Sad & Happy....

Well here it is less than a week later and look how much the birds have grown. I can't believe how fast they got feathers and their little beaks grew. They'll be flying the coup pretty soon.

I think I'll make sure there are no plants in the pot this time next year so it can be used again. It's the least I can do.

Speaking of flying the coup. H moved to Boston Saturday. It was great having her here for 7 weeks. We got to renew our relationship so it was wonderful.

D was very sad and quiet Saturday night. Yep, it's true, he can actually be quieter than usual. H got all her stuff unpacked and her bed (which is huge) put together Sunday. She called Sunday evening and said she was walking 1/2 mile down the road to Trader Joes to do some shopping. I asked how many people were out and she said, "Lots! Everyone walks in Boston".

She has a few clients that have business back east, so they'll continue to have her do their hair. She's very happy about that. She said she doesn't miss her car payment and is looking forward to not driving since the two trolly lines are a short walk from her brownstone. It'll take her between 10 and 15 minutes to get to work.

Oh....the picture above? That's how she dresses for work. Yep, to the nines! She makes fun of the other stylists for not dressing professionally for their salon.

As a going away gift, all the women wore high heels for her. She said the next day they all complained about how much their feet hurt. LOL!

This is my view while I work. Tough huh? I'm looking at one of my favorite trees....a Japanese Maple when I glance out the door.

This is the desk. I sure wish I had room for one of these for PAW's. It's got tons of room and is very versatile. The negative is, it's about the size of a Volkswagon. Hahahaha!

If you look beyond the chair real close you'll see a huge bundle of wires. From day one, I've been eyeballing them thinking I was going to shove them behind the computer tower on the floor before someone trips on them.

Guess who tripped on them and fell? Yep, me. I was faxing some invoices and got my toe hooked in the darn things. I fell straight on my hands and knees and then landed on my side. I was laying on the floor praying no one would walk in and see me. I lucked out and was able to pick myself up and pretend nothing happened.

The bad news is, I hurt my back, neck, knees, wrists, right shoulder and palms of my hands. I'm pretty much on the mend now with the exception of the shoulder. I've been fighting a frozen shoulder (like the one I had on my left side) on my right side. When I fell, the shoulder forced back and I heard this loud snap and felt a pain that almost made me scream. The good news is, when I got up, I could reach up and backward which I hadn't been able to do before the fall.

I'm thinking my doctor wouldn't approve of how to unfreeze a shoulder but it worked. It's still very painful but a different kind of pain. I probably should go see the doc for a muscle relaxer and something to help reduce the inflammation. Yep, I'm thinking that should help.

Well, here's hoping I can stay in an upright position in the future! Hahahahahaha!

I'm a Criminal

So what did I do after work today? Hmmmmm....I decided I was fed up with the one sided news media regarding The Tea Party movement so I attended the one in Pleasanton today. I was only there from 2:30 to 4:00. It was bumper to bumper getting into the thing but the drivers were polite and had great road manners. No flipping off people, lots of waiving to let everyone merge.

I can't guess how many thousands of people were there and it was suppose to grow after everyone got off work and joined the crowd. While I was there it was predominately people 40 and above. People of all nationalities were present. I'd say the whites out numbered everyone because of the area and a lot of them were obviously retired.

This picture is just one section. I took a panoramic view which shows soooooo many more people in attendance. Take this shot and multiply it by 4 or 5 and you'll get the idea.

I found this disturbing because I'm one of the sappy people who still tear up when the National Anthem plays. I've always been that way and it hasn't changed with age. I'm just damn proud to be an American. See.....sappy. I also know all the words to the Pledge of Allegiance. I understand that's becoming a thing of the past. That's just sad.

Last year I was reading where Homeland Security was designating Tea Party people as a security risk to the country. Well folks, guess I'm a hardened criminal because I had a blast in Pleasanton.

Everyone was smiling, happy, nice and polite. Candidates made their speeches. I heard Carly, some guy from a talk radio station and some other guy who's running for an office but I didn't get who he was because Carly was talking to me and shaking my hand.

Let's see....how would I describe this experience? Ya know the old movies when they have a 4th of July jubilee in the town square, where people are BBQing, patting each other on the back and catching up on old times? Politicians are giving speeches and so on......well that's what this was like. I felt like I'd been taken back to a simpler time when people were caring and patriotic.

What can I say about this experience? Don't listen to the news. Tea Party people are your sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, cousins, next door neighbor, etc. If there's one in your area, go to it. See how these are everyday people fed up with more and more taxes being heaped upon us and government growing larger rather than smaller. I didn't meet any of the crazies the news and politicians in office are making them out to be.

Surprisingly, this was a party I enjoyed.

Purple Toilet

In answer to Shannon's question. The purple toilet is making money for our Relay for Life American Cancer Society fundraiser.

Dave got Home Depot to donate the spray paint. We got the toilet for free off CL. It was a shame to paint it because it's a beautiful fairly new Kohler toilet. Sarah decorated it and made the sign to go with it.

Sarah started out putting it in her mom's front yard. Nancy had to donate $10 to have it removed (but it could come back to her), $20 will have it removed and she gets to say where it is put next or $30 and she gets it removed, decides who gets it next and it never comes back to her house.

We've had people donate $70+ to have it removed. I don't think it will be leaving Livermore though. Sarah is getting a nice list of who wants it. She's been approached when she's either dropping it off or removing it by strangers who want to donate and have it delivered to a friend or family member.

It's a great fundraising gimmick. We've raised enough money to put our team in 2nd place and Sarah still has $500 that needs to be added to our account.

Oh, inside the toilet itself are flyers telling about the fundraiser and where they can donate to our team.

I started a blog at http://walkersforknockers2010.blogspot.com/ where I'm tracking the toilet and introducing the team members.

Taking a Break

Not much going on this weekend. Yesterday I vegged out, did laundry and read a book.

Today, I've washed two out of 4 floors, cleaned the laundry bathroom and laundry room. I swept the entry hall floor.

That was about 30 minutes ago and now I'm on line fiddle fahnarting around. I was going to put the books on CL while I had a quiet moment then decided to check the blogs and update the WalkersforKnockers2010 one.

I didn't have a picture for today so here's one of a home the toilet visited this weekend. I need to post it on the wforK blog and thank the owners for their generous contribution.

The purple toilet is a hit. The contributions have been generous and I don't think the little thing will be leaving Livermore anytime soon. It's a great fund raising idea.