I just hate it

when a website is spread all over the place and you have to scroll everywhere to see the sides of the page. It's just clear to me that they don't know how to format."

Yellybird, age 12

Suz H
Sent from my iPhone

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Wish I could send this to the personnel serving overseas!

I've had it!

Or I should say, I think my phone has had it.

Stupid phone.

I had a clamshell-type for more than 3 years and put up with its battery cover falling off on a regular basis. It worked fine. I could text with one hand, had speed dials set up for easy-to-remember numbers, had certain ring tones for specific people, different ring tones for people I didn't necessarily want to interrupt a good read to talk to, an excellent ring tone for my family, and probably the best feature - ring + vibrate together!!!

I sacrificed it all for a Blackberry.

The initial purchase was simple, it arrived by mail, I activated it, and got a blue screen of death. For 2 days, roughly 6 phone calls.

I could answer & talk for a few seconds & then zippo. Zilch. Nada.

And it was promptly replaced (with another refurb) by my ever so helpful carrier. Whew! Or at least a temporary reprieve.

That was nearly 18 months ago and all is not well in the Blackberry department. The phone 'hangs' when the phone rings. I'll answer it, and can hear nothing, but the caller can hear me, yet the screen never indicates its been answered! Or I'll go to a website to read someone's blog and have it 'hang' while reading a script on the page. Or it 'hangs' when I open an email. Or read a tweet. Or delete a phone record. And when I say it 'hangs', I mean it gets the nice little rotating hourglass...for seconds, minutes, it could be HOURS at a time! But if I'm not LOOKING at the phone, or it's gone to its 'inactive' screen I have no idea that it's hanging on the hourglass...draining my battery...nixing my ability to receive any email...any phone calls from my precious Chicklets...any texts from my oh-so-romantic Ironman...

And did I mention that I've gone from one 'hard reset' per day, to 3 per day, to 3 before noon!

I've been counting down the months since...um...June? I need this phone to last until Dec 8. Then I can upgrade without commitment.

Help me, people!

I need recommendations on AT&T compatible mobile devices. iPhone, droid, blackberry, tell me what you like. What you hate. Give me the latest & greatest perks & peeves.

I need email access...and text...and phone...and I might perish without Twitter & Facebook, so take those into consideration too, kay? And did I mention I have a budget? The cheaper the better.

Thanks.



Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Hi darlin, there's nothing wrong, but I need to know...

where do we keep the vacuum cleaner?

How did I know not to believe him?

The day started out cold and snowy.  I was lucky that Ironman was at home with the girls.  Twins being hyperactive at home on a snowy day is one thing.  Twins being hyperactive at home with Daddy is a totally different animal.

So Ironman calls me at work and asks me where we keep the vacuum cleaner.  Yes, everyone, I did roll my eyes.  He couldn't see me!

me:  It's in the hall closet.

Sapper:  Which one?

me:  Not the front hall closet, not the glass pantry, the back hall closet.  By the garage door.  Across from the laundry room.  (And no, our house isn't that big, we just have a plethora of doors in the hallway on the first floor.  Eight doorways, but only five doors.  And one of those doors is to the bathroom.  Anyway, I digress.)

Ironman:  OK, thanks.

me:  Wait, why do you need the vacuum cleaner?

Ironman:  No reason, thanks!  ::click::

Hmmm, made me wonder.

You really want to know what happened, don't you?

Well, first of all, I should start out by saying that the reason Ironman stayed home was to work on our non-functioning toilet.  It seems that minutes before we were to leave for a Superbowl Party, I got up from the potty to see that there was water on the floor in front of the base.  Yes, I can be a little rushed in my pre-party prepping, but I didn't miss the toilet completely I promise!  I reached back behind the commode and turned off the valve and called to Ironman about the issue.  He checked to see that I had done the right thing (I had) and said to ignore it 'til we got home.

So we did.

Several days later, thanks to my ultra-savvy husband, we suspected that the flange was being held down by only ONE BOLT.  And that the flange had absolutely ZERO connection with any studs under the toilet.

Yep, yet another mystery found under our house.

Fast forward to the snowy day at hand.  Ironman stayed home and made eggs for the Chicklets for their breakfast.  Apparently he thought Dixie-the-wonder-pup (DTWP), would enjoy licking out the eggshells.  She did!  And then she crushed them in her jaws leaving eggshells all over the floor.  So he attempted to vacuum up the shards of shell using the handheld vacuum (which was of course clogged with debris) and the shards scattered throughout the dining area of our not-so-large home!

No reason to panic, just call to find out where we keep the vacuum before wifey-pooh gets home, right?

Yeah.  That worked.  We've lived in this house three years, but he doesn't know where we keep the vacuum cleaner...

Anyway, after he finished that interesting little project, he donned his 'going to work under the house' gear and smashed himself down into the crawlspace, together with a twin and DTWP.  He found that he was correct in his assessment of the plumbing problem.  The flange is attached by only one bolt, and there are no studs located near the commode.  Huh.  The toilet never should have been installed where it was installed.  ::insert eyeroll::  Thank you oh-so-excellent-builders!

As he was coming back up out of the crawlspace, he realized he had the opportunity to get the flashlight he left under the house about six months previous.  Wahoo - another valid reason to be under the house!  He returned to the scene of that plumbing experience, found his errant flashlight, and started to come back up to daylight.  At this point, he realized he didn't have DTWP.  He called to her, but she didn't come back from hunting critters.  He called again and heard nothing.  He had Yell call to her and Yell got a whimper.

Hmmm.

He sent Yell in the direction of DTWP's voice and she was found.  Over the sill of our house, down in a cistern!  Yell got her hands behind the dog's front legs, gave a little heave, and DTWP bounded up, over Yell's back on her way to freedom.  Hooray for the scrawny twin!  Bet you think the story ends here.

Nope.

At this point in the day this is what I know personally:  Ironman has been at home with the girls.  He's asked the whereabouts of the vacuum cleaner.  But that's all the information I have.  It gets better.  I came home to find a relatively cleared driveway.

Doesn't it look nice?  Snow had been pushed out of the way, nice soft white, fluffy snow...

Yep, Sapper did a great...job...with the basketball net?

Huh.  Looks like the snowblower and the basketball net had a little fight.

And apparently...the snowblower won.

This is what happens when you tell your kids you have a road trip in the morning

You come downstairs to find a treat bag on the stove next to your purse.

And not just any old treat bag.   

A treat put in a 'special' bag from a certain store that a certain chicklet LOVES.

When you recover from your shock, you look a little closer at the tag on the treat bag.

And then you flip it over to find...

Awwwwwwww.

Isn't she sweet?

The kid has some spelling issues.  But she's assured herself of 1st place in your head (and in your heart) for the day.


At least, that's what happened at my house.

Public Television (or what not to watch when you may have phobias)

I should preface this little confession by admitting I have a few fears. I'm not sure when they developed.

I remember being in a swimming pool at a lesson when I was a kid. We were doing our normal routine, heading toward the deep end, doing breast stroke, when all of the sudden I remember inhaling water and feeling like I was being sucked toward the drain. I was close to the edge, grabbed the side of the pool, pulled myself over, coughed out half a lung of water, thought to myself that I was completely *nuts* and continued the lesson.

Sometime after Ironman and I got married, we went camping in Kentucky. We were roughing it. We packed our stuff in, packed our stuff out. Went hiking all over the valley. It was gorgeous. But we went over part of a 'natural bridge' and I could feel myself being pulled toward both sides of the bridge. A realllllly incredibly high natural bridge. I couldn't stop the sensation of being pulled toward the edge and I was terrified of falling off. I sat down. Ironman thought I was being ridiculous, but it was this unearthly sensation of my body toppling toward the edge, the side of this really high bridge, and I was absolutely going to fall off no matter how hard I tried to stand up straight.

Fast forward to being at the mall in the past three years. The mall downtown has 3 (or more?) levels, with walkways along the sides, the 'inside' of the walkways being open to the floors below. I'm really not sure how many levels there are or what there is to see, because the walkways have railings with clear glass. If I get too close to the railing I have the sensation of being 'pulled' over the edge of the rail. If my kids get too close to the rail, I feel almost desperate to get them away from the rail, but I can't get to them to keep them away because I'll be pulled over myself! It's one of the worst feelings in the world. I want to 'save' my kids, but I can't get close enough to them to keep them safe. I feel - just - completely paralyzed. It's awful.

The same thing happened when we were out on a boat dock while we were camping. The girls would get close to the edge, trying to look for frogs, and I couldn't grab them to keep them away from the sides. I really wanted to keep them from the edge, and apparently we were only over water about 4 or 5 feet deep, but I couldn't get close enough to the chix to keep them from being pulled into the water! Nothing happened to them, and they were never in danger, but geez, I. couldn't. help. them.

Anyway, ahem, back to watching the wrong tv show(s).

Trapped in an Elevator aired on November 2nd. It was very interesting. It contained information about the invention of the elevator and how it's affected the economy, commerce, etc. It makes me proud to know that someone from Indiana invented it! Did you realize that the least expensive offices/apartments were on the upper floors because people had to use the stairs? I guess I had assumed the most expensive were always on the top floors. Something to ponder.

Anyway, this guy got stuck in an elevator for 41 hours. Forty-one. Yeeks. Failure on the part of security not to notice the guy urinating down the shaft to get their attention. Failure of building maintenance. Failure of elevator inspection. Failures galore.

And since I saw that show? I've had not one, not two, but THREE notable elevator incidents. And today is the ninth. THREE elevator incidents in a week's time.

#1 - got in the elevator with my cart-o-crap to go up to the floor of the parking garage where I'd left my car. Elevator stops at floor #2. I need floor #3. I wait, the door closes, we start to go up again, and then WHAM! the elevator drops (not glides) down to floor #1. The doors open, my knees are shaking, I pull my cart-o-crap out the doors and shakily walk up to the third floor, get in the car, and try to stop trembling. Jeez-o-Pete, freaking SCARY! I was so freaked out I couldn't tell if the parking garage itself was shaking, if it was my car, if it was my legs, or what. Yeeks!

#2 - pressed the elevator button to go down to the basement. I work on the 6th floor. The door next to me opens without a sound, no light indicating up or down, but I assumed it was going down to the basement so I got in. Huh. It seems I was wrong. The door closed, the elevator went up, up, up to 11...and started dropping again...never stopping...until it got to the basement. Very smooth ride. But not how I was expecting to get to my destination!

#3 - this one, at least, is laughable. It's directly related to something that happened yesterday at home, but I'll leave that story for later. Maybe. It's pretty gross. Anyway, today I got to work, and booked it through the parking garage gerbil tubes to the basement elevators. I stopped to wait with the hordes to go up to 6. And this woman waiting/chatting with an assumed co-worker walked toward the elevator when the door opened. Something was hanging from her shoe. Oh. my. gosh. Something was hanging from her shoe. No kidding. I checked, rechecked, did a triple-take. A feminine hygiene product, stuck, apparently to the bottom of her foot, hanging out of her clog.

Ewwwwwwwwww

So...I'm now taking suggestions on alternative routes to and from the 6th floor.

Projects

I cannot believe it. I have a project due on Monday, and I only have a little left to do, thank goodness, but I am sooo stuck! grrrr. I should probably get back to work...

Church Shoes

Sometimes, when you're young, you feel like dressing up for church.



Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Quiet, Normal, Nice

Outside my window...it’s hot, and dark, and sticky. Hope it rains soon.

The time is..10:20pm and way past my bedtime.

Today I feel...exhausted. Was up til 2:30am working on paperwork for the Chix swim club. Ugh.

I am thinking...about how much this vicodin is NOT working on my back pain.  And about a swimmer's family -- a little girl's father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that's metastasized in his liver.  Such shocking, painful news.

At the moment, I am thankful...Yell didn't throw up on my feet after her cross country meet tonight (and for my reasonably good health, a LOT of people have it a whole lot worse than me, I need to remember that).


I am going...to bed...in about 3 minutes.  And we're going to the lake house on Saturday!!!!!


I am wearing...black shorts, red t-shirt, glasses!

I wish...I had enough money to get out of debt forever! :(

I am reading...something. I can't remember what. But it's been missing since we went camping last weekend & I just checked and it definitely is NOT in the camper :*(

I am working on...getting all of the swimmers' birth certificates collected so I can submit them to Indiana Swimming!

I am hoping...to sleep in on Saturday!

I am hearing...crickets. Nothing but crickets. And my laptop fan churning away...

I bet you didn't know...I transcribed 50 minutes of National Traffic Safety Board hearings today for a total of 7,608 words! Whew!

One of my favorite...things to do is chat with my niece and nephew before I get to work. Their little doses of cuteness make my morning shiny :) "Shoon! Car in driveway!" Some random person parked their car across my sister's driveway overnight, so my BIL couldn't get out to go to work! Scooby had to ride his bike to Kindergarten?!



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So my pants are ballooning around my thighs...

and I say to Crab, 'I think I have a pants problem.'

Scrawny-but-sweet 12-yr-old says, 'No you don't, they look okay.'

Hmm.

'I do, actually, they're threatening to fall off my waist. I think they've stretched out. A lot '

Replying, my skinny little Crabbycat says, 'Its ok, Mom. You can borrow one of my belts.'

Hello? Is anyone there? Or have you fallen on the floor laughing with tears in your eyes?

It was quite possibly the most generous compliment anyone has ever given me.


You may resume laughing now.