The Day Before My Adventure

I’m busy with adventure preparations today, and they’re pretty much going to take all day! 

First and foremost was giving my Cute Red Vehicle, the CR-V, a well deserved bath.  It’s so covered with Riverside and Orange county dust and dirt that it’s a bit embarrassing.

Unfortunately the light color you see on the hood is not a reflection from my house or garage door…it’s a protective covering called dust.

All those speckles are the result of the rain drops from a couple weeks ago marrying the dust on the car.  All windows offer this same um, interesting view.

Just in case the first two pictures didn’t convince you, here’s a close-up of the tailgate.

BUT…

Putt-Putt is now all sparkly clean and safely sleeping in the garage until morning when we’ll both take off on the adventure.  The condition of the vehicle is not important in the grand scheme of the adventure, but we’ll both feel special from the envious glances others will toss our way when Putt-Putt’s glorious red coat fills their eyes. 

What are the other preparations that are going to fill the day?

Laundry!  The first load is in the dryer and the second is in the washer.  Once both are washed, dried, folded and put away it will be time to figure out tomorrow’s wardrobe.  The forecasters are calling for temps in the 70′s, but we all know how accurate they are!  Besides, most of the adventure is indoors so temperature isn’t super important.  It’s not a dressy adventure but it’s not a t-shirt one either, and to be honest, my wardrobe won’t matter as I’m not really a participant, other than participating just because I’m taking up space.  Sooo…jeans, loafers and…??? 

Work!  Yep, that beast is still rearing its ugly head.  I’m really struggling with this one project but have procrastinated and putzed on it as long as possible.  It’s time to focus on it and get it done.  Today’s the perfect day to do that as once I’m in “the flow” the project will quickly get done AND the time will pass by incredibly fast.

NASCAR!  I’m watching the NASCAR truck race today (while working) because I will NOT be watching the Sprint Cup race tomorrow!!  And it’s the Talladega race!!!  But really…that’s fine by me.  The racetrack is so huge that the lead can change as many as 5 times in one lap, and though this track is known for awesome crashes, said crashes will be aired countless times between now and next week on various racing shows, so I won’t really miss anything.

Dinner!  The steak is thawing, the wine is chilling, the potatoes and butternut squash are waiting to be peeled, chopped and cooked and the asparagus is waiting to be steamed.  After dinner of course comes my second favorite thing, right there behind driving on So. Cal. freeways — DISHES!

Packing!  Not clothes, just stuff.  A couple bottles of water (chillin’ in the fridge), a couple granola bars, cough drops (just in case I’m still coughing), camera (battery is charging), directions, cell phone (charging as I type), CDs (Brad, Josh, Neil and Reba are ready for the trip), notes/questions just in case (these still need to be created), $$ and True Compass (in case I’m really early and have time to read).

All of this should pretty much take all day, but in case it doesn’t, I can always spend lots of time playing games on Facebook.

It has been pointed out to me that I’m being a real tease about this adventure, so I’ll offer up another clue.  A second reason for washing Putt-Putt was to clean off as much dust as possible so that it can be replaced with L.A. dust!!  Yep…I’m off to Los Angeles tomorrow! 

Yeah, I know, that really narrows down the possibilities…  

OK, here’s another clue…

I’m going to spend more time traveling than I’m going to spend at the destination!!

An Awesome Panda Video

It’s just a mere 16 seconds long but had me laughing so hard I ended up in a prolonged coughing fit, sending Scarpetto running for cover…in another room!!

I don’t think my cold has me sympathetic to the baby panda – I would have laughed healthy or not.

WOW — To Be So Talented!

I have a terrible cold and left work early Wednesday afternoon at the urging of my boss.  I took some CVS brand night-time cold medicine and fell asleep shortly after 2:30.  Fortunately for me I woke up shortly after 6PM and was wide awake for ABC’s evening news with Charles Gibson.

Why was that so fortunate?  Becasue if I had still been asleep I would have missed the story of this most INCREDIBLE Michael Jackson tribute playing on YouTube.  During the interview on the news, Kurt Schneider, the student who produced the video, asked what the hardest part was.  His answer?  Timing.  When you watch I think you’ll agree he did a phenomenal job.

Here’s the background info on the video:

A Yale University junior is making a name for himself by honoring the legendary Michael Jackson. Along with a buddy from school he’s created a video that appears to be an a Capella group performing a Michael Jackson medley.

You might be impressed with the vocals and even more impressed with the magical editing. Turns out they’re all the same guy! Connecticut student Sam Tsui is wearing the same jeans and sneakers but 3 different shirts.

He’s singing all the parts and his classmate, Kurt Schneider, standing off to the side did all the fancy editing to form the make believe group paying tribute to Jackson

All Credits to:  Sam Tsui – Vocals; Kurt Schneider – Arrangement, Production

Seriously, you have GOT to watch the video and appreciate it not only for the musical talent but also for the production talent.

They’re NOT Kidding!

Back in July when I started hunting for, and finally booked my Thanksgiving flights there were several friends who thought I was booking way too early, that the airfares would go down if I waited.  These friends pretty much laughed at me.  It was such a nightmare to try to find convenient flights that when I found ones that worked I snapped them up.  I will admit to hesitating just a bit before hitting the “purchase” button, but I did it anyway.

The past couple weeks there have been several news stories about holiday flights – how the flights are becoming non-existent, and when you find them you’re paying a hundred or more dollars for the flights.  Not that I ever really doubted the news stories, but every now and then the newscasters and reporters do exaggerate things a bit.  Never so much that the news is incorrect, just enough that it is more intriguing.

Because I’m not feeling well and am in need of a laugh, or at least a good feeling, I decided to search for my flights to see how much they’d cost me if I were to book them today.

First up, Expedia.  I almost fell out of my chair when only two airlines showed up on their schedule as opposed to the six last July, and only one of them, US Airways, had flights available.  These available flights started at $225 more than I paid for my flight!  The second airline, United (the one I’m on), didn’t have any flights!!

Undeterred I zipped over to United’s website where lo and behold, my flights showed up as available as long as I was willing to pay more than 2.2 times the amount they cost in July.  If I were to buy them right now I’d be paying four figures, not three, and all of those to the left of the decimal point!!!

Let me rephrase that…if I were trying to buy the tickets right now I’d be staying put for Thanksgiving!  I love my family but…

I bought my tickets four months before I would travel and parted with my hard earned $$ long before I would use what I purchased.  But, not only did I NOT lose more than a penny or two’s worth of interest on the hard earned $$, but I am on the flights that are most convenient for me and I have been flight arrangement worry-free for the past four months.

So folks, who’s laughing now?

They’re Baa-ck!!

See all that dust?

It’s not a sandstorm or dust kicked up by the tires of a vehicle driving across the barren field.

Nope, it’s these guys…

Yep…that be a herd of at least 200 sheep, countless pounds of unspun roving that would knit up dozens of sweaters (photographed on two different days as the herd wasn’t ready for their closeup the first day)!

So, what’s the big deal?  Well I haven’t seen these wool making machines in months…many many months.  So many months that I was actually getting concerned that they’d been permanently relocated to another county.

Then lo and behold, this week they magically reappeared in one of the many surroounding fields along with their human sheep herder, their “keep them herded together” canines, their water troughs and their herder’s nearly decrepid pull-behind trailer.

This herd is a roaming herd…they nibble in various fields in the Inland Empire, several of which are within five miles of my house.  How they get from one location to another, except when they just have to cross the street, continues to be a mystery to me.  I never see them on the move either by foot or by trailer, but yet from one day to the next they can be in fields miles apart.

I’m 99% positive that a sheep-hauler appears in the wee hours and moves the herd to a new location, along with the water troughs and the herder’s trailer.  But that 1% of me is quite content believing that there’s something more magical at work when it comes to the relocation process, and that magic happens under the cover of night just like the landscaping maintenance at Disneyland.

There is one bit of magic that I have seen quite frequently.  Well, I haven’t seen the magic happen, but I’ve seen the result.  And when the magical wand is waved what appears??  LAMBS!!!!  A couple years ago there was even a black lamb!  Though the herd was near the edge of the road, safely tucked behind a barbed wire fence, I chickened out when it came to hopping out of my car to get some true close-ups.

That’s not going to happen anymore.  The next time the sheep are close to the road I’m going to stop and take some pictures.  I won’t trudge through a field to get the pictures as I’m concerned that the herding canines will consider this a less than friendly gesture, but I will pull over and snap away.

In the mean time, I’ll smile a happy smile whenever I see my wooly neighbors…

I’ve Got A Secret…!

Yes I do!  I know how I’m going to spend my bonus hour on Sunday!!

I can’t tell you how, okay, I won’t tell you how, but I’ll give you some clues:

1.  It’s a three hour round-trip unless too many of my nearest and dearest strangers are also on the freeways (and you all know how much I love driving the parkways, err…freeways out here).  Edit:  By using my bonus hour it’s only a 2 hour round trip (if you use my logic anyway), a mere one hour in each direction, a length I’ve been doing for my gardening workshops without a problem!

2.  I’ve never done anything like this before.

3.  I’m going to check out a kewl area that I’ve never visited before.

4.  You can’t do this unless you live in my general area of So. Cal. (you don’t have to live in the Inland Empire area, west of it would be more beneficial to you as there’d be less travel involved).

5.  My camera will be loaded, primed and ready to use.

6.  I will need to be on my very best public behavior in order to not make myself memorable due to a major faux pas (or two or three).

Can you guess what I’m doing?  No?  GREAT!!! 

Have no fear, I will blog all about it next week so you can feel you attended this event with me.  Check back Monday the 2nd for all the details, pictures and just plain gushing!!

P.S.  To the one person who knows what I’m doing….shhhhhh!!!! 

Saturday was STUPENDOUS!

It didn’t really start out that way, and I had no inkling that it would progress from such a lazy start to such an incredible day, but it surely did!

As usual my eyes popped open shortly after 4:30, but after a quick potty stop and a relocation to the sofa I half watched Weekend Today and half slept.  I forced myself upright with just enough time to make a pot of coffee, take a sip from my huge mug and snuggle into my non-reclined recliner before calling my Dad for our weekly conversation.

Forty-five minutes later I was shuffling down the hallway to shower myself awake.  Fortunately water was able to do what caffeine could not and my day was now firing on all cylinders.

First stop was the gas station, not exciting but necessary.  Second stop was the food store.  An interesting stop because there was one item on my list that I’d never bought before but was anxious to purchase and cook, a DiGiorno pizza!  I also needed more liquid soap for bathroom dispensers and after looking over my choices, I opted to splurge on a pomegranate tangerine mixture from Dial.  Then there was the 88 cent splurge that wasn’t on my list because I didn’t know it existed, but since it involved three of my favorite things – red, chocolate and Christmas – it ended up in my cart. 

I pulled into the garage then walked across the street to take a picture of the tree I trimmed last week so you can all see how over-trimmed the street view looks (thank goodness MY view from inside looks much better!).

After putting away the groceries I filled the two bathroom soap dispensers with my nice smelling and colorful liquid soap purchase.  What a treat for the eyes when I added the orange colored soap to the remaining green colored soap in the master bath dispenser!

My outdoor chore for Saturday was to trim back my slightly overgrown ice plants.  I so love these plants – I never water them and when they are in bloom in the spring I have a purple carpet, a close-up of which is the picture in my blog header.  Anway…see how overgrown they were?

Though the spirit was willing to tackle this project, there was one logistical problem…

That’s how full my yardwaste barrel was after the first round of tree trimmings were emptied last Wednesday and the lawn clippings and the balance of the tree trimmings were added that night.  The barrel won’t be emptied again until this Wednesday and unfortuantely, the ice plants are succulents, thick and in need of lots of room for trimmings.

It only took me 25 minutes to top of the yardwaste barrel but I was able to get more done than I thought I would.

SURPRISE!!!  There’s a wall underneath the plants!  Though it may look like I completed my task, in reality it’s only 1/2 done.  Unfortunately, the more difficult half is the undone part.  If you look closely at the bottom of the fence you’ll notice that the plants are starting to climb up the fence so I have to climb over them and give that side of the garden a haircut.  Next week, when I have room for the clippings in my barrel.  Mebbe.  It’s not an easy chore.

When I wheeled the yardwaste barrel back to its side yard parking spot all I could see in the red mulch garden strip next to the sidewalk was the drying green leaf debris from the pile of branches that resided there for a few days last week.  And I didn’t like it.  I know that leaf debris is a good thing in a garden, but only if it looks natural.  Anyone seeing this would surmise that a pile of branches had spent time there, the lack of a tree or bush being a big clue.  There’s no way that the wind could have blown all of the small  leaves into that 6-foot section.  Soo…I plopped my butt onto the concrete sidewalk and started putting the leaves into a pail, my iPod serenading me as I worked. 

At first I wasn’t trying to pick up all the leaves, just enough so the remaining ones looked natural.  But, as I progressed along the 6 feet I got more and more anal about it, picking up leaves as if I were trying to remove all evidence from a murder scene before the cops arrived.  Needless to say, I re-cleaned the first few feet so they matched the last few feet in leaf coverage, or lack there of.  Though this mindless task took nearly 1-1/2 hours, it was relaxing — hanging in the 80 degree weather with tunes filling my ears 

Before moving indoors to tackle some work-work chores I headed over the slice in the block wall and smiled a huge smile when I found a lizard resting inside again!  I chatted with him for a few minutes before taking his picture, hoping to avoid the “kiss my ass” pose from a few weeks ago.  It worked!

After an hour of work-working while sporadically watching the NASCAR Nationwide race, I decided Scarpetto needed some attention so I hauled out the toy I bought him at the food store.  At first he was highly insulted, “Feathers???  Really??? And a PINK one???  You do know I’m a BOY don’t you???”.  Of course, after a few minutes of trailing the feathers on the floor and dangling them above his head, he was no longer insulted…

 

 

We played for 15 minutes or so, I worked for a bit more than an hour then I decided we both needed an outdoor break so I slipped Scarpetto’s harness and leash on him and we did some sunbathing in the front yard.  I’d forgotten how relaxing it is to just lay in the grass, how wonderful the grass smells and how much it tickles your skin.  Or maybe that was the ants…

Scarpetto and I headed indoors after 20 minutes of sunning ourselves.  He took an extended cat nap while I did a couple more hours of work.  Then it was time for my big experiment — the DiGiorno pizza!

I purposely purchased a four cheese pizza so that I could load it up with ingredients of my choice, and load it up I did.  Chopped onion, chopped green pepper, sliced turkey pepperoni, sliced mushrooms, sliced black olives, sliced pineapple chunks and torn up baby spinach leaves!

There’s my masterpiece baking in the oven…

And here’s the two-thirds of it that I couldn’t eat!!!  It is soooo yummy but soooo filling!!!  That’s awesome of course because I have two more meals on plates in my fridge 

A couple more hours of work while watching the Oregon State/USC football game and then it was bedtime for me.

This morning started just as early as Saturday so I repeated the sofa-snoozing until the stove timer went off.  I anxiously made my peppermint chocolate coffee, took a sip from my huge mug, snuggled into a corner of the loveseat then called my sister for our weekly chat.  We had a vey lively and interesting 93 minute chat during which I drank, but did not taste, my coffee.  Sooo…once the chat was over I brewed a second pot, using the balance of the coffee in the package.  It tastes like flavored coffee but I can’t taste any specific flavor.  There’s a bit of a minty aftertaste but if I served the coffee to guests they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the flavor (unless my tastebuds are on vacation right now).  Will I buy it again?  Probably, but only because it’s 88 cents for two pots.  There is that little something that makes it a treat, even if it’s an undescribable flavor.

As for the balance of today?  It’s going to be very quiet — more work work while watching NASCAR then football, a short visit with the neighbors, reheating some of my pizza masterpiece and maybe a bit more kitty & me sunbathing.  If I did much more than that I’d need to go to work to recuperate from my weekend!

Eye Candy…

…on four tires.

Yep, that’s what I found parked nearby when I came out of Target on Friday!

Though I really didn’t want to scoot to Target at lunchtime, the noon trip was much more appealing than a post-work trip was, so off I went.  The four-tired eye candy was my reward for being responsible.  And I wasn’t the only one taking pictures, there were two others, but I know my pictures came out the best!  Why?  I used my digital camera – the other two used their cell phones!

Isn’t the car KEWL????

I couldn’t wait to get back to show these pictures to the boss’s son as he’s “into” cars.  He immediately pulled up a website and showed me other cars that were remade the same way.  If you look carefully at the hood of the car in the steering wheel close-up shot you can see about half of the VW logo plate.  Armed with this knowledge, if you look at the pictures of the car from either side you can see that the gray front half is actually an old Beetle (minus the tire fenders)!  The back end is new, but the rest?  A Beetle frame for sure.

In some ways this piece of knowledge took some of the wind out of my sails ‘cuz the car looks soooo homemade and cute, both inside and out (don’t you just love the angry looking ET-ish shifter head?) that I didn’t want it to be something that other people had, I wanted it to be unique.  BUT when I looked at the pictures again as I loaded them into this post, a smile still spread across my face, so life is good.

And I still had the same reaction to the picture of the right side of the car that I had when I first saw it as I walked to my car.  The bright green tire rims instantly had me dubbing the vehicle the Frankenstein Car!

Can you tell Halloween is next week?

Sometimes I Am Too Funny…

…at least to me.  I laugh while others roll their eyes and chuckle politely.

So, what did I do this time?

When I was driving to work Thursday morning I was acutely aware that the earth really titled towards its winter axis overnight.

Huh?

Usually when my car is heading east on my street I need to pull down the visor to keep the sun out of my eyes.  That is until Thursday.  I pulled it down Wednesday morning but Thursday as I reached for it I realized that the sun wasn’t in my eyes!  I will admit that it’s kewl to notice a milestone such as that.

ANYway…this tidbit of information sent my brain wheels spinning until they comfortably settled on the “when do we turn the clocks back?” topic.  I was so busy thinking about this that I never even turned on the radio.  Not only did my mind wonder about which day, but it also started thinking about early morning light (FINALLY) and early evening dark (YIPEE!).

Somewhere between my house and the office the topic went “poof” and I didn’t think about it again until 20 minutes ago.  I checked the calendar above my desk and was thrilled to see that the weekend in question is NEXT weekend (not THIS weekend, NEXT weekend, as in 10/31 into 11/1).

I bee-lined for our warehouse manager as he’s always complaining that the weekends are too short.  I dug deep for my best acting skills, stretched the biggest smile possible across my face, lit the sparkles in my eyes and told him that “next weekend, not this weekend, NEXT weekend, is a long weekend!!”.  When the final four words were being spoken I pumped my clenched fists up and down and did a couple shallow knee bends.

Needless to say I could see the wheels in his brain speeding like Jeff Gordon’s tires in an effort to figure this one out (our next long weekend is Thanksgiving).  When he finally acquiesced and said “huh?” I told him about the clocks.

Commence eye rolling.

This little act of mine was repeated twice more, first with the assistant warehouse manager (who stared at his computer monitor hoping for an answer) and then with the receptionist (who actually pulled out her calendar and feverishly flipped between the two months in an effort to figure it out).

Repeat eye rolling…twice!

I ran out of victims so I went back upstairs to my office, giggling the whole way.  Others may not think I’m funny but most times I think I am!

Now, what to do with my bonus hour?!?!!?  Hhhmmm…check back when the mornings are lighter and the evenings are darker!!

The Things People Say…

A phone conversation between me and the boss’s son:

Son: My Dad got a new cell phone and I’m programming in phone numbers.  What’s your cell number?

Me: Unlisted.

Son: laughter

Me: silent

Son: No, really, what’s your number?

Me: (smiling) Really…unlisted…

Son: silent

Me: silent

Son: silent

Me: giggles followed by phone number

Commentary from garden workshop speaker about holes:

Speaker: What people don’t know about holes is that they’re everywhere.  You are all sitting on holes, you walk on holes and you drive on holes.

Attendees: silent confusion

Speaker: You just have to dig to FIND the holes

Attendees: silence erupts into laughter as the punch line is figured out.

Paraphrased commentary from NASCAR driver Carl Edwards’ Q&A with reporters last week in the media center.

Carl: Yes, it’s true, Kate (wife) and I are expecting a baby girl in February.  I went to the first ultrasound where I got to watch the baby.  They were looking to see if they could determine the sex of the baby.  It was taking a very long time so I was relieved when they said it’s a girl.

Reporters: slow laughter spread out over 20-25 seconds as people “got it” (since it was taking so long to find that telltale sex indicator, then there might have been some…um…endowment issues if the baby was a boy).