Remember that OTHER blog I have?

Yeah. I update that one, too. But unless you scrapbook, are nosey, or just plain bored of all the sillyness on THIS blog you probably haven't ventured over there much. But there is an event that I didn't want anyone to miss out on! Check it out!!

TEXAS SCRAPFEST

Woe is the Shift Worker

That's right. Woe is me. Please proceed through this post with caution. Heavy whining ahead.

I'm a shift worker. I know. Big deal, right? I hear your voices. "We all have to pull our weight around here, Missy. Suck it up." Whatever.

I don't normally complain or try to gain sympathy over the fact I work 12 hour shifts, rotating between days and nights. I CHOSE this line of work after all. 6:00 to 6:00, people. Work 4 days. Have a day off. Work 3 nights. Have 3 days off. Which is really like 2-1/2 days off because I'm actually working midnight until 6:00 a.m. on my scheduled "day off" and then sleeping until the middle of the day. But I digress.

And did you actually follow that anyway? I've been a shift worker for over 7 years and my husband is just finally getting a handle on my 6 week rotation. I just gave you a preview of the first 2 weeks. I don't expect you to get it in one post.

One long-winded, whining post.

Shift workers have all kinds of tricks that they use to make sleeping during the day easier.

• Blackout curtains of some kind are almost a necessity whether it be in the form of some expensive hotel-like blackout curtains or a sleeping bag nailed over the window. Whatever works. We aren't picky. My husband suggested lining the window with tin foil then putting up the blinds/curtains. I declined because I didn't want the neighbors thinking I'm running a crack lab here. I already come and go at strange hours of the day/night. Notneed to up the suspicion radar.
• White noise: There are many options here. A fan, special radio-type devices that play different sounds, TV on low, etc. Just a note here....barking dogs, ringing doorbells and garbage trucks do not fit in the category of white noise. They fit in to the category of "somebody better stop that right now before they die" category. Remember this.
• Sleep aids: The majority of the shift workers I know personally who take any sleep aid take a natural supplement called Melatonin. Sometimes when desperate to just get some extra shut-eye popping a Tylenol PM will do the trick.

"Riveting, Cheri. Who cares?" I told you all of that to tell you this. I've been on night shifts the last few days. Well, nights. Whatever. And my attempt at sleep was thwarted. The house next door is getting a new roof. Not just some new shingles. A whole. New. Roof.

Let me paint this picture a little better for you. My bedroom is on the second story. On the same side of the house as the neighbor getting a new roof. The roof of a single story home. It would be easy to invite the roofers through the window for a nice cold drink. Sweet.

Background TV noise. Check. Nice dark room. Check. Sleep? Can't quite check that off my list. Skill saws, nail guns, yelling. Putting on a new roof is noisy, people.

So after the first day (and approximately 3 hours of sleep before I worked my night shift) I decided I would go sleep in the bedroom on the other side of the house. I fell asleep quickly. Only to be awakened by a large DOG barking at the house on the OTHER side of us 2 hours later....non stop....and I could hear the skill saws, nail guns and yelling from the roofers, albeit slightly muffled from the previous day. But when you are just completely annoyed and sleep deprived you can hear water dripping in the kitchen sink downstairs. The sense of hearing becomes like a freakin' radar and NOTHING is missed. It's like my ear turned in to a Venus Fly Trap for noise. It makes me cranky, people. Very cranky. My co-workers love me when I haven't slept.

The roofers stopped working at 1:30. So I went back to my own bedroom and got a couple more hours of sleep. Before my night shift. Of 12 hours. At night.

I've got 2 days off now. Guess what I'll be...... zzzzzzzzzzzzz......... zzzzzzzzzzz........... zzzzzzzzzz

The Wizard of Oz....A classic retold....Part 1

Entire cast of characters provided by Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz Collection.

One time there was this chick named Dorothy Gale. She was pretty pale and had a bad dog named Toto. He liked to chase cats. One time he, like, chased the town bitty's cat for about the 1,000th time. Her name was Miss Gulch. She was totally mad! They ran home when she yelled.

"Auntie Em! Uncle Henry! OMG! Help me!" she cried.

Uncle Henry was tired of all this drama, drama, drama! Where was this girl's mother, anyway? Whatever. Let her dog be in trouble. He really just wanted to retire. Auntie Em was tired, too, from counting chickens. Do you even KNOW how hard it is to count all those silly little yellow chirping chickens? Sheesh! There was no time for stupid teenage drama. "Go play with the ranch hands and just stay out of trouble for, like, 2 seconds!"

Miss Gulch came to the farm to take Toto away. She was angry all the time because she had a big nose and was ugly and had too many cats. "Give me that dog or the cops are comin'!"

"No! You are mean and ugly! You suck!"

Uncle Henry rolled his eyes. He was just sooooo tired of all this drama. Why couldn't she just go sneak a sip from the copper still like all the other rebellious teenagers? "Dorothy, give her the mutt. She makes large campaign contributions so she has the law on her side. Besides, the dog chow is gettin' expensive."

Auntie Em was tired of counting chickens and just couldn't take it anymore. Plus she was menopausal. "Elmira Gulch! If this wasn't a rated PG movie I would tell you what a beeotch you are!"

Fade to music *Da da tada da da daaaa...da da tada da daaaa*

"I'm taking this dog to the pound. He will never chase my cat again. I will be able to conquer the prize as the crazy cat lady once and for all! Mwhahahaha!!!"

Toto had other ideas. "I'm outta here. And when I get back to the farm I'm totally bitin' that Henry dude in the shin."

"OMG! Toto! You've, like, totally come home! We better make like a banana and split this joint before that ugly broad comes back!"

 

So the brat ran away. Then she decided to go in to some complete strange man's magic wagon. What? Yep. No stranger-danger lessons for Dorothy. But he made her realize home ain't such a rough gig by tricking her in to thinking her Auntie Em was sick. He was kind of a jerk because there was a big storm coming and he just ran her off right in to it.

To be continued....

Nobody likes a stale blog....

So I'm reposting a favorite from my archives. Enjoy!

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THESE ARE A FEW OF
MY FAVORITE THINGS
Originally posted on September 19, 2008

I'm big on nostalgia. Remember the whole Wizard of Oz thing? Yeah. *sigh* Anyway, I love to look around on the internet for remnants of childhood things from my past. It's always fun to run across that one special thing you remember so fondly from your younger years. And seeing them up for auction makes my heart pound and my brow sweat slightly. Because I want them. I really, really do! All the images you see in this post are from around the world wide web....and they are images of toys/games that I actually had growing up. *sigh*

I go back in time often to think about all kinds of things from my childhood:
Television shows
Commercials
Food
Music
Clothes

But my absolute favorite things to think about and search out on the internet are toys and games. Mostly because those are the specific things that make me feel young again, know what I mean? I loved my toys, people! And games....oh, the games my family had!! *sigh* Those are some wonderful memories.

I *sigh* a lot when I'm walking down memory lane.

And we all have our favorites. The ones we remember distinctly. The ones you can actually still smell if you close your eyes and think hard enough....or can at least recreate the smell by going to any toy department and smelling all the new toys. (Be careful nobody sees you doing that. You are bound to be questioned.)

And my favorites? Well.....barbie certainly topped my list. I had a ton of them...and she was well dressed and lived a life of luxury!








And before the "Kelly" barbie...there were Liddle Kiddles. I had tons of these things, but those pictured are the ones I distinctly remember. I still have the pink-haired one, but her pretty smelly hair has long since been replaced by the lovely smell of vintage...and one foot has been chewed off by someone or something. I'm not playing innocent here. I chewed on stuff. It totally could have been me.






And there were flatsy dolls....





And my other dolls (I liked dolls. What about it?) .....





And the games....lots and lots and lotsandlotsandlots of games....








But BY FAR my most coveted memory of all....is this:




Let me just explain Baby Go Bye-Bye for you. First...how cute is that little car she cruises around in?! Do you see the little butterfly on the hood? That's what you use to wind up the car. And this was no plain 'ol forward motion car. This little sucker swerved and circled all over the place and you never knew exactly where it was gonna go bye bye to. I LOVED THIS DOLL!! (Can you feel my excitement?) And the doll itself was too cute for words. But here's some words anyway. Her little head bobbled a little.....so as the car was zig-zagging all over the place, her little head just bobbed around with her cute little pigtails and rosey litte cheeks. I LOVED THIS DOLL!!

And I had my favorite childhood doll until I was 24...then someone stole a bunch of things from our garage and she was never to be seen again. Baby really did go bye-bye. *sigh*

I sigh a lot when I think of my Baby Go Bye-Bye.

This one is actually for sale on Ebay right now:



Box and all. It's mint. I'm very tempted to bid on it. I bid on one just like this a couple of years ago....and almost won. I would have, actually, if I would have been willing to up my max bid to TWO HUNDRED FREAKIN' DOLLARS!!! And this one is certain to go that high. Maybe I'll bid on one without the box. But it MUST be accompanied with the car. It's not the same without the car.

Childhood nostalgia shouldn't be priced so high. *sigh*

For now I suppose I'll just keep surfing the net and watching auctions. I know one day I'll have it. I must. My husband isn't opposed to it....as long as I bid and win on HIS favorite:




Must be a mid-life crisis. I'm sure we'll both get over it soon.