Thanks, Mark, for giving me the idea...I found some spiffy optical illusions and put them in my photo album, I've always thought they were pretty neat.

What I wanted to show you guys was this page:

http://www.doodoo.ru/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=1163

I've always loved these kind of paintings. But really study them, they really ARE something else entirely.

Neato, huh?

Trying to get back into the blog-groove :)

Another fairly early day, got done at 1:00, been getting done at 12:30 last 3 days...

Trying to write my blog, but Lilo and Kitten are having absolute fits chasing these 2 flies that managed to get in. Its SO funny! EWWW she just caught one and ATE it...yucko. OH NO, she DIDN'T eat it, she spit it out and now her and Kitten are torturing it across the carpet....ugh.

You know, I have had no bug problems since I've gotten kitties :)

Alright, I just HAD to take a photo as soon as Levi decided he'd butt in and ruin Lilo and Kitten's fly-massacre.

ANYWAY, back to my blog...

Work was so NICE when I walked in this morning...no radio was on blaring and the PM hadn't gotten there yet. No one was bickering or arguing or gossiping loudly...it was complete peaceful silence and I was working rather quickly.

But as usual, it wasn't long til the PM got there, turned on that gosh awful radio with the stupid station we have to listen to with the SAME SONG SET every single morning over and over again, with the same loud DJ's and the woman that has to laugh at EVERYTHING that is said, it just gets worse and worse every morning...like that drippy faucet at night or that barking dog, the longer it goes on, the more you notice it, and the more you want to secretly come in after work one night and just *OOPS!* "did I my scissors just make contact with the power cord?"

Then the PM proceeds to gossip in loud whispers to her lap dogs and @ss kissers, but not loudly enough that you can hear what they are saying. Hence her immediate on-switching of the radio every morning--it drowns out her gabbering. At least when you aren't next to the case she's gabbering IN.

I have to try and focus on my work and keep my ears from naturally trying to fill in every other word that is oozing it's way through the side of my case. And, as usual, she'll throw in the loud "Know what I mean?" to her gossiping partner which is the only audible thing the rest of us can hear...it's a sort of signature phrase of hers that marks the end of a particularly good gossip about someone within the room, and the phrase makes the hair on everyone's arms stand on end, because it's becoming more and more draining every morning to live the
"Groundhogs Day" mornings that repeat themselves without any change, or any end, in sight.

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Yesterday when I got home, Richard told me what his coworker told him (his coworker is his brother in law, the husband of Richards sister, who works with me, making her MY coworker and she's practically my sister in law...small town, I know).

Apparently, one of our carriers, the one that is having physical relations with the PM (you know who I mean Mark), came in halfway through his route for his break and saw that I hadn't taken all of my circulars. I took half one day and half the next. Well the PM had told him to get his out before his brand new sub had to work so she wouldn't have to suffer through them and he saw I hadn't taken my other half yet, walked over to my case, threw my circulars all over the place, and freaked out on the PM cussing and raising He//. Told her that he's tired of her giving everyone special attention and blah blah blah. Well she DOES give people special attention, primarily HIM and my sis in law. I don't think his ignorant self has noticed that my PM hasn't said ONE WORD TO ME in EIGHT MONTHS. Keep in mind guys, our post office is about 40x40, very small.

She ended up writing him up and blah blah blah.

Well the point is, as wrong as he was about throwing my crap around, he was RIGHT about her. She lets her pets get away with everything.

That same day she got on my friend who was pulling into the parking lot after work. My friend was hanging up the phone after making a to-go order to pick up. PM yells at her and says, "you better hope so-and-so doesn't see that!" So and so being the BIG boss who shows up every now and then. YET, the PM is on the phone CONSTANTLY with her pets when they are trying to do their routes. Why is it ok for THEM to be on the phone? At least my friend was done with the route and sitting in the parking lot.

Second point: Today I get to my friends house with her mail (who was off today) and she tells me she just spoke to the PM on the phone. Her son is sick and she has to take him in early Wednesday and will need the day off work. Should be simple, but it's not, it never is.

She didn't want to use an annual day, which I understand. She wanted to use a sick day, and PM says "TECHNICALLY I can't let you do that".

TECHNICALLY the PM shouldn't be letting her pets use their sick days when they decide to leave work early and play hooky with her every week!!!

So my friend says what about FMLA (Family Medical & Leave Act)? And PM says,
you know your sub works at  the other post office during the week right?"

WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF TEA IN CHINA?!

I told me friend, what does it MATTER?! She is YOUR sub, not the other office's, they are BORROWING her from you.

And why is the post master giving her a hard time?! She doesn't give a rats @ss about anyone else taking off!

The PM gave her a hard time and said she'd get back with her about it. I told her if she is denied a day off in any way, she needs to file a grievance. When I pulled my back  out, I just didn't come in. I called my sub, never called the PM because she just hangs up on you, and I got my sick days.

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I get to the end of my route today and the sky is BLACK. I make it just in the nick of time, because when I pull into the office, there is an absolute DOWNPOUR. I sat in my jeep and organized all my stuff waiting for it to pass, but it didn't. Lightening was crashing and wind was whipping white clouds of rain in every direction...ugh....so I get my measly little towel and cover my mail bucket with all my stuff in it and run for dear life across the parking lot. I was soaked to the bone in three seconds flat!

PM and pet were eating lunch and wasting time as usual, and got my stuff done in 2 minutes and ran back out into the rain and went home.

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So here I am at home, grab a Smirnoff Ice and twist off the lid and DAMN if I don't cut my lip on WHAT'S THIS?! A broken rim? So there is a chunk of glass floating around in the bottom of the bottle and I pour my drink into a glass, but darn it my lip burns.

But it's ok, the kitties started chasing flies to make me feel better :)

They are lucky it rained, it was all I needed to keep my procrastinating self from taking them to the vet today. Lilo and Kitten are due for a checkup.

"Their teeth look good Ms. Padgett, but what are these little black legs stuck between them?"

=/

Cripes, I added new photos yesterday and they've already gotten 60 views? wowsers...

Sad to say, my artwork doesn't get so many views, especially that quickly

 =/

Maybe if I stand next to my drawings in a bathing suit? =/

Also been meaning to ask: What happened to the "poll" feature on this site...thought we could make polls...

Sorry I haven't been on much...back is killing me again, hurts to sit.

I was feeling fine for about a week, then I went to a couple local beaches over the weekend and completely over exerted myself. Topsail isn't so bad, but Hammocks beach is an island that you have to hike across for a while to get to the beach itself, and that took it's toll on me. My back is SCREAMING.

I had a complete brain fart yesterday and remembered that I have Aflac accident insurance and about blew a gasket. That's money in my pocket I almost forgot about! What's WRONG with me? I told the chiropractor I only had Blue Cross Blue Shield. I'm having Aflac send me a claim form this week so I can get a pretty nice chunck of dough lol.

I put up a photo we took on my main page of one of our piers on Topsail. A lot of photographers come here to take pictures of what they call the "chapel". Does look quite a bit like coming down the church aisle from this angle...

Couldn't have asked for better weather...Finally cooled down to 65-70 that evening with a perfect breeze and perfect sunset. Nothing like getting off work at 12:30-1:00 on a slow mail day to have the whole rest of the day to do nothing but pretend it's the weekend!! My last two days have been like that.

Unfortunately, since I hurt my back, I haven't been able to do any running for the past 2 weeks. It's MISERABLE. I'm so used to being active and trying to lose 5 or so lbs before our cruise in October, and now I can do nothing but lay on the couch like a blob and play video games and watch tv. I don't want to push my luck if I start to feel a little better and completely put myself out of commsion. I want to feel great on my trip, It would totally suck to have a bad back out there.

Our cabinet installers are coming back in the morning to finish the cabinets, so I will add pics tomorrow. Then the countertop people can come back to finish...

Oh, I found a pretty stenciling thing I want to do on the wall over the backsplash, check it out:

http://www.modellodesigns.com/Category.asp?cat_idno=151187

The little sample photo is the one I want...the colors are similar to what I want too. I think it'd look nice over the counter, but it wouldn't look nice anywhere else around the room. Gotta think of something else for that...

Gotta go to dentist after chiropractor tomorrow...ugh....I get jabbed all day, what joy.

I got my stimulus check FINALLY, put it in the bank today, WOOHOO!

What else...hmmm...

Took Levi for a walk today, first time he's been outside since I finally broke down and cut on the air conditioner a couple weeks ago. Wasn't sure how he'd take the heat...he kept plopping down on fire an beds and I kept moving his butt somewhere else. He was pretty ill with me and I finally lugged his fat butt back into the house. It's just too hot to deal with his little kitty hissy fits, especially with my back. He's 17 or lbs and its a BIG hill to walk up lol.

I gotta make Richie an appointment to see the doctor...he wont do it (I hate to be stereotypical, but I notice most guys won't take the initiative to see a doc unless forced). He's had a choking problem for a couple years now, and it's getting worse. Last night I couldn't take it anymore, so I found the number for an otolaryngologist (sp?)--ears, nose, throat doc. He can't swallow pork most of the time, no matter how small it is, or how much he chews it, or whatever. He can't swallow pills, and there are a few other foods I believe...I put a tenderloin in the crockpot last night, and it was falling to pieces, you didnt even need to chew it, yet he cant swallow and I think he'll absolutely choke to death. It freaks me out. Its not right. They can do things like make him swallow a fluid that will show how his muscles are working in his throat when he swallows, and they can see it on the screen. Or they can check it with a camera or a wire that will gauge the pressure of his swallowing muscles...there is something wrong, and he NEEDS to find out what it is.

Ho hum...back is hurting...going to go crash on the couch now...HEY, did you Deadliest Catch fans see the previews for the rest of the season, and how he was coughing up blood and couldn't breathe?!  I hope he'll be all right! Speaking of tv, I missed Americas Got Talent last night...darn it.

Ok, I need a little help by tomorrow...

I had a woman yesterday stick 4 dimes on an envelope. Still needed two more pennies so I wrote 42 cents needed on corner of envelope. (I'd pay, but it's wearing me thin, NO ONE seems to know prices went up).

Today, instead of the 4 dimes with 2 pennies added, I have A MOUNTAIN OF PENNIES on the envelope. Is that a slap in the face or what? How else should I take it? I'm hot, it's like 120 degrees in the jeep, I have to count out all the damn pennies without dropping them in the dirt, AARGH.

I left a little note saying "there was no reason to replace dimes with all those pennies, will not be accepted again."

Because DOESNT IT SAY on the orange money envelopes, "do not enclose cash"? Aren't we technically not suppose to deal with that aggravation? (sorry, not having a very angelic day)

Today I get back and tell my cooworker while my PM watched smugly. I get to my desk, and there is the note I left the woman with a note she wrote of her own that said :

"To: The post woman that left me a mean note: You always put my checks in my neighbors box and I dont complain about that. There need to be someone else to carry the mail in the Pine. I'm reporting you"

"NEEDS" lady, not need, and it's The Pines, not the Pine, which she called it twice, she passes the sign every damn day...sorry, she ticks me off.

Now, do I have any comebacks for this to protect myself from any type of @ss reaming?

WHERE does it say in a book somewhere that I don't have to accept 42 pennies??

(And I didnt misdeliver her checks, it was the new sub >:P )

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Went to doc then stopped by PO to finish some casing, and the clerk told me she was a b?tch when she lived on another route too, so not to worry about her. I guess as long as she doesn't "report" further than the PM I'll be alright.