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Thursday, July 20, 2006

Serial Blunderer

Okay, you all were probably wondering when my next blunder was going to happen. Ha! Sooner than you expected, right?

The twins were getting ready to go to a friend's house, out in the country. I was busy getting breakfast, beds made, etc. Then it was time to load up the dishwasher and leave. Got all the dishes in, counters washed, etc. But I'm out of Cascade, actually been out for a day or two.

Now Bill has used dish soap in the past -- I didn't know you could do that.

Soooo, I put in the dish soap, not just a few drops, but the whole dishwasher bowl full. Do you know what happens when you use dishwashing soap in the dishwasher, especially about a quarter-cup full?

I'm in my bedroom curling my hair and yelling to the boys to hurry up. I hear William in the kitchen.

"Uh, Noella? I think you need to come in here."

"Why? You guys need to get ready."

"Uh, Noella? There's suds all over the floor, Lots of suds, they're covering the whole floor!"

I groan, walk into the kitchen, and sure enough, there ARE suds all over the floor. Just across the room from the dishwasher sits our computer and that's where the suds are headed.

The boys bring lots of towels from the bathroom and I call Bill, who after hearing my dilemma, is laughing his head off. His solution is for me to get out my Rainbow and start vacuuming the water out.

Well, I get out the vacuum and I guess I didn't watch how the salesman did it 26 years ago, because when I started vacuuming the water, the motor to the vacuum starts sounding funny. Quickly, I shut it off and open it up, to find that it took out water good enough; now suds are way up in the motor. I did remember the salesman told us that if that ever happened, disconnect from the water housing and run dry. Water and oil soaked the towels on the floor. I just hope it dries out enough to use again; that was the only thing (outside of baby furniture) I got from my first marriage, not that it was all that great, I just knew it was a great vacuum and he'd probably be able to get a new one sooner than I would.

Anyway, I sopped (is that a word?) up the rest of the water from the dishwasher, and drained it. Hopefully, it too will work again.

Let's see this was July 20. When was it I mailed that camera in?


Saturday, July 29, 2006

It didn't take as long this time!

The twins and I met Bill in Springfield last night for a movie and dinner. We saw the new Garfield film (which actually I liked better than the first one) and were going to go to McSalty's to hear the band, but they're not there during "Fair" week, so we went to eat at that Mexican restaurant out West Chestnut -- La Hacienda, 4249 W Chestnut -- (which is one of the best ever). Anyway we pulled into the parking lot and drove around -- no parking whatsoever. We figured we'd have an hour or so wait so we went on down to Sonic. A bit of a letdown after looking forward to some of the best Tortilla Soup in the world. (By the way, that's a great movie too -- Tortilla Soup).

So we eat our food, get in our cars (the boys vehemently discussing who's going to ride with Bill) and head home when, while out on I-44, we run into fair traffic. Bill hates to be held up in traffic, so we head back into town and take the back roads out.

We finally get onto Highway 13 when Bill starts his games. He likes to drive in front and get very far ahead, then he'll pull off somewhere and "hide" and waits until he sees me pass. Then he'll get back on the highway and pass us up (whichever twin is in the car with him thinks that is so funny and the first time that happened, I was a little surprised myself).

So I decide to beat him at his own game. When he did it to us on this little jaunt, I told William "don't look at them." Well, they pull ahead of us and we eventually catch up to them and pass them too. I'm afraid that I speeded up a little so that I could get far enough ahead to "hide" myself. See, you can't do this on a straight-away highway, it has to be one filled with curves and hills so you can pull out of sight. Well, they pulled off again and hid. I thought, okay, guys, we'll show you how to play this game, so I pulled off the same road that they pulled onto. We could see them back behind the bushes when we passed them. But before they could catch up to us, I saw a small road to turn onto, so I whipped in and we watched as they went by.

Unfortunately, this road kept getting smaller and smaller. Yep, you guessed it, it was a very long private drive to a privately-owned salvage yard. The reason Bill and Sam couldn't see us was because of the white fence that ran down both sides of our road. Remembering my luck with fences (I hit ours while backing out of our driveway - I wouldn't have hit it if Bill hadn't been trying to tell me how to back up - anyway, that's another story), I decided to pull on ahead; I figured they had a turn-around up there. Well I get up there and it's all cars. A sign in the yard says to check into the office before pulling in any further. I'm debating whether to go ahead or try to turn around. The office looks like somebody's home.

I decide to try to back into a small space and do a Y turn. I start to back up and as I look into my rear-view mirror, there's the biggest tow truck I've ever seen right behind me. I'm not going anywhere! The driver gets out of the truck and starts up toward my car - I'm trapped! All kinds of things go through my mind, but I roll down my window and immediately start smiling and apologizing. It turns out he's a "good" guy and lets me pull ahead and turn around. Feeling like an idiot has become a familiar emotion lately.

Bill calls me on my cell to make sure we're okay. But I did feel just a little bit proud when he says, "Well, we saw you go by and then you just disappeared!"


Sunday, August 13, 2006

Share the Blame - Ultimate Blunders

Just received an e-mail from an RGQ friend (that stands for Really Good Quotes - an e-zine I get Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) regarding a tape that both of us requested from Tiger Aspect Productiions in London. We were both involved (at separate times) in a TV show called Share the Blame. The working title at the time was Ultimate Blunders. It was shown on The Learning Channel three Sundays in July 2006. The show was about "life" and the blundering way we go about living our lives. Just the fact that the producer/director asked me if I was a "serial" blunderer kinda tells you how my life sometimes goes.

So they pay for a ticket for Bill and me to fly to Chicago, put us up in a pretty nice hotel down by the lake and pay our cab to and from the airport and to their hotel for filming. All in all it was a really great trip and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really, really liked the people I was working with. So I should be happy, right? Well one would think so, but I'm not. I'm on a rant right now!

You see, the show was cut from 10 episodes to 6 episodes (guess that's show business - right?). And my episode was cut. So was Tim's episode. He's the other RGQer and I think he lives in Boston. They paid his way by train to New York, a really nice experience for him as he'd never ridden a train before.

You see, I can understand the episodes being cut. The show was "okay" I guess, made more interesting because I'd been involved a bit. What I have a trouble understanding is why both Tim and I are being ignored when we asked for a tape. I asked early on and was told that it would depend on how many others asked for a tape. Then when I got the e-mail stating my episode had been cut, I asked again. No answer.

Then I wrote and offered to pay for the tape. Still no answer. So that makes me a bit upset.