Friday Foolishness and boy do I need it!

Friday Foolishness is my day to just write about random things that have happened in my life or things that have crossed my path to hopefully brighten up the end of most of your work weeks. Since I'm sure many of you read that this has been a long week, I need to be able to laugh off some of the things I encountered.

First of all I planted some flowers in front of the house at the beginning of the week. This is how they look now...

They were so pretty before, too! They looked like little daisies. *sigh* It took me enough time to sweat out about 2 gallons of body fluid to plant those suckers along with some others, and they are DEAD. I specifically bought them because they like full sun. Well, apparently they don't. Or they don't like South Carolina sun. Or the person who wrote the instructions on the care of these plants just wanted people to have to go buy more pretty damn quick.

However, my new dog is cute though, right?

I love him! I got him on a recent trip to Pittsburgh where we have to stop at every Cracker Barrel possible according to my parents. Well, not EVERY one, but that's what they are looking for when it's time to eat, by God. Sure, make me spend more money on an already expensive trip because I can't walk through their store without finding something I have to have! I got some adorable stuff for the kitchen, too. And some other stuff..  Like I said, I can't leave that damn place without buying something, and we stopped at 2 of them on the trip.

The other night I was watching TV when I heard this loud SNAP and a crashing sound. Bailey was sound asleep and jumped to her feet, and several neighbors and I had to run outside to see what the hell was up. Now there was no breeze blowing (because you know Mother Nature is trying to suffocate us to death with this summer heat) and no storm pending or anything. But a neighbor's tree just snapped and fell on another neighbor's fence. Needless to say, the tree won that battle since this is what the fence looked like afterwards.

So before I was able to get this shot of the fence, the tree had to be removed, right? Well, apparently the best time to do that is at SEVEN A.M. in the freaking morning! I woke up to this scene yesterday.

Please explain to me why this LOUD job needed to be done so early in the damn morning! Granted, I was in the process of enjoying the snooze option of my alarms, but STILL! They got some pretty dirty looks from me when I took Bailey outside.

On a happier note, a friend of mine came up with a cool idea for my graduation present. It was probably pretty time consuming, but she was out of work for a medical reason when she came up with it. I wish I had taken a picture before I started taking things out of it, but you get the idea.

That is tissue paper with mini-bottles of liquor stuffed inside it. Genius, I thought! (For those of you who live in free-pour states, laws down here required that bars use mini-bottles until recently so most of the liquor stores carry them. Yeah, we weren't going to get as drunk on mini-bottles, you Bible thumpers. Sure!) Anyway, I thought it was a great gift to help celebrate my accomplishment. It doesn't take much to amuse me, can ya tell?

Finally, for the ladies... Did you see this picture of the New Kids on the Block with Kathy Griffin?

I could really care less about the rest of them, but I swear Donnie Wahlberg gets better looking with age. I'm sorry, but the boy is HAWT. God Bless America! :) Loving that show Blue Bloods by the way, if you haven't checked it out.

Oh, and let me know what you think of the new look. I needed to change it up a bit. Hope you like the new digs.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'll have a drink for each of you from my basket.

One of those days...

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Do you ever have one of those days? Of course you do, or you wouldn't be bloggers, and blog followers... Well, most of you. In this case, since I know you are all Animals from The Zodiac Zoo Crew, I think it's safe to say most of us relish in each other's misery. Needless to say, I'm having one of those days...

I sent my professor an email last night asking for help on my assignment, which is something I never do really. I just normally figure it out by myself, 'cuz I'm kinda wise like that. I just couldn't figure out from the examples in the book what he wanted me to do to figure out the answers on this case study. So I wrote him and asked for some guidance.

This was his response today. "It's not a trick question.  Just apply your logic, and go with the numbers that show what you think. 

It will NOT fit into a formula directly from the book.  It calls for your original thinking. 

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I hope this helps." 

No, that doesn't freaking help me! Why the hell am I paying all of this money to be in school and spending my precious time reading a textbook if I am supposed to "use my logic?!" Can you tell I was a bit perturbed? Can you? Well, I was. Okay, I will pull it together now.. kinda. Ahem!

I seem to be surrounded by this kind of thing this week. I've had people argue with me over things I agree with them on. I've had people walk up in the middle of conversations they know nothing about, ASSUMING they do know, and arguing with me. Hello! I really want to just flash one of these cute rabbits at them and then walk away. Sound good? It really does to me!  I mean, surely I can't get in trouble for something that doesn't actually come out of my mouth, right? Why can't the world work that way?

Oh, and you know that fancy new camera I bought? Well, I was excited because I got all of the wonderful accessories I ordered before the camera. Ya know, now I can charge the batteries and be ready to go, right? WRONG! The idiots sent me the batteries without the charger. Thanks, Sunshine! I appreciate that. So you know the charger will probably get here after the camera now. Total bummer....

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To top it all off, I had to go get lunch for some people for a meeting, and it was POURING rain on the worst road in the world to travel on when it's raining. It's one of those roads where you have to straddle the two rivers pooling in each lane of traffic. This pickup truck rushes by me like his ass is on fire, and he shoots this wave of water over my Jeep that was so bad I couldn't see anything for several seconds. I almost had to go home to change my britches after that. Of course, I really should have anyway since I was soaking wet pretty much from head to toe and all the way to my bones. 

Anyway, tomorrow will be better, right? It has to be... I need a cocktail now.

Random Holiday Memories

I'm sorry I have been so neglectful of my followers here, but we had a busy holiday! I went to my parents' town which is about 45 minutes away on Thursday night, and I didn't end up getting home until yesterday. Although Bailey and I came home tired as hell, we had a great time. We had a little bit of drama on Saturday night when we decided that my estranged sister is just plain strange like we always thought, but I won't bore you with that tale. Other than that, it was a great time had by all. Of course, too much money was spent and there was a lot of planning for 10 seconds of unwrapping to end it all way too quickly, but still... I hope you all had a great holiday, too. I look forward to catching up on my Reader and seeing what you all were up to and what goodies you got for Christmas.

I got a Kindle, which I was thrilled about! Ever since my sister and my dad got one, my book supply has been cut off. Now I can get my own a bit cheaper through the Kindle. It's really too bad we can't share them that way, but that's the way it goes.

First I wanted to ask your opinion about something. I was taking care of a neighbor's animals for a few days last week before the holiday, so she had a list of things she needed me to do for her two cats and one dog. The night I went over to receive instructions, she picks up this bag that was laying on top of the Rubbermaid container of kitty litter and hands it to me. Now I thought it was probably a treat for Bailey or something, but she says, "Here, this is some banana bread for you."

I ended up coming home, looking down at the bag in my hand, and walking straight to the garbage to throw it away. Am I horrible for being that way? I mean, it was sitting on her CAT LITTER! Whether it was touching it or not, SHE'S been handling the litter when she has touched that container in the past. I'm sorry, but that was just gross!

Keeping her animals was a trip anyway, and I really hope she decides not to make the trip she had planned for this week. Her damn dog wouldn't go outside the first night. She was huddled in the corner of her bedroom shaking like I was the Jolly Green Giant come to eat her. What the.. ?? The dog knows me, for God's sake! The cats weren't any problem, other than having to clean out the litter box every day. I have never seen anyone do a litter box the way she does, but I guess everyone is picky about the way they take care of their animals. Of course, the dog had left a present for me on the floor when I got there the next day.

As you know from my past stories, my mother is a trip! She has this habit of affectionately butchering famous people's names, mainly athletes. For example, the long time hockey player Chris Chelios was "Cheerios" to her his entire career. The names she comes up with have brought us hours of amusement. Even our former Steelers coach, Bill Cowher, has always been "Coward" to her. Of course, we all think that one is fitting with the way he coached in the playoffs, but that's a rant for another day.

So while we are talking about the NFL over the weekend she's talking about the Steelers upcoming game against the Cleveland Browns. She says something about that guy "Wiley Coyote." My sister and I look at each other like, "Who the hell is that?" Of course Mom looks to Dad and says, "You know who that Wiley Coyote kid is." He nods and says it's Colt McCoy. Bless him, he's been with her so long that it's just second nature to know what she's talking about sometimes. Needless to say, the whole weekend we would just look around and say, "You mean, Wiley Coyote?" and it would give us a good laugh.

Doesn't this handsome kid look like Wiley Coyote? It's too bad the Steelers are going to have to make him run for his life on Sunday.

On a similar note, a pet peeve of mine is typos or when editors don't do their jobs. Does anyone know where I can get a job doing that? Proofreading and finding little "oops" things in movies are things that drive people around me crazy. It's just me. I can't help it! Feel free to point out mine, because I'd hate for someone to think I can't freaking talk right. Although sometimes, of course, it's on purpose. 

Dogs and kids... Gotta love them!

I know you all have missed me desperately, so I figured I would grace you with my presence tonight. Ha! I think you all know I am more grateful for you reading my gibberish than anything.

First of all, some really pisses me off sad news. Our animal shelter just lost the contract for food we had. It's a long story but the sorry fucking people who are employed there are county employees, and they were going to get food constantly and selling it. Yes, you heard me right. They were SELLING IT!! Can I go kill them now? No? Are you sure?

"So you want to starve puppies, do you? I have friends who can fix that affliction."

They said our shelter was getting more food than shelters MUCH bigger than ours. Now granted, this happened before I got involved but still. We had someone who talked them out of cutting us off if she would go get the food herself. Unfortunately, this man no longer works there so we were officially cut off last week. Now we have to either bully the county into paying for the food, or we have to raise the money for it.

On that note, yes it is the season for giving, so if you would like to help, please go to this website: http://www.williamsburganimalshelter.com/donate.htm. There is a PayPal account link on the bottom, and I was just given the password to it, so I will be the one to collect the funds. No, I am not above begging. Do you want to see it?

Or imagine my Bailey having to work the streets, because that's where she would have been had they not had the food contract when she was there. (Just as a side note, we are a non-profit so you can deduct any donations you make!)

By the way, I know the website looks very out of date, and I was also just given the passwords to that so I can change things, including the Board which doesn't even show the current Board members (including me as the VP). Anyone who has HTML knowledge, feel free to let me know if you'd like to help. I'll give you credit on the site.

On a funny note, the other night one of the local schools did a Fashion Show fundraiser for the shelter called "Paws for a Cause", and one girl was so upset that no one was adopting the puppies. She even asked me several times to save the puppies when I was the one who brought them there.

Anyway, apparently her mother called her father to ask if they could adopt a puppy. She told me that the father was adamantly against it, and she didn't want to get divorced over the situation. As her and her daughter were leaving (with the child screaming how awful it was that they weren't going to save these puppies), she tried to tell the child that Daddy said no. The little girl immediately looked at her and said, "But we don't ever listen to HIM! You're the boss, Mommy!!!"

I almost fell OUT! Bless her heart, she just wanted to save some animals. But I think there are other issues in that home.

By the way, here is the new logo for the shelter. We had a contest and one of the groups from our local high school in the computer graphics department came up with the one that got the most votes.

I promise all of my posts are NOT about animals. I still have many other things to post about, but I don't want to bore you too much at one time.