Remembering

 And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.                                                                                                                                                 ~~Lee Greenwood

This is the day we pay homage to all those who didn't come home. This is not Veterans day, it's not a celebration, it is a day of solemn contemplation over the cost of freedom.

             ~~Tamra Bolton

It's supposed to be my day off today but I have to work. However you decide to spend your day, take a moment to remember those who gave their lives fighting for their country.

Fluffy and Ace

I spent a little time with my daughter yesterday and that means I also got to visit with fluffy and Ace.

This is Fluffy

And this is Ace.

Fluffy is always the perfect hostess and welcomes me. Ace not so much. He's more like the one who wants to know when I'm leaving.

Another Day in Paradise

Another fun day at work. It just keeps getting better and better. I go into work to find an order for 18 loaves of Italian bread for noon. Order finished no problem. Man comes to pick up order for 18 rolls. I tell him the order was for bread he says no we ordered rolls. I show him order and tell him what the manager had told me about the order, she was there when it was taken. He calls someone on the phone then says to me "I want to speak to a manager, this isn't what we ordered". Now I could have told him that I was the bakery manager but I was pretty sure that if I kept dealing with him I was going to be rude and maybe even let a few HBO words slip. I called the manager and let her take care of it. She tells him the same thing I told him, he has her talk to someone on the phone. Then he proceeded to take packs of rolls off the shelf and leave me stuck with the 18 loaves of Italian bread. Wouldn't have been too big of an issue if my shelves weren't already loaded with Italian bread. This is just one example of why work is pushing me over the edge.

In other news, I'm working on a little project in the house. Part of it involves the room previously known as... 

I don't want to say too much other than this has been a long time coming. 

work

Without getting too whiny about it let me just say that work has been kicking my butt lately. We're short on people, we've been getting really busy because of the warmer weather and there are some people there who have put me over the edge. I told you before that I play store manager in addition to my bakery duties on Wednesdays and Sundays. The girl who is the cashier on Wednesday has been the biggest pain in my butt and I'm at my wit's end.

Enough about that though. Yesterday I had a cake order to do. This is for pre-school graduation. Red and black are the school colors for this area. 

In need of something funny

What a day I had yesterday! I won't go into details because it'll probably only get me stressed out again. Instead I'm just going with something funny

My gift is growing

Back in March Amanda bought me a pre-planted begonia bulb for my birthday. I had it sitting in the kitchen still in the packaging waiting till there was no chance of a frost anymore. Last week I happened to notice that it was starting to grow so I figured I'd better put it outside. It's actually growing I haven't killed it yet

My way

June 3rd I have two appointments scheduled one at 11:30 and one at 1:30

 

In between the two, they wanted me to go next door to the hospital to have x-rays done

 knowing my luck, I highly doubt that I would get back for the second appointment on time. Not wanting to risk it I decided that I would go get the x-rays done yesterday. When I got there there was only one other person there and I was in and out in under an hour.

I'm pretty sure if I was on a timeframe though it wouldn't have gone so smoothly. After I left there I made a couple other stops as long as I was in the big city. By the time I got home I was ready for a nap. 

A busy day

Because of the shortage of people at work, there are two days a week that I not only do my job but also take on the role of store manager for part of the day. Those days are Sunday and Wednesday. Yesterday, playing both those roles and having two cake orders added onto my day, it had me hopping. I was tired by the end of the day but the nice thing is being busy makes the day go by really quick. So here are the two cakes that I did yesterday. The first was a full sheet cake

 

And the second was a quarter sheet cake

oops

I forgot to schedule post last night so this is all there is for today. Be back tomorrow

Downsizing

A couple weeks ago at work, I was looking through our supply order book for something that I needed. I happened to come across cake boards and containers for 1/8 sheet cake. I decided to order them and try putting out some smaller cakes. I have an 8in round cake but they're different flavored cake such as carrot, Boston cream, German chocolate and a few others. I wanted to be able to put out a small birthday cake that someone could pick up real quick without having to actually order it. I've done a few of them and they've all sold and then the other day somebody called and wanted to order that smaller size. They are quick and easy to put together and I can actually get a higher profit out of them.

 

Since I have to cut a quarter sheet cake in half to do these, one was for the order and the other one went in the freezer for the next time I need one to put out.

I could be wrong

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that this is a strawberry plant growing next to the tree in my front yard. I have no idea how it got there. 

 

I'm not sure what's up with this weather we're having but yesterday when I left work it was 91 degrees. It seems like we skipped right over spring and jumped into full blown summer. In yesterdays comments Anni said "86° is unheard of for PA this time of year, isn't it?" Well the average high for this time of year is 68 so while the record high was 88 it's not a normal temp for May.

Something different

When I left work yesterday it was 86 degrees. I didn't feel like doing my usual plop on the couch and watch tv. I went outside and did some weeding. The lawn guys don't do that part.

It doesn't look like much because my house has zero curb appeal  but take my word for it, this is an improvement.

I finally put out the birds and butterflies Amanda gave me too.

It takes two

A crew of 2 whips my lawn into shape in no time.

One rides the mower

 

And the other does the trimming. 

My yard has never looked so good

Predecessors

 I think you all know Gibbs

If you've been with me for a while then you know that before Gibbs, there was Duke. Oh how I miss that dog.

Before Duke there was Pringle. Him and Duke were good pals.

Before Pringle there was Molly. She was the second of two chocolate labs that lived here. Before her there was Winston. I think we got Molly when Winston was only a year or two. 

Molly was a sweet and gentle soul. She would back away from a food dish if the cat wanted a little taste. She rarely barked. When Winston had to be put down at the age of 12 Molly was the top dog in the house and took over the job of barking people passing by. 

Catitude

 I still don't have anything new for a blog post. I would like to thank all of you for your comments on yesterdays post. I appreciate everyone who offered either a sympathetic ear, advice or suggestions. What it all boils down to is I need to make some changes in my life. 

In the meantime I dug through some of my old files and today I have some old pictures I took of cats.

Not how I want it to be

 I spent another day off being a total slug. Yes, you could say that I  need the rest but it's not what I want to do with my day. I have things I need to do around the house, craft projects I would like to make, yard work, going out for walks, and the list goes on. Yet every time I think I'm going to it gets to my day off and I just don't have the ambition or the desire to do any of it. 

I don't know if it's just an age thing or if it's because I spend all my time (outside of work) alone. I mostly just think what's the point in doing anything around the house, no one but me will ever see it. I definitely need something in my life to get me excited about doing stuff.

Pardon me

 I've got nothing so I thought I would take a moment to go on a bit of a rant. The problem is there are several issues that are infuriating me right now and I don't know which one to complain about. I think it will be the most recent one. All day at work yesterday I kept hearing people talk about how they could stop wearing a mask now because they were vaccinated. Supposedly it was in the  paper that if you have gotten the vaccine then you can stop wearing a mask. OK, so isn't that just going to end up with a whole bunch of people both vaccinated and not going around with no mask? I mean it's not like the people who have been vaccinated have a great big V tattooed on their forehead. I'm neither for or against getting vaccinated. If you want to fine, get one. If you don't then don't. It should be your choice. But this just feels like the government saying "if you eat all your vegetables then you can have a great big ice cream cone when you're done".

I'm sure there are plenty of people who will disagree with me on this point and that's fine. You are entitled to your opinion as I am entitled to mine. 

Friday funnies and answers

First I'll answer some questions from yesterday's post.

I don't use the mower because I've always had trouble starting it for some reason. Now that I've hired someone to mow for me I don't need to worry about it any way. The winter before Wade passed away the roof on our shed collapsed because of all the snow. He was going to try and do something with it but he never got a chance. Without the shed, the mower has been sitting under  a tarp next to my deck. I was just tired of seeing it sit there,

Yes, he did buy the mower and came to haul it away that night. I sold it to him for an incredibly great deal. I was to the point where it was more important to me to get rid of it than it was to get a lot of money out of it. Plus he needed a mower and I don't think he could afford a whole lot. It was a win win situation for both of us.

He did bring a battery and a charger with him so he was able to get the mower started and he drove it around the yard a bit. I was actually surprised at how easily it started and how well it ran since it had been sitting so long. I'm just happy that it's gone.

Now on to the funnies

 

well isn't that just special

I've had this riding mower sitting out next to my deck under a tarp for a few years now. I've had nowhere to keep it since the shed collapsed several years back. 

I've been trying to get rid of it and finally one of the girls at work said that her son might be interested in it. They came over Tuesday to have a look at it. When we pull the tarp off and he lifted the hood on it he asked me if I knew there wasn't a battery in it. I don't know when it happened, but somebody decided to steal the battery out of it. Not only did they steal the battery but they cut the battery cables. At least he came prepared. He had a small battery, a battery charger and starting fluid with him. Some people have all the nerve

another doctor's appointment

Monday I had another doctor's appointment. This time it was for blood work and a pap test. This time I remembered to take some pictures while I was sitting there. When you first walk in there's a camera on a tripod. You walk up to it, line your face up with the outline of a head and it takes your temperature

 

The waiting room is pretty dinky and boring

 

The exam room had more things to take pictures of. There were quilts all over the place

 

Next I have x-rays, a mammogram, and an appointment with an orthopedic specialist. I'm supposed to do all of that on May 25th

backtracking

Just going back a couple days to talk about Mother's Day. Yes I did have to work, but it really wasn't all that bad. My son stopped in to see me at work and brought me a card and flowers. 

My daughter invited me over for dinner which is always nice. I also got a card from Wade's youngest son which was a nice surprise. Amanda gave me a Michaels gift card, chocolate, and a couple yard decorations. All in all it was a nice day

Google lens

Do any of you use Google Lens? I happened to see the app on my phone one day so thought I would check it out to see what it was. I took a picture of this pom pom with Google lens

 

Using the search option this is what it gave me for the above picture

 Obviously my imagination isn't all that great seeing as how I never would have considered that my pom pom looks like a sea urchin