Tuesday 5 Tidbits

• I watched on the news last week about an area in Kentucky where thousands of birds in a neighborhood woods would come out in a huge flock to rest in a tree. The channel showed photos of the tree covered in birds, and I started screaming, "Yes! Yes! That is what I witnessed!" One of the women interviewed said when they flew off the sound was like a huge rain coming down. "Yes! Yes!" There was no explanation for it, but the neighborhood was concerned about bird infections. Huh? I didn't worry about that. I was more concerned with not getting my eyes pecked out.

• I downloaded an app on my Ipad that is called Itunes U where I can take college courses on my Ipad from universities that have climbed aboard with Apple. I've browsed through some of the colleges such as Indiana University, Boston College, Baylor, and Cornell, but I've decided to take some medical courses from Harvard so that when people ask me what's up with the scrubs I'll have a great response.

• My god, but how beautiful is Jennifer Lopez? On my 55' HD TV she is so gorgeous I can't believe she is real. She changes up her hairdos and outfits and each one makes her more perfect then the one before. Her skin is perfection, her eyes twinkly, and she is sweet as honey. I've always been a fan of hers as an actress, but I could just sit and look at her on my TV all day long and she wouldn't have to do anything but smile.

• I've joined up to be a Yahoo Contributor, but so far haven't thought of one think to contribute.  Maybe I should interview my sister-in-law about her new business which would get it out there on the Internet and we would both win?  Hmmm...I'm liking that idea.

•  My youngest has made it into Duke's Tip Program for 7th graders.  It is based on test scores from standardize testing and allows members to participate in programs that Duke University sponsors for gifted students.  My eldest has been a member since 4th grade, and while she is interested in some of the online courses she hasn't signed up to do them.  They also offer the chance to take the SAT or the ACT in the 7th grade just to get a feel for the test and to see how you rank with high school students around the world.  My eldest killed the SAT and did better than 75% of the high school takers in the state of Florida.  Now my youngest wants to take it, but she isn't the test taker her sister is, and I worry that it will defeat her.  Then of course I worry that I have the wrong perception of her abilities.  Because of her age and the new Internet rules I can't sign her up online, but instead have to march into a high school and see a guidance counselor about picking up an SAT packet.  My high school daughter refuses to navigate the "scary offices" for me, and now with all of this swirling through my head I'm feeling pressure.  Jeez.  You would think I was going to take the SAT.

No real football so how about weekly photos?

Darcy moves on to the regional science fair!

 Darcy sings Elliot a lullaby

 He's drifting, he's drifting...

 Think it worked a little too well

And they are both out!

After a good brushing we have enough for Barbie wigs

Doing a little remodeling

Cowboy helping out in the remodeling/cleaning of the apartment

All morning Elliot follows the squirrels as they run across our yard...to the right

 ...and to the left

My new Iphone screen saver photo

Chug, chug, chug

One of the new things I'm working on this year is my intake of water.  Since my mother's recent hospitalization due to dehydration I've been conscious of my own drinking of water.  When I was exercising years ago I drank plenty of water, but since my illness and my caring for my mother I haven't gotten to the gym and thus my water intake has fallen.

Yahoo had a lead story regarding water intake and the benefits of it recently on their lead page, and I was happy to see that the five reasons were mostly the same reasons why I'm trying hard to suck down the inexpensive liquid.

1. De-stress - Okay, I'll admit that I didn't have a clue this would help by drinking water, but if there is anyone with stress it is moi.  It says that some signs of stress are pounding heartbeat (check), headaches (check), tense muscles (check), low energy (check) and fuzzy thoughts (uh, CHECK).  Drinking 8 ounces of water is suppose to be a starting point, but more people depending on body types and daily activity may need less or may need more.
2. Weight loss - Main reason I am trying to slurp this stuff down, although I haven't seen any indication of weight loss.  I'm thinking sugar may be counteracting my water?
3. Helps ward off sickness - Not one of my reasons, but hey, every little thing helps, right?
4. Body comfort - I will say that I do feel better when drinking water over any other beverage.  I love water.  I always have.  My father was a huge water drinker so we too learned to reach for the faucet instead of anything else when thirsty.  I think moving to Florida with its nasty tap water ruined me in that department, but I do feel less bloated and my body temperature is more regulated when consuming water.
5. Regulates blood pressure - Okay, maybe the second biggest reason for my drinking it.  Dehydration raises the pressure and being that I'm on medication for high bp is a main reason for water intake.  So far I've been able to lower my meds and keep a steady pressure that is fairly on the money so I'm continuing with the water.

My creative juices are starting to flow

While searching for the missing library book, which is still missing BECAUSE WE ALREADY RETURNED IT TO THE LIBRARY THANK YOU VERY MUCH, I went through the many books on my various bookcases and came away with several books I found interesting.  I put them in a pile to eventually get around to after my library books were finished.  Wednesday I ran out of library books, WHICH I RETURNED AND PAID THE FINE FOR, so on Thursday I picked up one of the books in the pile to read.  It was a teen book called Ransom by Lois Duncan.

While pumping away on the stationary bike at the gym I read Ransom.  It is a story about five high school kids who are kidnapped while riding the bus home from school.  All of the kids live in a ritzy neighborhood for various reasons and therefore are considered wealthy by the three kidnappers.  The first half of the story focuses on the kids and their background stories, and I was hooked.  I couldn't put the book down.  Then I finished the second half of the book which focused somewhat on the parents of these kids and the kids attempt to escape.  I was left at the end of the book going, "Huh?"  While the book wrapped up the kidnapping story there were huge holes left unanswered.  It was like the author really didn't have a clue beyond the initial set up about where to go with the story.  Instead she veered off on one character's personality that was so dead of emotion that I worried for this boy's future.  Yet the book ended without me knowing any of that.  The story ends abruptly without any closure and I was disappointed. 

So now I've decided I need to rewrite the book.  Books are rewritten for movies.  Why can't I rewrite a book, bring it into today's world (the book was written in 1966), and give it the ending it deserves? The idea and the characters are so great that I feel they got cheated.  I always rewrite movies in my head to make them better why not a book?  In my writing classes in college we had to rewrite some of the classic fairy tales so that they were told in the point of view of another character.  Of course, I'll have to do this incognito since I probably need to get the author's permission if I say wanted to sell it.  Is a blog quiet enough?

Out of the mouths of my babes

A few years ago before New Year's eve, while out taking photos of my sister-in-law with as many palm trees as she could find in my neighborhood, the three of us (Cara, Kelly, and Susan) began talking in a British accent.  I don't remember how it started or why we were doing it, but we decided we liked it and so we kept doing it until we couldn't remember how to not do it.

We got fairly good at it, or at least we thought we did, and when people asked us if we were from England we told them we were in a upcoming play or film where we had to speak in a British accent.  We gave ourselves British names and continue to this day to play this little game when we are to together, or sometimes when we aren't together.  I admit I'm probably more apt to speak in the accent then they are.

The other night Madison and I picked up Thai food at a restaurant near our house that I had never been to before.  We called in our order while out grocery shopping and went to pick it up.  We went inside the restaurant where an adorable young Asian woman brought out my food.  When I handed her my credit card she squealed in delight.

Her:  "OH Mickey Mouse! Cute! Cute!"

We laughed together.  I paid and we exited the restaurant.

Me:  "She was so beautiful, that girl.  OH Mickey Mouse! Cute! Cute!  That was so adorable and funny."
Madison:  "I couldn't really hear her."
Me:  "She was so enthralled with my credit card and I loved her accent.  OH Mickey Mouse!  Cute! Cute!  Forget the British accent.  I'm going to speak in an Asian accent now.  I like it a lot more."
Madison: (sighing)  "Mom.  Maybe, and I say this loosely, you maybe could pull off the whole 'I'm from Britain thing', but Asia?  NOT going to happen."

Thursday 5 tidbits

1. My youngest, a 7th grader, partnered up for this year's science fair.  She wanted to do an experiment regarding the difference between organic food and non-organic food.  She wanted to taste kids to see if they could tell the difference, her thought being that if you couldn't tell the difference taen you should eat organic food as it is proven to be more healthy.  Tom, Madison, Kelly and I tried to explain that this really wasn't a scientific experiment.  We told her it wasn't science related at all.  She ignored us, went ahead with the project, ended up doing most of it herself as her partner went out of town, dropped the ball on the board, and got sick.  The day of the fair I visited it just as she was being questioned by one of the judges.  My father was jumping up and down in his grave because that girl was selling this project like nothing!  And she tied for first place and moves on to the county science fair.  She thinks we know nothing.  I think she has a future in sales.
2. When I was a teenager with a car I was expected to care for it, which I did.  My neighbors across the street, however, were the kings and queens when it came to washing their cars.  They would use toothbrushes and towels and buckets and sponges and vacuums and would spend hours cleaning each and everything on their cars.  I use to think something was wrong with me because I was too lazy to do the same thing.  I was in awe at their attention to detail and wondered if their parents had done something mine hadn't to warrant such devotion in car cleanliness.  Every time I wash my car I think of them, and while I do more now then I did then, I still don't feel I have that dedication.  Yesterday, however, I finally think I achieved it.  I started out vacuuming my van and by the time I was done I had removed the seats in my van (something we have never done) and spent four and a half hours cleaning the carpeting and every place inside and out.  Today, I am unable to move, and I wonder if my neighbors still put that much attention in cleaning their cars now or if they pay someone else.
3. I've tried the glove method for not chewing my nails, and that worked well during our cold weather time, but not so well during our 79 and 80 degree weather.  I tried the olive oil, and while it gave my nails a healthy glow, it was messy.  I'm now on the method of leaving four nails as my model nails, the ones I'm not allowed to chew at all.  I only did this method because I chewed all the other nails.
4. I cut out a recipe in our paper two weeks ago for "cowboy cookies" that were made with chocolate chunks, nuts, oatmeal, and coconut.  I kept saying I was going to make them, but I've never been a great cookie maker.  I never liked having to mix the dough as it was too heavy holding the bowl with one hand and the spoon with the other.  Sort of like car cleaning, I would give up halfway through and leave it to my mother or brother to finish.  This time I was determined to make these cookies, and with the help of Madison's new Christmas present, I did!  She got a standing mixer, and boy is that little thing the greatest thing ever!  No wonder people spend the big bucks on it.  It mixed up my cookie dough like nothing, no matter what stuff I dumped into the bowl.  The cookies came out delicious, although next time I'd add more stuff then the recipe called for, and my friend suggested some more additives I want to try.  Although, after four days of eating them I'm kinda thinking I need a break...
5. Giving up coke products is harder than I thought it would be.  I gave up diet sodas back when I had my stomach issues and instead jumped into the sugary ones.  That in turn raised my cholesterol (hey, I have to put the blame somewhere) so now I have to cut them out.  While I am a huge water drinker I still need something to supplement.  I've tried green tea and fizzy flavored waters, but seriously?  I miss a good soft drink. 

Taking my daughter to work day

So last Friday Madison was out of school.  She slept late and ate breakfast late and then she came into where I was cleaning and asked if she could help me.  Instead of telling her to enjoy her day and just relax after a week of midterms I said, "Hell yes!"  I put her to work vacuuming.  I was pulling out furniture and dusting behind things and she went behind me and vacuumed.  We finished two bathrooms and a one bedroom when I moved into the hallway to tackle the linen closets.

Madison:  "Okay, so I'm going to go read."
Me:  "No, we aren't done.  This is like take your daughter to work day.  You're seeing what I do while you are away at school."
Madison:  "Uh huh."

At the beginning of the year I had read about something on the internet about starting the new year out right by organizing and de-cluttering closets.  One of the suggestions was an entry about organizing sheet sets.  I read it and thought it made sense and had schedule this task for the day.

Some time ago I wrote about learning how to properly fold sheets by watching a video on the Internet.  While my sheet sets stacked better with the proper folding they were still somewhat messy and taking up room on two shelves in different closets.  What I read on the Internet was that to organize sheets one would fold them up and put them inside the pillowcase.  Meaning Darcy's flowered set of sheets would be folded, stacked, and then put inside her pillowcase and put on the shelf.  The premise being that it stacked better, kept sheets together, and was simpler when making beds.  I liked the idea.

So I pulled all the sheets off the shelves and proceeded to refold them and stack them together according to beds.  Madison, who thought the whole idea silly, stood and watched me.  So I gave her a lesson in how to properly fold sheets.  Then we got down to the business of putting the sheets inside the pillowcases.  I was glad that I had Madison's help in that as it was difficult to do without her holding open the pillowcase.  When the set was inside the pillowcase I was left to wonder what to do next.  I don't remember what the Internet suggested.

So I folded the top over and under and left it at that.  It made for some interesting stacks, some a bit lopsided, but it was my first attempt.

The great thing about it was that all the sheets fit on one shelf in one closet.  We had some extra pillow cases and sheets and Madison suggested we shove them all in one extra pillowcase which we did.  The next thing the Internet suggested was that to keep the sets fresh one should insert a bar of soap between the sets.  We decided to use a bar of soap from Auntie Marilyn's town that she put in everyone's stocking.

In went the soap and the job was done.  This week I remade Darcy's bed, and I have to say that it was super easy to just pull out the pillowcase with the sheets inside and dump it on to her bed.  I think this Internet suggestion was a keeper.

Then Madison tried to see how many toilet paper rolls she could stack.  She tried for three, but didn't quite make it.  We eventually finished organizing both linen closets and then Madison said she was done with take your daughter to work day.

And since it was my break time I agreed.

Monday Morning Sports Recap

 NFL football playoffs this Sunday...PRICELESS

• Joe Paterno - RIP Joe Pa.  Say what you want, believe what you believe, and feel what you feel, but for me Joe Pa is a legend, despite his part in the molestation scandal that rocked Penn State.  Being the daughter of an older father who also coached sports, I agree with the comments that basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski made in Paterno's defense.  But anything I try to explain here will just cause a stir.  I think one has to have lived with that generation of men to understand their thinking.  I'm not excusing Paterno at all.  I'm saying that he did what he thought was the correct thing to do.  He reported the incident to his superiors.  And there lies the horror.  It was the superiors, the men who were in charge, who didn't continue further.  Yes, Paterno should have done more, but I believe he was the fall guy, the man who could take the heat off of the school and the real people who did nothing.  And for me, that is inexcusable.  And it killed Paterno just as much as the lung cancer did.  A sad ending for a man who brought plenty more to the world of sports then he will now be remembered for. 
• Tampa Rays Fans - Get out your mothball closeted #23 shirts and give them a wash because Carlos Pena is back in the house!!  Pena signed a one year deal to return to the team after leaving a year ago to play for the Chicago Cubs.  We love Pena at this house because his daughter attended the same school as my girls and he was always very giving of his time and very kind to the kids.  Welcome back Carlos!
• Bruce Arians - The Steelers offensive coordinator announced his retirement this past week.  I'm not sure if he was forced into it or not, but either way I'll send him some respect because the man got us to two Super Bowls in his five years as the head offensive man.  I just hope we can get someone in there who can work toward getting us some points on the board!
• Flacco's facial hair - Not all of us are supermodels and it is hard to be around beautiful people day in and day out. I know the Ravens quarterback knows he can't compete with pretty boy Tom Brady in the looks department, but seriously did he think that fu man chu look was a good one?
• CBS - What was up with the commericials that CBS ran on itself that said more people watched football on CBS than on any other network? How about because the NFL controls the channels? How about because I prefer the AFC to the NFC? College football? Pfft. I'm not sure they can make that claim.
• Helmet to Helmet - Again with the hits and again no big replays or half hour talks regarding the hit that occurred when a Patroit player hit a Raven player. It did happen on the Ravens sideline and kudos to coach Harbough for screaming at the ref for not calling it, but had that been Steelers James Harrison...
• Joe Flacco - He got dissed by his teammate earlier in the week, but he pulled himself together after a shaky first quarter and played some mentally tough football for a kid who the Steelers rattle quite often.
• Overtime - NOT. At least in the first game.  Oops. Ah, gotta feel a little something for the Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff who missed a 32 yard field goal with 15 seconds left to tie the game with the Patroits. I would hate to go into that locker room and have to look Ray Lewis in the eye. Whoo! That's a tough one.
• Fights - Quite a few scrimmishes in the first game with the Ravens pushing and shoving and the Pats screaming in faces, but the same thing happened in the second game with the Giants pushing and shoving and the 49ers mouthing off in faces. A few punches and face mask grabbing went on as well in games. Tensions were certainly high.
• Steven Tyler - Maybe it was just me, but I enjoyed Tyler's rendition of the National Anthem before the first playoff game. Apparently I was in the minority, but then again I think I'm battling an ear infection.
• Chad Ochocinco - No reason mentioned for his not being suited up or on the sidelines for the Patroits game, but Ochocinco tweeted earlier that his father had died. If it is true that he didn't play because of his father's death then I'm impressed. We don't normally see that in the sports world. Hmmmm...let's see if he is there for the Super Bowl.
• Giants Offensive Line - Did they even show up?  I must have missed them.  Eli is going to be hurting this morning.  That last shot of him before giving the ball back to the 49ers before time ran out in the 4th quarter said it all.  He was covered in mud and grass and his shirt was pulled down to his elbow, shoulder pads exposed, weariness all over his face.
• 49ers Defense - These guys were there and all over that field.  Our sports columnist said  in Sunday's Tampa Bay Times paper these games would be all defense and it would be the kind like the 70's Steel Curtain; raw and brutal.  These guys certainly showed up to play and play well they did.
• Giants Defense - No one said they could do it.  Pretty much no shows during the year, especially the last 5 regular season games, but show up for the playoffs they did.  And in the end that is all that mattered.
• Devin Thomas - This boy was on his game.  The fact that he saw the punt that slightly touched Kyle Williams leg, picked it up and recovered it despite it being called dead.  He had to have had laser eyes!  And then, what the hell, he did it again forcing a fumble from Kyle Williams that set up the winning score in overtime.  That is one guy who will be on cloud nine for the next two weeks.  He's a hero in New York.
• Overtime -  YES!  And it was a doozy of an overtime.  Changing of the guard, a fumble, and a kick to win it.
• Rematch - Come on, admit it, you wanted to see the Patriots try to reap what they lost from the Giants in their last Super Bowl meet up.  Who wouldn't?
• Kickers - One lost it and one won it.  All the pushing and shoving, running and catching, and it came down to the kickers.  One wakes up happy and the other probably doesn't sleep.
• Harbaugh - Jim Harbaugh refused to give an interview to Fox after the game.  One of the things about coaching Jimmy is the agony of defeat and having to man up and discuss it.  Not cool in my opinion, but I understand it.  Tough day for the Harbaugh family. 
• Team Game - Win or lose the game is a team game and let us hope that the players remind Billy Cundiff and Kyle Williams of that in the locker room.  Long night and road ahead for these two.
• Chip Kelly - Rumor has it that this will be the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's new head coach.  Kelly, the coach of the Oregon Ducks, would be an offensive man to mold Buc's quarterback Josh Freeman.  Kelly and the Glazers, owners of the Buc's, met in secret this week.  Oh boy, here we go again.  When the Glazers meet with people in secret it doesn't usually turn out well for anyone.  And what is with hiring these successful NCAA coaches?  Very few make it in the NFL (hello Steve Spurrier) so Kelly is going to have win me over before I applaud this decision. 
• Twitter - The fun thing about it is following football players, sportscasters, and comedic writers.  After the second game I cried I was laughing so hard at the tweets regarding the game and the refs.  If you aren't on it yet, and you are a football fanatic, you have got to sign up now and follow your fav players.   Great insight.  Great fun.  Great stuff!

Should I buy one or just suck it up?

When Tom and I started out our married life together we made the obvious "big" purchases all married couples do; house, carpeting, formal dishes, and a vacuum cleaner. I had the Kirby man come to the house for a demonstration of the "people leave these in their wills" vacuum, but despite the man's hard sale I couldn't see spending over $1000 on a house cleaning object, and we didn't have kids to will it to at the time. We eventually bought our first vacuum cleaner from Sears. It was big, bulky, and expensive by our standards, but it cleaned bare floors, something that wasn't a big deal back in the day. That Kenmore vacuum is probably still going strong today, but after spending tons of money on vacuum bags, which I had to drive to Sears to purchase, and suffering back pain from its weight we put it to the curb and bought a Bissell bag-less model from Target. The only requirement Tom wanted was power. The only requirement I desired was color, ease, weight, bare floor option, filters, and a bare chested sculptured abs man to run it. For the most part the Bissell gave us what we were looking for and was inexpensive to boot.

I liked it for about three months and then the canister where the dirt and grime from my carpeting accumulated began grossing me out. Each time I vacuumed a room I had to remove the canister and empty it, dust coating my shirt and the outside of the vacuum with a fine layer, not to mention my newly vacuumed carpet. The hose didn't reach up to my ceiling for cobweb cleaning, and the power of the vacuum was so great that when I accidentally ran over the trailing cord it chewed the coating and exposed the wires. It did the job, but it wasn't my favorite household cleaning machinery.

The week leading up to the Christmas holiday I spent cleaning my house, readying it for company. I assigned cleaning tasks to the girls. Darcy got the job of vacuuming. While she was attempting to clean the rug by the front door I heard a noticeable change in the sound of the vacuum. Being an expert vacuum user, I had her stop and empty the canister. When she did so and resumed her chore I noticed the sound had not changed. I yelled for her to turn off the vacuum and suggested to her that perhaps she had sucked up something that was interfering with the vacuum's stomach. She flipped the vacuum over to survey the situation, and after taking one look at the brush and roller, she threw her hands into the air, assured me she hadn't the experience to deal with this "mess", and walked away, not caring what her punishment would be for not finishing her chore. With a heavy heart, I approached the overturn vacuum and peered at the underside. The roller was so entangled with strands of curly, red hair that I couldn't even see the brushes. I was horrified.

Darcy: "That belongs to Madison, by the way."

I unplugged the vacuum and leaned over at the waist to set about removing the hair. I tried pulling it out, but there were four pieces of plastic strips two inches apart over the roller, making it difficult to get my fingers in the space to get a good grip on the hair. I straightened, rubbed my aching back, and got some scissors. I will admit that while I should have spent more time on my own surveying the situation, perhaps sitting down to accomplish my task, my adrenaline was quite high as I thought how my red haired daughters should be sheered for this nonsense. Instead I leaned back over the vacuum and proceeded to cut the hair off of the roller. It wasn't as hard as using my fingers had been, but getting the scissors through the spaces between the plastic strips to get a good cut wasn't easy. At some point my brain spoke aloud inside my head telling me to slow down and not cut the plastic piece, but the high adrenaline, blood pressure surge, and blood flow pouring into my upside down head drowned out the sound. Just as I finished cutting out enough hair to design a wig, I snipped one of the plastic pieces at the same time as the last of the hair. Again, instead of collapsing on the floor and inhaling to pull myself together, I marched around the house angrily shoving the two handfuls of cut hair under my daughters' noses.

Darcy: "That is NOT my hair. The color and curls belong to Madison. I'm just saying."

By the time I was done with my parenting message, the hair thrown away, I went back to the vacuum to tackle the cut plastic piece. I contemplated taping the two pieces together with duct tape. I wondered aloud if those pieces were even necessary as I couldn't see what task they were providing. Eventually, I said screw it, turned the vacuum upright, plugged in the cord, and attempted to vacuum the rug. Unfortunately, one of the halves of the cut plastic piece scraped the rug with its jagged edge and pulled out a few strands of the rug until my brain registered the problem. To solve it, I turned off the vacuum and put it back into the closet. Then I informed my husband we needed a new vacuum.

Tom: "You want a new vacuum cleaner for Christmas?"

My neighbor offered up his Kirby to finish my cleaning job, but I took the rugs outside and shook them, and swept the bare floors. Thankfully I had already vacuumed the carpeting before I broke the vacuum. The holidays passed, school started again, and finally I couldn't take the dirt anymore. One night while with the girls at Target after soccer practice I strode to the vacuum section and took a look. With their help I narrowed it down to three vacuums I thought fit the family bill, in more ways then one. I called the husband, who of course was still at work, and told him I was buying a vacuum. My first mistake. As I've mentioned countless times, enough that I should know better, one can not spring things like that on the husband. He began sputtering and asking inane questions and then wanted to know what the problem was with the old vacuum, despite my explaining the problem the same day it occurred. I could see I wasn't going to get anywhere fast, and it being late, I wrote down the names of the three vacuums that interested me.

Later that week one of the lead Yahoo stories was a consumer report on the best vacuums for the best dollar. I spent considerable time researching the three I had chosen, happy to find that all three came with a fairly decent and high rating on the sites I visited. This weekend I rolled the vacuum cleaner and set it in front of the closed bathroom door where Tom was hiding. He could not avoid it when he exited and together we turned the vacuum over, and I explained the problem, showing him the offensive piece I had cut. I then made mistake number 2. I told him I didn't think the piece was important and that a good snip, snip on both ends would probably take care of the problem. It did.  Now he doesn't think we need a new vacuum cleaner.

A few days later I received this in my email:

Dyson Vacuum

I think Tom is totally gonna change his mind!

Thursday tidbits

• Connie had an appointment this week at a wound clinic for an evaluation on using a hyperbaric chamber for her wound. The doctor spent considerable time listening to the whole saga and taking notes. He also listened to my theories, which I told him saying, "I'm not a doctor, but I play one all the time." (I might wear my scrubs at next week's appointment) He is running some tests and we meet with him and the Foot God next week to discuss options. We toured the area with the chambers and Connie was relieved to see that they are much larger then the ones she slept in years ago.
• My dog has a serious case of hero worship with my husband. He sleeps on the floor next to Tom's side of the bed. He follows Tom to the bathroom. He follows him when he wanders through our house. He sits at his feet when Tom is working at his desk. He sits at the front door and waits for him at night. He curls up with him on the couch.  No wonder my husband wanted a dog!
• I managed to remember to feed Kelly's cat while she was out of town. I have to leave notes all over my house that reads, "CATS" so that I'll remember. My kids pointed out to me that she only has one cat, but she use to have two cats and I can't seem to get past the plural. I also set alarms on my phone so that I wouldn't forget. Then on Monday, despite texting Kelly regarding her airport arrival back to Tampa, I forgot about picking her up at the airport. Luckily, fifteen minutes before Darcy began putting on her soccer cleats and that triggered my brain. I don't think Kelly was sitting outside too long....
• While feeding Kelly's cat this weekend I had to schedule feedings between commercial breaks in the NFL playoff games. The first day I got to her house at the beginning of the Saints/49ers game. While Madison brushed and tossed balls to the cat (who plays fetch like a dog) I sat on the couch and watched the game. When I first sat down and turned on the TV I remembered Kelly saying something was wrong with her television, that it didn't get cable channels, or the picture wasn't good, something, but I couldn't recall exactly. The TV when I turned it on was on the video screen, and because Tom once had our TV wired to work through the VCR, I thought this was the case and turned on her DVD player. Then I realized that Tom hadn't been over to her place to wire something like that, turned the player off, switched the screen from video to TV, and punched in the channel of the game. The screen came on with a nice clear, beautiful picture of the game. It crossed my mind, rather quickly, that the picture was better then Kelly had let on and that she must have done something with her cable company. I even changed channels to catch the pregame show for the other NFL playoff game. The next day I watched another playoff game, on a different channel, and had the same wonderful picture. On Monday I never turned on the TV, there being no games, and when Kelly asked me how I watched TV in her living room when the picture was all snow, I told her the truth. She then went home, turned on the TV, got her normal snowy picture, and texted me asking if I was messing with her. Perhaps her TV is only tuned for football? Perhaps is is operator error? All very stange, but not enough for me to wander over during the day while she is at work to try out the TV again.
• Our week has been turned upside down with Madison taking midterms this week for the end of her first semester in high school.  She was able to choose three exams to exempt because she maintained an A average in each class and didn't miss any classes this semester.  Having exempted three exams made each day a challenge for her mother.  One day she went in later.  One day she got out later.  One day she had to be early.  One day she stayed late for as study group.  I've said, since she turned 15 in November, that I wouldn't be able to handle her behind the wheel of a car, but now I'm sort of changing my mind on that one...
• My cousin's daughter, who visited us this Christmas, was out playing on the beach with my eldest daughter, when she brought up the fact that we had forgotten her brother's birthday in October.  Madison, not having a clue about such things, replied with something like, "Oh, we did?"  Anya nodded, very serious, and said, "So I don't want you to forget my birthday.  It is January 28th."  Put me right in my place upon hearing this little confab!  Not only have I sent her brother a gift, but I ordered and sent her gift yesterday...TEN days before the big day.  I'm patting myself on the back....

McDonald's is no Chick-fil-A

Before my kids started school I didn't get fired up with things as I do now.  Now it doesn't take much to get me going.  On Thursday after Darcy's school soccer game we didn't have much time before I had to attend an IB high school meeting so we agreed it was a fast food night.  Since McDonald's is the closest one between the soccer field and my house I quickly drove through there and ordered two #10 chicken nugget meals with drinks and a fillet-o-fish meal with a drink.  The voice over the intercom in the drive thru asked me if I wanted sauce with my #10 meals.  I ordered Madison some sweet and sour, Darcy some ranch, and then I also asked for ketchup for the fries.  We paid our bill and moved through the line to the pick up window.  There a frantic woman waved me forward.

FW:  "Can you drive up?  The fries are still cooking.  Drive up, thank you."

She disappeared inside the window.  I looked forward.  There is a small area to pull up from the drive thru to throw away trash.  The only other area out of the line of traffic is a row of parking spots.  The ones directly in front of me were taken up with cars and a lone man standing in a spot talking to someone parked next to him.  I drove forward to the garbage can.

Me:  "Seriously?  I had to pull forward?  I can not be the only person ordering fries."

Darcy and I watched the next person in line, but he got his order and pulled around me, having a bit of difficulty, which made me in turn inch forward some more to get out of the way.  One by one cars got their orders, gave me dirty looks, and pulled around me to exit.  I got tired of watching and glanced down at my receipt.  There were two #10 meals and a price.  There was a sweet and sour sauce with $0.00.  There was a fillet-o-fish and a price.  There was a ranch sauce with a $0.00, and then there was an extra sauce with a charge of $.30.  Also on there was ketchup at $0.00.  I wondered what in the world was the extra sauce.  Darcy and I debated it for the five minutes it took for the frantic woman to arrive with our food.

She literally thrust the two bags at me, trying to work around the trash can I was parked next to, and apologized for my wait.  Then she tried to scurry away.

Me:  "Excuse me.  Can I ask you a question?"
FW:  (still trying to make a run for it) "Yes?"
Me:  (showing her the receipt)  I have a charge here for an extra sauce that is for $.30.  What is that for?"
FW:  (still posed to run, shrugs her shoulders)  "It is not my fault.  Sorry."
Me:  (a #3 on the about-to-blow scale)  "Well, I was charged for something I did not order, and I'd like to know what it was for and why."
FW:  (sighing, finally turns toward me and comes over to the car and looks at receipt)  "You order ranch and sweet and sour sauces, you have extra."
Me:  I ordered two #10 meals.  They both should come with sauces at no charge."
FW:  (shrugging)  "It is not my fault.  Sorry."
Me:  (now a #5 on the about-to-blow scale)  "So I just ignore the fact that I paid out an extra $.30?"
FW:  (raising voice and turning back to the restaurant) "You want me to get you extra sauce?"
Me:  "No.  I want what I ordered."
FW:  "You want more sauce?  You want $.30?  You have your sauce?"

I look in the bags and discover that I have two ranch sauces, no ketchup, and no sweet and sour sauce.  Not even the sauce I ordered is in the bag!  I am now rising on the about-to-blow scale.  I guess at this point I'm a 7.

Me:  I don't even have the sweet and sour sauce I ordered.  It isn't even in the bag.  And there isn't any extra $.30 sauce here either."
FW:  It is not my fault!"  She runs away.  She returns and thrusts 7 packets of different sauces in my hand.  "It is not my fault!  Sorry."  And she runs away back into the restaurant, leaving me sitting with packets of sauce that I can't possible eat in my hand.
Me:  (now at the blowing point, a complete 10 on the scale)  "Darcy, take these sauces back into the restaurant and get your ketchup.  I do not want these and it is a waste to throw them away at $.30 a pop."

Darcy took the sauces back into the restaurant and got her ketchup.  We left the trash can area and all the way home I blew up, ranting and raving about the frantic woman and her unconcern with her customers issue.  Darcy tried to calm me down, but at a 10 on the scale she had no real chance.  We got home where we discovered the food was cold and inedible, although Darcy ate hers.  I told Madison the whole story and she tried to perform her zen, lawyer-like, peace and love explanation on what had really happened, but again at a 10 on the scale she wasn't going to get through to me.

Madison:  "It's only $.30 I think we can survive."
Me:  "Only $.30!  Only $.30!"
Darcy:  "That is the one thing I made sure I did not say to her, Madison."
Me:  "Only $.30!  That's two days of the library fine Darcy is racking up with her lost Be Nice to Mice book!  Today it's $.30.  Tomorrow it's $1.30!"
Madison:  "You know what I mean."
Me:  "Yes, yes, I do, but it isn't really the $.30 that gets me.  It was her attitude.  She told me four times it wasn't her fault?  You're the employee and I'm the customer, lady, who's *&6%ing fault is it?  Oh, I wish I had said that to her.  Who's *(&^ing fault was it?  That's the answer I want to know!"
Madison:  "I...
Me:  "No!  No!  Stop trying to tell me how this should be.  It comes down to customer service.  You don't know because you haven't had to work for a living. (whoo writing that sentence conjured up memories of my mom and dad saying that very same thing....)  Well, I'll tell you now that the customer is always right.  That's what they teach you in the business world.  The customer is always right!  How hard would it have been for her to apologize by saying, "Oh, my goodness, ma'am, I am so sorry about.  That is certainly a mistake.  How about two complementary apple pies to go with your meal this evening?  That would have diffused me right away and made me happy."
Madison:  "You don't like their apple pies."
Me:  "That is beside the point.  You two do.  That would have been a better response then "It isn't my fault!"  Well, who's (*&^ing fault was it?"
Madison:  "I'm sure it was very busy there tonight."
Me:  "Madison, you are missing the point.  I don't care how busy it was.  That isn't an excuse.  Wait until you have a job.  You will understand then.  What if someone had drowned at the pool I worked at?  You think as Pool Coordinator I would have shrugged my shoulders and said, "It isn't my fault?"
Madison:  "Well, know you're just getting carried away.  This isn't the same situation."
Me:  "That's what I'm trying to tell you.  It is the same.  It is customer satisfaction.  It is how you respond in situations.  She sucked.  You think the window girl at Chick-fil-A would have handled things this way?  No, because they "look forward to serving us".  They are taught the customer is always right.  The one time they charged me for a meal I didn't order at the restaurant they refunded my entire meal and gave us complimentary milkshakes!"
Madison:  "Well, Darcy actually worked at McDonald's that time for her school project.  Darcy, how was it when you got really busy?"
Darcy:  "I was trying to stay out of this conversation, Madison."
Me:  "Darcy didn't work the counter.  She had a higher end management job."

Darcy:  "I was the bookkeeper, but I did work the counter because I finished my job fairly quickly and they needed help.  It was quite busy and things did get difficult."
Me:  "But you didn't make a mistake and tell someone too damn bad, did you?"
Darcy:  "I'm not allowed to say that word."
Madison:  "Well, now you're just being ridiculous.  And it says right here on the bag that if you have a problem to call this 800 number.  Maybe you should do that."

And so I did.  I didn't call the number, but instead used the website address that was listed under the phone number.  I clicked on the tell us how we did button and left a note explaining everything that had happened.  As everyone knows I am more than capable of writing notes and felt this one was a good one.  Madison came in and read over it before I submitted it, and she too approved.  I ended it with, "the whole experience just annoyed me.  Yes, it is $.30, but I think perhaps the manner in which it was handled needs some attention.  Either way I feel better getting it off my chest, so thanks for reading this and thanks for allowing us this option.  Because of the five minute wait for fries plus the extra time dealing with the issue our food was cold and dry by the time we got home.  Sigh.  Not my best experience with McDonalds."

I felt much better after writing the letter and could then explain in a calm voice how customer service is important no matter what job one is in.  The girls put up with me again, knowing I would soon be off to a meeting, and soon I was.  A day later I received an email from McDonald's thanking me for my letter and letting me know it had been sent to the proper person.  Two days later I received an email from someone in the customer response center who apologized for my unsatisfactory experience and assured me that action had been taken on my feedback.  Then she went on to tell me what that action had been on her part.  She had contacted the local franchise owner of the restaurant to explain my issue.  Additionally she had contacted the McDonald's Regional Consultant so that that person could follow up with the owner and restaurant for "corrective action".

I shared the email with the girls.  It may all be a load of crap, but it satisfied me just to be able to get the issue off my chest, get an apology, and be assured that action would be taken.

That lasted about two hours, and then I was annoyed that no one sent me any apple pies.  Seriously?  How do I know any of that stuff really happened?  How is that satisfying me in the fact that that restaurant still owes me $.30?  The one time I wrote a letter to the Frito Lay company years ago in college when I put money into a machine for some Cheetos and the bag was empty the Frito Lay company sent me a box of various bags of chips (full sized, not snack size), and a handful of free coupons to boot and that was $.50 that I lost with them.  McDonald's obviously is not at the same level in customer satisfaction.  I'll probably not go there for a few weeks just because I'm still a 3 on the about-to-blow scale regarding this issue, but I can guarantee that restaurant has lost my business.  Unless I would receive an apple pie in the mail....

Monday morning sports recap

What did I say? In the playoffs it isn't how good you played all year long, but who wants it more. Two teams expected to win, both picked at various times to win this year's Super Bowl, gone. No New Orleans Saints. No Green Bay Packers. Out. A team not expected to even make the playoffs is still in it. Hello New York Giants.

1. Great football - The Saints/49ers game went down to the wire with both teams coming back to take the lead and the 49ers left standing in the endzone in the end. Exciting playoff game. The Packers/Giants game too was a doozy with Eli Manning leading his team to the win while the Packers Aaron Rogers tried to hold his team together at home. Fun, fun, fun.
2. Tim Tebow - I don't blame Tebow for that terrible game. I blame his offensive line. Although I wondered where the energetic, yelling on the sidelines Tebow from last week went. Gotta have a leader who fires up his team.
3. Tom Brady - One thing Brady doesn't like is to be ignored. All week the only name on everyone's lips and in all the papers was Tebow. So Brady went out and reminded them of Tom.
4. John Elway - Where was he? Not on the sidelines preening.
5. Harbough vs. Harbourgh - Will we see that in the Super Bowl? Might be a possibility.
6. Ravens - They thought about collapsing, but the defense dug down, held it together, and forced some turnovers that led them to a win. Can't stand them, but think they're the best chance against the Pats.
7. Saints - Drew Brees has nothing to be ashamed of for his play. Great guy. Great quarterback. Just ran out of time.
8. Pulling Brady - The talk began before halftime. Should Brady sit out the second half? Would we see the back-up QB? Jim Nantz and Phil Simms babbled so much about this I had to wonder if they had been watching the comeback Broncos at all this season.
9. Eli Manning - Not having to stand in his big brother's shadow this season, Eli is showing us why he is the Manning man we should be talking about. He stood tall in the pocket and led his team, throwing great passes, including a Hail Mary before halftime that was caught in the endzone.
10. Veteran QB's - Yes, Andy Dalton, J.J. Watts, Tim Tebow and Matthew Stafford made the playoffs. They are now sitting at home on the couch. There is something to be said for experience and these playoffs have proven that.
11. Packers - I'm thinking that they should have been concentrating more on their upcoming games instead of acting in those god awful State Farm commercials. Sort of like the Steelers and their tweeting...
12.  Hoosiers - Oh, Indiana, where has your team gone?
13.  Federer- Rafael Nadal made some comments before the start of the Australian Open regarding Roger Federer's lack of complaining when it comes to his fellow player's grievances.  Roger shrugged it all off, told the press all is fine and that Nadal has grown up enough to have his own opinions.  Nadal, for his part, apologized for mouthing off.  And here we go...  Anyone else wonder if this is just a get-in-your-opponents-head attempt?
14.  Federer 2 - That being said I understand and support Federer's reasoning (that and I just love him) on why he doesn't stand up and shout.  He feels the media gets involved and it gets turned into something more.  He would prefer to go about it in another way.  “I was in the meeting. I completely understand and support the players’ opinions,” Federer said. “I just have a different way of going at it. I’m not discussing it with you guys in the press room. It creates unfortunately sometimes negative stories.”  He supports his fellow players and agrees there is problems in men's tennis, but he prefers handling it in a different manner.  Perhaps his Switzerland background kicking in...

Library book saga part 2

The day that I knew I was going to handle the missing library book issue at Connie's library I went into Darcy's bedroom after dropping her off at school and stood and surveyed the room.  I checked her bookshelf for the book.  No go.  My adrenaline was quite high by this point as I had been on my way to Connie's when Madison had texted me that I needed to return home as she was missing her folder with an important document in it that she needed THAT VERY DAY if she was going to exempt her midterms.  I hadn't found the folder and so I had moved on to the library book issue and was quite fired up.  I picked up her bed and heaved it to the side and stared in wonder at the mess under it.  No book.  I left the bed where it was and got down on my hands and knees to look under her six drawer, very heavy, dresser.  I couldn't even see under it as there was so much stuff crammed under it.  I swept my hand under it and pulled out money, candy wrappers, a sock, crumpled papers, a ruler, an old test paper, a cough drop, a die, a headband, and a peppermint candy.  Using the ruler I swept under the dresser again and got another whole batch of crap.  The adrenaline was pumping now and so I stood up, while the dog grabbed the peppermint candy and took off running, but that's another story, and used that pumping adrenaline to heave one side of the dresser away from the wall and out into the room.  This is what I discovered:

Okay, to be honest these pictures were taken the last time I pulled out her dresser, but seriously the crap behind the dresser was the same as these pictures.  No book however, and being really annoyed that she was still leaving crap behind and under her dresser, I left the dresser as is in the middle of the room.

When she returned home from school the two of us tackled her messy room.  We pulled all the furniture from her walls into the middle of the room.  We cleaned all the stuff under and behind the furniture.  We vacuumed and cleaned baseboards.  We cleaned out drawers.  We rearranged her room.  By the time it was all put together we were sore, tired, and hungry.  But NO library book.

 The saga continues....

Library book saga part 1

We have lost a library book.  Wait.  Well, okay, I'll say "we" as, despite the fact that it is Darcy's library book, I might have been responsible for turning it back in.  The problem is we have no idea.  We are a family of readers, and since our world now consists of library-ing online we rarely enter the library.  I can sit down at my computer and research books that interest me, order them on my library site to have delivered at my local library, receive an email confirmation that they have arrived, and pick them up at my library's convenient drive-thru.  I managed my account, Darcy's account, and my mother's account online.  Madison manages her own, and probably wishes I had taken over that task as she recently had to fork over $24 in overdue fines for books she checked out for a school project.

When it is time to take the books back I use two options.  One is to drop the books off at the same drive thru I use to pick them up.  The drive thru is close to Madison's school and on the same route as our recreation soccer club and there is a book drop next to the drive thru window to use when the library is closed.  My second option is to use the drive thru book drop at my mother's library which is directly on the route to her house.  That is usually the one I use the most lately as I am up that way a few times a week.  I can zip in, toss the books in the drop, and zip back out again.  Only problem with that is I don't get a receipt.  It becomes my word against the library's word.

And therein lies the problem.  I say I returned the book.  The library doesn't have it.  He said, she said.  Darcy recalls returning the book at our library.  I recall returning it at the other library.  The problem with my recall is that it was a series book and she had checked out several of those books.  I found one of the books lying on my dining room table, and knowing we own these series books, thought it one of ours.  I went to put it on our bookshelves and then saw the library stamp.  I'm sure that the book was hardback and a tad skinner then most books.  I put it in the pile to be returned.  Darcy is sure she gave me the book to add to our pile one day that she was with me when we went to our local drive thru library.  Sigh.

Now on three separate occasions I have discovered mistakes the library has made.  The first one was when Madison was about three years old, and this was before libraries went computer age.  We returned a book and then I got a threatening notice in the mail telling me the book was severely overdue.  I was pissed.  I marched into the library, but the line to the desk to discuss the issue was very long, and so I went into the children's section and found the book on the shelf.  When I stood in the long line with the book and explained the situation to the librarian, she looked down her nose at me and said in unbelieving tone, "You found this book on our shelf?"  I was so stunned I didn't reply and she scoffed and said, "Next time bring this to our attention and WE will look for the book on our shelf."   I still hate this librarian to this day, and she still has that same pursed lip and stern expression every time I see her.

So the next time I suspected the same situation I went to another librarian as instructed, told her the problem, and she said, "Oh, that happens a lot.  Go check the shelf and see if you can find the book there and bring it back to me."  I did and she checked it in and fixed the fines and all was good.  The third time I did the same thing, having learned my lesson the first time, and another librarian told went with me to check the shelf, found the book, and said, "Next time just find the book and bring it to us and we will fix your account."  AAHH! 

So having had these experiences I thought perhaps the missing book was already on a library shelf, just not checked in properly.  I have renewed the book the two chances that I'm giving to do so online.  The book was due back the 27th of December and since then has been racking up $.15 a day.  It has been weighing heavily on my mind, and finally this week I marched into Connie's library, where Darcy had gotten the book on a take-Conne-out-day, to see if the book had inadvertently been placed on the shelf.  The librarian was a youngster in her late twenties with an expression on her face that did not change at all the entire time we conversed.  I explained the situation.  She wrote out the information on the book, gave it to Madison, and told her to check the shelves.  Madison did so, and returned with a book with the same title, but the wrong barcode.   I said that the book was hardcover and thus not in the paperbook area Madison had checked.  The librarian said no the book was paperback, but check in the other section to make sure.  No book.  I sighed and said I would just pay for the darn book.  The librarian said no and suggested we check with the other library to make sure they hadn't put it on the shelf by accident.  I asked if we could renew the book so that I wasn't racking up charges, something my library does all the time for us and tells us to call them on the phone to do this, but she shook her head and told me, "Sorry, but as you can see you already had the two allotted renewals.  I'm sorry."  But she didn't look sorry.  She looked the same as she did when she told me "hello" and "thank you".  We left.

Yesterday Madison and I went into our library.  My favorite librarian, Shelly, who is the sweetest, kindest, and funniest woman ever was behind the counter and I practically ran to it so that she could deal with my problem.  I explained the whole situation, and she led us to the children's book area to check for the book.  She was in the fiction section and all the series books were hardback.  I told her the other librarian and told me the book was paperback.  She disagreed.  No book.  I repeated the paperback assumption and we checked there just to make sure, despite the fact that Shelly believed the book to be hardback, as did I, since I remember finding a series book on my dining table.  No book.  Shelly led us back to the counter where she renewed the book for another four weeks, "to buy you some time to search for it".  Something that other librarian could have done, but refused.  I tried to pay the $2.60 fine racked up now for the late return, but Shelly waved it away saying if I had to pay for the book this library usually overlooks the fine.  Something tells me the other library won't.  So we have four weeks to find the book, and Darcy also has four weeks to work to raise the money to pay for the book if we don't fine it.

Despite the fact we returned it.

Thursday 5 tidbits

• A family that I met via my brother and his family has a seven year old daughter who has three brain tumors.  They are cancerous and inoperable.  She is in a children's hospital in Indiana.  As a parent, all of this scares me as I start to think about my own children and the fear of anything happening to them.  I also met the little girl when she was smaller and drank margaritas with her mother so knowing them makes it more real.  My brother and his wife drove the three hours to the hospital to be with the family when they heard the news.  They are good about that, comforting and being there for families, having lost a child themselves.  I worry too for them as I'm sure it makes them relive their ordeal.  I'm trying to think good thoughts and send prayers to the family, but it is hard to stay focused.  I do know I hug and love my girls even more since this happened.  Makes me just want to get out and do the things now that I want to do.  I should probably add that to my resolutions.
• I sat outside with my two neighbors, back together again after the holidays.  Our conversation jumps all over the place from discussing what parts of the house we have cleaned, what is happening in our lives, what is planned for the weekend, to silly things like how we should be on the bikes that hang in our garage, wondering where the mail lady has been, and peering at a neighbor we only see once a month.  I could probably make a weekly entry in our inane morning conversations which I look forward to on days I'm home.
• My mother's foot wound was a bit bigger at this week's appointment.  A downer for all involved.  The Foot God has decided to send her for an evaluation at a new wound clinic for trying a hyperbaric chamber.  I'm thrilled just to have someone else look at the wound.  Connie is a bit upset about the chamber, having used one in her past.  We shall see how it goes...
• Since moving to Florida I've gotten more involved in Florida sports (and written about it on this blog,) and I was a Tim Tebow fan back when he played quarterback for the Florida Gators.  I've been a Tebow believer last year and this year (again, which I wrote about on this blog), but I'm really getting tired of all the bandwagon people, especially those that want to rub it in my face since the Broncos beat my team.  There is an etiquette in football (another thing I've written about on this blog) and if your team is the Broncos and has been the Broncos for years then feel free to rub it in my face I'm good with that.  But those of you whose team didn't even make the playoffs?  Not cool to call me and mouth off.  And speaking of Tebow.  I enjoyed this article about him.  Thought it well said. 

•   The stopping the nail biting is off to a start, albeit a slow one.  I thought that taking a weekly photo would help me.  My main problem now is how much I like feeling the new length of each nail with my teeth.  As if to say, "Grow little nail, grow.  So I have more to chew."  Reading, watching TV, and stress is when I notice I chew the most.  The first two are necessities in my life.  The last is my life.  I'm not sure how I'm going to manage this one, but I have 12 months to work on it.

Hitchcock's birds have visited

This past holiday one day in the late evening Elliot (our dog) began whining despite the fact that I had just taken him outside.  The whining suddenly increased in velocity and he became quite agitated, running from the back door to the front door barking furiously.  As usual, I was the only one who noticed the odd behavior, and the only one who acted on it.  I went to the back door and let him out.  Our door leads to the pool patio and another door leads to the outside.  Thinking perhaps he had an upset stomach or that an intruder was cutting our metal fence instead of hopping over it, I opened the door to the outside.  When I did the dog took off like a crazy animal.  He ran around the corner and tore down the length of our back yard to the side gate.  There he looked up into the sky and barked and barked.  I too looked above the sky and saw this:

Okay, I thought, birds.  We have a few different varieties of birds here in our Florida neighborhood that happens to be a bird sanctuary.  We get egrets, herons, wild parrots, seagulls, osprey, and the occasional pelican, as well as the usual birds such as doves, owls, blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, etc.  For the most part Elliot ignores birds.  He chases the egrets and the herons, and he barks at the wild parrots that perch on our electric pole out back, but the rest of them he ignores.  I thought it odd he was barking at these black birds in the sky, but he was suddenly crazed over them.

I ventured further out into the yard, joined now by my cousin Maya, and we watched as Elliot ran from one side of the house to the other, running as if he were after a rabbit and barking as if the intruder was already through the cut fence and now working on breaking through a window.  I wondered what in the world was up with him, and I went out into the middle of my yard, out into the open, and my jaw dropped.

The tree behind my neighbor's roof was completely covered in black birds.  (This picture was after most had flown off so it doesn't do it justice, but gives you an idea)  We could hardly see the branches of the tree as birds were perched on every limb.  They were also perched above on the telephone wires above my neighbors' and my house.  They were making some racket.  Maya thought they sounded like ducks.  I thought they sounded like a herd of geese.  We stood in awe at the sight and wondered aloud what the heck was happening.  While we stood Elliot took off running to the other side of the house again, looking up into the sky and barking.

Across the back of my other neighbor's house came more birds.  They flew and flew and flew, passing over our heads so close we could hear the flapping of wings, and they too settled in the tree.  There were so many of them that the sky was dark with birds, and we wondered aloud if we should be concerned.  Scenes of Alfred Hitchcock's movie, The Birds, began playing in my head, and I told Maya that that movie seemed so mild to me when I saw it, but that witnessing it in real life was just slightly terrifying.

Not long after saying that the birds flew off the tree.  The sound they made as they left in one giant flock was amazingly loud and ominous.  Maya and I stood and stared at one another.  Then suddenly the birds were back again.  They flew over our heads again and landed back into the tree.  By this point our screaming had brought out the rest of the house.  The kids took one look, thought it cool, but not exciting enough to tear them away from whatever game they were playing, and they went back inside.  Maya's husband, Jay, thought he would be sneaky and try to get close to the tree.  He opened the side gate, went outside it, turned around to close the gate so that he was facing us, his back to the tree, and then the flock left the tree in that same loud, ominous, haunting noisy way.  Jay's eyes about popped out of his head and he instinctively tucked his head between his shoulder blades.  The birds flew over our heads and house, flew toward the back, over the neighbor's house and disappeared.  The sky became clear and the squawking stopped and once again my backyard was silent.  It was as if nothing had ever happened.

But did it?

Very superstitous toast?

I am very superstitious, and when I got a call on Saturday from our friends who wanted to bring me over a surprise gift, my first thought was to tell them no.  I knew, of course, that it had to be a Steelers gift, but last year they brought me a gift the day of the Super Bowl.  It was a huge Steelers pinata that they had seen in a shop in Arizona, bought, and carried home on the airplane that very day, and they had driven from the airport to give it to me minutes before I left to watch the game.  And we lost the Super Bowl. 

And yes, of course, I know it didn't have anything to do with their gift, which I love and have hanging in my Steelers room, but still when they called the day before the playoffs...  Sigh.  I told them to come over and I unwrapped the gift which was a Steelers toaster that makes Steelers toast.

It is really cool.  Darcy made Steelers toast all day long and ate it for breakfast yesterday.  We tried to come up with ways to integrate it into an appetizer so that I could take it to my buddy's house when I watched the playoff game, but other than peanut butter sandwiches and BLT's we didn't come up with anything tasty.

And then the next day we lost in the playoffs.  And my superstitious nature has kicked in.  And I might just be blaming the family who loves to get and give me Steelers gifts.  And definitely next year I will tell them to hold off on giving them to me until the off season.  But until then I'm going to have some toast and jelly...

Monday morning sports recap

Steelers:

1. Sigh -  Hate that it is over for the year, but I have to say that the way we played this year I'm amazed we made it into the playoffs.  The playoffs are the time of the year when the teams who want it most move forward.  Tim Tebow wanted it more.  He had more to lose.  He had more to prove.  He did that and more, leading his team down the field with amazing throws.  Can't be unhappy about him especially since he is our Florida boy.
2. Defense - Somewhere the ball was dropped here.  They really weren't expecting the long throw in OT?  Really?
3. Pregame #1 - I liked the opening of the Steelers/Broncos segment with the beeping noise with Curt Menefee saying, "That sound you hear? That's the Broncos backing into the playoffs."  Yep, and they are continuing.
4. Ryan Clark #1 - sat out against the Bronco's due to his sickle cell disease. Several years ago when he played in Denver he ended up in the hospital where he had surgery to remove his spleen and his gallbladder. He lost thirty pounds as he fought to recover. The next time the Steelers played in Denver Coach Tomliin made the decision that Clark wouldn't play and he made it again this time. Clark later tweeted he was relieved that Tomlin took the choice out of his hands because he thinks he would have played. "Y'all have seen me play, I run into people all the time, so clearly I'm not all that bright," Clark said. This is how a coach takes care of his players and tells them what is going to happen, not the other way around.  
5. Ryan Clark #2 - Boy, did his loss hurt us.  Probably why Denver's quarterbacks coach decided to go long. 
6. Troy Polamalu - Made some of his usual great plays, but missed some reads out there that hurt us.  He'll be back.
7. Big Hits - James Harrison went low for a change and again rang someone's bell.  Harrison hit Denver's Erick Decker, tackling him below the belt the way the NFL would prefer him to do, and still Decker had to be helped off the field.  Not long after the refs got Harrison for roughing the passer, and Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette tweeted:  "They just found a way to penelize 92 for his previous hit on Decker." Yep, because even the announcer didn't like that call.
8. Home field advantage - And speaking of bad calls...  That's why you win your division so that you play at home.  Wow.  Haven't seen so many poor calls and challenges in a game in a long time.  And Denver's Quinton Carter hit helmet to helmet with Pittsburgh's Mike Wallace was just ignored by the refs, and I'm sure, by the NFL.  It wasn't long after that call when Harrison got called for the roughing call.  Makes the I-think-certain-players-are-being-targeted theories a tad more valid.  My advice there?  Get hit by a helmet lie down on the field and act confused.
9. Pregame #2 - I liked John Lynch's Pittsburgh/Denver segment with him addressing Tim Tebow getting James Harrison's name wrong in an previous interview.  Harrison is really a very funny guy and he enjoys playing up his bad boy image.  "He'll know my name," he told Lynch.
10. Comeback - Got to give it to Big Ben pulling out that comeback to tie the game with his high ankle sprain injury causing him problems in the pocket.  Every time fans start to wonder what the coaches are thinking by leaving him in the game, he shows us why.  Go home now, be nice to your new wife, stay out of trouble, and heal.
11. Antonio Brown - Another big game for him.  He stepped up when needed and was huge in the comeback, catching and running and catching and running.  
12. Tweeting - Is it just me or does anyone else think it odd that the Steelers players tweet before the game?  I don't know...I'd prefer them to think about their upcoming job and get their head in the game.  Tomlin?  What do you think?
13. Injuries - All year we dropped like flies and yesterday's game wasn't any different.  Already sitting out was our center, Maurkice Pouncey, defensive back Allen Cortez, running back Rashard Mendenhall and Mewelde Moore, and Ryan Clark.  Injured but playing was Polamalu, Roethlisberger, Woodley, Harrison, and Legursky.  We added Casey Hampton, Brett Keisel, and Max Starks during the playoffs.  I certainly hope that we heal over the off season and come back healthy and ready to play.  Depending on who we keep that is....
14. Hines Ward - Sure hope he returns!  I still believe he has plays in him.

Others:

1. NBC - Having Saturday's playoff games on the peacock because that meant Chris Collingsworth was in the booth for one of the games. I still think he is the best in the business.
2. Jets Pepsi Commercial - Terrible. Even more so now that we know all that went down in their locker room and huddle in the last game. 
3. Santonio Holmes - He won us a Super Bowl and I love him for that, but somewhere he loss sight of himself and what is important.  I've said it again and again. The team and owners and coaches you want to pay attention to, want to follow their lead, and want to emmulate is the Pittsburgh Steelers. If they cut a player, there is a reason. Rex Ryan has got to start building a TEAM that plays together as a TEAM, and he has got to start acting like a grown-up and leader.
4. Commerical #2 - And speaking of terrible commericals...the State Farm "discount double check" with Packers QB Aaron Rogers?  They should have stopped with the first one.
5. Jay Glazer - Who knew he was so tiny?  Doesn't matter though.  Man gets the scoop first hand.
6. Andy Dalton - I know the Cincinnati Bengals QB threw three interceptions, one of which was run back for a touchdown, against the Houston Texans in the first playoff game, but I think Bengal fans have a reason to smile.  Dalton impresses me and I forsee him and the Bengals giving the Steelers trouble come next year. 
7. Texans - It is nice to see someone new in the hunt.  Would have liked the Lions in there too.
8. Pregame -Michael Strahan said that when he sat down with Giants QB Eli Manning he saw a calmness in him that he hadn't seen before, and he chalked it up to not having to live up to his brother, Peyton's winning ways. Nice insight.
9. Saints - Ran away with the game in the second half although the Lions held their own for a half.  Drew Brees just has the experience, the power, the leadership, the heart, and the arm.
10. Quarterbacks - These playoffs and Super Bowl might just come down to the quarterbacks.  A lot of big arms in it.
11. Atlanta - Did they even show up?
12. Giants - Powerful in defense.  Powerful in offense.  All over the field.  Couldn't be stopped.
13. Indiana Hoosiers - This is what the Colts fans are holding on to now and this is what this Hoosier, who didn't have an Indiana football team as a kid and chose to back the Steelers, has now too.  Great down to the wire game against Michigan and Penn State.  Now I just have to find where I can see all the games....