Chatbug Karen

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving day? We spent the day with my son, daughter in-law and her family. I was anxious to get to Illinois to see everyone and hold a new baby. There is something about new babies that gets everyone excited.

It is hard to believe that my son and his wife will be spending their second Christmas as a married couple. It seems only yesterday they were sending out save the date cards for their wedding. They have been making holiday traditions of their own and spoiling their two dogs with winter sweaters.

Be glad that you can visit me via blog and not in real life. I have a nasty cold. I wish I could curl up in a blanket and sleep. I have too much sewing to do for that to happen.

Hubby and I were getting frustrated last night as we were unable to find anything worth watching on television. We had seen the Country Music Awards so we didn’t want to watch that again. We had also watched all the cooking shows on the Food Network. We get over 600 channels! There should have been something.

We finally settled on an old Frank Sinatra movie, The Detective. From the website, IMDB; police detective Joe Leland investigates the murder of a homosexual man. While investigating, he discovers links to official corruption in New York City in this drama that delves into a world of sex and drugs.

This was an X rated movie in its day! If was so interesting to see how the subject matter was treated. Times have changed so much yet, many things have remained the same. Joe Leland’s wife received a self imposed dual diagnosis of being a nymphomaniac and mistreated human being, determined to set the world straight with her political agenda. Corruption in the city and police department was so bad that innocent men were jailed and executed because no one wanted to speak up. Looking from the outside, I wanted each person to do what was right. Knowing how, when pushed to do what is right, one worries about repercussion, I can understand how injustice continues.

This movie had a few twists and turns that have me questioning some things but not enough to make me want to re-watch. I hope there is something good on television tonight.

I knew it! Those warranty packages being sold every time one buys an appliance, are a waste of money. I just finished watching Sunday Morning and saw a segment on this subject. Unlike online printing services which are a great way to buy promotional items that make your business look good, warranty packages are a waste of moolah.

A study was done to show that buying those service packages offered when you buy a television, washing machine, etc., are a waste of money. It was shown that products rarely went bad during the warranty time period.

I won’t be putting any more of my hard earned cash towards a service warranty. Of course, mine will be the laptop that goes berserk with the first year of use. Sigh…

I am so excited! They have finally put down asphalt making our road two lanes.

I am blocked in today so I have been online checking out buy.com coupons. I am getting nervous about how much time I have left before Christmas. I have never been so far behind in purchasing gifts. Now, I am stuck because I can’t get out our driveway. Thank goodness for online shopping!

Val’s question for this week’s Four Foods on Friday:

“Tell me either the four strangest things or four non-food items that are in your fridge.”

Just before we left for Dallas for our vacation, our refrigerator decided to quit running. We had to throw out most of what was in it. Before that, I could have put down a couple of weird things like, 3 jars of banana peppers or 5 different kinds of mustard. Right now, it is pretty generic. Give me a couple of weeks.

Non food items in my refrigerator: thermometer

Not to change the subject but did you watch afternoon television today? Oprah gave away some pretty cool things on her show. Now, I want to buy ipod touch. Can you imagine winning a car? I think it would be fun to have money like Oprah and have fun giving it away.

It has been an unusual weekend for my husband and me. We are usually running around trying to get things done. Things like buying groceries and taking things to the dry cleaners etc. We were unable to get out of our driveway today. The road construction crew was laying asphalt! Woo hoo! I think we are finally seeing the light at the end of the construction tunnel. They better not block me in next Friday.

I cannot believe that it is almost time for Black Friday shopping! I dread getting up early but the deals are so good that I would be foolish to not participate. How about you? Do you get up with the other crazies and shop at the crack of dawn?

On our way home from Houston, we passed this ginormous statue of Sam Houston. Sam Houston was the 7th governor of Texas. The city of Houston was named after him and this statue is the largest free-standing statue of an American. You know what they say about everything being bigger in Texas!

My husband, mom and I are on the road to Indianapolis after spending a week in Dallas and Houston Texas. We had a great time. The weather was beautiful. Not too hot and only rained one day. The area needed rain. We saw so many interesting sights and ate at yummy restaurants. It might be a few days until I get back to my computer and I cannot wait to tell you about our trip. Until then….

This is a venting post.
This is what was sitting in our driveway last week.

As mentioned in previous posts, the road in front of our business is under construction. We were told ahead of time that our business would be inaccessible for half a day. It turned out to be closed most of the business day and that was not a good thing.

I wish the road crew took lessons from IT Support services Harrogate and were more professional. Harrogate consults each of their client’s IT support needs to fully understand and interpret the specific needs of their organization.

The road construction began August 18th. While we are looking forward to a nice, smooth road, the length of time this project is taking has us worried. A soil sample analysis has changed how steps in the project are being carried out. Alex Janezcek, American Structurepoint project representative, stated that depending on the results of the soil sample, the road’s subgrade treatment may be changed from stone to lime. According to him, if that decision is made the work will be done more quickly and at a lower cost. Unfortunately, it has taken over two weeks for a decision to be made. Workers are rarely working on the project.

Oops! When I named that last post, I was going to tell you about the gentlemen we saw wandering the grounds at Patty’s Settlement.

We were surprised when entering the restaurant at Patty’s, to see two portly gentlemen dressed in Civil War regalia. It seems that we were in Grand Rivers during the Civil War Living History Event.
These guys were dressed appropriately and even had beards and weathered skin. I doubt they slept on Egyptian cotton sheets while participating in the re-enactment. It is amazing to see how people lived in the days of no washing machines. The materials used in their clothing would be terrible to clean even with our modern day appliances. Food preparation may have changed over the years but the taste and flavor of food remains the same. The good food at Patty’s would have fed and pleased most folks back in the Civil War era.

Mark the last weekend of October on your calendar for next year. The Civil War Living History Event is educational and very enjoyable.