da weekend

What a way to start my vacation--with a car and a little spending money!  Took a drive up to Dickson City, which is a little town outside of Scranton, and has LOADS of stores...some of which I hadn't seen until the other day.  Inspired by Teresa, I'll run through the list...

Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Kohl's (new, and don't like it), Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Pier 1 (which I will never set foot in again), Toys R Us, PetSmart, Petco, Pet Supplies Plus, Dress Barn, Dots, Dick's Sporting Goods, Gander Mountain, Staples, Home Depot, Lowe's, Raymour & Flanigan, Sleepy's (2 of those), La-Z-Boy, Sams Club, Best Buy, Circuit City, Dollar Tree, Famous Footwear, Payless Shoes, Michael's Arts & Crafts, AC Moore, Borders, and Playtime Boutique (WOOHOO!)...all within a two-mile radius.  And that's not including the mall within this area, which has Sears, Bon-Ton, Kaufmanns, Old Navy, Express, Limited, and a bunch of other stores.  And a strip mall, which has Chuck E. Cheese, Party City, Harbor Freight Tools, Leslie's Pool, La-Z-Boy Kids, among others.

Hungry?  Let's see...Lonestar Steakhouse, Charlie Brown's Steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse, Denny's, A&W/Long John Silver's, Burger King, McDonald's (2), Wendy's, Far East Buffet, Old Country Buffet, TGIFriday's, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Smokey Bones BBQ, Uno Chicago Grill, Red Robin, Panera Bread, Don Pablo's, Heavenly Ham, Ruby Tuesday, Subway (in Walmart), Wegman's (they have a restaurant in there), Viewmont Diner, Sheetz, Perkins, Starbucks, Fresno's, Little Caesars (in Kmart), TCBY, and a food court in the mall.

I probably left something out, but I think that's enough to ponder for now.  And to think...they're still building there--while driving around, we saw at least two leveled pieces of land...who knows what they're putting there.

til next time...=)

da 5'er...a day late

Time for this week's 5'er...go play!

1. Have you ever "mooned" anyone? Tell us about it.

I can't remember if and when I did that, probably did it to Joey a number of times--you know, walking to the tub...lol.

2. Did you ever toilet paper someone's house when you were a kid?

That I know I never did, but it sure as hell looks like fun!

3.  In your town where is the best place to get a really good hamburger?

I don't know about a plain hamburger, but my favorite place to get a Texas Hamburger (chili sauce, onions, and mustard) is the Keystone Restaurant.  MMMM...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!!

4. What is the worse movie you ever saw...and have you ever walked out on a movie cause it was so bad?

I've never walked out on a movie...but I heard Fantasia was that bad...my mom and niece walked out and got a refund.

5. If you could change your eye color would you and what color would you chose?

Wouldn't change them at all...I like my blue/gray eyes.  I think it kind of goes good with the hair...lol.

til next time...=)

awesome day

Had fun yesterday.  As you can see from below, that's what most of our refund went for.  It's in the shop today, getting some brake thingy fixed--free of charge (the dealer we got it from has a garage across the street).  Thing was, the garage wouldn't let it pass inspection until that was fixed, so that's gonna take all day.  But they did let me take it to work last night, on the condition that I would have it there first thing this morning.  So I obliged.

At work, I was in such a good mood, and people noticed.  Everyone was happy for me, and my manager asked me if I was staying there now...uh, no.  But he was in a good mood...joking with me asking me how many days I had left...lol.  Later, he monitored me, said my calls were virtually perfect, and said he had nothing for me to improve on...awesome!  Then I went home not too long after that...I didn't want to be there--I wanted to catch up on the driving I missed out on for nearly 6 months..lol.

Of course, I didn't just take it to work--I got out of work 3 hours early.  So we decided to go somewhere we haven't been in over a year--Wal-Mart.  See, there's no bus that goes there, and with no car...well, you get the idea.  So me, Joey and Bum (Home Fry was at Grandma's house) hopped in the vroom-vroom and off we went.  We didn't get much, just basically looked around at what we were gonna get in the near future...a new computer chair for our room, a computer desk and wireless router for the kids' room, a CAMERA for me (couldn't leave that out!).  After that, we decided to drive around the area of Wal-Mart and see what was new.  They'd been adding new stores, restaurants, etc.  Wow.  More places to spend money!!!  Woohoo!

til next time...=)

ta da

How's that?  The pic is not of our car...don't have a camera yet.  But I found this one on the web...looks identical to the one we got.  It's the same color as the one in the pic.

til next time...=)

doing the happy dance

I don't think I'll have a problem getting to work for the few days I have left...we're getting a car tomorrow!!!  The IRS decided to be nice and send my income tax return earlier than expected...COOL.  This morning, I was watching TiVo'd AI from last night, and I got three phone calls within about 15 minutes.  The first was from the glass shop, saying the window was fixed (I took it down y'day).  Second was the new tenant, saying she was coming soon to take me up to pick up said window.  The last was Jackson Hewitt, telling me to come over and pick up my refund check.  Huh?  So soon?  Yup.  So of course, I had to finish watching Idol (some of those guys are sooo hot!), then I got my check.  After picking up the window, the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon were spent looking for a minivan to buy.  Right now we're eyeing up a nice van...it's gonna cost us most of the refund.  But we're thinking long-run here--this way he can get a job and we can get the other things we need (like a new camera...lol).  Plus, my state refund should be on its way...and the profit sharing from my job comes next month.  Yay.

til next time...=)

dodging the bullet

Yesterday was interesting, I guess.  I did go to work, expecting to be sent home within an hour of arriving.  Nope, I was wrong.  I was online for about 2 hours before I was called in for my lashing.  When my manager did pull me offline, I was expecting to get a long suspension.  Wrong again.  I'm suspended for three days.  I thought it was three weeks until I can transfer back to Scranton.  Strike three--it's only 2 weeks, and one of those I'm on vacation.  Good thing I'm not a psychic...or a weatherman.

Okay...the details.  He cut me a break.  A big one.  He didn't count all 10 of those days against me.  Hell, it was like it didn't happen.  I was supposed to get the suspension before I took that extra vacation.  Not only did I get the suspension, but it's broken up.  I'm suspended today, work tomorrow, then it's vacation time for 9 days.  Then the following week, I work Monday through Wednesday.  I'm suspended Thursday and Friday, off the weekend, then go back to Scranton on the 13th.  Confused yet?  I know I was when it was explained to me...I think the manager was getting a little discombobulated too.  In short, I have only 4 days to find a way to get to WB.  That's it.  Cool.  I think I can manage.

til next time...=)

back to the grind...for now

I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm going back to work today.  Joey didn't get his interview yesterday, since the managers at the restaurant were in a meeting when he went down there.  I'll be working for about 3 days, then I'll be on vacation.  Hopefully the restaurant calls him back soon.  I don't know if I'll last another three (actually, two)weeks...the managers at my job say I'm not trying hard enough to get to work.  WTF?  How much harder can I try?  I asked if they (the managers) can help me find people to switch schedules with--the managers in Scranton would help you in any way they could--they said NO--it's your responsibility to do that, and we can't take time out of our busy schedules to help you.  Wow...makes me feel so welcome.

That is another reason I don't like that office--almost everyone is so rude and uncaring.  In Scranton, everyone was like family--helped you out when they could, and if they couldn't, referred you to someone who could.  You could talk to the managers about anything, and they would lend a sympathetic ear.  Down in WB, it's like they could care less.  You're on your own there, and as long as you show up for work, you're pretty much invisible.  Hell, if you don't show up, you're invisible too.  Case in point--me, when I didn't show up for a week, do you think they would call to see what the hell was going on?  Nope.  What would they have done had I not called two days ago?  Still had me on the payroll?  Who knows.

I'm done ranting for now.  Did I mention how much I hate my job for the time being?

til next time...=)