I may have ghosts in my house…

Ghost (Photo credit: Pétur Gauti)

…seriously.  I go to work, come home and there are cabinet doors open.  The other day I came home and the closet door in my bedroom was standing wide open.  Another time the pantry door was open.  I guess I can’t really understand what these haunts are searching for and why do they have to open the doors anyhow?  Can’t they just somehow materialize on the other side of closed doors?  And what do they think I have that would be of any use to them?

Then there are the times I find socks on the kitchen floor when I know I left them in the clothes basket.  Once I found a necklace on the stairs.  Another time I found a plastic glass on the living room floor.  I know I’m not leaving this stuff lying around.  Crazy darn ghosts.

And the topper was coming home finding an entire roll of toilet paper unrolled in the downstairs bathroom.  Really, ghosts?  Are you bored?  Looking for something to do?  Getting your chuckles out of watching my reaction when I come home and see what you were up to today?  Can you go spook someone else?

Uhh…hmm…spook…that brings to mind another possibility here…yeah, maybe my assumption of having ghosts in the house was a little off base…oh, this is a little embarrasing…could just be a case of a little monster kitty…SPOOKY!!  What are you doing now???

Spooky...spooked..you better run, little missy...

What would you do with $640 Million?

Lottery Logo (Photo credit: Dj Linda Lovely)

For those of you who have been sleeping in a cave for the past several days, there’s a huge lottery jackpot up for grabs tonight!!  Did you buy your tickets?  I have to be honest here and tell you that I did not buy a ticket…I’m not much of a gambler…seriously, did you see the odds of winning?  Of course, someone will win (or several someones…or maybe no one will win tonight…yikes!!), so maybe I should have sprung a measly little dollar bill for a chance of a lifetime.

I like imagining what I’d do with all of that money…so tonight I started thinking about it…and you know what?  I couldn’t really come up with much that I’d jump right in and spend big bucks on.  I’d buy some land down home (in southern Indiana) and build a nice house with solar panels.  I’d need a pickup just because I’d be living out in the country and would need it to haul things in.  Hmm…what else?  Maybe that RV that I keep threatening to make my retirement home (if that day ever comes) so I could travel around and see the sights and visit the kids.  Then what?

Well, for sure I’d figure out some way to get IU basketball season tickets…I’m thinking all of those millions of dollars would go a long way in jumping me to the top of the waiting list…I’d go to every home game…heck, I could afford to go to every road game too, couldn’t I?  Go Hoosiers!!!

And then?  Well, heck…I just don’t know what else I’d do with that much money…donate a lot to my favorite charities, start a scholarship fund for students at my high school…maybe buy a new car for my boss…

And if I won tonight (assuming I’d purchased a ticket…haha), would I go to work tomorrow morning?  Well, I believe I would.  I think I wouldn’t really be able to believe I’d won the whole shebang until I showed up at the lottery headquarters and had everything verified.  Plus, I wouldn’t want Chris to have to come in on his weekend off…what would likely be his last weekend off for quite some time…because, yes, once I knew for sure that I’d won, I would definitely quit my job…I never believe people who say they wouldn’t.

So what are your plans for all of that loot?

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Dancing in the dark

Electricity Pylon, crossing lines Deutsch: Abspannmast mit sich kreuzenden Freileitungen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, I wasn’t really dancing in the dark…that one was for you, Simone…but I was working in the dark today.  We went in to work early to try to get some work done..and I think I was pretty successful with accomplishing quite a bit before we opened.  Then we just kept working on our projects once we opened.  I finally took lunch.  When I came back, Chris took his lunch.  And what do you suppose happened while he was gone?  Oh no…the lights went out…in the entire store…all of the power went out.  I gathered up some flashlights, then headed outside to see if any of the other stores in the strip were affected (yes, they were…every single one of them).  That’s when Chris came walking up through the parking lot.

He stood outside the doors letting people know that we were closed due to a power outage…we let the people who were already in the store continue shopping, as long as they were going to be able to pay with cash or a check…I tell you, it’s mind-boggling how much you can’t do without electricity…let’s see, of course the registers were down, the RF guns were down (so we had to run back and forth looking up prices when people wanted to check out), the computers were down (duh), oh yeah, and the phones were down.

Chris tried calling the electric company on his cell phone…of course, they track your address through your phone number.  So he gave up and told me to call, not realizing that the phones in the store weren’t working.  I got my cell phone out and called and, after much number punching, got a live person!  She explained that a circuit had locked (huh??  what does that mean?  can’t you get a key and unlock it?) and it should all be fixed by 4 pm (this happened a little before 1 pm).  So once we got all of the customers out of the store and the doors locked, we were trying to get a little work done by flashlight.

One of the girls went out to her car and got a headlamp that she uses to go caving (we have some very interesting people working there…), picked up what she’d been working on, and finished the job.  You go, girl!!

Eventually, the power was restored and we were able to allow customers back into the store.  But it was a good time dancing…err…working in the dark for those few hours~~

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Lazy days

I had the day off work today…slept in until 6 am!!  I was able to spend a little morning time online…well, after I fed Spooky, of course…she comes first (and believe me, she knows it).

Spooky striking a pose

After a while, I decided I needed to get ready and run a few errands before the storms hit…which they never did…I went to the gas station and spent more on gas than I spent on groceries for the week…crazy! When I got home, the mowing crew was out mowing in the complex…it needed it…don’t you think the smell of newly mown grass is one of the best scents of the spring and summer months?  I didn’t really do a lot at home today, just the basics…and I don’t care.  I needed a nice, peaceful day.  Work has been not so much fun lately.  We’re undergoing a lot of changes and some people are not handling it well…and their bad mood is contagious…have you ever noticed that?  Someone in a bad mood can bring everyone else down?  I’m trying my best to remain positive and cheerful…but they don’t make it easy.  But…I can’t allow how someone else reacts affect my behavior..have to keep reminding myself of that.  When we allow someone else’s bad attitude to change how we feel and behave, we give them the power to control us…and that’s not what I’m looking for in my life. How about you?  How do you handle negativity at work?  You can’t exactly cut those people out of your life since you work with them every day, right?

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Wacky Indiana weather

We’ve had crazy high temps for a couple of weeks then last night had a frost warning…didn’t materialize, thank goodness.  But we did have some weather excitement Friday night.

storm clouds moving in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tornado sirens going off several times over the course of the evening…of course, silly me, I’m outside taking pictures…no tornado though.

downpour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rain came pouring down and…what’s that?  A little hail?

hail in hand

And the hail kept coming down, harder and harder (I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this or not…but hail kind of stings when it hits you…I finally gave up and came inside)

The full impact (haha) of the hail storm became evident when I looked at this picture…

Isn’t mother nature amazing???

RIP Goldi Girl

I had to have Goldi put to sleep this morning.  She hasn’t been well for the past couple of weeks, but during the past two days she had stopped eating and was drinking very little.  I knew, when she looked at me last night, she was asking me to let her go…that she had fought it as long as she could.  So I took her in this morning and had them put her to sleep.  Of course, I cried while we were doing it…poor old Goldi Girl…

Goldi, in healthier days

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Sweet 16

Bloomington is ready…IU is in the sweet 16 for the first time in10 years.  The town is decked out in cream and crimson…

…ready to pull another upset over those pesky wildcats.

Hoo…Hoo…Hoo…Hoosiers!!!

Basketball fever

Center of the Basketball Universe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anyone who knows me at all knows I am a lifelong, die-hard Indiana University Hoosiers basketball fan…from the time I was a kid (yep, all those years ago).  We lived way out in the middle of nowhere, had a black and white television hooked up to an antennae…could only get the 3 major networks and one little Indianapolis station…fortunately for us, back then that station carried the IU games…all of them that weren’t on network tv.  With announcers who were partisan IU fans…Bob Knight was the coach…players like Scott May, Quinn Buckner and Kent Benson led IU to a national championship in 1976 (should have been, would have been, the second championship had May not been injured late in the previous season)…and, might I add, that was also the last team to make it through the entire season undefeated…there have been a lot of really great teams to play the game of college basketball in the past 36 years, but none that could match what that team accomplished.

Having said that, this IU team is pretty darn special in its own right.  This is a team that has faced tremendous adversity, a team that had to completely rebuild the program, that had to work hard for every single accomplishment, that continued to battle through 3 tough losing seasons…through it all, they never gave up, they continued to work hard, to improve individually and collectively.  No one gave them anything…they worked for everything they’ve achieved.  This group of seniors is making its first NCAA run.  The naysayers said they would lose their first game last week…in part because this is uncharted territory for every player on this team, they don’t have talented point guards, they aren’t as athletic as some of the other teams…and so on…

All year, this group of guys has proven the talking heads wrong…they seem to thrive on the doubters, on no one believing they can win…they relish the role of underdog.  Yes, they are, once again, the underdogs in their upcoming game.  When I hear certain analysts declare that IU doesn’t have a chance against UK Friday night in Atlanta, I just smile.  I seem to remember they didn’t have a prayer in that game played back on Dec 10 either, but somehow came out victorious.

Will they win Friday night?  I don’t know any more about that than those guys on ESPN and CBS…but I do know that this team has brought Indiana back to the national stage…the right way…that they’ll put their all into this match up, they won’t just meekly roll over simply because the team they’re playing is purported to be better than some pro teams.  They know they can beat this team…they know it because they’ve already done it!

Whatever happens the rest of the way in this tournament…I just want to say…Indiana Hoosiers…love us or hate us…we’re back!!

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Hands in the dirt today

That’s right.  I had the day off work…it was 80 degrees (seriously, it was)…and the only thing I had to do was run over to the doctor’s office for a blood draw…in and out in less than 10 minutes.  So I had plenty of time to enjoy the early summer-like weather.

I decided to get outside and get my hands a little dirty…planted some lettuce (leaf lettuce, a mixture of varieties) and some radishes.  Ah…it feels so good to be able to go outside without a coat or jacket.   I have to admit, I was a little sweaty by the time I came back inside…I mean, 80 degrees…that’s like June kind of weather here in central Indiana.  But at least I got my little garden started…

lettuce from 2011 garden

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Hard to believe it’s already the middle of May…

..oh wait, it isn’t, is it?  Here in central Indiana it sure feels like it.  I think it topped off at about 77 degrees today…sunny..a light breeze.  Very pleasant.  Of course I had to work all day (have tomorrow off tho and it’s supposed to be even nicer tomorrow…is that possible?).  Customers were coming in wearing shorts and flip flops…this is still March, right?

don't these make you smile?

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