"Mommy?"

"I really need to rest my eyes. And my face. You know, it gets tired from having to look at each other all day." (Speaking of school.)

Amen to that, my friend. Amen.

One last day of work. I've obligated myself to one last short shift while K- is in school. Heaven help me now. The fun part of my day? My brother called me as I was standing in line at McD's for breakfast (not a norm for me) to say that the gallery was a feature on one of the morning news stations. "You are kidding me." "No, no. They are there." "Fantastic. I'm going in to set the ceiling above the front desk and the news team will get a shot of my butt on camera."

I got to work. I find that they would have loved to do a nice bit about all of the wonderful trees that I decorated, but they couldn't because the place was a wreck and the news crew couldn't get the camera in!

They forgot to tell us. Our store oozes Christmas. Oozes. I got a mention in Cleveland Magazine for tree decorating at the gallery and THEY FORGOT TO TELL US! Both owners knew and the gallery manager. I understand the owners forgetting to tell us, but the manager didn't say a thing!

They apologized, though. In fact, my boss felt horrible and said that she was "Sorry. I really scre*wed up." You know, it did my heart some good to have them know how important that would have been for us. Oh well. The gallery got some free press. People will come. They'll see my trees. They'll buy our stuff.

With that, I'm ready to hit the sack. I'm not used to a 5 day work week.

Have a great weekend. Stay dry, Rachael!

Flying bits of self and funky odors.

Y'all, it has been a l.o.n.g. week. L O N G. There have been some pet peeves along the way. I'm sorry, but this is going to be a venting post. Please know that I'm warning you now.

I've had people lose control of their digestive tract and leave bits of self behind for us to clean up.

I've had a co-worker experience a visit from Auntie Flo and lose control and leave bits of self behind, without having been cleaned up.

I've experienced odors of people in many ways. There have been the raw onion eaters that came in right after lunch (my assumption) and stink up the joint. I've had people with far too much perfume on having their scent waft about. I've had a co-worker with an unclean smell overtake rooms and make me sick to my stomach. I've experienced folks with strong body odor and smell of unlaundered clothing.

I've been trapped on the ladder with ladies standing at the cheeks of my behind.

I've had people reaching over me.

I've had people step over me.

I've had people run me out of my displays.

I had an older woman who stated that she needed the restroom. I told her that it was currently unavailable, but before she could let me finish, she yelled at me, "WELL, WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO? GO HOME TO GO TO THE BATHROOM?!" I told her that I was sorry that we would need a few minutes because there were glass shelves leaned against the door. I told her that as soon as we cleared a path for her, we would let her know. Within two minutes, we were able to accommodate her request.

I've had to deal with a very lazy seasonal worker who has a habit of lying to keep herself from having to do work. She drives me absolutely insane, as I have an intolerance for lazy people who are being paid to work and there are so many others out there that would love the job. She has personally decided that she prefers to work at our sister store over us and when she has an opportunity, she'll escape to go back to the other counter.

Of course, I've dropped things and broke stuff. Not big expensive things, but I've broken stuff.

I have to work on Thursday at the very least. Thursday is my day off and my day for cleaning. I absolutely have to get done what I've promised to do. I'll work while K- is in school. It won't be a full day, but it should provide me with enough time to get the couple of displays done that I absolutely have to do.

My kid has been asleep the last two nights when I got home. That bums me out. At least tonight, she wasn't fast asleep so she did reach around and give me a hug when I told her that I was there.

I've been getting up and crawling into K-'s bed a little earlier than I normally do so that we can still get our reading time in together. We've only got three more blocks of 15 minutes of reading to get to the 200 mark for her 100 Book Challenge. We will finish this on Thursday. K- is very excited, as the next step is to adopt a stuffed animal. Still, my hope was to get this done earlier in the week. I promised by the end and by the end of the week she'll have.

Hubs has been doing K-'s school work with her every night, including her speech therapy homework. We normally do this together as a family at least a few times a week. I miss it.

I packed Daddy's macaroni and cheese in K-'s lunch on Tuesday and apparently I tightened the top so much that K- couldn't open it. She didn't know that she could ask the monitors for help, so other than carrots and a juice box, she didn't eat anything else for lunch. Ugh. Good news is that she ate all of the pot pie that I packed her on Wednesday.

I've had to toss laundry in the dryer to keep up. I just haven't had the time to hang items on the line this week. It makes me feel like a laundress failure.

I woke up tired Wednesday morning. I had to do display by caffeine. I've been running and running and I'm flat out tired. Soon and very soon, it'll all be done.

Have a very energetic day!

Works for Me Wednesday: A girl's guide to car winterization

Saturday was a beyond gorgeous day. I ran to my sister's house twice because I completely forgot to get what I went out for. I was on a run for provisions like fresh veggies, Tylenol and Motrin. However, I forgot the Tylenol and Motrin for my nephew Leland who was sporting a lovely case of H1N1 at the ripe age of 5 1/2 months. He's on the mend, but did spike 104 F. So, after I came back from doing the victory lap, I decided that it warmed enough to wash and wax the car before the winter weather kicks in.

Winter weather here makes cars look really funky, inside and out. I decided to do one last hoorah. I wanted to be certain that everything had the once over and we were good.

Folks, I spent about 3 1/2 hours accomplishing that goal.

Now grant you, I did not by any stretch of the imagination do a professional job, but I'm happy with the outcome. Here's what I did in my attempt to winterize my ride in probably more of a female fashion:

1. Washed the RAV from top to bottom, even getting all of the brake dust off of the rims. They shine now.
2. Waxed the RAV from top to bottom, including the roof rails. Salt is yucky on the paint. A little extra protection doesn't hurt.
3. Washed the windows inside and out, including the windshield and moon roof. Dirty windows are rather difficult to see out of. That's not so safe.
4. Washed the inside, including but not limited to the dash, interior side of window glass, doors from top to bottom, spraying the heavy duty mat at the driver's seat and K-'s seat, all the cooks and nannies in the PRNDL and the kind of gross cup holders. I wasn't in the mood to deal with Armor All. A bad job with Armor All can be spotted from a parking lot away. I just didn't have the dedication.
5. Swept the entire truck, having chased many soft and rotting grapes, cracker bits, and crayons in a variety of states of being.
6. Had K- help in the unveiling of the backseat from all of the reading books, coloring books, dolls and miscellaneous "must keep" garbage that amassed in her corner of my mode of transportation.
7. Restocked the storm food. Many packages of crackers in a variety of flavors are now stowed away in the console, awaiting consumption on days where we are forever stuck in massive traffic because one flake on the road makes 70 % of the population of NE Ohio twitch to near convulsions. And for the record, I LOVE! to drive in the snow. It also doesn't hurt that I have a 4WD. Hubs does, too.
8. Refilled the Purell dispenser on my driver's side door. Germs are everywhere people and ATM machines and gas pumps are the worst! Ick!
9. Made certain that I have lip goo and intensive hand cream easily accessible. After all, what else am I supposed to do on an otherwise dry highway while there are three flakes causing a major back-up? May as well moisturize!
10. Checked the condition of all my wiper blades. I found that my rear wiper blade had split and is beginning to rip. Since it is famous for freezing to the glass and I forget that until I've tried to make it go a few times, I decided that I shall replace it and only allow it to go when the de-icer has actually melted all of the winter gunk off of my back window.
11. While trying to find the size for the rear wiper blade, I learned that the side mirror de-icing functions when the de-icing button is pushed for the back window. Good to know. I knew that it worked (on accident), but didn't know how it happened! I also learned that the store has a master book with the wiper blades to tell you what size you need. Also good to know. The book was wrong, though. It also didn't state that I needed the blade only and not the arm thingy. Hubs took the wiper blade back.
12. I checked and refilled the windshield washer fluid. That is probably one of my biggest pet peeves when driving. Nothing is worse than having the windshield constantly sprayed with road salt and not being able to remove it. Driving blindly is not something that I care to do.
13. Speaking of, I purchased canopy straps to latch the bottle of windshield wiper fluid to the hooks in the back of my truck. Having the bottle roll around back, from side to side, is a little nerve wracking. Thwamp to the left! Thwamp to the right! I was able to hook the bottle in a few different places. There is a grocery sack hook (again, I found that out when reading the book to see wiper size) and another hook that is probably to just latch things down. Having tied the bottle down in two places has kept it in its place. Hooray!
14. I touched up the stone chip hunks in the paint. Our RAV was delivered with a few stone chips in the hood and the settlement that I made with the dealership was to give us a stone guard and a paint pen. Both are rather handy to have. (They drove the RAV in from Dubois, PA and knew that we were in a crunch for time, as opposed to bringing it by car hauler. They would have repainted the front half of the truck, but stone chips will happen. As it was, 4 months later the RAV was stoned by a weed eater, 1/2 the truck was painted twice in a month, as well as having to have the passenger window of the driver's side replaced. We can live with a few stone chips having been repaired. Besides, we know that if we put the dealership to that much work, a boulder would have fallen out of the sky as we drove off the lot and would have totaled the front end. Believe me, stone chips are fine. Remember that black cloud? It hovers over us often.)
15. I found a better home for my proof of insurance card.
16. I double checked that the blanket is in the back.
17. I double checked that I have a little pocket knife in the car, to cut the seat belt strapping if we should ever get trapped.
18. I also have a pair of scissors. I forgot about them, but it's good to remember that they are there. You never know when you need them.
19. I double checked the location of my pressure gauge. Remember? Me and tires? 'Nuff said.
20. We have a box of tissues near K-'s booster in the backseat and a spare in the cargo net in back. Winter noses run.

The tail end of my car winterization list is:
- Go to Toyota to have them repair the CD player, my seat belt latch that I slammed the door on, broke a piece off and now the latch hangs all the way to the floor which makes reaching it very hard, and I'll be returning the blasted tire cover AGAIN to have them see why it discontinues fitting after being taken off only once.
- Go to a Goodyear Service Center, tell them I realize that they are probably going to try to sell me new tires, but I'll be thrilled with a free tire rotation, please.
- Check to make sure that the shake flash light is in the glove box.
- Add a first aid kit.
- Add a few personal sized bottles of water. Though they will freeze, they can be thawed quickly with the very warm heating system that Toyota is so kind to provide.
- Add an extra hat and pair of gloves each for K- and me. I'll put a hat in for Hubs, but usually he isn't with us.
- I'd like to have a Life hammer to break the windows out if needed. I think of the ladies that drowned this week when they accidentally drove into the lake. Intense pressure builds and you are unable to unroll your windows while underwater. I know of a friend's sister that died this very way.
- Add a felt eraser. I've read that this is an excellent way to remove fogginess from your windows.

So, I'll admit that this started as my Monday post, but became my Wednesday post. Have a great Wednesday!

Smiles in my day:
- The Christmas tree display that was fighting me all day like a two year old in a rolling tantrum, actually decided to submit to my decorating abilities and cooperate. Unfortunately, I'm still behind on my decorating schedule. Fortunately, I was able to take the gorgeous merchandise I had no place for other than relegating it to a sad sack display from the ceiling into a fantastic pink, burgundy, black and white tree. It sounds wrong, but it is so right! :)! Success after yesterday made me smile. Don't worry, the pictures of the trees that I create at work will be on the blog for all to see on December 14 for the Christmas Tour.
- I was able to work enough extra hours to make up for the day I missed last week. Never mind that the extra hours combined as 2 1/2 hours on Thursday, 2 1/2 hours on Monday and 3 hours today. Hey, whatever combination it takes to make that paycheck whole again. Happily, I feel much, much better.
- K-, her teacher and her class waving to me through the window this morning. I always wait outside of her window to see her arrive at class. We both wave and get on with our day.

Crunch time

Busy week. 12 hour + days. Much Christmas decorating to be done at work. Will be in and out. Check out Saturday's post, if you didn't get to already. Many smiles. :)

Smiles in my weekend:
- Getting my car all cleaned for winter. Check back in for my WFMW post about it.
- Leland is recovering from H1N1. I admit that the Saturday morning call of my sister bawling on the way to the doctor and asking for prayer about broke my heart. I held it together for her and prayed her a far amount of way there. Though he spiked to 104 F, she was able to get the fever back down to 101 F. He is well hydrated and hovering with the lower grade fever. She said that she never thought she'd be so happy with a 100-101 F fever.
- J-, my sister's younger daughter, spiked to 104 F twice in the early morning hours of Sunday. (Yes, H1N1.) My sister, having had major issue with my having taken K-'s blanket away in the time of high fever with probable H1N1, found herself doing the same thing at 2 AM. She apologized and told me that when she got to that point, she completely understood why I did it. She told me that she has learned not to be so judgmental regarding parental decisions. That has bit all of us in the butt from time to time!
- Sunday was new phone day with AT&T. Hubs and I now have the same cell phones in different colors. A great advantage since whatever he figures out for his phone he can do to mine. He made me a ring tone which took hours because there were no directions. Then, that ring tone didn't quite work well, so he made me a second one! What is my ring tone? The first 13 seconds of this song:

He laughs because he said that he can't help but to admit that the ring tone is completely me! :)

Have a great week!

Good things to share

Other than the fact that this picture didn't seem this dark before, I finally chose new pillows for our couch. If you remember from last year, our new couch came damaged and included incredibly ugly pillows. I mean, I don't know what they were thinking when they were choosing the fabric. Just look: I have to tell you that the new pillows were an incredible steal. They came from an LL Bean Daily Markdown sale. Their regular price is $39.50, but they were marked down to $14.99 each. Since we have their credit card, we have free shipping. Since I spent more than $25.00, they issued a $10.00 gift card to be used anytime before mid-February. Good deal! (When I looked for the link for the post, I noticed that the price went up to $29.99! I received two pillows for that!) I figure that I can put that towards a stocking stuffer for Hubs. I scored him some great, thin pants to wear as a second layer or pajama pants. He loves them.

When I came home this afternoon, there was a bag on my porch. It was my friend who borrowed my food mill. She left the food mill and a little package of home baked cookies. YUM!

I should add that K- and I both scored H1N1 shots this evening at a flu shot clinic put on by our city health department. It was no cost, and because I watch my nephew sometimes (less than 6 months old), I qualified for a shot. At first, I didn't think that I would. Yes, we do think that K- already had H1N1, but since they weren't testing and aren't completely positive, the nurse at the pediatrician's office told me that "The doctor is wanting all of her patients to get the shot." They didn't have it, but she said that it didn't matter what flu shot clinic we went to. I asked about it being a two part shot. She said that they are just thrilled if the kids get one. Of course, K- wigged out. (She always does.) I had to restrain her. I hate doing it, but it was necessary. I know you are wondering why I don't do Flu Mist with K-. Given her compromised immune system because of birth status, I'd rather stick with the shot. She did get chicken pox from the Varicella vaccination, so she did already prove that she is capable of getting an illness from a vaccine. I won't get it for myself, either. Our neighbor is a nurse and he's not a fan. Good enough for me.

So, before the flu shot clinic, we self-invited to have a combo dinner with our friends. I normally wouldn't do that with anyone but my sister and parents (because we've all done the same to each other), but we were all going to the shot thing together and Hubs had to work late. I made homemade cheesy scalloped potatoes, brought rolls and some pearsauce that I had canned. Kim made a fantastic salad and had barbecued chicken. Yum. We all ate well.

After the flu shot clinic, we returned to Ford and Kim's house to hang out near their fire pit and eat popcorn. We had a really great time. Immunization has never been so much fun!

My mom left a message to tell me that she found some Pumpkin Spice Instant Jello for me to make a pie for Thanksgiving. (I have a recipe for a two layer pie that she makes. Though I've never eaten it, it sounds and looks so good!) Mom said that it is wonderful and my brother tried to haul off with her pudding, too!

Clean sheets and a husband to help me stretch them onto the bed. No, I don't require the help, but he remembers when my thumb locked in massive pain last year while changing the sheets. He just figures that I still need the help and I'm not going to turn him down!

Walking to school with K- on crispy mornings. Mornings in general, actually. This morning was 28 F. I asked her if it snows a lot, would she want to snowshoe to school? She said no. Where is her sense of adventure?! ;)

I realized yesterday that my daughter goes down to the Nurse's office so often that she has art stuck to the nurse's wall! If there is an ill child, she offers to walk them down. If she hurts herself, she goes to get an ice pack. If her reflux kicks up causing her to dispense her lunch, she goes to the nurse's office. That happened Thursday. The teacher doesn't want vomiting children to re-enter her classroom (I don't blame her), but I've sent a note stating that I would love to "work out an action plan regarding K-'s unfortunate reflux incidents at school." The nurse and I are on a first name basis now! Hopefully, I can convince Mrs. H- that K- isn't sick. Immediately after lunch, they have recess. K- runs and runs hard. She spins. She twirls. This time wasn't school lunch. This time was too much bouncing and such. We've had that happen, too.

A good note to end on:

The ladies over at 5 Minutes for Mom have two Christmas promotions going on at their blog. One is called Under the Tree, which helps to provide Christmas gifts to families in need. Here is what they are saying about it:

Under the Tree 2009 is our chance to spread some Christmas love to families in need through the generosity of the companies contributing to our Christmas Giveaway. We are so grateful for their participation!

In addition to providing the fabulous prizes for our readers to win by commenting on the individual reviews, the wonderful companies participating in the Christmas Giveaway 2008 are providing presents to selected families who are in need this
Christmas.

If you know a family who will not be able to provide presents for their children this Christmas, click over and read more about Under the Tree and how you can nominate a family in need.

And don’t forget to click over and comment to show your support and enthusiasm for Under the Tree and for the participating companies!

There is also another Christmas giveaway.

Now, it is time to get into the Christmas Giveaway fun! if you’re looking for some great ideas for your Christmas shopping list – and you would you like to win some fun prizes and maybe check off some people on that list, it is time to get started with our Christmas Giveaway 2009!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Smiles in my day:
- Sprinkled in above.

A mindset that I can't understand.

All of the major news networks have picked the story up. Anthony Sowell of Cleveland has been charged with murders of 5 people now and certainly more charges to follow. At last I read, there have been 11 bodies found/uncovered at his home on Imperial Avenue that are dated to be "at least 3 weeks old." 4 bodies were found in shallow graves in the backyard. A couple of bodies were found in the attic and living room, and a few in the basement, including a skull that was found in a bucket, presumably fallen from a decayed body that has not been located as of yet.

I'm not from Cleveland, so I'm not familiar with the neighborhood that he lived in other than things I've read. I know that Anthony Sowell was a registered sex offender, having served 15 years in prison for raping someone. He's in fair company as his particular neighborhood area houses 150 registered sex offenders. It is a neighborhood structured somewhat like ours. Postage stamp sized lots and close houses. (Linked story at end regarding neighborhood.) He was neighboring a sausage company.

Apparently, there had been 14 women reported missing in the "14th district" which I'm not certain that is his particular neighborhood, but I'm guessing that it is. All of his victims appear to be African-American females that have lived a life with some unfortunate hiccups. A woman was interviewed last night who said that she hadn't reported someone she knew that was missing and now she wishes that she had. She said that had she reported them missing, perhaps she could have saved others.

I hate to have her live with that guilt.

The reports are that the stench was incredible. The sausage factory was blamed, though the owner said that they knew they weren't to blame. The heat of summer. What his house held. How could no one have known? The council person even complained about it. The sausage company stated that they upgraded traps and whatnot to the tune of $10,000. and an inspector stated that the stench was from a dead animal at the neighboring house. What it was was two dead bodies under the front porch. Should I also add that he used to barbecue out front? People report that he smelled like death himself. Being surrounded by such, I don't know how he couldn't.

Police had last been at the residence on September 22, 2009. He was a registered sex offender and I believe that they were checking in. While they admit that they smelled an odor, they weren't able to enter the residence. They needed a search warrant.

He had attacked a few women who did get away. They didn't report the incidents to the police. One said that she was afraid that because of a past conviction, she thought that the police wouldn't take her seriously. That happened right after he got out of jail for the rape charges.

How did he fall through the cracks? How could those who held him in jail for 15 years not be tuned into his probability to re-offend? I understand that offending again happens at a fairly high rate, but he was released after 15 years and went to the streets to continue where he left off, only this time he decided to go all serial killer about it.

I don't understand.

What I do understand is that I have a very good friend who experienced having the call to tell her that her sister had been murdered. Her sister was brutally beaten and details that she told me made me so upset. To this day, over 10 years later, the case is still unsolved. This is with the lead detective having admitted that it was the worse crime that he had seen. Not only was her sister murdered, but she was also set on fire.

How horrible.

My friend has kept up with the police department in the particular city that the murder occurred in. She has had some kind people. She has had some others give her the brush off. I fear though that she is experiencing what these ladies feared. Because my friend's sister didn't live a completely clean life, it seems like no one takes the case seriously and sees this crime as something that just sometimes happens. Her sister didn't deserve her death.

I can't account for Anthony Sowell's actions. I have no idea what drove him to make the choices that he did. I would guess that he had mental issues that should have been addressed while he was federally housed. However, no matter the choices that the ladies made in their lives, their lives were of worth. It wasn't up to Anthony Sowell to take their last breath with strangulation by ligature or choking. It wasn't up to Anthony Sowell to dump his latest victim in a variety of places about the property and go on to the next. It wasn't up to Anthony Sowell to weed out the population of Imperial Avenue like a dog warden does with strays while out on patrol.

These women were daughters, moms, friends and sisters. No matter what the news agencies choose to report regarding details of the victims lives, remember that these ladies didn't deserve their death.

Please keep their friends and families in your prayers, as they not only try to identify victims, but search for more at the Imperial Avenue residence as well as a 1/2 mile perimeter surrounding the property and previous properties that Anthony Sowell occupied. Please pray for the victims that escaped Anthony Sowell.

I can't imagine.

Related news stories:
Tanja Doss describes being a rape victim.
Stench still wafts from home.
Police identify first victim.
Neighborhood nothing to smile about.
Two more bodies identified.
Anthony Sowell was considered unlikely to offend again according to his 2005 evaluation.

It snowed and other things that make me happy.

It started snowing as I was on my way to work. It proceeded to snow for about an hour. (Nothing stuck, as the ground is too warm.) I love snow. I think that it is the greatest thing. K- saw it at school and it was the first thing she told me tonight. My kid has my love for snow.

I was well enough to return to work and plod along full speed ahead on my nature tree. I'll be working a partial day on Thursday to finish decorating it.

K- got her report card today. It was wonderful! Other than being a doofus and forgetting her address (she came home and admitted it to me last week), she did a great job! After I made some more sight word cards for her from the list that was included with her report card, I counted what we need to review and there are 81 words. No kidding!

I won a Santa letter from We Are THAT Family. K- will be so excited! Thanks, Kristen!

Speaking of things Christmas, our Christmas cards arrived today and I LOVE! them!

My mother-in-law made beef vegetable soup and sent some home with me tonight. It was very thoughtful and hit the spot.

My drug cocktail seems to be working for me. 2 Advil, 1 Oscillococinum, 3 Vitamin C and 1 Mucinex every 12 hours. I certainly feel that need right now. I also feel that my bed is calling my name.

Now if you'll excuse me, my bed and I have a date. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Smiles in my day:
- See above, please!

Have a great day!