It’s Voting Day in Alabama!

For those of us who live in Alabama, it’s voting day! If you know me at all, then you probably know that I am a lover of voting! I think it is one of the greatest priveleges we have as Americans. I remember filling out my voter registration form the week of my 18th birthday. I think I mailed it in the day before I turned 18.

I’m proud to day that I’ve never missed a day of voting; even when I was in college, I voted via absentee every time there was a chance to vote. I would always request from Judge Riddick, our probate judge at the time and a dear friend of mine, to send me the “I Voted” sticker. I don’t know if it was him or he told his assistant or whatever to do it, or maybe they include it in all absentee ballots, but I would always receive about three “I Voted” stickers in my package from the courthouse. I like to think they were sent to me special so if you know otherwise, don’t spoil it for me.

Someone at work on Monday said, “I’m not going to waste my time to go vote tomorrow.” I’m pretty sure my blood pressure sky rocketed at that moment. I just had to walk away without saying anything. I don’t know why anyone would skip out on an opportunity to vote. If you do, maybe you can tell us why in the comments.

I plan to be at my polling location bright and early when the doors open at 7:00 a.m. because to me it doesn’t get more American than being able to cast my vote. So, get out and vote Alabamians! If you happen to need me on Tuesday night, I’ll be by my television watching the results come in, probably with a pen and paper by my side.

This and That and a Birthday Soiree

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend. As planned, I made it in to work by 6:45 on Friday morning in order to make up a little time so I could take some time off to visit the doctor, and paid only a $20 co-pay – take that Quick Care! As suspected, I have a sinus infection. I was given a prescription for some antibiotics and I also got some Clairton D to help with the congestion. Is it just me or do you also feel like a criminal when you buy medicine from behind the pharmacy counter? I always feel like the clerk is wondering if I’m going to make a batch of meth with my purchase.

Anyway, I also bought a new humidifier because my old one had stopped working last month. The hum of a humidifier is very soothing to me when I’m sick and reminds me of my youth. Sadly, the newer ones don’t really hum like the older models do. My throat is still hurting a bit, but I am starting to feel better. Hopefully I will be back to normal just in time to start mowing the grass.

On Friday night, I met Jackie and the kids for a viewing of The Lorax (review coming up later this week). Saturday morning, I skipped the gym since I still wasn’t feeling well and made an early morning run to Publix. I did some cleaning and laundry, but mostly did some resting.

Saturday afternoon we had a birthday celebration for my paternal granddad’s 80th. His actual birthday is this coming Wednesday; so, we celebrated a little early. My dad grilled pork chops and everyone brought a side item. My aunt brought him a couple of fancy party hats and also some birthday decorations. We had a good time getting together and celebrating his 80 years.

Sunday morning was my first Sunday to teach the Ladies’ Class since Janet taught last week. I think it went pretty well considering I had to blow my nose every few minutes and keep a cough drop in my mouth. My small group met for potluck after class and then I came home and napped. I skipped evening service because I just really didn’t feel like getting out again. Hopefully the Lord will understand.

So, that was my weekend in a nutshell. It should be a fairly busy week at work. We Alabamians head to the polls on Tuesday, which is always one of my most favorite days of the year, and on Saturday, I’m going to a concert with Jackie and Maria.

I hope you all have a great Monday and your week starts off on a good note. Here are some photos from the birthday soiree.

My grandparents

The birthday cake

Getting ready for cake

Blowing out the candles

I Think It Was The Country Air

I'm sick again! Just when I thought the Spring pollen might pass me over and spare me from the dreadful sinus infection, it didn't and in fact it has hit me like a ton of bricks. A little warning would have been nice. The past few times I have been sick, it has come with no warning whatsoever, whereas in the past, I would at least feel a little bad before I was sideswiped with a full-on sickness.

At any rate, my throat started tingling on Wednesday night and by Thursday morning my throat was in full-on pain. It was pretty miserable. I mean, there's not much worse than a sore throat, can I get an amen? I don't know if it was the country air out in Hazel Green that caused it or what, but no matter the cause I'm feeling rather dreadful.

I went to the Quick Care Clinic at Propst Drugs after work today to see if the good folks there could help me. I’ve been there twice before and had a nice experience both times and figured I would be sitting here writing nice things about this experience as well. Apparently my insurance company has increased the co-pay for Urgent Care places from $20 to $40. So, after waiting an hour and mulling this over, I decided to get a refund on my $40 and schedule an appointment with my primary care physician instead. I don’t know about you, but $20 is a lot better than $40 in my book, even if it means suffering a little longer.

So, tomorrow morning I have grand plans to go in to work around 6:45 to get in a little extra time so I can visit the doctor without it affecting my paycheck. I have a little sick leave I can use if necessary and let’s face it, I probably won’t make it by 6:45, but I might. In the meantime, I have sufficiently drugged myself and hope to get some sleep this evening.

In other news, my new brown shoes arrived today and although they are not as grand as my beloved browns, they might work out okay. I will still be on the lookout for some shoes that are just like my beloved browns.

I hope everyone has a great Friday. It’s always nice to end the week on a good note. Hopefully I will too once I get some good drugs from the doctor!

The Past Couple of Days

Well, hello there. No, I didn’t blog yesterday. There’s not much going on right now and last night, I just couldn’t conjure up anything to write about. I’m not sure tonight is going to be much better, but I will give it a try.

Work has been super busy this week, which has been great because I love to have busy days; it makes the day pass faster and I feel like I actually accomplished something when I come home at night. On Tuesday night, my friend Kendra and I went out to the boonies to have some clothes hemmed. Kendra and he sister Candy use a lady named Wava to do all their alterations and I had two pairs of jeans that needed hemming; so, we rode out there together because Wava was working on a coat for Kendra and needed Kendra to try it on.

Anyway, Wava lives way out and I was glad Kendra went with me because I’m pretty sure I would still be driving around if she hadn’t been along to tell me where to turn because Wava didn’t give the best directions in the world. Wava pinned my jeans and worked on Kendra’s coat and then we were on our way back to the big city. When we got back to my house, we had gumbo for dinner because I had made a large pot over the weekend and needed someone to help me eat it. I think it was the first time I had ever spent time with Kendra one on one as we are usually in a group of people when we are together; so, it was nice to be able to hang out with her, just the two of us.

On Wednesday I went to work and afterwards made a run by Target to pick up a prescription and a couple of other things. I used to have no problem with the Target pharmacy but the past few times I’ve been they have not run my prescription. I have a discount card on file and they either don’t use it or don’t use the right one. Today was no exception; they had not used the discount card at all. I didn’t get ugly with them, but I did, once again, express my frustration with the prescription never being right. A lady that was there with her mom passed along some nice words to me and told me to hang in there. See, there are some nice people in the world, after all.

On my way home, I noticed a missed call from Wava and I thought she might have a question about my jeans; so, I called her back. She asked if I was the girl who had called about the prom dress. I said no, I’m the one who came out with Kendra last night. She said, well, I was trying to find the girl who called about the prom dress. Clearly, not me. Maybe she found the right girl, who knows?

Since it was the beginning of the quarter at church, we had dinner at the building. The menu was hamburgers and hotdogs, potato salad, green salad, corn on the cob and cobbler. It was good and always nice not to have to cook dinner before church.

So, that pretty much sums up my past two days. I’m now watching Survivor and wishing that Colton had been the one voted out. He may be from Alabama, but he is an idiot if you ask me. Until next time…

Photos From My Phone

Here are some recent photos I took with my phone.

This is my cube mate's hand a ring. She received this as a gift. It's not something she would normally wear but she wore it so I could see it. It's quite interesting, isn't it?

Whatch you talkin' bout Willis?

Blue hit 170,000 miles last Thursday, I think 110,000 of those are mine, the other 60K is from when Blue was my dad's company car.

The Neighborhood Cat on my front porch.

H&M is coming soon to Bridge Street! YES!

Like a Lion

I’m sure you have heard the old saying March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Well, that lion certainly made a loud roar this year. We had a couple of tornadoes in the area on Friday. The chaos began Friday morning around 9:00 or so. Some of the same neighborhoods that were hit on April 27th of last year were hit again as well as other areas of North Alabama.

This time around I personally know three people whose homes were hit; one family’s house is basically gone, another one had the roof blown off and another one just sustained some minor damage. At least no lives were lost and that is always a positive in these types of situations.

Other area of the country were also hit and sustained much more damage than we did here in Alabama and many lives were lost in those states. We were very lucky this time around. Since we’ve had such a warm winter, I suspect that we will have a very turbulent spring. So, brace yourself, folks, the craziness is only beginning.

Also at the end of last week, two people I know died. The first was Walter Vinson who has been friends with my family for many years. We have a lot of fond memories with Walter and his wife Susan. He had Alzheimer’s and at the end didn’t even know Susan. What a terrible disease. Walter died on leap day, which I find to be interesting for no particular reason other than it only comes around every four years.

The second person to pass was the lovely Betty Tucker, who was best friends with my late grandmother. Betty’s funeral was three years to the day that my grandmother died, which I found to be very fascinating. I’m not sure if fascinating is the right word, but I’m having a hard time thinking of the word I want to use here. One of the items the family had displayed at the funeral was a poem that my grandmother had written back in 1975 for Betty Tucker and two of her other friends. It was a lovely expression of the friendship they shared. The Tuckers and my family have been friends for three generations now. Betty was one of the kindest and most wonderful people I knew and she will be missed here in this life.

Amongst all the sadness and post-storm chaos, Jackie and I managed to carve out some time for a shopping trip at Bridge Street. I bought some jeans and a shirt from White House Black Market and a sweater from Coldwater Creek, all three on sale. I also bought a new pair of brown shoes from Clark’s but they had to be ordered because they didn’t have my size. I hope they work out okay because they are meant to replace my beloved brown shoes, but will probably only pale in comparison. Hopefully they will work out okay.

Sunday evening we had a going away soiree for our interim minister who has been such a blessing to our congregation and to me in particular. He has brought us some wonderful and challenging lessons and I am so grateful he came our way. He will be missed.

It’s back to the grind again tomorrow. I don’t have anything overly exciting planned for the week, but with any luck I’ll surely be able to find something to tell you all about. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that your week is off to a good start!

The Case of the Belated Birthday Cookie

Perhaps this will be the last "the Case of" for a while, but you never can tell. Today is the first day of March - really? I mean, where did January and February go? It's just crazy how fast the days pass by; sometimes I feel like my life is one big blur, do you? One good thing about moving into the month of March is that I am once again parking in a prime parking spot. I won a good spot for January, March, July and September of this year and I love having a spot close to the entrance. It's very nice indeed.

So, as you may recall, my birthday was on February 1. I have a friend at work, Alex, who forgot my birthday. I mean, it was mentioned on twitter and other places and he didn't even so much as say hello to me on my big day. A couple of weeks ago he sent me a message and I mentioned that he missed my birthday and he apparently felt bad about that.

This week he started asking me about what kind of cake I liked; so, I figured he was probably going to get me a slice of cake or a cupcake or something along those lines; but, while I am a lover of cake, I don't really have a favorite. I have a lot of varieties that I would not eat (German Chocolate, Coconut, anything with coconut) but for the most part I am a big fan of flour and eggs mixed together and baked in an oven. One of my favorites, however, is the cake Erika makes and I’m pretty sure my friend and Erika don’t know each other so it’s not like he could call her up.

On Leap Day, Alex stopped by my desk and asked if I liked chocolate chip cookies. I do! In fact, chocolate chip cookies are probably one of my most favorite things in the world - I guess I get that from my granddad as he is a lover of the chocolate chip cookie too.

So, today, one month after my birthday, Alex brought over a cookie cake that said "Happy Birthday -N- one month". It took me half the morning to understand it meant Happy Birthday and a month because it seemed like it was saying Happy Birthday in one month.

Anyway, my friends and I enjoyed the cookie cake at lunch today and for the rest of the afternoon. I had lots of people ask if it is my birthday and when I said no it was a month ago, some people asked if the cookie cake was a month old. Needless to say, the cookie cake brought lots of laughs today, and laughter, dear ones, is always a good thing. I guess you could say we celebrated my 35 years and one month birthday today. Perhaps we should have a celebration on the first of every month? I might have to see what I can do about that. A big thanks to my friend for bringing me the cookie cake and lots of laughter to boot!