How to Clean Your Bathroom Floor

How to Clean Your Bathroom Floor in Five Easy Steps:

One: Use the faucet to wash your hands, and inadvertently leave it running.
Two: Go to the library, and return in 30 minutes.
Three: Return to see that the clogged sink has caused the water to spill over onto the floor.
Four: Gather all the "dirty" towels from your teenager's floor and use them to soak up the water.
Five: Wring out towels in now-dirty tub, and take them upstairs to wash in hot water, bleach, and detergent.

Voila! A clean floor! I wouldn't eat off of it, ever, but it's better than it was.

Next lesson: How to Get Your Husband to Clean the Dirty Bathtub in Two Easy Steps.

I know we're excited, but even so....

Okay, so the Bills beat the Patriots today - that's a big thing not only around these parts, but everywhere.
(Financial crisis in Greece? Who cares! The Bills beat the Pats!)
So we're all happy, the Bills are 3-0, yea!
But does this news have to be included in every story on the web, especially local news?
Such as this piece which has some information about a serious car crash.
Read the article in its entirety (and I copied it because I'm sure at some point the article will be modified - I hope):

7:34 PM

Crash in Orleans County Sends Two People to the Hospital

By: Casey J. Bortnick

Two people were seriously injured when a motorcycle and a car collided in Orleans County Sunday Afternoon. It happened in Kendall on Route 18 near the Orleans-Monroe county line. Sheriff’s Deputies tell YNN multiple EMS crews and mercy flight responded to the scene.

One victim was flown to Rochester's Strong Hospital; the other was originally taken by ambulance to Lakeside hospital and then airlifted to Strong. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

The Buffalo Bills are now 3-0 after edging out the New England Patriots in another thriller at Ralph Wilson Stadium Sunday.

And how do I spend my weeks?

Wondering what I've been doing?
This is my weekly routine:

Work lunch work go home work go to bed
Work lunch work go home work go to bed
Work lunch work go home work go to bed
Work lunch work go home work go to bed
Work lunch work go home order out go to bed

Remembering

I know everyone has their own memories and thoughts about today.
I just want to share this lovely, elegiac version of a traditional song which I think sums up many feelings that will be expressed and shared today. The lyrics may not fit, but then again they may, so please enjoy as we remember how our world changed 10 years ago.



And while we all remember what happened to the Twin Towers, let us not forget all those who lost their lives both in the Pentagon, and on the plane.

Semper fi.

It's Not Only Kids Who Say the Darndest Things

So my son's girlfriend works at Subway.
She told us that she gets asked a lot of stupid questions, ones not coming just from the WalMart employees who want to know if she has a boyfriend, does she want to go out, and also if she wants to go out drinking (yes, no, and no).
Two examples of the dumb questions she hears:

"How long is a footlong?"
"How big is a six-inch sub?"

Or regarding what kind of cheese they want on their sub, people will often respond, "Um, yeah."
Sometimes I forget how stupid people really are.
I'm glad they remind me from time to time.

Everything has a downside to it

So...discovered the big downside to using honey as a face wash today.
Bees.
Sitting on Main Street at lunchtime enjoying a slice of pizza with my youngest son, we had four - yes four! - bees buzzing around us.
Granted, we were outside, they wanted some of the pizza too, but no one at any of the other tables was having a problem.
Only us.
On the plus side neither of us were stung, so I guess there's some camaraderie involved here.
Go bees!
No really, shoo...

She Works Hard for Her Money

Recently a former co-worker and I were joking about something networking via e-mail, and I asked her now that she has been promoted how her daily routine had changed.
This is a legitimate question as she is now the queen bee on her floor – not the office manager, but the senior executive assistant to the big boss.
Here is her reply:

This is my schedule:

• Saunter into the office, passing by the lower-class people out front (since I’m nice, I greet each of them)

• Enter my office with the magic lights turning on immediately

• Decide which shoes I should wear with my outfit

• Go into the ladies’ room and make sure that all of the spackle and super glue are holding my face together and that I don’t have any lipstick on my teeth

• Decide if I want coffee or tea to start my day – if tea, I handle that; if coffee I go downstairs and get it (since I don’t believe in the office manager’s method of washing these pots)

• Go back to my office and change my shoes for the first time of the day

• Glance at the headlines in the Wall Street Journal

• Peruse the D & C

• Check my email

• Check CNN and one of the local news sites

• Watch my phone ring and wait for someone else to answer it

• Change my shoes again

• Go check my mail

• Put my flats back on because my feet are already killing me

• By then it’s lunchtime and in the summer I expect the office manager to bring me tomatoes

• If no tomatoes, then back downstairs for salad but not before changing into heels and checking myself out in the mirror

• Change my shoes, eat lunch, brush/floss my teeth

• Re-apply lipstick/powder (repetitive throughout the day as you can imagine)

• Answering questions from the peeps out front because they’re all so damn stupid (excluding SN)

• You know, it goes on and on – definitely not easy being me…

Winter is Just a Dead Leaf Away

Being locked in an office all day does not allow you to experience the weather in any way other than visually. If it's raining, I see the wet rooftops, when the sun shines I'm envious of all those able to walk around and enjoy it, and when it's snowing I look out and see the white snow blanketing the cars and streets. But on a day like today - a cool autumn day - I don't know what the temperature is until I come outside at the end of the day.
So even though it was overcast it was wonderful to come outside and feel the coolness in the air. The high temp was 66, and tonight is definitely sweatshirt weather.
Before leaving for work this morning I put a chicken in the crockpot, and as I walked in the door this evening all I could smell was that wonderful aroma of a dinner - already cooked and waiting to be served.
I've lit some apple scented candles to usher in the cool fall evening, adding to the ambiance of the changing season.
Finally, some Vivaldi adds an extra special touch to the evening:



In other words, enjoy the mild weather while you can because winter is coming, and it's going to suck just like it always does.

Back Into the Closet You Go

Labor Day is here and now gone.
As a non-union employee I appreciate what Labor Day means to workers, but it doesn't affect me in any way other than having a Monday off at the beginning of Semptember every year.
What it really stands for, to me, is that it is time to put away our summer clothes, sandals and bags.
To be honest, we all know that Birks can be worn year round so those can stay out.
My awesome new white sandals, however - time to say goodbye.
Back into the closet they will go, but before I put them away, have a look at them.
Here they are in all their pristine whitness:

Thank you Macy's for awesome end of summer sales.
I really like these sandals a lot, and they are very comfortable. All told, since I purchased them, however, I've only had the opportunity to wear them a total of three - no four - times.
There was a song going through my head in an endless loop as I thought about putting my sandals (and other summer clothes) away, and the words go something like this, "So we've gotta say goodbye for the summer..."
Know who that is?
Well it's not a new song, and it's actually not about the end of summer, I don't believe, but about not seeing someone over the summer.
(Please correct me if I'm wrong - it's been known to happen with alarming frequency.)
So I will ask you to sing along with Brian Hyland (no relation) as he wishes his school love goodbye, and as I say goodbye to my sandals:



You know that everytime you hear that song now you'll think about my sandals (or maybe your own sandals).
And yeah, I know this song is backwards for this situation - no one expects me to be rational do they? - but it's still a very nice song. And if you substitute the words, "I'll send you all my love everyday in my closet..." for the others in the chorus, well, you get my drift.
I'll miss my sandals, but they'll be there waiting for me to wear them on Memorial Day 2012.

P.S. Don't you think it's kind of sad that I actually already have a label for "Shoes"? Can you say "obsession"?

The Reason Why

This is why we came to Quantico:

Big congrats to an outstanding Marine who will be an amazing Brigadier General.