Farmer Kelly

I eat a lot of salad these days. I eat so much of it that I have a really hard time getting excited about eating it any more. I go through a bi-weekly ritual of making a huge salad that sits in our fridge for lunches, suppers, etc. Well, today's salad was a little different than the usual salad I eat every day for lunch...



What is different you ask? Half of those cherry tomatoes were grown in MY garden!! Yep folks, I am Farmer Kelly... hear me roar! I bet you cannot even guess which ones came out from Wilson Farms vs. those grocery store ones... I should seriously give up this construction management gig and become a vegetable farmer. Any investors interested in donating?

Death Location Is Still Up In The Air

I found an article today on msn.com about some Delta flight attendants finding a dead person in a restroom of a plane that landed here in Atlanta. WOW. That is all I can say about that. Just imagine that. WOW. Period.

I Knew Mac & Cheese WAS Good For Me!

Yep folks, I have now seen it all. On our weekly trip to the grocery store last night, this product happen to catch my eye as I was carting down the sauces and dressings aisle. Yes, you are not seeing things... you are looking at a box of ORGANIC mac & cheese! How is that possible? Are you kidding me?

Tripping Thru The Southwest

I made it back from my extreme work trip to El Paso to Albuquerque to Denver back to Albuquerque and then home. Averaging only 4 to 5 hours sleep a night and all those plane rides really took a toll on my neck and shoulders… I am still aching as I type this. I wanted to share a few things I learned about Albuquerque during my short visit… since I have never to been to New Mexico much less Albuquerque there were some things I discovered that just were out of my ordinary world…
1) Albuquerque is really flat… just with a mountain range in the background.
2) The roadways are really wavy… seriously, the asphalt mix is wavy I suppose from the heat burning the road and then the traffic load causes it maybe? On certain parts of some streets you could not go over 40 mph without being airborne!
3) Restaurants there serve Green Chile with EVERY dish!
4) The Dairy Queen had tacos on the menu! And fried jalapeño fries!
5) The sun comes up very early… it was light outside at 5:30am.
6) It is very windy there… my fly-away tresses were flying.
7) All of the street names have words like “El, San, or Del” in them.
8) The overpass bridges are painted in “southwestern-like” colors like: turquoise, terracotta, brick red, and adobe…
9) They do have a minor league baseball team there- the Albuquerque Isotopes.
10) They do not have any popular football teams there. No pro team, no well-known college teams, etc.

All in all, Albuquerque is a great place. I would be in the minority there with my blondish hair though. It does have less humidity and the traffic is minimal. The airport is very easy to get in and out of. El Paso is whole different story… but, we will save that for another day.

I'm A Traveling Fool

I am typing this as I sit at the Denver airport waiting for my plane back to Albuquerque. Yes, this has been a whirlwind of a week and it is not over yet. I was in the Atlanta office Monday and Tuesday. Early Wednesday morning I was on a plane to El Paso. After 3 meetings in El Paso (mostly in preparation for my new project), I rode with my boss back to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he lives and our Southwest Division office is. I checked into my hotel and passed out. I got up this morning at the crack of dawn and headed to their airport and boarded a plane for a day trip to Denver. We bid two large projects today- both in the Southeast- one in Athens, GA and the other in Winston-Salem, NC. Well the planets must have lined up today because we were low bidder on the Athens project- Woohoo! Finally, our division has landed a nice, sizable project. I was definitely a tough job trying to put together two bids that bid on the same day at the exact same hour… but, we did it and it paid off!
Now I am flying back to Albuquerque and will pass out late tonight after I get back to my hotel. Tomorrow is workday for me in the Southwest Division office for my El Paso project. Unfortunately, no airline flies back to Atlanta from Albuquerque in the afternoon/evening hours. So Friday night will be another night there and then fly home Saturday. All this traveling makes Kelly a very tired girl. Imagine that.

Rockin' With RUSH!!

We were blessed with the opportunity to go see Rush in concert Tuesday night. We were 13th row in the middle from the stage where one of the oldest rock-n-roll bands ever jammed out! We rocked the night away in soaking wet clothes after a typhoon came through the ampitheatre... but, not until after we met two members of the band, Alex and Geddy... check out me and Hubby posing with Rush baby! O' What a night!!
Thanks Pooloo & Jeff- you guys ROCK!

Estelle Getty Died

Bummer. My favorite Golden Girl died today... the Yahoo! headline reads, "Estelle Getty Of 'Golden Girls' Dies At 84". Bummer.

Be A Chopping Fool

I bought this kitchen gadget a while back because the box caught my eye in Bed Bath & Beyond. Go to this link and check out the Chop Wizard... This gadget is the answer to every one's chopping needs. I cannot tell you how easy it is to use it and how easy it is to clean it. No more teary eyes or stinky fingers from those onions! I am seriously thinking about buying one of these for every one on our Christmas List. Go to Bed Bath & Beyond today and get one... it will be the best $20 you ever spent... I promise.

Stay Home and Don't Spend Any $$?

I am still trying to catch up with old topics so today's blog centers around a day back two or so weekends ago. Hubby and I had gone to the country for the day... while we were working on the land and enjoying our time with family, an unfortunate incident happened at my Mother's work. She works as the shipping mgr for a very large plywood manufacturing plant and the boiler blew up inside the Plant…and this time it was not repairable. So what does this mean? This means the boiler is going to cost around $2million dollars to replace and it will take around 3 months to complete the replacement work. When you break it all down, what this really means is that the Plant will be shut down and the workers are out of work…. Supposedly for only 10-12 weeks. Of course, my Mom has been freaking out for the past 2 weeks since each day something new or different is announced. Last Friday, they had a Plant wide meeting and basically reported that 2/3 of the Plant workers would be sent home that day… with insurance though. They even had Unemployment tables set up for them to file on site! I am sure this had to be very nerve-racking for all parties. I just feel so bad for her and all of those folks affected by this... it just really sucks... especially during times like these... My advise to her was that if they did not start work on that boiler SOON, then that is the worse news of all because they might decide to just shut down the Plant all together... and it could happen- they have already shut down 4 or 5 of them in the Southeast to date.
Today was her first day back with only small staff reporting. They still have to ship out all of the in-stock plywood to its destinations. After that, we are not sure what will happen with her job. With the gas prices like they are and if they send her home, it might just behoove her to stay home. And not spend money. Heck, maybe that is what we should all do.

Tomato Update

I checked on my tomato plants after I returned from my trip yesterday. I could not believe my eyes! Some bug or beatle or something has been eating on the leaves of one of my plants. And they ate almost 3/4 of my first big greeen tomato! What a crock. So today we went and got Seven Dust. When I went out to water the plants today I discovered my first almost-ripe cherry tomato... Yippee!

Donate a Bag of Joe

One morning this past week (before I left for Denver), I stopped by my favorite Starbucks on the way to work and ordered my usual venti cup of tasty frothiness. After I paid my bill, I walked over next to the barista and waited for my order. In those few minutes, I noticed a basket between the cash registers and the barista station… it was full of 1 lb bags of coffee. The sign above it stated something along the lines of: “Support Our Troops- Donate Coffee to The Soldiers”. Every bag in the basket had hand-written notes (w/ a marker) to the soldiers on the bags from the donors. I actually tear-ed up in the middle of Starbucks. I told Hubby about it that night. His response was, “well did you donate a bag?” I wanted to…but, the line was 10 deep by then and the basket was physically located where you will not see it until you have already paid for your cup of joe! I will make a point to go by there this week. So should you.

I'm A Traveling Machine

What a week this was. I was supposed to have worked in Denver from Monday to Friday. But, that itinerary changed last Friday afternoon…. FOUR different times…and in a matter of two hours that Friday afternoon! I did not know what I was going to be doing this past week AT ALL. When the fiasco finally died down, I wound up only being in Denver Wednesday night through last night. I flew out Wednesday evening, spent two nights and two days in the Denver office for work and then took the late flight back last night. We did not even get to the hotel on Wednesday night until after 12 midnight EST, so that night was shot. I did manage to meet up with two of my buddies from college on Thursday night- we had supper up in Boulder, CO. What a good time catching up! I have to say that my trip back to the airport and getting to the gate was relatively easy this trip- no hiccups. Once again, my seat was in Row 1 on Frontier (not 1st class- Frontier does not have 1st class). I had the aisle seat. And it was all good until my seatmates showed up…a young couple from Oregon…with a baby in tow. And then it happened. The breast-feeding. Yes, folks, this mother breast-fed her child MULTIPLE times during my 3 hour flight from hell… I could have died! Not only did I have to focus on the metal wall in front of me (don’t forget the front row has no view) so I would not be looking in her general direction, but I had to turn up my iPod to cover the feeding noises! And then some kid was flying alone in the other front row and he spent the entire flight practically screaming for the flight attendants every 5 minutes for something. He also delayed our take-off because he locked himself in the front restroom and would not come out. The flight attendants kept banging on the door and repeatedly telling him to come out and buckle up. I have to say the entire flight was quite annoying and I could not get off that plane fast enough.
Next week is another travel week for me and unfortunately a lot more complicated than this week was. Fly to El Paso and then drive to Albuquerque on Wednesday, fly to Denver and back from Albuquerque on Thursday, Albuquerque all day and night on Friday, and then fly back home on Saturday. Wow. That is all I can say about it.

Poor Sampson

Last night just felt different... probably because our dog stayed overnight at the Vet's office. He was too sedated to come home after a last minute surgery late yesterday afternoon. It all started Sunday night (Monday morning) around 12:00 midnight. Sampson kept shaking his head over and over... about every 20-30 seconds... almost like he had a flea on him... a flea that he just could not get rid of. It must have really started driving him crazy because he started huffing and puffing and breathing really heavy... running around the house shaking his head... that is when I decided the flea must be in his ear! Between the constant jingling of his collar and tags and Hubby's snoring, I had had enough at 1:30am. I had to get up at 4:30am for boot camp, so I sent Hubby to the guest room and shut the door (to keep from hearing the dog.. oh, and the snoring). I think Hubby finally wound up taking Sampson to the basement and putting external flea spray on him... Well, the next evening we got the flashlight and looked in Sampson's ears. There was quite a sizable thing in his right ear that we thought might be a tick! We had taken him to the country this past weekend and ticks are everywhere down there. So we took him outside along with tweezers, peroxide and cotton balls. Needless to say, when I finally got the tweezers around that monster, Sampson was not having any of it! So we took him to our Neighbor's house and all four of us got to checking his ears out... Mr. Neighbor thought both ears had issues so he retrieved some "ear cleaning solution" for dogs that they used to apply in their yellow lab's ears. Sampson went absolutely CRAZY when Mr. N squirted the solution in his left ear. I wish I had the video camera.... Sampson kept running across the porch and diving into the wood floor with his ear... he finally resorted to the grass in the front lawn. After about 20 or so minutes of crazy dog antics in the grass, he joined us up on the porch and we did not hear a peep from him the rest of the night! Of course, the next morning he was taken to the Vet's office. I got a phone call around lunch time from Sampson's doctor. He wanted permission to sedate him. He had to remove all kinds of dirt and rocks from his ears to get to the ruptured ear drum! They also wanted to remove the growth we thought was a tick. WOW. No wonder poor Sampson was acting so crazy. Hubby is picking him up this morning and hopefully getting a lesson on doggie ear cleaning. I am just waiting to see the bill.

A Day On The Farm

We went back home for the day on Saturday. A full day of activities was planned on our land. The front three acres seriously needed to be bush-hogged… some of the weeds were almost five feet high it seemed! And the grass we planted was NO where to be found underneath! There were still a couple of high areas that did not have weeds or grass growing on them so we re-harrowed them and re-planted grass seed. Hubby and a friend of ours (who has all the farm equipment) worked all day bush hogging, weed eating, spraying Round-Up, harrowing, spreading fertilizer, seeding and re-harrowing. I bowed out late morning and went to my nephew’s 9th birthday party. All in all, it was a productive day all the way around.
BEFORE

AFTER

Rainy Days of July

Not to jinx the the flow of goodness, but how crazy has this week been with all of the thunderstorms and RAIN on back-to-back days! I am so happy to get the rain, believe me, but I can definitely do without all the lightening strikes! Not only are they hair-raisingly scary to hear and feel, but they can do some serious damage. Unfortunately, we did not weather this stormy week in July damage-free. Yes, the storm on Monday (which was by far the worst one of this week) managed to fry our garage door motor. Not only will we have to replace the entire set-up, it will cost almost $200! And this is not the first one to be fried for us either! So we cruised up to Home Depot last night after work and researched the price for a new garage door opener. Even with my 10% off coupon I have, it is still going to $180... Bummer. And since we only have one key to the front door, we also had copies made of the key- one Georgia Tech one for me and one UGA one for Hubby (because he thinks he is funny). And wouldn't you know that when we got home, the new keys did not work! Oh well, what is another trip to HD? Just more gas wasted!
One positive note... with all of the rain we have gotten, my tomato plants are really growing!

There are little green tomatoes every where on them... we will be eating tomato sandwiches soon enough..

My Economical Update

The headlining article in yesterday's AJC stated it boldly: Wind turbines considered for Georgia coast The article went on to tell how Georgia Tech researchers recently completed a study on wind energy off Tybee and Jekyll islands and that the Southern Co. will further study whether a wind farm could generate enough electricity to be financially feasible. They included a photo of what a future wind farm would look like from the beach...

This is Georgia Power's notion of how six or so wind turbines might look from the beach if located 6.8 miles offshore Tybee Island.

I think it is a GREAT idea. And I think every state with a shoreline should have wind farms to supply enough power to each and every household and business in their state. What is holding these type projects up? Politics? Money? Environmentalists? Democrats? Republicans? Tax payers? It is evident that this alternative makes sense compared to our current source of energy. Why does it seem like every GOOD thing gets sidelined by all these outside influences? Who cares if tourists can see them in the far, far distance from the beach? Gimme a break!

Last night, I cruised down to midtown for to watch an old friend of mine perform his one-man acoustical guitar act. I parked across the street from the venue in a very bustling business center built up around a Publix and an LA Fitness gym. Well, I had the honor of encountering two of these new little cars:

It is the new Smart Fortwo Pure and is for those "urbanites" that live in the city and want a seriously compact car at a low price and with great fuel economy. Their website boasts that THREE of these can fit into ONE standard parking space! They really look like toy cars... but, they are very real and very economical... only $11K-$14K and over 40 mpg on the gas-powered models. Of course, you could not haul anything with you in it.. maybe on top of it?
And besides, I really do not think Hubby and I could fit in it at the same time...

Not A Good Start Today

So this morning when I went to leave our house, the garage door would not open. I suppose with all the lightening we endured in all those heavy storms in the early evening, maybe the door was shorted...? Who knows and Hubby is still out of town. In my haste to get on the road to Boot Camp, I had to lug all of my stuff back up the stairs and then exit thru the front door and down all the front steps... and I was sweating buckets the entire time because of how humid the early morning was. I then had to feed the dog and try numerous times to get the door locked (the key has issues)... needless to say, I was VERY late leaving the house. I was exiting the neighboorhood by 5am. Well, guess what... lo and behold one of Cobb County's finest was parked in the middle of the median on Johnsons Ferry Rd at 5:05 am this morning clocking vehicles!!!!! I could NOT believe that on the ONE morning I am running late, some cop is actually using his radar gun at 5:05 AM!!! I mean there are what like 10 cars at the most out at that unspeakable hour of the morning!!?? And then, after I got onto I-285 Eastbound one of Dekalb County's finest is clocking folks from the emergency lane!!!??!! Oh I was LIVID.. and very late to Boot Camp... NOT a good start to this day AT ALL.

Not-So-Lazy Summer Days

Hubby is out of town on business until Wednesday night and I hate to admit how empty the house feels tonight without him. We stayed home and had a pretty passive 3-day holiday weekend. The most excitement was enduring the dogs nervousness when some of the neighbors behind us decided to shoot off their fireworks at 12:30am AFTER the 4th was over... Sampson goes CRAZY at the booming sounds from fireworks and these did the job! He was pacing around our bed and whining and whimpering the entire 30+ minutes those yahoos kept booming behind us. I am sure he wanted to dive into the bed with us but, there is NO WAY I was letting him do that... do you know how much black dog hair would be on our white comforter for crying out loud?
We did whip out the ol' turkey fryer on Sunday and made our own homemade buffalo wings and onion rings... and they were the BOMB. Hubby is such a great "Fryer"...
Boot Camp Month # 3 started back today (unofficially)for me.... I am really only going this week to make up for the week I lost in June for work travel. I am traveling again all next week and most of the week of the 21st so I really don't start (officially) until the 21st in the new 6:30am class.
I am slammed at work this week trying to get contracts written and a schedule constructed for my new project in TX...
Oh well, at least I am busy... it makes my time go faster until Hubby returns.

What Ever Happened to Customer Service?

So I had my “annual” visit with my “woman” doctor this past Wednesday. Now when I was a lot younger I dreaded these yearly appointments to the point that I really made myself sick at my stomach. It has gotten easier over the years I will admit… of course, that could be because I really love my current doctor. She is personable, laid-back, calming and FAST. And getting my examination over as quickly as possible makes me feel a lot less nervous. I suppose I have been going to her office now for about 5 years and she has changed office locations about 3 times since I started going there. Well the current location is in a Medical Building behind Piedmont Hospital. My appointment was at 11am so I left my office around 10am because I was not sure what the traffic or parking situation would be. Fortunately, I had no problem with traffic but, then my luck started going downhill once I arrived to the parking deck. The overhead tube-like signs stated that the clearance was 9’0”- great! But, then after I got my ticket and pulled inside another tube sign stated that the clearance past this point (you know- where ALL the parking is) was only 7’0”!! My company truck has this HUGE headache rack on the back of it and will not fit under 7’0”!! So I had no choice but to go right (which was down to the bottom or the Exit direction). At first, I thought “no problem… I will just park near the exit but all of sudden I realized that EVERY freaking parking space from the entrance level down was marked “Physicians Parking Only”… What a crock! I drove all the way to the last bit of physicians designated parking and parked right next the cashiers booths at the Exit. I got out and walked up to the first booth. I explained my situation and thankfully she understood. I then walked the long distance to the building entrance and made my way to my doctor’s office…. And then my luck went south again. I walk up the desk to sign in… there is no sign in sheet. I tell the lady my name as requested. She asks me if I “downloaded my paperwork and brought it with me”. I tell her no and then she starts getting all short with me… I am wondering how in the heck would I know to “download” any paperwork BEFORE I came to this appt??? She just jerkily hands me a clipboard and tells me she needs my insurance card. I explain that my insurance has not changed and that I do not have an insurance card with me (I have requested one twice in the past year from my insurance company- none have shown up). Then, she really turns up the crabbiness on me… she says that there was a problem with my card from my last visit (you know LAST year!) and that they will Not see me today if I do not produce a problem-free one today! I am thinking, “if there was a problem LAST year, why did you not call me BEFORE today and tell me so I could investigate the problem before this morning???? I ask her to show me a copy of my card and she hands me a copy of one for some guy named Jerome… I hand it back and tell her that I am not Jerome. Now she is really mad at me. She says well that is your card in your file. Now I am dumbfounded. I just go sit down to fill out the 99 pages of paperwork and ponder if calling my insurance company is really necessary. I then call Hubby and ask him to fax a copy of his card. To make a long story short, in the end, because I showed up 20 minutes early, I got all the freaking paperwork done before my appt time and Hubby came through on the card fax… so Hot-Headed Receptionist calmed the heck down after pulling a major “She-Nay-Nay” attitude on me for my first 20 minutes in the waiting room. Once I got in with the Doctor every went smooth sailing! What I cannot understand is why the Doctor is so nice and her staff is so melodramatic?? What ever happened to Customer Service??

Winds Of Change

The winds have changed for me at my job… I have been assigned a new project… in El Paso, Texas…. Hhhhmmmmm… interesting… El Paso, the armpit of America as some folks like to refer to it. I was given the green light last Friday afternoon (while I was hanging the geriatrics crowd back home) and when I showed up to the office on Monday the flood gates were wide open. I have been in full throttle since Monday and have not stopped yet. I have 4 huge tasks that have to be completed by this coming Monday and let’s not forget that this IS a holiday weekend! It’s a good darn thing we did not have any plans for the 4th because I would be up the creek… I am the Project Manager and have no budget for a assistant… wouldn’t ya know? But, hey, this new project assignment gives me something to do at work… and that is the best news of all.

80 Year Celebration!!

This past Saturday was my Grandmother's 80th birthday. I threw a "little ol' lady" birthday party for her at the assisted living home where she resides. Over 10 of her friends showed up from back home along with her son and his woman. Several of the residents partipated too- it was a great time! I had a birthday cake and lots of ice cream for all to enjoy. Needless to say, she was completely overwhelmed when folks kept showing up and approaching her to say their greetings and such. We all took turns telling our stories of how we knew her, when we met her and how much we love her. She just sat there with a grin on her face. It was a wonderful time...one side note- it was all fun and games until her son's woman announced that she was my Grandmother's daughter-in-law and that they were married a couple of weeks earlier- nice of them to drop that bomb on us in front of every one! You would think they would tell their family in private and not announce it at her birthday party!
The next day I picked her up, drove her back home and we enjoyed a grilled steak lunch with my Mom, her grandson and great-grandson. She has been telling me for a while now that she "hasn't had a steak in 20 years"... so we took care of that on Saturday.
What a great weekend for her! I just hope she can remember it later down the road...