Have bags will travel!

Just call me the bag lady!  Oh my!  I have two packed suitcases that are ready to go with me overseas. In the meantime, I am living out of bags and small carry on type suitcases!  I have piles of blankets, towels, my pillow, etc in my car......

The tent will be on the house till this afternoon. PGE had no appointments open for today, so the gas won't be turned back on till Monday afternoon.  In the meantime, I am petsitting for some friends in Danville.

Yesterday I spent the morning with Jackie and Dillon just "hanging out"!  We watched cartoons and just relaxed. Dillon is growing up so fast!  When I was doing my morning stretches Dillon was trying to copy me--sooooo cute!

At around 1000hrs I left for Danville where I drove over to Linda's house and met she and Eileen.  They gave me some very nice, thoughtful gifts (Air Force and Marine covered scrap books and a nice framed pictures of my Blue Star Mom friends!!!). We left for lunch around noon....went to Oasis!  Oh yeah!  Looooooove that place!  I had.....guess.....?!?!?  Aushak!  When you bite into it you get an explosion of different flavors in your mouth!  There is cilantro and green onions wrapped in pasta, with garlic yogurt and a yummy meat sauce poured over it. Yummmmmmm!

The circus is in town!

PG&E capped off the gas this morning at 0800 hrs for the tenting:

Had lunch with my good friend and hair stylist Norma today at Oasis Restaurant downtown Pleasanton! It was so nice to have time to just talk and relax! Ordered my favorite dish ever....Aushak!

The sound of a "racking" shotgun!

That is a sound most people are familiar with!  It can be scary (if you're on the wrong side of the law!), it can make you feel safe, or it can be fun (when you're out trap shooting)!  Ahhhhhh sweet sounds!  This morning, on my way over to PAB, I heard a police officer racking his shotgun and thought "I love that sound"!!!

Makes me think of other sounds I love.......Baseball: the ball being hit by the bat, and the ball hitting the glove; hockey: the sounds of the crowd cheering and the puck being hit; trap shooting: the sounds of the gun blast and clay pigeons getting blown to bits; ocean waves coming in to shore; babbling brooks; the wind blowing through trees; birds singing; crickets at night; the sounds of walking on dry leaves or fresh snow; the crunching of tires in the snow; the sound of "quiet" in the snow; skates on ice; people laughing; babies babbling and talking; music....Sometimes I need to remind myself, there are soooo many things to be joyous of!

Last night I went to Ingrid's office after work.  The buyer's asked for an extension to the release of contingencies for their loan till the 15th!  That's the date we are supposed to close........I signed a form giving them one more week.  The house is being tented this week anyway, so I can't do anything to it......If we have to put it back on the market I will be so upset.......

Written by Battalion Chief Steve Alvarado, San Jose Fire Department:


Thank you to the firefighters who gave their all in trying to rescue a mother and her 6 year ofd child. The courage of the men and women of SJFD, the professionalism of our Dispatchers, and the dedication of our Police Officers was demonstrated early this morning.


http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_20520786/one-person-died-others-injured-san-jose-fire


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After work I had an appointment with the podiatrist because I still have plantar fasciitis in my left foot...it's been going on since around October.   He told me he should be putting my foot in a cast .....yesssss a real cast!  I had to say no to that since I'm leaving the country in a few weeks. He did take a mold of my feet for orthotics to put in my shoes. The cost was $250 and they will get here in 3 weeks-right before I leave! Dr. Tom did say he could give me a removable boot to wear to let my foot rest, but I didn't take him up on it.

After my appointment I sat in my car in the parking lot and just cried. The stress is starting to get to me.......

The other day I took my car through the Shell carwash where the car remains parked and the washer thing-a-ma-jig moves.  It made me feel like I was on the Teacup ride at Disneyland...I got so dizzy from it I had to close my eyes. The brain injury symptoms continue........seems when I am tired and under a lot of stress it gets much worse. Wonder if it'll ever go away......!??!?!

When I left Kaiser I went over to the mall for a few little things. and my foot hurt so bad by the time I left I could barely walk on it. So, tomorrow, I will be asking for the removable boot!

The rash on my face continues to get worse. I started taking the oral antibiotics yesterday. The dermatologist told me it will take 4-8 weeks for them to start working!  The gel he had prescribed made it worse (again).........

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Paperwork for the house was filed, giving the buyers till Monday, May 7th to release all contingencies. We shall see what happens.

The house will be tented for termites on Thursday through Saturday. PGE can't make it out to turn the gas back on till Monday, May 7th.

Luckily, I will be petsitting from Friday through Tuesday.....so that worked out well.  Thursday night I'll be spending the night with Jackie, Allen and Dillon!

Flexibility is the name of the game!

To quote my Supervisor, Doreen, "Flexibility is the name of the game"!

Every morning I take Sunol Blvd. to get on the freeway to head to work. This morning, Sunol Blvd. was totally blocked off by Pleasanton PD, and I was forced to get on the freeway going Northbound. So, I got off the freeway at Bernal. As I started making my way over to 580 through town I called work to see if they could find out what was going on on the freeway. Apparently there was an overturned semi with a HAZMAT spill on the freeway and both directions of the freeway were closed near Sunol Blvd. The accident occurred at 2200hrs last night!  So, I took WB 580 to SB 880 and was 10 minutes late to work.

This morning in briefing, Doreen and Chief Diaz were there for training about the new "Squads". Oh my,  the Squad response is a little convoluted...and CAD isn't going to make the correct recommendations a lot of the time........therefore, flexibility is the name of the game!!!

Cleaning day at work!

When I walked in to work today, Kyle (who works midnight shift) asked me how many days I have left to work....I told him I'm not counting yet. Soooooo, he told me that midnight shift is counting for me!  I have 26 days left to work!!!

Today is cleaning day at work, so we "dressed down" (wore civilian clothes).  Because we haven't had janitorial service in years, once a month we do a deep cleaning in the Control Room. We rotate shifts every month-this month being dayshifts' turn!  We dust, wipe down everything, and vacuum.

Yesterday I did more cleaning around the house-wiped down the inside of all the cabinets and separated more items to bring to work and give away (mostly just some cleaning supplies).  Amanda and I went to breakfast around 1000hrs downtown Pleasanton. It was so nice to spend time with her!  She was in Pleasanton taking care of her Mom's cat while they're away for the weekend.

Afterwards, I went back to the house and did some more cleaning......

In the afternoon I headed down to San Jose. Andrew thought he had lost his pen, so I went to Valley Fair Shopping Center to look at new ones (they're less expensive in the States). While driving there, I noticed the flowers on the side of the freeway offramp. I  remembered how, when I first moved to CA from Minnesota in 1976, I thought the freeways were so beautiful with all the flowers......I had moved here in January-it was a frozen tundra in MN at the time!!! LOL!

After I left Valley Fair, I went over the Jackie and Allen's. The plan was...we were going to go to Happy Hollow Park. When we got there it was 50 minutes from closing time, so we left.......It looks like a lot of fun...we will have to go back!

We decided to go out for dinner, so we went to Hobee's in the Pruneyard (Campbell)......unfortunately, the food was terrible. Jackie was eating her sandwich and felt something crunchy, like sand....and my fish taco was bland.......too bad....

After work today I did a little shopping.....went to Barnes and Noble and bought some books for the grandkids and went to Ulta for a few things I wanted to get to bring to Europe.  Bought a Chai tea at Starbucks and went home. I'm not hungry because today at work we had a pot luck...chicken and beef taco salad, which was delicious!