Date Day

Hubby made a marriage declaration!!! It was way past time for a date day.

I couldn't disagree with him. I mean our last official date vacation was last August to Wisconsin so it was definitely time. I have been working on that work project since last August it feels like so we took a day off just to spend with each other.

Of course one of the cats gets sick and needs to go to the vet, so we do that first thing in the morning. Then we come home and get a few more chores done. Finally I say - we go now or I am starting a 2 hour baking project.

Out the door we go. First we had an early lunch and then it was off to the zoo. What was hubby thinking????? Every school kid in a 3 state area along with adult supervisors and other various parents with strollers and babies were there that day. So much for a quiet day at the zoo. We made the best of things.  We did go to the butterfly house as that is my favorite part of the zoo. It is only one room but full of humming birds and butterflies and other small ground birds.  As you can see in the photos below, the butterflies thought hubby's Green Bay Packer hat was something special. How fun!!!

There is a second part to the butterfly house that houses various bugs and creatures. I do NOT like bugs so we scurried though that part to get out the exit.

With all the people we decided to walk the zoo instead of visit buildings. We walked the perimeter where there were way fewer people. It is nice with most folks being so lazy these days, it was a fairly quiet walk. We saw the prairie dogs. There were signs saying keep away and do not feed. Some idiots can't read and were doing just that.  Can't fix stupid so I'm sure the prairie dogs will be fenced off soon - not to keep them in but to keep idiot people out!

Next was up by the rhinos, around the lake, through the plant garden, by some hoof stock and back to the entrance. It was a great day to have a date.

After the zoo we heading to look at campers. We have nothing to pull a camper with but it was fun deciding what we would pick if we did.

Next we stopped at our frequent haunt - Menard's. Picked up a few things and made it home in time to greet the children getting home from school.

We made a nice dinner and sat on the deck for a while.

I call it a VERY successful date day! I can't wait for the next one.  I have it planned. :-)

Bar Soap versus Body Wash

A new day a new topic. I have been wanting to write about this for a while now. Here in the U.S.A. body washes have been all the rage for close to 20 years now. Bars of soap are so out of fashion they are even difficult to find. Well I for one, would like to bring them back. Let's hope this post starts a trend to do just that.

Lets say you love a particular scent from a high priced department store. Now you can shell out $15-30 for a bottle of body wash and it lasts you what maybe a month, 3 weeks, less? Now if you can possibly find a bar of soap in that same scent it will cost you $15 or less for a bar of soap and that same thing will last you 3 months. I don't think you need a mathematician to figure out which is a better deal. You get the same scent for a longer period of time.

Next is the feeling and treatment to your skin. I think bar soap is much friendlier to your skin than body wash. Body wash is mostly water. Yes the same stuff you get wet with is what you are washing with using body wash. Wouldn't it make more sense to lather up your scrubby with a bar of soap than just adding some liquid to the scrubby???

I have to tell you my absolute favorite bar of soap ever was:  Kappus Soap  - the Blue Iris was the one I had.  Now how my wonderful husband got a hold of this I have no idea as by their website they do not even sell the stuff in the U.S.A. but he somehow bought a bar here. I would LOVE to have more but have not ever seen it sold. It left my skin so soft you would not believe it. Plus it had a gentle not overpowering scent. Did I mention how soft it left my skin?  I am going to have to find me more of this stuff!

Bath and Body Works, a very popular chain here has a whole 3 different type of bar soaps on their website.

On the Dillard's website 4 bars of men's soap, nothing for the ladies.

Macy's actually had the most with 13 types of bar soap.

So whether you are doing it to save some cash or you want to try something new. Walk into a specialty store and ask for their bar soap collection. You might just be surprised as to what you find.

Birthday Present

Can I just say I HATE MY LAUNDRY ROOM FLOOR? There that is out of the way. Here is a picture of said floor. I have hated it for so long that I can't remember liking it. I mean I picked it out so for some brief nanosecond of time I did think it was nice but very short lived.  Now the pattern was good when I picked it out. It was the style of things in 1993 but that isn't why I started hating this floor. I started hating the floor because of what it does. Look at it, looks dirty doesn't it? Yes this floor decided to ooze black though it. This photo is a clean swept and scrubbed floor yet it looks filthy. THAT is the biggest reason I hated this floor for so long.

Here is a parting shot of the floor as you will soon see my birthday present from my FABULOUS, WONDERFUL, AMAZING HUSBAND was a new laundry room floor. I have been scoping out exactly what I wanted and I selected bamboo. It looks like wood, yet it is perfect for a laundry room as it won't warp if wet (good for laundry which has a tendency to get wet.) Hubby enlisted the help of his dad and brother-in-law to get said floor installed.

Can I just say they are pretty amazing also? Here they are installing the floor. They worked hard and it looks amazing. It is exactly what I want.

Here is a shot of the almost finished floor.

Finally a shot of exactly HOW much I love my new floor. (I was pretend licking it!!!)

Thank you to everyone that made the project a success.

Meowwwwww? Translated to: where is spring?

Everyone keeps anxiously awaiting spring. Even my many cats want spring to arrive, even if they rarely step foot outside.

Bud-bud peeking out between the blinds.

These two sat in the window looking out the entire time I was on the treadmill. I am tired of the treadmill and want real walking outside. They would like to go sun on the deck once in a while.

They settle for sunning in the window. I don't think it is to bad of a substitute. Look at how the sun glistens on their fur.

Finally we have Sheena. She is our outside kitty when she feels like it. It was too cold this day and she needed back in. She sits in the window begging until we let her in.

Her preferred spot is the center of attention as you can see below.

Hurry up spring. We all NEED YOU.

Reference blog!!!! READ ME - Studying Abroad

My oldest son is heading to Asia to study abroad. He left early this morning. I have been excited for him to experience this. It will be completely different from the old Midwest and I couldn't be more happy for him.  I did not cry when we dropped him off at the airport. I have not been sad all day but tonight I am sad. I am going to miss him a lot the first couple of weeks. He helps out around the house and I will miss that with me working so much.

Anyway in his blog he is promising to write and trace his steps and adventures literally 1/2 way around the world!!!

I am including the link here just so you all can find it easy and follow him.

Click here:
Michael's Travels


Enjoy.

Take this job and shove it

This blog is going to get a bit detailed and use terminology that you may not be familiar with. I am sorry about that but this is also a vent to try and keep or put things in perspective for myself.

Remember this old song by Johnny Paycheck?  Song #16  I think of that song often as I am working. You see working is all I have been doing lately and after a while it really wears on you. Now I am not talking the normal work and then home chores. I am talking work work, come home eat dinner, and then start working on work work again. We have this huge project going on at work that is all consuming.

Now let me tell you I have been doing computer conversions my entire career. I got to thinking back and even while going to college I participated in my my first conversion.  We got pink t-shirts for this one. :-)  On and off in all my various accounting and computer positions I have converted various financial systems from one product to another. Some have been accounting systems, some planning systems, and some modeling systems.  I have also used various methods of implementation from rapid application development to traditional system development.  I consider myself somewhat of an expert in this area since I have done so many types over the years.

This project takes the cake. It is by far the W-O-R-S-T conversion I have ever had the pleasure to participate in.

First we have a group of accountants implementing a financial planning system. Financial planning is NOT accounting. There are a lot of similarities but may more differences. When you try and make a planning system into a detailed transactional system with debits/credits and T accounts it is NOT going to work. The consultants will tell you it is going to work to make the sale but successful implementation is a whole other story.  Right now we have the consultants hating the implementation and they do this work for a living.

Lack of decision making. Let's have 20 meetings on one design document and still not have it complete. This is not an exaggeration. Some of our design documents were started in October and are STILL NOT COMPLETE! We are into configuration of the system and using documents that are not complete because management still wants a go-live date of April 15.  We have meeting after meeting with no decisions made. Both of the top two accountants (controller and financial planning director) running the project have had major changes - one left the company and one has been out with a mysterious family emergency for a month!

Next are the copious amounts minutia detail. Why use what the rest of the organization is using when you can ask for MORE?!?!?!?!?  We are receiving actual data from one system but it isn't in enough detail so we now have to develop an interface with a completely different system to get the exact same data but in MORE detail. Two interfaces to get the same information. That is just one example. There are many many more. Once again the consultants tell us they have never seen such detail in a planning system in all their implementations.  We have experienced consultants leaving the project and others admitting they have never done such detail before.

Trying to implement what is best for the company has been frowned upon. At the beginning of the project I tried to express my feelings on what would work best for a successful implementation. The vice president got wind of this (from the controller that has left the project) and I was told in no uncertain terms to quit being so negative about the project. NEGATIVE when my only motive was to make the project succeed.  A couple of weeks ago my boss decided to try and suggest some best practices on making this implementation better. Again the same vice president told him not to be so negative. They are telling the people that have done these implementations for much of their careers to shut the hell up. Let's just say it causes a lot of stress and loss of motivation.

I am sure I could type a lot more of the same on what has been going on in my work life but I think this gives you an idea of how bad things are. 

This sure has been taking a toll on my life with: mega stress,sleeplessness, chest pains, upset stomach, and headaches. Not a fun thing. So blogging world, this is why I have been neglecting something I enjoy. I sure hope to get back to this on a more regular basis soon.

Would you please hire me???? I am a great system analyst!
 

Fiberlishious

Lets file this blog post under: Things you need to know but no one puts in plain English for you.

Fiber - this sure is a topic that needs explaining. So for many years now we have heard - eat more fiber. Americans do not eat enough fiber. Eat at least 25 grams of fiber.

I counter with: how much is more? I'm American - how do the experts know I do not eat enough fiber? And finally how much is 25 grams of fiber???  Are you experts telling me that I am just like the guy next door and need the same exact amount as he does???? I mean really put this so I can understand. Make it simple!!!

OK so you get on a health website and see that apples are filled with fiber - a large apple 5.4 grams of fiber. That means I need to eat 5 apples a day!!!!!  Another one they suggest broccoli - 1/2 cup of chopped contains 2.6 grams of fiber. That means almost 6 cups of broccoli!!!!!  I need something easier than analyzing every morsel of food to tell if I am getting enough fiber.

Well this is why you read my blog - to get useful off the wall information that may make your life easier.  I acquired this knowledge the hard way by trial and error over many years. I do not want you to go through this same fate so am sharing with you.

You may need 25 grams of fiber a day or you may need 40 or 15. Your body is true answer of how much fiber you need. I am going to share that with you now.

I love graphics so below is a very self explanatory picture of your bowl movements. Yes, you read that right, bowl movements are the perfect way to determine how much fiber your body needs. Now everyone has exceptions on a day to day basis but keep track for a week - most need to fall into the normal range. If they don't, you need to adjust your fiber up and down.  You will need to find foods and or supplements that work for you. Again every body is different so your fiber requirements and what your body responds to will be as individual as you are.

First - not enough fiber. Second - just right. Third the puddle of mush in bottom of the bowl - a bit to much fiber.

 

 

 

Happy pooping!!!!