Oddities - you name it.

I know I haven't posted all month so I thought I'd share some odd pictures I've taken and at least invite remarks on them. Take your time... give it some thought... then go ahead and click that pencil icon below this.

A Good Idea

I love sitting at Panera's, you get to hear snippets of so many different lives. Sometimes you hear good ideas, or a sad story where you want to lend a caring shoulder, even plans for vacations and lives. Today I heard a good idea. The line that perked my interest was... "...instead of giving those clothes to the Goodwill, we had another idea..." People are always carrying the eternal bag of clothes in the back seat/trunk/hatch wherever which is destined for the Goodwill. You know the bag... look around--- you have probably one. They even talked about it on the radio one day and tons of people called in stating they had the SAME BAG in their car! LOL... anyway.. back to the story... this person said, "there are alot of people at nursing homes that live on limited incomes that can't even afford the Goodwill! Even if they had a way to get there... so why not donate them to the Nursing Homes" I THINK THIS IS A GREAT IDEA! Now I can envision a few issues... like let's talk to the Nursing home first... see if they can accommodate the clothing. Or should they have one day set aside to receive it all... ? I think there just needs to be a little planning involved, but overall.. .it's a GREAT idea. Don't you think? Even churches can get involved and have a Senior Clothing Drive. Maybe even have a rummage sale at the Nursing Home where each item of clothing is a nickel. Or 3 items for a dime. Just to give it some order, and to let the seniors still have some dignity in paying for items of clothing. Otherwise I can see it being a Free For All one day with possible injuries as they make the mad rush to the tables of clothing.... Oh, and.....Please...No tank-tops.

Dear Santa, please bring them a manual... How to Drive in Snow....

It was horribly slow crossing the bridge.. I knew it would be... then as I took turned onto Knoxville, the green mustang in front of me didn't take into acct the rear wheel drive of her car, or maybe it was the sheet of black ice she didn't see... but she kept giving it too much gas, until she finally- I stopped and just waited... yup, she spun out... I knew she was going to spin...it was inevitable so I just sat and waited for her to finish... she really clobbered this telephone pole on the side of the road... it bent her axle real good and her front wheel looked like it was going in a different direction than the rest of the car.... So I got out told her she needed a tow truck, as she wasn't going anywhere with the wheel like that... I asked her if she was ok, and did she have someone to call... and a phone to use.... After she thanked me for stopping... I continued on ... slowly... to work. I also called 911 to let them know there was an accident slowing down traffic, and that she didn't SEEM to be hurt... Got to work at 9am. That's about what I expected for the first snow day. Why is it that people forget from year to year how to drive in snow?

It's Here! It's Here! Snow........

This is what I saw when I opened the door to let the dogs out this morning... it was a shock! Then... it was beautiful.... the next thought was... "where is my snow brush, I'll have to brush off the car before I leave". Yes, it's here The First Snow...it's always so pretty, and so startling. We listen to the radio say, "Possible snow tonite and tomorrow" but when we open the door and actually SEE it, that's a whole new ballgame. So here it is... the season begins... the season of Snow. I may not feel this later on in the season, so let me say it now. Thank you Lord.

Thanksgiving Eve

Well here it is the eve before Thanksgivng... not quite eve, it's only 3:45pm... and I'm on my way to the grocery store... of course.. need to pick up those last minute details for dinner tomorrow.... like potatoes.. corn... cranberry... oh, and pumpkin pie... am i missing anything... I sure hope not!

When do they suddenly KNOW....

In a restaurant... in an office... doesn't seem to matter where, but there is definitely some age where girls finally get it, that they talk TOO LOUD. Well if you ask my husband, I still do, but my voice just kind of carries... I'm talking about the girls that act like there is no one else in the place except them, and they might be talking to a person who is hard of hearing... they must own the place.

Although, today I was in Panera bread and I heard HOPE. There was a small group of girls talking... loud enough I could 'enjoy' their conversation, whether I wanted to or not... someone must have said something to them (I wish more people would) and one girl replied, "Oh, I'm sorry, we tend to forget that our voices carry" - HOW NICE that was to hear... so there MUST be an age when they realize this, and start working on talking quieter... I think she was mid twenties...too bad it can't be sooner...

Tupperware again? YUP!

When my daughter was a baby, less than 2 years old, I used to sell Tupperware. I was quite good at it, and it's a good solid business to be in. They can't go under, they give a Lifetime Warranty on their product, heck! But seriously, this year when I found myself unemployed for 6 months... I thought about Tupperware. Well, I went to a festival, and saw a lady with a Tupperware table set up... THEN I thought about Tupperware. OK?... anyway... she made me a good offer... and away I went, back into the land of plastic. AND HAS IT CHANGED! There's so much cool stuff, I can't even learn about all of it yet... and then the funniest thing happened... I got a job. LOL, ya go figure... now that I WANT the time to learn about the new products and maybe get organized, and try to drum up some parties... I get a full time, 8 hr a day, 5 day a week... Job. They really cut into daytime hours, ya know??

Ok... I can do this. Maybe not well, at first... but I'll get there... Im still learning to get up early every morning.. make breakfast... make Lunch!... think about dinner... NAHH... and leave on time for work. Oh ya, then STAY at work all day... and come home around 5pm.. whew.. that's a LONG day. LOL... seriously it does take some time to get back in the saddle... so Im workin on that..

I'm also working on building my Tupperware business now... tomorrow I have a 'vendor show' I'm scheduled at... I'll have a table... display all my wares... hopefully have people who will be interested... and with any luck, come home with orders, or party hosts lined up. That's the plan. So to that end, I sat tonite and made little labels for EACH PIECE of tupperware i have... with its Name, Description, price, page number, item number. So my last basket it packed... I'm ready to go... now I need some sleep. I'll take pictures tomorrow, and post them here... stay tuned, ok?

Oh, and if you'd like to do an ONLINE party... go here: http://my2.tupperware.com/tup-html/R/ruthinman-product.html
and click the blue square on the right...

Cya tomorrow!

Ok.. here's a pic of my table...

Campaign Behavior ... or Mis-Behavior

How bad is this going to get before it's over? Why can't they campaign like adults? All this crap makes me wish there was a 3rd choice!

Stomach Viruses Suck

I'm here to tell ya... that's true. And this is the longest one I've had... completing my 5th full day now, I'm feeling more energy but still not over the main symptom, if you know what I mean. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Autumn is Here!

My Gosh, is it October already??? WOW...one of my favorite seasons... autumn. I even like the word "Autumn" ... I don't care for "fall" it sounds like a negative word... that's what you do when you miss a step, or slip on the ice... you fall. No thanks... I'll take Autumn. The trees are starting to turn colors... the burning bush in our back yard is going to a deep red... very pretty... and best of all, the BUGS are gone!... ha ha ha they don't like autumn... maybe that's the best of all..

Going Down...

Well it's been a busy couple of days... But... it seems something made a difference, since the very next morning Thornton's price was down, and has dropped a couple times since then. We are now down to $3.84 - I'm thinking we should be down to $2.00/gal everywhere, but that's not likely in this week.. who knows...

Gas Gouging

I'm resurrecting this blog, it was one I had started a while back, and due to the number of blogs I had, it fell by the wayside... must be lots of things there, by the wayside. Hmmmm...

So today my plight is this. Gas Gouging. Everytime we have some type of weather or nature related catastrophy, the gas prices creep up. Why? Do they really think we buy that crap? Here is a prime example...Thornton's - everyone else had gas for $3.99-$4.05 and what was Thornton at? $4.29
This Thornton's was in East Peoria, IL - there were others reported as well, in Sunnyland, IL which included the Shell and Mobil on Washington Road. Unexcusable. Even the lawmakers are calling for investigations.Attorney General even wants to know about it... you can call them and report these companies. "Consumers who question the legality of any price increases at their local gas station are strongly encouraged to contact the Attorney General’s Office at 1-800-771-7755."

When you have One Job... Do it Right

I wore a 'safari necklace' to work today. It's made of wooden beads and wooden animals. (Giraffe, tiger, elephant, lion, etc) It's very pretty and I get lots of compliments on it. There's one part I don't like about this necklace, and that is the back of it; the part that lays on the back of my neck. It's made of alternating wooden beads & discs all the way around. This results in the wooden discs either hurting my neck, or catching my hair in them, or both. Usually both.

I was showing it to a co-worker, and remarked about the disadvantage of it, and she had this to say,"You know, they have ONE job, it's to make a necklace. You'd think they could do it RIGHT and think about the person wearing it and design it for comfort as well as appearance. One Job! That's all they had to do. Why couldn't they do it Right?"

She said it all.... I rest my case.

Salad & Water -- vs. -- Quarter Pounder, Fries & Coke

I walked into McDonald's today for a quick lunch "to go".
As I stared up at the menu and was impressed that they offered a "healthy" option combo of salad & bottled water. This lunch included the Asian Salad and a bottle of Dasani water. (By the way, for those of you who don't know, Dasani is "purified" water, NOT spring water)

I said to the clerk, "I wonder why a 'salad & water' costs more than a 'burger, fries and a coke'?!"
She was confused so I pointed to the sign up above, which showed the salad as $6.19 and with tax I had just paid $4.59 for the #2 combo.

Well she didn't know, so she asked another person, who fumbled for an answer, during which, a 3rd person leaned into the conversation and said,
"Because the salad costs more to put together."
"hmmm", I said, "salad, mandarin orange segments and sliced almonds vs. meat, bread, potatoes, and a soft drink... I don't think so. "

Why do they think they need to charge us more just because people are suddenly caring what they put in their bodies?

I'm just not 'buying' it. And so I didn't.... and I won't.

Flowers for Mother's Day? ...Order in April! and DONT use 1-800-Flowers!

I don't normally speak poorly of a company on the first time they fail to come thru with what they advertise, but this is the 2nd time...

"1-800-Flowers" or online at www.1800flowers.com ... for the 2nd time DID NOT deliver the flowers I ordered.

The first time was for a birthday, my daughter's birthday, and it was 3-4 years ago. I ordered those with plenty of notice... 3-4 days, and they never did show up! I swore then that I'd never use them again, and I waited a good long time before giving them a second chance. This year... that 2nd chance came... and they flopped.

On Friday, May 12, I ordered flowers for my mom to be delivered to her at her office. She has room for them there and can enjoy them all week long... The website promised SAME DAY DELIVERY if the order was placed before 2-pm in the time zone of the recipient. I made sure of making that deadline - I ordered at 9-am central, which was 7-am in her time zone...so they had 7 hours of advance notice!

Not only did the flowers not arrive on Friday, but they called me later and asked for her home address so they could deliver them on Saturday... I supplied them with not only her address but also her Cell phone number to make arrangements in case they missed her again. Did they arrive?... NO Did they call her?.... NO.

It's Sunday now.... still no flowers. I called them and asked what they intended on doing....

Yes, they did agree to issue a full refund, but that doesn't put flowers on my mother's table, now does it?

gRAMMAR gONE bAD

I'm sure you have heard a few of these that just make your skin crawl... due to all the grammar lessons we endured in our schooling... feel free to add some of your own!

"I’ve ran into that" -- SHOULD BE -- "I have run into that" (or) "I ran into that"
"I seen it" ---SHOULD BE -- "I have seen it" (or) "I saw it"
"The report will be ran overnight" --SHOULD BE -- "The report will be run overnight" (or) "The report will run overnight"
"We was going to call you" --SHOULD BE -- "We WERE going to call you"
"Was You?" -----> "WERE you?"

Leave me some space!

It seems lately I am posting about traffic gripes, but that is what's griping me lately so that's what I write.

Did you ever wish you could have a way of telling other drivers how you feel? Bumper stickers are wonderful but many times written too small, thus defeating the purpose. This morning I entered the interstate and came up to speed as quickyo as possible. To accomodate this, a car in the 'slow lane' moved over (thank you!) to allow me on. It seems she (yes, SHE) also decided just HOW fast I would get up to and when it would be safe to move back into the 'slow lane' in FRONT of me. And I DO mean directly in front of me! How did she know I was done speeding up? (I wasn't) But time and time again people do this, change lanes in front of me, and leave very little space between us. This leaves me no where to go, but to change to the 'fast lane' and pass them. This leads to my Leap Frogging that I referred to in my earlier post of April 28... it's an endless and fruitless move....

So please... when changing lanes... LEAVE ME SOME SPACE.

Thankyouverymuch.

Leapfrog?

While traveling the 4 lane highway to Bloomington to get to work, I came up behind a slow moving vehicle who was trying to pass a semi. It was difficult for him, I guess, as he was barely going any faster than the truck. Ok,... so I gave him a little space and stayed with him. The fellow behind me (and it was a fellow) didn't see all this and decided he could go faster if he were in front of me. Now, there are only 2 lanes in our direction, so he had to get in the slow lane and go around me to pass... and he did. And then he saw .... the hold up was not ME.

"I hope you're happy", I muttered to him. "You're SO much farther ahead now!" LOL

This leap-frog behavior continued as we managed to get around the truck, he pulled off into the right lane finally and I passed him and several others. For the next 20 miles we kept changing places and finally as we both exited at the same exit, one behind the other, it was evident.... It really doesn't matter... we both got there at the same time.

What makes people do this? Why do they think it will make a difference? All I can say is... What's Up With That?

What Happened to Teaching Manners to Kids?

Note: This happened a few weeks ago and I'm just getting around to posting it.

I'm the first person to agree that kids ought to be allowed to act like kids and have fun. Along with that though, comes teaching them when to be quiet and respectful of other people.

Case in point, someone brought their kids into work today. How did I know? I could hear them from 40 yards away... squealing and squeaking and squawking...and jumping off of a chair as if they were from Dr Doolittle's last cast. I don't know how young or old they were... but I do know that whatever parent/grandparent/guardian brought them in should be silencing them and teaching them to use their 'inside voice' ... even the dog on TV has been taught to do that! I also know that My mother or grandmother would never have allowed this behavior in public, or doesn't the "adult in charge" realize it is interrupting people who are trying to work? I guess they brought the kids in to see where Mommy or Daddy works.... or perhaps the babysitter or Grandma was taking them shopping or the like and stopped by for a few moments...

...Ahhh finally, I heard someone "Shhh" them... after all this time (at least 15 minutes have gone by.. long enough to irritate me, distract me and move me to writing this!) I thought perhaps the word "Shhh" had been eliminated from the American Parent's Language. Many times lately I have been in stores and heard kids screeching at their parents for one thing or another... the parent IGNORES them. I realize that "ignoring demanding kids" is one method of correction, but when it is interfering with someone else's shopping, reading, or whatever the public place is for... it shouldn't be practiced at that time. Parent's PLEASE use some discretion as to how you discipline your child... or in some cases... Please DICIPLINE your child!... That's what public restrooms are for... (hint hint)

Whatever the public place is... there is a proper behavior they need to learn for that situation. If you take them into an office,... Please... inform them AHEAD of time (just before you open the door to go in) that they will have to be quiet and careful to not disturb others that are working... at least I should be working instead of writing this... and I WOULD be... IF I could concentrate. Maybe it's time for lunch...

It's NOT a turn lane!

I live in a rural areal where the main 'street' is a highway... Route 99 we'll call it. There are roads that cross this highway leading to residential homes, churches and the like. In this area of the state, they didn't see fit to paint in 'right-turn lanes' to get the traffic off the main road while they are slowing down to approach their turn. Some people pull over into the painted 'shoulder area' on the right and use it for that purpose and others choose not to ...since it's not actually a 'turn lane'. I don't know the legality of using this area as a turn lane, but that isn't the issue I'm bringing here today.

The issue I have, are with the drivers BEHIND the car that is turning. It seems that those people (I don't mean to generalize, not all, but many of them fall into this category) presume or at least think the turning driver SHOULD move over into the shoulder area to turn. In fact some of them will not slow down at all, thinking perhaps they can coerce the driver into moving into that 'lane'.

HELLO!!!!... it ISN'T A TURN LANE.

Whether we CAN or not... it isn't put there for this purpose. Hence... it would really be nice if you would quit EXPECTING us to move into it and just come to terms with the fact that if You don't want to slow down while waiting for us to make our turn.... CHANGE LANES; move into the left lane & go around us!