Virtual Crop Week #23-Everyone Invited!!

• daezee Said:

I think I still might have stuff in my parents' attic. Too hot to check. Hope I remember to look up there during the winter months.

• Shelly7105 Said:

Totally forgot about his wife! Very good point, Shelly.

• ShirleyJB Said:

Yep but they made obscene money outsourcing. More than enough to cover this. Now they're going to test each and every batch? Where? Here?

I've been telling my son to go into some sort of R&D field because anything else will be outsourced to other countries. Only reliable fields will be R&D and the service industries. We have too many lawyers (most not worth their degrees) and the medical profession is getting squeezed in a bad way too. So service (food, repair, maintenance, etc.) or research and development. Frankly, I've been pushing him to find the "cure" for fire ants with his interest in entomology. He'd make a huge fortune!!! When I dream, I dream big!!!

Good morning, ladies.

I'm in a much better mood. All caught up here at least for now. I've cleaned my stove, cooked breakfast for my wonderful scrubby. Had my cup of green tea. About to have my bowl of oatbran soon. Then it's laundry, lots and lots of it but wonderful, fantastic son will help fold.

We finished watching all of season 10 of SG1. Cool!!! Not exactly what I expected. Not disappointed or wanting to scream, so that's good.

Now I'm waiting for the release of Atlantis season 3. Which I will buy when it comes out in September (next month WAHHOOO!!!).

Scrubby paid $$$ yesterday to get my Volvo repaired and it still has about that much more work to do plus some cosmetic things I think it NEEDS but am not pushing. Don't know how much the Mercedes will cost. Scrubby said he wanted to put the Volvo back in when we get the Mercedes out.

My dramas are all very minor. Not complaining, just stating stuff that's going on.

I'll be baking cakes today and making a list of stuff I need to pick up before leaving Friday. Chocolate cake will be for the train cake. I'm thinking of making a tunnel through it for the trains I bought. Hmmm.

Oh, my mother will be riding with my dd and two boys so they can leave Friday morning. Dh will be working a full day so we'll leave after he finishes work. My mother is leaving her car with us to drive. I don't like this but really appreciate it.

I think our cars should be dependable enough to drive to Florida (5 hours) at least. Maybe not cross country but okay for short trips.

Check this out:

http://www.angelinaballerina.com/usa/intro.html

Listen to the intro. Very encouraging.

Wow, no one posted for an hour! Hope everyone is alright.

• Lady Vivian Said:

I just got home a bit ago from the grocery shopping. I have some actual work work to do (paperwork, ordering, customer calls, calling my old HR department regarding my benefits). Then there's the housework and my scrapping.

I think I'm starting to get into a schedule/routine.

• Lady Vivian Said:

I do a lot with Raman. I use it with leftover spaghetti sauce. I make yakisoba, lo mein and basic stir fry with it. My favorite is unflavored boiled noodles with chunks of real butter, which is the reason I don't keep butter in the house (I could eat this everyday and have.)

Hey, Liz!

I'm now about to finally start baking the chocolate cake. Hate the thought of heating up my house in this heat wave. But am looking forward to eating the cut off tops.

It's cool up here today. I should bake something or cook a bunch of things today and take advantage of the weather. I'll get up early tomorrow and cook a bunch of things so I won't have to later. Especially since it's a child-free weekend for us. I think Saturday's dinner will be hors d'oeuvres and beer. Maybe nachos.

I love making a meal of hors d'oeuvres (the French really need to learn to spell!), appetizers or just tapas?

Oh, Liz, you should take that right or left brain test thingie. It's in NSBR forum.

I'm at work and actually worked for the 1st hour :-p I brought nachos for lunch. Mmmmm I can't wait to go on lunch break today *hehehe*

• Lady Vivian Said:

we call it porch dinner. I'm really looking forward to it because we've got these awesome chairs with feet rests and cup holders built in. We'll put on some music, and just sit out there uninterrupted.

I have only 40 actual minutes of summer vacation left..I'm leaving in about 20 to go pick up my keys.
I can't believe its over!!

The good thing is, I have to go to my school and the new SuperTarget is pretty much across the street!!

I'm going to take my time this afternoon to really look around. We went Sunday, but DH wasn't feeling too good, so we just sorta went through fast..

• Lady Vivian Said:

I'm 56% left brain and 44% right brain.

Connie Podesta was the keynote speaker at Showcase. She has a personality quiz which seperates people into four categories: circles, squares, triangles and squiggles. Based on her evaluations I'm a squiggley triangle. She does a great job with her talk and we all went around the rest of the trip calling each other by their shapes. conniepodesta.com if you're interested in what she has to say.

• ShirleyJB Said:

It is true.. because US factories have systems to check for these things. There will be incoming that inspects raw material for precisely these violations, however, with $ cutting and all that, I've actually listened to some senior mgmt cut corners in these things (inspections, tests). Meanwhile, executives have paid for 'meetings' in Maui, Hawaii.

While we're talking about this ..turns out the factory that was making these toys was in China, and owned by a Hong Kong businessman. He's actually a very nice owner, not a slave-driver (not those who lock workers in, KWIM). The workers loved him. But he's not a system-driven guy, he bought his paint from his 'friend' who told him they were leadless. So now Mattel is suing him for a lot of $$, and he committed suicide. I'm sure his 'friend' is going to sell his claimed 'leadless' paint to other factories.

I feel sorry for him. The lack of inspection and a wrong sense of "loyalty to friend" essentially killed him and possibly exposed many children to lead paint. It is a tragedy caused by his 'friend', but the other guy is unpunished. Maybe his justice is served on judgment day.

• Lady Vivian Said:

Wish your boss had told you that he was leaving.
And yeah, I totally believe you. So they 'got rid of you' and had 2.5 people working in your job. That shows how much they've overworked you!!! Sometimes people take advantage of hardworking people, not rewarding them accordingly.

That's why I'm getting sicker by the day of corporate America. It's time to set up my own business .... I know I'll suffer if I make mistakes but I know I'm the one causing myself pain, not some random folk just because someone calls them "manager". I would like to take charge of that aspect of my life...

I didn't hear the rest of the story..OMG..that just breaks my heart!

• jelly97 Said:

I haven't been sick since I quit. I used to drive to work every morning having panic attacks to the point where I wanted to throw up. I haven't had any unprovoked anxiety since I left. I'm able to get more stuff done here in the house, I've had better family time and I'm feeling healthy.

I'm worried about getting enough customers. I'm not quite sure where the best places to advertise are, so I'm pretty much hitting everywhere I can. I admit, I would feel more confident if I had a wedding or a couple of portrait shoots scheduled, since I'll make more money with those for the amount of effort I put in. I'll also feel better once I start having the parties, which I don't have any until September.

<yawns>

<stretches>

Okay, I'm here for a bit. I got woke up by the phone not once, but TWICE. I stayed up late last night finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and then Jeremy's phone woke me up at 8:30 am. No sooner did I get back to sleep, than my phone rang at 10am. (I'd set my alarm for 10:30 so I could get up and piddlefart around here for a bit before going to work.)

Turns out Lizzie isn't behaving, so Mom's bringing them home tonight. Rats. I was looking forward to one more hot bath by myself where I could shave...things...without Lizzie watching or banging on the door trying to get in. <sigh>

• ShirleyJB Said:

Now you have an alternative to Evil-Mart.

• moxiegirl23 Said:

I'll check that out. Always curious about these test thingies.

• jelly97 Said:

That is so sad about the suicide. Hope that friend gets in trouble, like that guy they executed concerning the pet foods. :shakes head: But we live in a day and time that honor is disregarded.

If something ever happened to dh, and I was left husbandless, I wouldn't bother looking for another one. If a man showed up wanting to get involved with me, I'd ask for financial statements, meet with his pastor (if he's not churched already, forget it, no new converts need apply either! and have to have the same beliefs, not necessarily the same denomination since I don't have one) and meet with his family. If I have any reservations after all that, forget him! I'd rather be lonely than try to make something work with the wrong person.

I've a friend going through the ringer right now. Ugly, ugly divorce. No thank you.

• Lady Vivian Said:

John is the last man I'm going to be with. I don't want any other man, he's my soulmate. If he wasn't my soulmate, I know we would not be together today after some of the stuff he did when he was trying to figure out how to be part of this relationship. I tried to leave him many times, and I couldn't because everytime I tried, it felt like I was throwing out part of my soul.

• jelly97 Said:

It's sad that there's no longer any company loyalty in either direction. Used to be that a person worked for one company and didn't have to worry about being outsourced.

So this it our world now.

we're becoming a disposable culture. we already throw out so much, people are just the next thing to go.

• moxiegirl23 Said:

I don't know if my scrubby is my soul mate. Could be but we've got each other pretty well trained and don't want to go through the training process again! I also think both of us would be hard to get along with with anyone else.

I kidded him about joining eHarmony, both of us and seeing if they'd match us. Probably not. But our relationship works for us, so I guess that's what matters.

• moxiegirl23 Said:

With your abilities, I'd contact wedding directors and wedding consultants. They may already have their favorite people for photography but there's always scheduling conflicts and things that come up no matter how reliable someone is. Plus they may give you leads or other places to try.

I've got the chocolate cakes baked. I used square pans. I think I might make little train cars, if I can find little Oreo cookies for wheels. Make a track for the little Thomas and Percy engines I bought and have them "pulling" the cake cars.

I'm now baking the butter recipe cakes in one 8" and 2 6" pans. I'm going to layer this cake like a wedding cake with pink fondant flowers that I already have made. My sister told me this morning that her daughter is really excited about having an Angelina Ballerina cake. {sigh} So I may be hunting tomorrow morning some more for anything along that line. I may have to just "paint" Angelina in or I could work with fondant on the drive down but she's getting her Angelina!

So my schedule is once I get to Florida, I'll start immediately decorating the cakes. The party is going to be at a cousin's of my BIL's. She's got a gorgeous mansion. I kid you not. You'll flip when you'll see the pix. And that's just one of her houses!

Sister wanted the party at her apartment's clubhouse and pool but there some sort of fishing tournament going on this weekend and it would just not be that kid friend there. So she accepted this offer.

I'm okay with it. I just don't expect to sleep any until after the party. That's okay. I'd be honored to pull an all nighter for my twins!

Besides birthdays are all about the cake, right?

Liz/Foltzy, you sure will have your hands full with school and the children! I'm not sure if you posted, prior to this, what you are studying.