Little Bits X

Damage

This car nearly cut me off the other day as I was driving to work.  When I got up close to the vehicle my cursing turned to chuckling.  It seems this driver might have a history of doing to others what it did to me!

Christmas

How can you tell that Joann Fabrics is already preparing for Christmas even though they’ve just hung Halloween costumes in their seasonal department?

By following your nose of course!

Brush Fire

Remember the wild weather we had in my area of So. Cal. last week?  It was reported on the news that there was a lightning sparked brush fire in my town but they didn’t show footage or specifically indicate where, so I didn’t know the location.

Until I looked out my front door three days later…

A bit too close for comfort for sure but it stayed away from all the structures in the area.

The fact that the fire happened while I was at work is proof positive that the best laid plans of my grab-n-go bag, lists and plans may be of no use. 

A Spy

Friday I had a great day at the office.  Assistant was out sick so I had the penthouse all to myself.  I used the time wisely and worked on our show booth all day, iPod playing in my left ear.  When I finished and headed back to my desk I noticed that I’d been being spied upon.  I don’t know how long the spy was watching, but I did have a momentary concern about how entertaining I must have been.

I got over that quickly, grabbed my camera, went back to the windows and snapped away.

Hey, if I entertained him its only fair that he entertained me too! 

Full Moon

The other morning I was up sinfully early and decided to snap a picture of the full moon.  Not a bad job considering I didn’t have the camera on a tripod and the shutter took forever to “do its thing”.

Little Bits IX

Tire Watch

I followed this white Honda for 3 miles before we both turned down Bumpy Road (that’s not the actual name of the road, that’s my nickname for it thanks to layers upon layers of patched potholes).

At the end of the road I caught up with White Honda again and sighed…

That hanging license plate frame was horizontal for the first 3 miles I was behind the car which means somewhere along Bumpy Road a screw popped out.

Given the magnets that seem to be in my tires I am now on tire patrol…listening for clickety-clacks and watching for flats.  So far so good…

Work Entertainment

Assistant and I had a nice break from work the other day watching this guy clean up his mess.  We didn’t see how it happened, but all the boxes on the forklift had somehow fallen off and scattered themselves on the ground in front of the gate to our office.

Though I didn’t think to grab my camera until he was just about done with the clean-up, he did put on quite the show.  Receptionist heard his swear when the boxes first took their spill, then after putting the first couple rows of boxes back on the palette on the forklift, Guy sat on said forklift and did some serious texting.

I called Receptionist and suggested she get his rear in gear by opening the gate, getting in her SUV and trying to drive out.  Assistant and I thought that was a very funny idea, Receptionist not so much…

When putting rows 3 and 4 on the stack, Guy put the first box closest to him, then had to walk around the stack when adding the others for each row.  Assistant and I were wondering why he didn’t put the first box on the far side so he didn’t have to do so much walking.

After the fourth row was complete the pile was very wobbly and all Guy’s pushing together of boxes, either with his hands or his butt, didn’t secure them so he grabbed the roll of shrink plastic and walked in circles until the boxes were secured in a tight blanket of plastic.

The next act in this little drama was a confrontation between Guy and fellow Girl employee.  We couldn’t hear the words but the gestures were very entertaining…

Unfortunately for Assistant and me, the final act was not as entertaining as all the previous ones as Guy had the mess cleaned up before our Boss arrived at the office.

Neat Retreat

This is one of the seating areas at the shopping area near me.  At night, the big ball on the right has a fire at the top to add even more to the already neat atmosphere.

Awesome View

When I walk to the outdoor classroom at the nursery where I’m taking my garden workshops I have to see this.  It’s such a chore…

…to walk away and actually attend the workshop.  The picture doesn’t really do the view justice – it is breathtaking!

Anticipation

Yes, a singer, two in fact,  but neither are Carly Simon!

One is Martina McBride!!!

She’s in concert tonight, Thursday, and Friend and I have tickets!  The concert starts at 8PM – a mere 14-1/2 hours from right now!

I saw Martina at this amphitheatre 2 years ago and her performance was INCREDIBLE!!!!  So incredible that I don’t mind going to another concert, +/- an hour away (depending on traffic) AND on a work night!!!  Friend and I are both Martina fans and we have good seats so an awesome time should be had for sure!

The only thing I’m anticipating more?

Her!

That’s Faith Hill and I have a ticket to see her in concert Saturday night…at the same venue…and I’ll be in row 11!!!!

I see two concert review blog posts in our future… 

Little Bits VIII

Lazy Kitty

Yep, Scarpetto can be very lazy.  This is him drinking water out of his water bowl while lying next to it instead of standing next to it!

Silly Kitty… 

What Season Is It?

Driving down the 15 Freeway the other day I passed this Caltrans truck.  I didn’t realize there was a plow on the front until I was right on top of it, so I had to use the passenger side mirror to get the picture…

Really, I saw this zipping down the freeway in June!  Without a doubt it was a sandplow not a snowplow…

Tandem Dump Trucks

Don’t we have the cutest dump trucks???  You can agree with me – I won’t tell any of the burly drivers who would cringe at the adjective “cute”.

They are very colorful too!  Besides yellow, I’ve seen them in aqua, red, lime green, silver, bright blue and black.  No pink or purple…yet 

Hot Rod

Let’s stay on the vehicle theme for one more bit and take a look at the car that was in the Starbucks parking lot a couple of weeks ago!

How Did I Miss That?

We are recycle-conscious at work when it comes to all the cardboard boxes that we open.  We pile them on the side of the building and when the pile gets large, like this, we call a local handicap group to come and pick them up.

The two left piles are actually skids, not cardboard, but the tall tan tower to the right of the skids is cardboard, and it caught my eye, especially when I stood in front of it.

The box was 6′-7′ tall and it had contained a mounted trophy!  How did I miss the trophy, who belonged to it and how did they get it home if the box is at the office?

After several minutes of exploring and asking questions, the riddle was solved.

Seems the UPS man had delivered the trophy to someone at their house.  This recipient asked if he could give the cardboard back to the UPS man for disposal as it weighed nearly 50 lbs.  The UPS man agreed and then left it with us, with our warehouse manager’s approval.

Phew, I thought I had missed something really big!

Little Bits VII

Rut-Roh

Those would be the exact words I uttered last night when I examined the latest addition to my backyard garden.

Why?

No, the cactus is NOT having transplant issues – I worried about all the bumps and bruises (and broken pad) it received during the transplant process for nothing.  Nope, the problem is the exact reverse in fact!  Since putting it in the ground a couple of weeks ago there are two confirmed new pads growing…

and I’m pretty sure a third…

If this guy keeps growing at its current rate I’m in really big trouble.  And I do mean REALLY big!

But isn’t that an awesome problem to have?

Speaking Of The Backyard…

Of all the plants I put in the ground there are only 4 whose survival is iffy.  Everyone else is quite pleased with their new home.  Considering I have put more than 8 dozen plants back there I’d say the survival rate is bordering on awesome!

Here’s a picture of the main area of the backyard – though many of the plants are still small at least they’re now standing upright so you can see them…

…without squinting…

…much! 

Television Heaven

As you know I recently switched back to DirecTV from Verizon Fios.  I am sooooo happy about that switch!

Last night I was able to watch General Hospital at 7PM on Soapnet.  This program airs at 10PM east coast time and when I had Fios it aired at 10PM out here too.  BUT…since I’m now on satellite, I get all non-network programs at the same time they air on the east coast!

Happy Dance! 

Besides that nice bonus, my new package also includes a DVR, a device I had refused to get because I didn’t want TV shows to rule my life.  So far so good, I have resisted the urge to become a slave to TV programming…

Yep…

…the glowing orange “record” button and blue “on” button are not telling you that I was watching one program while recording another.  Nope, they’re absolutely not saying that 

Next BIG Project

Just in case you thought I was running out of big projects, I’m here to reassure you that I’m not.  Though I won’t spill the beans quite yet, here’s a clue…

…and in case you’re unfamiliar with what it is I’ll let you know that it’s a measuring wheel.

Too Many Choices

Yesterday at work when I went to open a picture file while in Photoshop this is the screen that popped up.  It caused me to stop dead in my tracks with all the options I had!

The really sad part is that what I wanted was on a device that was NOT plugged into my computer!

Road Trip

Saturday I am off on what could possibly be a very awesome road trip, one that will give my fingers lots of stuff to share on this blog on Sunday!  The best part is that I’ll be home by mid-afternoon in plenty of time to cap off the day by watching the NASCAR race late Saturday afternoon!

And even better…since my boys are racing Saturday afternoon (evening for those of you in more eastern time zones), my Sunday is wide open and the weather is going to be awesome!!

Backyard here I come!

Little Bits VI

Oh My Aching Back!

That was me but it’s not any more!  YIPEE!!!  My back is very pleased with my level of inactivity since last weekend’s cactus adventure!  So I’m going to keep it happy and have a lazy weekend again this weekend.  Well…lazy in the physical department but not in the to-do list department.

Yep, you can read all about it over the next couple days 

Kewl Car

Sometimes it pays to have a digital camera sitting in your purse.  I’m not a car person but I though this one was pretty kewl!

(sorry ’bout the dirty windshield)

Speaking of Cars…

…check out this interesting vehicle I was parked next to at Lowe’s last night!

I don’t know about you but I think this vehicle was part of an ad for “before and after” some sort of car polish!  At least I hope it was otherwise there was going to be one very unhappy camper when the driver was done shopping inside!

I really think I’m right though, that dividing line between shiny clear and surface smudged was too neat and clean to be anything else.

Rain + Sheep =

A really awesome shot taken over my shoulder while driving 55mph…

98% of the year that stream is nothing but a dry creek bed, a dimple in the earth that attracts lots of dirt bikers.  But when it rains, well it’s a different story as the lovely clay soil out here, so dry for months, just does not absorb water well.  As for the sheep, the herd has been very mobile lately, hopscotching from field to field on a nearly daily basis.

Chocolate Chips

Are not just for baking!

Nope, last night’s chocolate-fix was cured by a couple handfuls of these guys!  Oh come on – you know you know you do the same thing too!

You do, don’t you?

Mebbe?

Hopefully?

Silver Lining to Falling Home Values

Yes, I said a silver lining!

Yesterday I received notification from my mortgage company that my mortgage payment is going down nearly 7%!  In addition, there was a really nice check, payable to me, at the bottom of the notice!

Why?

Tumbling house values means lower property taxes.  Since my taxes are part of my mortgage payment, when the amount due fell so much so did my payment?  Since my mortgage resets at this time of year I had overpaid my escrow account for nearly 1/2 a year.

Kinda like a third tax refund check for me! 

The best news?  My taxes can only go up a certain very small percentage each year.  That tidbit combined with a predicted slow increase in property values should keep that payment lower for many many many months!

Little Bits V

Martina McBride’s CD Shine

For the next several weeks I will be a commuting student of this CD.  It’s in the CD player in my car and will be the only thing I listen to should I need to fill my ears with noise other than fellow traffic and rushing air.

Why am I so dedicated to this CD?

My friend and I are going to her concert in July – the concert in support of this new CD!!!  Though the majority of the songs that will escape this incredible singer’s vocal chords will be her older songs, I want to be able to sing along with the new ones too! 

Hence my studying.

No Beach…

…but lots of sand!

These are 8 of the 10 bags of sand I bought last night on my way home from work.  The missing two are leaning against the house as they are fine sand, play sand to be exact, and will be used to sweep on top of the bricks/blocks to fill nooks and crannies between them.  The bags pictured above are not as fine and will be used underneath the bricks/blocks that will soon fill this pathway.

I literally moved a ton of sand last night.  I hoisted ten 50-lb. bags from the store shelf to the store cart, said cart to  my CRV, CRV onto my hand/utility cart and finally, that cart onto the ground.  10 bags x 50 lbs. =500 lbs. x 4 moves = 2,000 lbs, or 1 ton!

Today I have to pick up 38 bricks and six 16″ square blocks.

Care to guess what I’ll be doing Saturday morning (and afternoon)?

Pea-Shaped Fiber Stuffing

Calling all fellow crafters!!!  Have any of you ever seen this kind of stuffing?

I was completely unaware of it until I was unstuffing a latch hook pillow at work so it could be photographed.  Needless to say I yanked my hand out of the pillow VERY quickly when my fingers sensed the little balls!!  Once I knew my fingers were safe I gently opened the pillow a bit and peered inside.

As you can tell, I now think the stuffing is pretty kewl, definitely blog-worthy in a “Little Bits” post. 

If only I had something to stuff I’d track down a bag! 

Lazy Bones

This would be Scarpetto one day last week. 

He was laying next to me on the sofa while I blogged.  Before you think my wacky personality gave way to a really wacky sofa, please note that the polka dot object he is laying on is one of my bathrobes.

He kneaded it, sniffed it, scratched at it (he’s clawless so no harm done), circled it then deemed it an awesomely comfy bed and promptly plopped down on it.  He was sleeping until he heard the camera lens expand when I turned the camera on.

Then he just looked annoyed from being woken up.

Limited Computer Use

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, my laptop is NOT a happy camper.  It keeps crashing complete with a blue screen warning about shutting down to protect itself.  I brought it into work yesterday as our I.T. guy was coming in.  Alas, he’s not coming until today – hopefully.

Anywho, I brought said laptop home and used it very minimally last night — fired it up for just a few minutes at a time, just enough to check e-mail to stay on top of a couple things.  This A.M. as I type this post I’m saving it every paragraph…just in case.

So, what’s a girl to do when she can’t play on-line and it’s dark outside so she can’t putter on her backyard project?

Read a book of course!!!!

I knew which book I wanted to read, one that came highly recommended by my friend Lois and my sister-in-law Carol.   

I bought the book last fall during a book buying binge, and for the longest time it was stacked on my buffet with the other books I bought.  Then came a one-day mad dash to clean my house before the January trade show and my post-show visitors.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who has temporarily shoved things in any available closed door location, confident that you’ll remember what is where when you need it again.

Except THE book I wanted to read last night. 

I found many of the other books from the binge, and lots of older books I already had but haven’t read, but none were the book I wanted.  As each location refused to yield my treasure, the frustration built to a level of near desperation!  I even scoured the garage and many other locations that I logically knew would not reveal the book.

I looked anyway.

During a final spin through my bedroom I looked on the nightstand on the far side of my bed, spied a tower of books then called myself a stupid idiot.

Yep, there it was, sitting on my nightstand exactly where it should be (this photo was taken in my family room this AM – better lighting).

I donned my jammies, turned off the light in the family room, filled my glass with water then crawled into bed for some great reading.  I couldn’t wait to delve into the book!!!!

I woke up a couple hours later, my hand sitting on the open book marking where I left off.

Page 12.

Little Bits IV

Some quick little bits to brighten your Thursday…

Honoring St. Patty’s Day

That bright green stripe was on a side road when I drove to work Wednesday morning.  Was there a fun Leprechaun at work, marking the approach of St. Patrick’s Day??

This stripe finally faded away after nearly 3/4 of a mile.  At first I thought it was paint but when I finally found the end I wasn’t so sure.  If it WAS paint just how large was the bucket in which it was stored, and how did someone so miscalculate their needs that they had so much left over?

Nope, I prefer the Leprechaun theory…

Hail, Hail The Gang’s All Here

Yep, that would be hail!  I took this picture at the office front door way back on January 19th but didn’t quite know what to do with it until this morning.

We don’t often get super wild weather here in So. Cal., we prefer fires and earthquakes, but every now and then Mother Nature gives us a treat!

Mountains?  What Mountains?

See the pretty blue sky?  It was EVERYWHERE but right there where the clouds are.  No matter where else I looked there was a clear blue sky.

So why the clouds in that one spot?  They’re butting up against the San Bernardino Mountains!  Yep, behind those clouds sits a mountain range, most notably the +/- 8,000 foot peak that is home to Big Bear!

This happens quite frequently, storm clouds or morning fog/clouds get blown west to east, literally run into the mountain range, get stuck at the mountain range and just hang out there, sometimes all day long!

When I first moved to CA I was living in an apartment in Ontario until my house was built.  Every Sunday morning I drove down to check out the progress on my house.  I had been doing this trip for 2 months before I saw the San Bernardino Mountains for the first time.  I was STUNNED when I saw them as the morning fog/clouds had kept them hidden from view until the morning of June 18th. 

Entertaining Scarpetto

As you know I’ve been fighting with Mother Nature when it comes to my backyard overhaul.  This weekend is supposed to be sunny and dry so I’ll finally be able to get my hands dirty, my muscles sore and my backyard moving forward.

The native plants I’ve selected so far are still sitting in pots in the middle of the yard.  I know that I’ve selected good plants so far as the birds are already checking them out…much to Scarpetto’s glee!

Entertaining Scarpetto is a bonus to the backyard, something that wasn’t even a consideration in my planning.  Every now and then when he’s watching the backyard I scoot over and look out too but I can’t find anything of interest – no birds, lizards, praying mantis, snakes, spiders…nada.  

But I will admit to Scarpetto’s viewing spot amusing me.  He’s peering out the left side of a 70″ wide double window, the side where the blinds congregate when they’re pulled back.  When I do pull them back so the windows are exposed do you think Scarpetto moves to the other end of the sofa to look out the window?  Nope…he stays put and pushes the blinds apart to look out.  Even when I pick him up, move him to the other end and sit with him he moves back!

Silly kitty!

Beautiful

No words needed, except pardon the reflection streaks on my windshield at the bottom of the picture…

Little Bits III

Just a few quick thoughts on this Thursday morning…

Sharing The Road

Here in my area of So. Cal. I don’t only share the road with cars, motorcylces, bicycles, golf cars (seriously!), joggers and walkers.  Nope, I also share with these guys!

There aren’t as many around my area as there are in Norco (about 1/2 an hour northwest of me) but I still see them frequently!

Watering The Lawn

It’s been fairly rainy this winter season so we can actually say we’re having a rainy season!  A huge benefit for me is that my sprinkler system has been off since December.  Not the same can be said for some of my neighbors though.  I drove home in the rain Tuesday and their sprinklers were working!! 

You be the judge — as I pulled into my driveway that day I stopped and took a picture of my front lawn.  It surely doesn’t look like there have been any negative effects from the sprinkler system being off!

Mother Nature Is A Tease

All that rain here in the valley was snow in the mountains!  Yesterday afternoon the sun was shining brightly so I could not wait to see the white peaks against the bright blue sky!!!

Can you see the snow capped San Bernardino Mountains????  You have to squint really really hard —- they’re the bright white horizontal streak just below the clouds!

Yep, Mother Nature is a tease!  She kept the clouds hovering around the mountain to obscure 98% of my much anticipated view.  She is really stretching my patience!!!

Carpet Installation Round 2

Remember the carpet that was installed in December and the football field look it had?  Well I still have the field and football season is OVER!

Yesterday afternoon I met one of Empire Today’s supervisors at my house so he could inspect the carpet. 

Though he loved my nickname for it, he agreed that the carpet was not acceptable.  It will be pulled up and new carpeting installed on Saturday the 20th!  Once again the installers will move all the big furniture, I just have to move all the little stuff.  At least this time when I put everything back it should go quickly since I just cleaned all the stuff a few weeks ago when I put it back the first time!!

Little Bits II

Once again I find myself with lots of things to mention but not a lot to mention about any of them, so here is another round of Little Bits for your reading and viewing pleasure 

Haircut

Part of the decision-making process about getting my hair cut short in early November was the necessary upkeep.  In other words, going back every 6 or so weeks for a trim.  I know myself very well and I’m just not that faithful when it comes to things like that.

Fortunately for me I absolutely LOVE this haircut so the upkeep won’t be a problem.

BUT…

My hair already needs the aforementioned trim and it’s only been four weeks!  I’m serious — I now have to use a round brush to style it in the morning whereas when it was first cut the hair was shorter than the brush!

Darn good thing I still love this cut!

Cruising with Antlers

The handicap card in the windshield is definitely NOT describing the driver’s spirit or sense of humor!

Yummy Snack

If you love the maple and brown sugar flavor I have a SUPER snack idea for you!  Not only is it flavor-licious but it is also healthy and sweet!  Some people eat it for breakfast but I highly recommend it as finger food when the craving for something sweet threatens to overtake your will power!

That is a Frosted Mini Wheat that came out of this box…

Did I mention that they are YUMMY???

Seasonal Candy Jar

It was time to retire my Anchor Hocking glass pumpkin candy jar for the year and replace it with a more appropriate one, but I did not own such a jar.

That is until I went back to Target!  Once again, they teamed up with Anchor Hocking to give me a wonderful $5 treasure!

I could fill the top third of the tree with curly ribbon or something so that it’s not empty but that’s not really necessary.  The bottom two-thirds has CHOCOLATE in it so it will never be full, or at least not for long.  If the bottom is partially empty and the top is full that would just look upside down, backwards, Polish, silly…just plain not right, at least to me.

Cinnamon Candle

Does anything smell more homey than a burning cinnamon candle?  OK, maybe a freshly baked apple pie, batch of chocolate chip cookies or a turkey.

Let me rephrase my question…

Is there any smell from a non-edible product that is more awesome than a burning cinnamon candle?

Nope 

Eye Candy

When I was back east visiting my friend Jeff he gave me a tour of his friend Doug’s house, Jeff’s temporary digs.  The house is an old Victorian from the mid 1800′s that Doug is taking great pains to restore to its original state, furniture included.

The dining room is the only room that is complete and what an awesome room it is!  I was instantly transported back to the 1800′s.  When I looked up over the table I gasped at the chandelier shade…

I can’t remember if there are 4 or 5 of them, but wow they are beautiful!

Look Who Came Back!

No, not this one on the wall next to the garage door…

It’s too small and too busy making out with the wall!

It’s THIS one…and once again it was in the driveway, about a foot from yesterday’s location.

I struck up a bargain with this one.  I promised that if it waited while I got my camera and it let me take its picture, I promised that I would not bother it or bring Scarpetto out to play. 

After seeing all its usually collapsed parts wide open in yesterday’s picture, I can now see where they are “stored” when they’re not in use.

Anticipation!

Since I returned from MA the local weather forecasters have been predicting that this upcoming week would grace us with two rounds of liquid sunshine, both times offering clear and white.

So far it appears that the predictions will come true.

It is cloudy and cold, a mere 51 degrees at 2PM!  I had to run the heat in the house for a few hours yesterday and for an hour today as it’s only 60 degrees inside (the drawback to having only one window that faces south). 

I have shut off the sprinkler system that I pay for since Mother Nature is going to water my lawn for free.  This morning I fertilized the lawn so it will be a nice lush green when my company arrives in January.  I may not be a happy camper in a couple weeks when I have to mow it, but at least it will look good!

The gift from Mother Nature that I am most anticipating is the snow!  Nooo…none here where I live, but the snow cover will go as low as 4,000 feet with the first storm and 6,000 feet with the second storm.  Once the clouds finally dissipate, an event that may take the full week to happen, I should have an incredible vista in front of me!

The two closest mountain ranges, San Bernardino and San Jacinto, both have peaks in the 8,000 foot range so they will have an awesome amount of powdered sugar on them! 

My camera will be handy, the battery charged and the memory card empty so that I can snap away the minute the magical view appears.

Have no fear…I’ll be sure to share the awesomeness with you! 

Little Bits

Today finds me with a little bit to say about a lot of things but not a lot to say about anything.  Soo…here’s a compilation of those Little Bits…

The Fortune Cookie was RIGHT!

Sort of…

Last week I treated myself to lunch at Panda Express.  The fortune cookie that came with the lunch said I would soon find a new source of money.  Hhhmm…will my freelance quests have positive outcomes???  Will I win the lottery??  Will I win the 10% off coupon drawing at Patternworks or the gift card prize for taking Michael’s on-line survey??  Is a new job coming my way???

The answer as of today?  I played the lottery Saturday and I won!!!  SuperLotto Plus to be exact!!!  Yep…I won $2!

New Jammies

I did stop at Kohls yesterday and picked up a fifth pair of jammies.  After taking off the coupon and the Kohls cash and adding in tax I paid $12 for them.  I bought a pair with a purple top and black background bottoms with purple and green verticle solid stripes alternating with white, purple, green and yellow verical stripes made up of dots.

Fruit Loops

I’m not a cold cereal kinda gal except for occassional bowls of Raisin Bran or Frosted Mini Wheats (the latter are great for nibbling dry) but this past Saturday I bought a box of Fruit Loops.  After putting away all my groceries I grabbed a bowl and filled it with Fruit Loops.  Three questions instantly came to mind.

1.  When did Fruit Loops change to pastel colors?

2.  When did they add blue to the color palette?

3.  What happened to the sugar crystals on the rings (close examination of one ring was necessary for this question).

At least they tasted like I remembered…!

Earthquake!

This past Saturday night I was still awake at 11:54PM when I heard it coming.  Yep, I could hear the earthquake coming for 4 or 5 seconds before it finally arrived.  When it did arrive it was a disappointing 1 or 2 seconds in duration — ca-chunk, thunk, and it was done, no real shaking.

As I retrieved my laptop to check out the quake’s location and strength I was wondering if that was it or if there’d be a bit more to this quake.  Those few seconds of being aware that it was coming built up my anticipation…and what actually happened was NOT worth the anticipation.  On the other hand, there was no damage so that was definitely a good thing (of all the quakes I’ve felt since I moved here none have been strong enough to do any damage and that’s fine by me)!

The quake was a 3.3 centered about 25 miles from the house…a baby compared to the 4.7 and 4.9 ones that I’ve felt, and the 3.7 that was centered closer to my house.  And small enough that had I not been awake I would have slept right through it.

No Turning Back

The non-refundable deposit has been made for my BIG adventure so there’s no turning back now!!  The adventure is scheduled to begin at 10:30AM on Saturday, January 30th.

Really — this is a SERIOUSLY big adventure that will have you debating about my sanity, or lack there of.  Check back here the weekend after Thanksgiving for all the details so you can weigh in on the sanity question.

Toothpaste on my Shoulder

I have NO idea how that happened, but it did!  I’ve monitored my tooth brushing routine for more than a week and am still so clueless that I’ve decided I’m never going to know the answer.

The Friday before I went for my haircut I brushed my teeth then went into the kitchen to put together my lunch and my eat-on-the-go breakfast.  I came back to my bathroom, looked in the mirror, did a double-take, uttered “HUH?”, frowned, took off my red t-shirt, scrubbed it with the washcloth then put it back on.

Seems that somehow I had managed to get 4 pencil sized dots of blue toothpaste on the front of my t-shirt just below my right shoulder.  I didn’t have the rechargeable toothbrush in motion when I took it out of my mouth, at least not that I could remember, and the t-shirt was clean when I put it on, but somehow toothpaste ended up on my shoulder.

Since I already had a red barette in my hair and wasn’t willing to change it, and my other red t-shirts that are okay to wear to work were in the laundry, I had no choice but to wash off the toothpaste and put the t-shirt back on.

Turkey Anyone?

I am the proud owner of a 21.1 pound frozen Butterball turkey!  And it only set me back $10.34!!!  The turkey was 48 cents a pound if you spent $50 or more at Winco (most awesome food store).  I rarely spend that much but I did stock up on a few things, including a splurge on the aforementioned Fruit Loops, so my total would exceed $50 and I could bring home my treasure.

The turkey is buried in Fritz (the chest freezer in my garage) and will be thawed over Christmas so I can cook it and then restock my freezers with all the frozen meals.  My record is 66 meals (fresh and frozen) from an 18 pound turkey so I’ll be curious to see what the take is from 21.1 pounds!

Oh yeah…to make room for the turkey I had to take out the 3 containers of turkey stock I’d frozen this past summer from my last turkey cookfest.  This weekend I’ll make the soup from this summer’s turkey and then in December when I cook the new turkey I’ll freeze more stock and make that soup in April.

Coyotes

It’s been a quiet summer as far as they mangy four-legged wild animals go but they’re making up for it now!  They are in howling overdrive, and not just in the middle of the night – last night they were screeching at 8PM!!

I had never heard coyotes before moving to Southern California and when I did hear them I didn’t know the noise was coyotes until I talked with my neighbor and he filled me in.

If you’ve never heard coyotes the best way I can describe their howling is that it sounds like a screaming baby…a baby that doesn’t need to take a breath.  It’s a little on the high-pitched side and for me, it doesn’t really sound like the howling that Hollywood has made famous in their movies and TV shows.  It is much more annoying.

I’m not sure exactly where the coyotes are but they’re not in my neighborhood.  They may be in the field behind my house as when they wake me up out of a sound sleep I have heard them screeching and some dogs yelping, and there are some barely visible houses back in that field.

All I ask is that the coyotes stay away from the herd of sheep.

It’s Cold!

Our daytime highs have been struggling to get higher than the mid-70′s lately, sometimes not even reaching 70!   That wouldn’t be bad if our overnight lows weren’t going so low — yesterday morning it was a chilly 36 degrees outside with last week’s lows being in the mid-40′s.

That wouldn’t be bad either IF I remembered to do one thing.  CLOSE my windows at night!!!!  Sheesh…the house has been as cold as 62 in the morning when I get up!   This past weekend I actually went outside a couple times and sat in the sun in order to warm up!

My house only has one window that faces south, a huge advantage in the 110+ summers but a disadvantage in the colder months as the sun work its magic and heat up the house.  November is way too early to even consider putting on the heat, even for just one cycle to take the chill out of the air.  Instead I’m bundling up and toughing it out – in other words, I’m practicing for my trip back east next week!

The good news?  The previously mentioned coyotes were screeching early last night so I remembered to close the windows!  The house was a *toasty* 64 degrees when I got out of bed this morning!

Haircut Update

The final tests were this past weekend.

Saturday I let it air dry and though the results weren’t as perfect as when I style it, they were more than acceptable.

Sunday I didn’t even wash it (if possible I like to skip a day of washing a week).  The unwashed short hair looked much better than the unwashed longer version!

Sooo…I am still LOVIN’ this haircut!!!  It is so easy to take care of that I know it perfectly suits my hair 

Wrap Up

OK, that’s it for today’s round of Little Bits.  I’m off to get my morning routine going so I can scoot into work early…  Have a SUPER day!