Pet Peeve of the Day

One of my pet peeves (there are many more actually) is when I call a business (be it the cable company, gas company, electric company) and they spend 5 minutes telling me by a computer voice of course how I could easily access them on the internet.

I am calling them because I want to speak to a human being. I am not at a computer. I may be driving my car, on my 30-minute lunch break walking the corridor to get a moment of privacy or I may be sitting in my car in the parking lot. I am calling them because I need to speak to someone that can respond to questions that I may have. I do realize that these companies are online.

Am I the only person that occasionally requires the customer service department??? Sometimes I think that the company has no human beings.

So The Saying Goes.....

I have been wanting to do a post with just sayings that I remember from people that used to be in my life and aren't anymore. Here goes ... with some explanation. Some sayings are self-explanatory and I will give no explanation.

These are all from my father...
1) Oh, happy day! (Whenever he was happy about something. Sometimes he clapped his hands along with it).
2) I know where my bread is buttered. (This was in regards to why we had to drive a Studebaker when all my friends parents drove cool cars. He worked at Studebaker's).
3) Don't cry over spilled milk. It could have been beer.
4) You have a champagne taste with a beer pocketbook.
5) A fool and his money.... (talking about my brother buying another antique).
6) Hey, I went on a diet one time (for a day).
7) You can go broke saving money. (his thought on buying something you didn't need and can't afford just because it was on sale).
8) My public awaits!!!! (He would be dressed in his police uniform with his lunch packed in a brown paper grocery bag and ready to leave for work)
9) He's only 15,16,17,18,22,26... (referring to my older brother that constantly tormented me and my other brother (the painter).

These are from my Grandmother Ball (the Montana homesteader/seamstress)...
1) I'm not hungry now, but if I don't eat it, I won't get any. (Referring to my constantly hungry older brothers).
2) We need a revolving door put on this kitchen (also referring to my brothers coming back into the kitchen before she could even get it cleaned up after dinner).

These are from my World History Teacher (she is discussed in a previous post "Room 100")
1) If you read trash, you will be trash.
2) The more you know, the more you know you don't know.
3) If you waste time, time will waste you.

I was wondering today what saying my daughters might remember me by. I came up with a couple....
1) Having you two girls is the best thing I ever did.
2) My life didn't even start until I gave birth to you and your sister.
I highly doubt that either will remember me saying those things but I did.

So, the other day Danielle was talking about how I hate throwing away food (this stems from my Depression Era father I'm sure) She told me she hates to throw out food because she knows that I will search through the trash and look it over and wonder why she threw such perfectly good food away. She came up with this saying, "Well the WHOLE STRAWBERRY isn't rotten!!! Nice.

Stef's New Ride

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Originally uploaded by jntrowley

Well, Stefanie traded in her father's old 1992 Bonneville and came home with this 2001 Jeep Laredo. That would be a good thing I guess but I am afraid for her. The payment is high and she has never had to make a car payment before. And now she has her own car insurance and she's never had to pay car insurance before. I am very afraid but I wish her the best. She wanted to do this on her own so didn't really consult us with any details. Not much I can do.

And no her room isn't all cleaned out. I went in there and rounded up some miscellanous clothes, washed them and had her sort through them. The saga continues.

My Mother

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Originally uploaded by jntrowley

This is one of the rare pictures that I have of my mother. She was born in 1919 in Montana in a log cabin. Her parents were homesteaders and had a ranch near Camas Prairie, Montana. I cannot imagine how hard their life was. I know the ranch was named "The Lazy B" and that is about all I know. They did move back to Indiana in the late 30's and my mother finished high school there.

I love the dress she is wearing in the picture. I know that her mother made all her clothes and she wished that she could buy clothes from a store. You know kids always want what they can't have. I think she was about 9 years old in the picture.

My mother died at age 48 of Multiple Sclerosis. I value every picture that I have of her. I love looking at this young, healthy child's face.

The House Next Door

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Originally uploaded by jntrowley

This is a painting that my oldest brother, Chuck did when he was in his early 20's. He had just gotten out of the army and had come home to go back to school. My grandmother had just died and my parents sent my brother to stay with our grieving grandfather. Well, I think poor Grandpa drove my brother nuts and Chuck ended up outside looking at the house next door. My brother always loved interesting architecture and tended to see things the way they used to be (or should have been) and so this painting came about. When I graduated from high school I told my brother that this was my favorite painting of all those he had done and he told me that I could have this one as a graduation present. I didn't feel right about taking it out of Dad's living room and when Dad died in 1993 I brought it home.

I have taken my daughters to see the original house back in Indiana and it certainly never looked this good in my lifetime. The people that lived here never took care of it and it was quite rundown. But in my brother's mind this is how it looked.

Chuck doesn't paint anymore as his two old houses and way too many antiques take up all his time. I hope that one day he will paint again.

Lundy Hates Me

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Originally uploaded by jntrowley

I spent the last week babysitting for my friend's three cats while she spent some time visiting with her parents in Florida. I go to her house morning and evening to feed the kitties and scoop the litter. Lundy is the oldest cat and is in charge of the household while his parents are out of town. He greets me at the door each time and each time he hates me more. It doesn't matter how nice I am to Lundy he punches me with his fists. This blurry dark video documents one of my visits. Please bear with me. I just had to try this on my blog.

AquaJuice is Here!!!!!!

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Originally uploaded by jntrowley

I was shopping at Meijer yesterday and noticed a new product on the shelf. I passed by, did a double-take and passed by again. This is apple juice with water added and they are calling it AquaJuice. Is is me or is this ridiculous?
I have been adding water to my juice that I take to work with me everyday for years. I don't want all the sugar from regular juice and I like the taste of a little juice.
I think my Depression Era father would roll over in his grave right now if he saw this!!! We are so stupid (lazy) that we can't put our own water in our juice???

Latisse

I saw something on the news the other night that I thought was worth mentioning. A new product called Latisse is now being offered to women wanting to grow long, lush eyelashes. It's pricey but something many women have wanted for a long time.

Funny that this product is a glaucoma eye drop only this time it is being marketed to women to grow longer eyelashes. It is sold with applicators so you can apply it to the sparse lashes and wait to see the lovely, dark, long lashes appear. It is kind of like a chia pet! Only it grows hair not greenery.

In this scary economic time I am not sure how many women want to spend $120 a month growing longer lashes. I would be more apt to spend that money on groceries, gas, bills, etc. Guess I'm just funny that way.

Oh, and one more thing, one of the main side effects of this medication is that it causes trichiasis (misdirected eyelashes) that have to be plucked out by a doctor. Gee, that sounds fun. But then beauty comes with a price.

You Got People in There

One of our patients told me a story the other day about her grandchild. She told the 5 year old grandson that she was going to the eye doctor. The grandson replied, "Did you know you got people in there?"

"What? What do you mean?" she asked him.

Grandson replied as he got up real close to her so he could look her in the eye, "My mom said you have 'people' in there, inside your eye".

So I dilated the grandmother's "people" (pupils) and let her have a seat in the reception area for 15 minutes so the doctor could look at her optic nerve.