I got kicked out of the Verizon store today....

Yes, dear hearts, yours truly, this fifty-eight year old rebel without a cause got ousted from the Verizon Store today. And I might add, I went out kicking and screaming. John said I'm starting to sound just like my mother!!!!!

Okay, here's how it went down. I've been checking out those new Blackberry Curve phones. I love the look, love the icons, yeah, I'm all about the eye candy, and anyhoo, I got this letter from Verizon, saying that I could get it at a Verizon Store for $199, plus a $50 rebate - same price as I could buy it for online, but if I went to the store, I could have it today and I'm into instant gratification.

I've been in a crappy mood, didn't even want to leave the house, but Maggie was out of Grammy's Pot Pie dog food and I had no choice, so I had to trek to the other side of town to get it. I scooped her up, and out the door we went. I got the dogfood, and decided I would stop by Verizon and check out that phone. Nothing like a little shopping to lighten the mood, right?

So I'm in there for about a half an hour with Maggie - she was her usual big hit, the employees took turns holding and petting her, one of the technicians took her picture to send to his girlfriend on his cellphone - they called my name finally, and I went to pay for it. The girl at the desk informed me that I wasn't eligible for a new phone until November 08 - I could get one, but I couldn't get the $100 credit. Well I didn't want to do that, so I said thanks but no thanks, left the store, got in the car, read that letter and it clearly stated that my cellphone line was eligible for the phone.

So back into the store we go, the woman at the counter was busy, but there was this old guy named Scott, who I realized later was afflicted with short man's syndrome, and on a power trip to boot, and I asked him if he could check on this for me because the other woman was busy and I had already waited for-ever. He informed me that he was busy doing something else, which consisted of him peering into the computer screen with a vacant look on his face because he was too stupid to figure out what he was doing.

But then this other nice younger guy said he would look at the letter, and he informed me that indeed I was eligible for the phone and he started to enter the infomation into the computer. I'm standing there with Maggie tucked discreetly under one arm, and all of a sudden this Scott guy says, "you need to leave the premises with your dog." I said, "what?" and he said again, "you need to leave the premises with your dog." He was like a friggin robot, repeating the same phrase. He was just glaring at me and saying it over and over.

"I've been in here for a half an hour, nobody else had an issue with my dog or told me to leave, it's 85 degrees outside, I can't just lock her in the hot car, can't I just put her in my purse and finish my transaction?"

"No, he said, it's against company policy to have a dog on the premises." Well, of course I was getting my back up by now, even though I should have had Mags in her carrier and the moron wouldn't even have known I had a dog - I told him that it wasn't posted anywhere that dogs weren't allowed, but he kept sneering at me and repeating the same phrase. "You have to take the dog and leave the premises." Oh, he also said that she might jump out of my arms and bite somebody.

Well that was the stupidest thing I ever heard, this little scrap of a thing tucked under my arm - get loose and bite somebody??? And of course, I sarcastically said, "Oh yeah, right." The poor guy that was trying to tally me up was actually laughing out loud at this Scott doofus for saying such a stupid thing, and now here comes the store manager, very nicely telling me that I have to abide by what Scott says.

She was polite, polite is all I wanted, but did I just leave quietly, oh nononono, I wasn't going to let that little weasel get the last word in - I pointed my finger at the little man and told him I was going to call Verizon and report him, that he didn' have to be so rude to me that I would have gladly left without him acting so obnoxiously. I was a customer, after all. Then I scooped up my paperwork, and Mags and I were outta there faster than a New Yawk minute!

But all's well that ends well, and this story has a silver lining thanks to a nice Verizon rep on the phone. I got home, started to order the phone online, Verizon site was asking me all kinds of questions about what kind of service I wanted, yadayadayada - I didn't want to change my service, I just wanted to upgrade the friggin phone.

Enough of that, I needed to talk to a real person, so I called Verizon, this nice guy customer service rep answers, I told him I've had a helluva day and that my dog and I got kicked out of the Verizon store, he told me not to worry he would take care of me.

And take care of me he did - the grand total for my new Blackberry Curve 8330 is, are you ready for this - $106.99 plus a $50.00 rebate. So the phone is going to cost me just $56.99. That's a hundred dollars cheaper than the Verizon store, which by the way, I will never go into again - from now on I'm shopping from home!

So that horrid little Scott man can just take his attitude and stick it where the sun don't shine.

I know, I know, you are all reading this and asking why did I take Maggie in the first place. I take Maggie everywhere, it's just what I do - it's comforting to me to have her along. Can't you tell by now that Mags and I are joined at the hip? I'm just going to have to start putting her in her carrier so she travels incognito.

This man was absolutely right in telling me I couldn't have my dog in the store if was company policy, I don't have an issue with that, I only have an issue with the way he handled it. I've taken her so many places, and not only me, I actually see several women with little dogs in stores, and have never had a problem, except once when Trish and I stopped at Dollar General for camera batteries, and the store manager told me dogs weren't allowed. I respect that, I just don't respect overbearing men with an attitude!

And am I going to report this Scott a**hole to Verizon? You bet your sweet booties I am. I'm going to write them a scaathing letter about how impolite he was!!!! Men Schmen!!!

Once again, Hooterville came thru for us...

If you read this blog regularly, you know that my buddy Hoot finds the best stuff online of anybody. I'm serious, this woman scouts out the good stuff.

Well she's outdid herself once again, and we all get to reap the rewards, for free!!!

This time it's a soundscape program called Atmosphere Lite. It's like one of those soundscape machines, except on the computer. There are tons of categories to choose from, of course my favorite is Deep Forest. There are many, many sounds you can choose for it - and if you really love it, you can cough up $35 for the deluxe version. However, this free version has so many options, that unless you are just obsessed with it, you won't need the full meal deal.

It also has pictures you can click on and they become your wallpaper. I couldn't figure out how to make the wallpaper go away, she told me, duh, just right click on it, I did, poof it was gone, but the sounds stay.

This is a great program for masking out noise, or just relaxing - five stars on this one, it's a winner, ladies. Give it a try.

Thanks again, Hoot, you're a rock star!!!!!!

Here's the click for the download...

We lost a good one today, Harvey Korman, dead at age 81

Nobody played the straight man to Tim Conway like Harvey... This classic is too funny for words.

I don't give a rat's hiney WHERE Susan Sarandon lives...

Have you all heard about what Susan Sarandon is saying?

SUSAN SARANDON, who appeared in three films last year and won kudos for her TV movie "Bernard and Doris," is still not a contented soul. She says if John McCain gets elected, she will move to Italy or Canada. She adds, "It's a critical time, but I have faith in the American people

Like, do we care? Why does she feel the need to broadcast her views? Does she think people are going to vote democratic just so she stays in the country? Jeez lady, move already...

A little nostalgia for you...

I've always been a reader, as a little girl I just adored the Bobbsey Twins. I had several of their books, in fact I still have them, they're pretty shopworn by now, because I read and re-read them.

Children today would be so bored with these books and it's so sad, because the world has evolved to the point that these charming little reads would now be viewed as hokey by most little girls. *sigh* It's such a loss.

You can actually read The Bobbsey Twins in the Country in it's entirety online. If you have a little child that might be interested, Here's The Link.

And the following is a brief synopsis from Wikypedia. If you are of my generation, you are probably smiling right now as you remember your own childhood and summers spent reading about the Bobbsey's.

The Bobbsey family consists of:

• The father, Richard, a successful lumber merchant;
• The mother, Mary (referred to at least once as "Edith");
• Bert and Nan, slim, brown-eyed, straight-haired brunette, the older of two sets of fraternal twins;
• Flossie and Freddie, chubby, blue-eyed, curly-haired blonds), the younger twins.

Also living under the Bobbsey roof are Dinah and Sam Johnson, a black couple. Dinah is the Bobbsey family's cook and housekeeper, while Sam has been variously described, depending on the vintage of any particular book, as the Bobbseys' "man of all work," their chauffeur, a neighborhood handyman, or a truck driver at the Bobbsey lumberyard (in later volumes, Mr. Bobbsey's most trusted employee).

The Bobbseys live in the fictional city of Lakeport, on the shore of the equally fictional Lake Metoka, presumably somewhere in the northeastern U.S. The Bobbseys have relatives "in the country" (Richard Bobbsey's brother Daniel and his family, introduced in volume 2) on a farm near the rural town of Meadowbrook (in most books set there, that is also the name of the farm itself), and other relatives "at the seashore" (Mary Bobbsey's sister Emily Minturn and her family, introduced in volume 3), who live in the seaside hamlet of Ocean Cliff.

Here's my baby boy...

Just had to show you this picture of Ryan, proving that even though he's thirty-two now, the child still lives within him.

Lindsay snapped this today at Boyds Orchard. Hmmm, kind of reminds you of the male equivalent of Edith Ann, doesn't it?

We're having one of those rare days...

Heavensville is picture perfect today - 72 degrees, clear skies, no humidity, light breeze...

Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors, played by someone I do not know

~ John Keats ~
1795-1821

Well, maybe just one more SATC tidbit, this from People Magazine...

The Carlyle hotel's legendary Bemelmans Bar will feature a signature cocktail in honor of Sarah Jessica Parker's character in Sex and the City. Here's how to make one:
The Bradshaw
2 oz. Don Julio Blanco Tequila
1/2 oz. X Rated Passion Fruit Liquor
3/4 oz. Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
3/4 oz. Cane Sugar Simple Syrup

Shaken, serve straight up in a martini glass rimmed in hot pink sugar, garnished with a lime wedge.

I'm so over Sex and the City...

I'm burned out and the movie isn't out yet. Just couldn't handle any more of my black blog with Carrie Bradshaw's picture on it, so even though a lot of you really enjoyed it, it was time to girly the site up a bit, and who better to do that than Miss Margaret MooLatte....

I got Jean up a 4:30 yesterday morning, yes that's right, 4:30 am, because this guy at Burdette Park told me last year that if you get there at the crack of dawn you see all kinds of wildlife. So I was up and banging on Hooterville's door, waking her up so we could get there by dawn. By 5:15, bolstered by mugs of hot coffee, we were off. Little Miss Merry Sunshine here was babbling about all the animals we were going to see, Hoot was as grumpy as an old bear because she thought it was stupid to crawl out of bed that early... Well, we got there so early the park wasn't even open. It was gated off. Jeez, Louise, when it finally did open, sometime around 6:30, we didn't see anything different than we ever do.

That was a bust! Never again will we get up and head out before dawn. It wasn't even a pretty sunrise, it was cloudy. She's still railing about what a stupid idea it was. I have to admit, she was right, but it did seem like a good idea at the time....

I'm so happy that my guys try and relive their childhood memories....

John called tonight, Ryan and Lindsay are visiting in Nashville, they had a cookout this evening, and he and Ryan made dessert.

Remember how I've always told you what a hands-on Grandma my Mother was, and how she spoiled the kids rotten? She used to make the pie I blogged about not too long ago, she would put a barrier of aluminum foil in the middle of a piecrust, fill half of it with butterscotch pie filling, the other half with chocolate - John was the butterscotch lover, Ryan the chocolate - then she would top it with meringue and they would each get their favorite pie...

Well tonight that's what the guys did, they made it together and were getting ready to serve it when John called. I bet Mother is smiling down on them this evening. She would be just thrilled to know that they are carrying on her tradition....

Aren't families just the best?

It's picnic time.....

Ode to Jean

Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come
Watching the ships ducks roll in
And then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah

I'm sittin' on the dock deck of the bay bridge
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock deck of the bay bridge
Wastin' time...

I left my home in Georgia Hooterville
Headed for the 'Frisco bay Heavensville way
'Cause I've had nothing to stay in Hooterville for
And look like nothin's gonna happen there anyway

So I'm just gonna sit on the dock deck of the bay bridge
Watching the tide ducks roll away
Ooo, I'm sittin' on the dockdeck of the bay bridge
Wastin' time...

Look like nothing's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I won't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same, yes

Sittin' here resting my bones
I'm just peaceful if you leave me alone
It's thirty-five miles I roamed
Just to make this dock bridge my home

Now, I'm just gonna sit on the dock deck of the bay bridge
Watching the tide ducks roll away
Oooo-wee, sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time...

My buddy Hooterville is visiting, we're on holiday, oh yeah, nothing like two old women acting like teenagers. It's such a blast, girlfriends, you have no idea.... Our kids would absolutely disown us if they could see how silly we act...

She's so into the birds, we were at Burdette really early this morning, after a Donut Bank drive-thru for coffee and still warm cinnamon buns, ohhhhh, we're so bad..... She got some absolutely amazing shots of the migrating warblers, Maggie snoozed in her little carseat, and I read the Sunday paper. Talk about blissful, OMG was it ever gawjus. Wish you all could have been here.....

We're grilling burgers on the Smokey Joe later, mesquite grilled ribs tomorrow. Life is soooo good...

V, if you're reading this,
don't forget to take the food pictures!

Proof positive that the male of the species has no brain.....

Stupid guy, this takes a bit of time to get going, be patient, you won't believe the ending!

I'm trying really hard to make lemonade today....

You know how sometimes the shit hits the fan, well it not only hit the fan today, it splattered the walls.

First off, and of little importance in the grand scheme of things, I brewed a pot of coffee without putting in the filter? Have you ever done this? If not, trust me it doesn't work, I had coffee and grounds all over the counter, running down the cabinet, it was quite the mess. All this while I was getting ready to take the Mewster Brewster to the vet.

Maggie has reoccurring UTI's, and that coupled with occasional bloody urine led us to believe something was going on in that little abdomen of hers. Sure enough, today she had ultrasound - I watched it, not quite as much fun as pregnancy ultrasound, girlfriends, and sure enough there was this little white bean shaped area in her bladder. She has a bladder stone. She has to have surgery. *sigh* - Dr. Wagner assures me it's pretty routine, no worse than when they spayed her, but naturally I''m upset. But I'm lucky that I found a vet that I'm confident with and that
I feel really cares about Maggie, so we scheduled her surgery for June 10th.

I was bummed all afternoon, decided to go for a ride on Milly - Maggie wasn't cooperating, she didn't want to jump up on the golf cart, I had it in gear, ready to back out of the garage, and when I leaned way over to the right to start to scoop her up my foot shifted from the brake to the gas, I shot backwards just like a friggin bumper car and slammed into the car. Jeez, Louise - just what I needed. Milly now has cracked plastic in the back cargo area, the car has a huge dent in the spoiler, and I was practically in tears. I told hubby on the phone, being married for thirty-seven years does that, you learn to tell them the bad stuff on the phone so they have time to absorb it before they get home. Works for me anyway. He was really sweet about it, he felt sorry for me, he knew I was pretty much at the end of my rope.

So then tonight I'm dusting, I hook my favorite soap dish with the edge of the dustcloth, it crashes to the floor, breaks into smithereens....

See what I mean, oh so many lemons today - it's really hard to make that lemonade...

This is beyond cute, remember ladies, he's only four years old... thanks to Trish for sending me this....

Why I do the things I do....

I come from generations of women that "feed you." I remember as a small child going to Grandma Short's house, and as soon as you got there, you went to the kitchen, she took the dishcloth covering the leftover food on her table off and you sat down and ate.

There was always cornbread and biscuits, beans, pickles, leftover meat, usually fried, and some sort of dessert on her table. Remember, my Grandma had no electricity, so when she finished a meal she didn't put the leftovers in the fridge, there was no fridge, except for the "icebox" and it wasn't in use daily, only when my Uncle would bring a block of ice from the ice house in town to put in it to chill the food would she use it.

So she just covered everything and left it on the table. I know, this must sound so alien to all of you and you are wondering how she kept things cold that normally would be refrigerated. Oh this sounds so Little House on the Prairie, but she would put things that had to stay cold in a bucket and lower it into a well.

But think about it, they lived on a farm, she had cows and fresh milk daily, she churned butter every other day, so refrigeration wasn't necessary. She gathered eggs daily, she would kill and dress a chicken, then cook it immediately, the pork that was butchered was cured and hung in the smokehouse. It wasn't like it is today.

But back to the feeding part. My Aunts always fed me when I visited them, much like Grandma did, and Mother would always bring some type of food when she came to visit us. The boys knew when Grandma drove up there would be food in the car of some sort. I find myself feeding people,too. Not to the extent that Mother and Grandma did, but I'm always pushing food onto somebody.

Take this evening for instance, Trish and I went for a ride on Milly. I cored an apple, split it in the middle, wrapped each half in paper towel, and gave Trish half of it to eat. She wasn't hungry, she put it in Milly's cup container, and when I dropped her off at her house, she forgot to pick it up.

Now here's where the difference comes in. If this had been Mother, when she got home and discovered the apple Trish forgot, she would promptly go back to her house and give it to her.

What did I do? I ate it, I ATE IT!!!! Well I thought about taking it back to her, really I did and I did email her and tell her I ate it...

~ jan, feeling just a smidge guilty...

Oh wow...

I'm afraid it migh be a sign of the times, not just some weird bubba on a bike...

Yesterday morning I saw the strangest thing, an older man in bib overalls going thru McDonald's drive-thru on his bicycle...

It was a bit strange to say the least, but we might be seeing more of this with gas prices continuing to spiral out of control...

Saint Teddy...

Grown men wept on both sides of the political aisle Tuesday when word of Sen. Edward Kennedy's illness hit the Senate, his political home of 46 years, where he has been known for a soft heart, a strong arm and a ready joke.

I read an excerpt yesterday from a link put on my friend Jean's Little Blog and agree with her totally. The media is singing this man's praises, while there is no mention of the "accident" when a drunk, married Ted Kennedy ran his car thru a chain link fence at a ferry into the water, swam to shore, left the scene of an accident and left a young woman dead, drowned in his car, after a night of partying. He didn't turn himself in until the next day, the Kennedy money machine got him off with no jail time, it was all swept under the rug and his life went on.

Now that he is dying he they are making him into a national hero. Is something wrong here? I think so... This man should have been in prison, not in the senate!

Here's a link to the article, A Profile in Cowardice, that she posted.

A sneak peek...

Cousin Pam sent me this picture of herself this morning. I know, I should be saving this stuff for my index page, but it was too cute not to share.

Talk about priceless!!!!

Thanks to you who are participating in this - keep your pictures coming in.



~ jan