiders legs that were sticking out from the blinds. Once the legs were secured in my firm grip I opened the blinds and pulled the spider out. The body of this long legged spider looked like a brown, fat tick. You almost would have thought it was some kind of mutant tick thing if it didn't have legs and 2 noticeably large fangs.

I stared at the spider being held captive in my hand and knew I needed to discard of it. I was nearly making myself queasy thinking of that spider running around in our home. I took it outside, wrapped a paper towel around it and used every ounce of strength to roll that paper towel into a ball feeling confidant the spider had been squished. I left the rolled up paper towel of a spider on the front bumper of my husbands truck.

Oh, heaven help me.......