Driving Mr Crazy

I turned left onto Ridge and heard J gasp in astonishment.
"Linda, you didn't use your blinker!"

"There's no one in sight."

"Oh ho, you tell me to use the blinker when I drive"

"That's on the highway- there are cars everywhere" (a sore spot with me- I point out that people would let him in the lane he wants if they knew he wanted to get there)

"You don't use blinkers on the highway- you use your rear view and side mirrors-"

"You what?"

"I use the mirrors to see when I can move over"

"So, the other drivers do what? peer in your mirrors to see which way your eyeballs move? This is so going in my blog!"

"I'll have to start my own blog to defend myself"

This took the half mile to our house and before I turned into the driveway, I asked "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" He does have some hearing loss, so I stopped the car in the road and asked again.

"Blink, Blink, Blink"

Laughing as we stop, he says "You're crazy" Then together we both start "Craaazy, crazy for loving you".

Big Chill

My annual mammogram was at 2:30 today, and I had carefully planned my day accordingly- clean house in the morning, then shower just before leaving to minimize the effect of the no deodorant requirement.

I took a can of Diet Coke in my little insulated lunch bag for an after appointment drink, then had a brilliant idea. I wanted to take my deodorant with me to use later, but was afraid the heat in the car would liquefy it. Solution? Put it in the bag with the ice packs!

I managed the little cape thingy that took the place of the johnny with just a little confusion about where the long ends went. Turns out they don't go anywhere, just get crossed over and magically stay in place. The mammogram went smoothly ( I must say, as disappointed as I was last year to find out the "we're digital now" was all on their end, not mine, that it really does seem to make a difference) and I was out in no time, clutching my complimentary carnation. As I was getting dressed, I realized I had forgotten to get my Suave out of cold storage, so had to wait until I got back to the car. Let's just say it was...refreshing.

Weeding, not reading

 

This mass of grass is a garden in our front yard. I really did weed this once but the flowers were overwhelmed. The evening primroses bloomed nicely, but are scraggly now, and the tall old-fashioned chrysanthemums have given up apparently. I found half a dozen single stalks that are just sad.

Ms M and Mr C are visiting Saturday, and I wanted the front to look nice for them, not to mention all the neighbors driving by, tsk tsking and shaking their heads. We checked them out(the mums not the neighbors) at WalMart and Home Depot, because I'm cheap and am happy if half of the plants come back next year. Both stores had tables of half-price plants that looked terrible- all the flowers were dead, browned as if burned. Strange that both stores had so many like that- did they accept delivery of them that way? Did both stores neglect them the exact same way?

Did I mention I'm cheap? Plus I hate to see plants wasted, so I went through all the sale plants, and found 10 that still had green growth and unopened buds. I am their second chance in life! I did splurge on a couple of bigger, healthy plants just in case the browning really is terminal. Now, after two days of weeding and planting the garden looks like a garden again. Ta da!

Amazing, right? Now, grow, darn it.

Reading again

I finished a great book tonight, the "Night Angel" trilogy by Brent Weeks. I got the 3 in 1 version, so it was a very fat book indeed. It's a very well- written fantasy novel too, with much more depth and character development than I expected.

So, zipping along happily, and got to the last 50 pages or so, and stopped. I wanted to know how it ended, but didn't want to rush through and have it be all over. I mentioned this to J, so he knew to leave me alone after supper and went off to watch his movie. I mentioned this to the dogs, and it had no effect whatsoever on Boomer. Rosie knew better. Down to the last 10 pages, and Boomer gets escorted to the back door, and out to solitary banishment. He came close to ruining the whole mood there!

I don't really expect Boomer to understand that I am reading and cannot be expected to pay attention to minor outside distractions (not yet, but we're working on it). However, how annoying is it when people come by in the break room and ask what you're reading? They don't really care, they just want to have a conversation because they didn't have the forethought to bring anything to amuse themselves.

I bought a bookmark that said SHH, I'm trying to read, and no one took it seriously. Well, that's not true. One friend did, and she would sit at my table with her book too, saying that she knew I wouldn't bother her and she wouldn't talk to me. That usually worked out well.

Hmm, it just occurred to me that maybe the interrupters thought they were being nice, seeing me sitting alone, and that's why they didn't approach the two of us? I am not a very social person, but I guess normal people might think that way? Not realizing that the social pressure is more uncomfortable/stressful than sitting alone with a book. And that when I was working, my breaks there were the only time I had to read sometimes. Great, now I feel like a jerk.

Well, this post took an unexpected turn but I guess I will leave it out there.

Oh, and I did take the dogs out for a walk after I finished the book, so I'm not a total jerk.