Rationality vs. Irrationality

Mom is expecting rational behavior from an irrational person again. TAFH told Grandma she'd call. She hasn't, therefore Grandma is angry and bitchy and taking it out on us. I want to just call TAFH, but Mom keeps saying Grandma "has to realize she can't take things out on us."

Hello! She's demented! That's what she does.

Mom's gone to work, so I'm going to disobey her and call TAFH anyway. I'll just lie and say she actually called here. It's either piss off Mom or keep dealing with a pissed off Grandma. Frankly, I deal with Grandma more often, so guess which option I'll choose.

*snort* I'm 31 years old and still worrying about pissing off my mother. I'm pathetic.

I am good. The weather is simply gorgeous. It's warmer outside than in. So, to get Grandma to go outside, I washed her chair off and told her how warm it was. This, of course, didn't work. I didn't expect it to. What did work was telling her that if she wasn't going to go outside, I would. Her natural bitchiness, er, I mean contrariness, means that she would go outside then to kick me out of "her" chair.

It's about damned time she got outside. Supposedly it's going to be nice tomorrow, too. Maybe she'll start cheering up a little bit. She may not stay outside for long each time, but she will keep going out and in and out and in and out...

It's getting bad. TAFH was in this weekend for my cousin's baby shower. Before she left yesterday, Grandma was crying. Then she was extremely difficult when it came to taking her pills. It took until nearly midnight. I got so little sleep I was even a little late for work.

Today she wouldn't eat, so her blood sugar plummeted, of course. I got some spaghetti in her, but she must have eaten it too fast because she threw up a bit of it. So she had to screech at me when I asked her if she wanted anymore a couple hours after she'd recovered. She did eat a pear for me, since her sugar was only 81. Then argued about her pills tonight. She has taken them, but it took about an hour and her bugging at me.

It's just so frustrating. She obviously wants to go. What can I say to her when she says she wants to die? I gave her a kiss today and her comment was that that wouldn't help. In my mind I know she's ready to go and that it would be a blessing for everyone, most especially her, but I mourn her everyday already. My Grandma has been gone for a while. She just visits periodically and then is replaced again by Mrs. Hyde.

I know there's nothing I can do but try to take care of her and keep her happy. I just wish there was more I could do.

As Yoda would say - Scranton really sucks sometimes.

Pissed off, I am.

Scranton has an ordinace requiring a City Archivist. Guess what we currently do not have and according to the secretary I spoke with, we haven't for quite a while. Dammit, I need information apparently only said non-existant archivist can help me with!

If I had time, I'd volunteer for the job.

Of course, that means they'd have to find the missing boxes of documents that might contain the very documents I need.

Jaws and cheezy movies

I have mentioned before my love of cheezy sci-fi movies. I just watched Rock Monster and am now watching Kraken. Two Jaws references in two movies. Yeesh! At least they're recycling a great movie rather than a bad one.

Part of the scene where the villagers in Rock Monster are trying to figure out what to do was lifted from the scene where Quint is introduced in the town meeting. This time it was Jon Polito throwing a firecracker instead of fingernails on a chalkboard to get attention. He even used the line "You all know what I do."

In Kraken, the young dude who was just playing tonsil hockey with the professor's assistant uses the "We need a bigger boat" line in a totally inappropriate place.

Gods, I love this type of movie.

S.E.X.

I've stashed lately. A lot. I bought three patterns from Heaven and Earth Designs and ended up with four by mistake:

I meant to buy Kissing Frogs, College of Magical Knowledge and the Story storykeep. The guys at Heaven and Earth Designs sent me the first two and the Spirit storykeep instead of Story. When I let them know, they told me to keep Spirit instead of sending it back, like I thought I should. Cool. I like it.

I also bought a few books from Ollie's, mostly Christmas designs. As if I really need more of them, but I found a nice pattern for a Mrs. Claus doll I may use.

I finished the golden eagle/flag pattern for one of my co-workers. It turned out so well, I'm remaking it in 16 count for myself. My brother is probably going to be deployed to Iraq again in September, this time for a year. I'm thinking of making it for him for Christmas to put up in his quarters there.

I should even be receiving my fabric for Stargazer and Fairy Moon soon.

Now, if I can just finish that stupid baby blanket in time for the munchkin to be born, I'll be happy. I've given up on being done by the shower.

Alright, Governor Paterson

I just have to say, I love this guy already. He actually used the phrase "AN historic", instead of "A historic" in his speech.

Good luck, Governor.

Chippendales

Oh, I just have to say, I had a blast at the Chippendales show last night. I would definitely go again. My only complaint was that they didn't show enough skin. Take those thongs off, men!

If you follow the link, look for Kevin West. He was my favorite, reminding me of Brendan Fraser - my true lust. Definitely honorable mentions were the emcee Devin Michaels (Gods, how I love Asian/Polynesian men), the blonde Kevin Art and the singer/lecher Bobby K (who was having so much fun feeling up the ladies he might actually be straight).

Grandma returns

Well, she's home and not too pleased with the new floor, even though she helped pick out the color and everything. Even though she says this one is "okay", she says the old floor wasn't bad. You couldn't get it clean! TAFH enthused over the floor, but even that didn't help. I know it's part of the disease. She hates anything we change of hers. She thinks we get rid of all of her stuff and seems to think we want to get rid of her or something.

When we talked about it last night she actually said the old floor wasn't that old. It was put in before I was born and I'm 31! The floor in the pantry has holes in it. We're not going to use the same laminate we did on the kitchen, though. We found a better, more waterproof one for the bathroom and pantry with the same colors as the kitchen laminate.

She's just not that happy right now. Of course, part of it is the fact that she's no longer with TAFH. I actually told my aunt once that if Grandma could replace Mom and I with her, she'd be on top of the world. My aunt only looked at me.

Mom and Grandma are watching the parade right now. Hillary's not there yet. Please, please, please let the drunks keep it low-key. All we need is for Scranton to be remembered forever as the Drunken City.

I'm going back to my stitching program now.

The Vacation is ending

Grandma comes home tomorrow. The floor in the kitchen is done, but for the trim. It looks pretty good - so much better than the old linoleum.

It's actually been a pretty good week even though I really thought I'd catch up on missed sleep and that didn't happen. I found corroborating evidence on a relative's death date today and on Tuesday I identified the last printer's mark in my twelve-year research project on the marks carved into the Albright Library. Monday, Mom and I went to Hillary's speech. I was impressed. I have a few questions and still want to hear Obama speak, but at the moment, I lean toward her.

So, add the stuff from the other days to the feeling of accomplishment in getting the floor done and having it look so pretty, it's been a nice little vacation.

Did I mention that I'm going to the Chippendales with friends tomorrow night? Too bad you can't tuck the money in the g-strings anymore. And I've been invited to a party next Saturday. It never rains but it pours. I go from no social life to a crapload of things happening at once. Weird.

B Movie Predictability

I must say, I love horrible sci-fi and horror movies. There's nothing better than watching gallons of fake blood spurting out of the shoulders of a moron who just stood there silently screaming as an ogre bites his head off. If they're stupid enough to just stand there then they deserve such a fate. I just have a question. Why don't any of them run? Hello, ogre here about to chomp your head off and you just want to stand there? Cool, pass me the mustard to go with the Heinz 57 the Sci-Fi Channel bought by the vatful.

I must say, I really do love the leaf pattern back-scales on the CG ogre. And why a loincloth? Does an ogre whose sole purpose is to eat a villager once a year really bother with such niceties?

And everybody just poofs away happily. Of course, the good witch is given just enough time for a tearful and meaningful goodbye to the two heroes. Now, how are they going to explain away their friends deaths and the theft of the police car? No answer, just a ride off into the sunset fadeaway. Those two are going to be locked up for life.

Now it's on to a gargoyles attack film I think I've seen a million times. Ya gotta love a mob of villagers with pitchforks and torches accompanied by crossbow-wielding priests.

Thank the gods for the Sci-Fi Channel and its Saturday monster flicks.

Evolution Rocks!

I found an interesting blog entry today about teaching evolution in the classroom. As I am a "devout evolutionist" I felt I should share in the fun.

Greg Laden - Teachers Under Fire

Also, here is a link he shared that looks very cool.

Lords of Avalon, Sword of Darkness

I forgot to add this. I got my copy of SK's Lords of Avalon, Sword of Darkness #1. I liked it. The artwork really does suit the story and they seem to be keeping the storyboarding neat and clean without sacrificing too much of the novel. Kerrigan was a lot of fun - actually, he still is. Now I just have to figure out where I'm going to store comic books in my way-too overpacked room. In about a year and a half, I've managed to collect three omnibus editions (and want two more). Getting individual issues and finding a safe place for them is going to be a challenge.

For more information on what I'm babbling about: LOA

Family tree fun-time

TAFH is here, so I was able to go to the library yesterday for research. It was a good day. I found the one thing I needed to connect a family to mine, so I now have a new great-great-great aunt, as well as a new cousin in the form of a girl I played with all of the time when we were kids! I also spoke to my godmother and she's going to find out if any of the relatives know anything about a baseball team a great great uncle of mine played on.

I do have one gripe about genealogical research. It's that damned 1890 Census! If it hadn't burned to a crisp there are so many answers it could have provided me. Why, oh why, did Pennsylvania have to be one of the areas that burned? The southern states do me no good! *sigh*

I'm a little excited about next week. The plan is that on Friday Mom will drop Grandma off to stay with TAFH until the following Friday. So, if the plan goes right Mom and I will have a week off. Mom has taken the time off as vacation time and will be working on the kitchen floor. I will, of course, be unskilled, unpaid labor in between going to work at four every morning. Mom says I'll have time to do research. I'm not too sure about this, of course. However, Saturday morning I'm planning to be out of here before Mom can get me. Oh, and I'll try to tag one of the weekdays for research after work. How successful I'll be at my attempts to escape laying down flooring every day, I'm not sure. We'll see.

Movie Night and Tunes

I'm doing a happy dance to the sounds of all of my music at the moment. My IRS return was in the bank last night when Kim and I went to the movies, so we took a detour and bought my iPod! It's a black 80 gb, which will be more than sufficient for my purposes and allow me to download podcasts and such. So now I just have to upload about 250 cds onto the silly thing.

After I bought my new toy we went to the Cinemark and had to choose between Vantage Point and Jumper. We really wanted to see both...so we did! I paid for the tickets for Vantage Point and Kim paid for Jumper. Before we went to Vantage Point we got something to eat: almost $6 for a hot dog with no bun, bag of chips and they forgot my pickle. Oh, well. It was a fun night.

Vantage Point was the best of the two, although I did really like Jumper. If you haven't read anything about Vantage Point, here's a small warning. The movie is told from the perspective of about six or seven people or groups of people, hence it resets at 11:59:57 every fifteen or so minutes until the last where all is told. It resets about five times. The audience we were with didn't know this. It was so funny. The guy next to me told his wife, "I didn't know it was Groundhog Day." Most of us were laughing or groaning when it reset, including the guy next to me. Kim caught something in the promos I hadn't so she figured one thing out before I did, but I figured a different twist out before she did. It was fun and very well done. The resets serve the story extremely well. I'll be buying it.

Jumper is a fun adventure. Hold your breath for a scene in Tokyo. Whew! Samuel L. is, of course, awesome. Does he ever do a bad job? If so, I need to see it. I think Christian Haydensen had fun with this one. The idea itself is neat. If you could teleport yourself anywhere in the world, where would you go? We were talking about it after the movie. Kim brought up the fact that you'd never be late for work. I like that. I, being the pathetically devoted person I am, said that my first visit would be to the crown and torch of the Statue of Liberty. That would be the only way I'd ever see them because the stupid National Park Service won't open her up to the public like they should, the jerks.

Anyway, back to the uploading. It's going to take me a few days to get everything on there and sorted.

Baghdad blog

I just have to pass on this blog: Baghdad Burning. It's amazing. The author has moved to Syria and the last post was made in October of 2007, but reading her earlier posts are stunning.

the house needs fixed... ;p

Mom is making plans again. Supposedly Grandma is going to be going to TAFH's house for a week in March. Mom has taken it off as a vacation week (she gets two, the *itch!) and is going to be working on the floor in the kitchen. Personally, I would wait until we were sure the skunk had moved out of the crawlspace under there, but that's just me and my wish to never be sprayed by one of the little stinkers. She says I can have some time to go to the library for research, but we'll see if that actually materializes. I have a feeling I'll be doing a ton of repair work instead.

To be fair, the floor needs to be replaced. It's old and looks it. The idea is to replace the kitchen flooring and at some point this summer, raise the floor in the bathroom, fixing the shitty remodel my uncle did years ago and give it a new floor as well. Thanks to the skunk we also have to dig up the foundation of the house, add 15 inches of galvanized steel around it (and out, like an L) so the little buggers don't crawl under next winter. Oh, and did I mention Mom's plan to use chicken wire instead of galvanized steel for the front half of the house that the skunk has never approached before? It'll be less expensive, so hopefully we can do that for a good bit. That $600 rebate is all spoken for.

If I listed all of the items that need to be repaired in this house, any reader would blanch. A partial list reads thusly:
1. replace floor in kitchen, bath, pantry
2. raise floor in bathroom and repair the bathtub/shower area so it stops leaking down the wall
3. finish the ceiling in bathroom
4. reinforce the porch which is being held up by crumbling bricks
5. replace porch steps
6. fix upstairs windows to block off the holes my uncle left that you can see through right to the outside

Should we just demolish the house and start all over?

PC? What's PC?

I must share these hilarious Pre-PC ads from Asylum.com.

Time is Unimportant

I've come to the conclusion that we should no longer tell Grandma if she's going somewhere until it's literally time to leave. This includes weekend trips to stay with TAFH. She's driving me nuts.

Almost every hour she's asking if it's time to go yet. She keeps putting on her shoes (or only one of them) and takes off her Lifeline pendant. Her pills and apron have been packed a number of times. *sigh* No matter how often we tell her she's not leaving until Thursday, it's just not sinking in that today is NOT the day she leaves. I suggested to Mom once that we mark big X's off the calendar, but she told me she doubted Grandma would even look at it. She's right.

Beyond that, she seems to be really spiteful lately. She's also upset with Mom for working nights so often lately. Mom can't help it. She lost a manager and has to take up the slack. Oy. I need a few days off. We're even having caregiver trouble right now an d have none for the week at all. In all likelihood, I'm going to be calling off work Thursday and making up as much of it as possible by working as late as I can stand it on Friday. It never rains, but it pours.

I hate dementia. I want my Grandma back.

Successful Recipe

I made some Au Gratin Potatoes tonight from a recipe I found on a website. Grandma wanted seconds!

I fiddled with some of the ingredients to make sure it was GF, but it still turned out well.

May I repeat? She asked for seconds!