Thanks for your comments.  Jeanie - I am a lightweight and now that I've re-examined the glass I used, uh.. yeah they were very large drinks.  Chef thought I was funny though.

DD - I've learned to breathe through my mouth so I don't throw up when I clean up after the kitties.  I like your bleach story.  Strange to say that my cat LOVES the smell of bleach.  She's kind of a freak I think.  But you could be onto something.  Maybe the box needs a thorough scrub out. 

Hmmm... Chef??? I have a small chore for you to do.

On another note... our garden is coming along.  Not as fast as I thought 2 weeks ago but...

We've had lettuces and some zucchini.  Now if the yellow squash would materialize I'd be happy.  I have lots of blooms but nothing behind them. 

Also, my tomatoes are coming in but they haven't gone red yet.  I have 3 types.

I do have one lonely pepper.  It's a chocolate pepper.  No idea what that will taste like but I'm hopeful.

I planted corn where the lettuces had been growing.  The stalks are already up and it's been less than a week. 

I had a lovely day with Chef.  We went to a fireman's muster (which didn't happen because the firemen were called to action) and a balloon festival (which didn't happen because of the wind).  When we got home I had a couple of lovely cocktails and some food.  The cat decided the litter box was in front of the kitchen sink instead of the basement.  I cleaned it up.  Drunkenness didn't help.  I had to concentrate very hard to clean things properly.  Her boxes (yes, multiple) were cleaned two days ago.  What the hell is her problem? I guess we forgot to order boneless spare ribs which she loves. Blame Chef.  He ordered the take out.  All I did was feed the cats and then clean up the mess.  Have you ever tried to wash a floor when you're plowed?

I need some water.

So, I'm 4 weeks into my class and NOW I find out that my Geneva contractor minored in Economics.  Three years of it in fact.  Unfortunately she's going away for a long weekend and won't be able to help me with my latest paper concerning taxes and GDP.   I NEVER would have guessed her to be an Econ geek.  She was a Communications major but I didn't know about the other. 

It's only 8:30 on Sunday morning and I've already fed and cleaned up after the cats, worked on the project I'm doing for my SILs baby shower, harvested the last of my lettuces, planted some new things,  had breakfast, painted my toenails, and shut up the house against the heat of the day. 

Now I have to shower, change and go to a memorial service by 10:00 for my aunt and meet my cousins and uncle whom I haven't seen since I was 13. 

I think I figured out why my stomach is doing flips.  I need to learn how to relax.

I get a lot of spam email.  I usually don't even bother looking at the subject lines but today one caught my eye.  I NEED A HOUSEKEEPER.  I thought to myself "Heck, I do too!"  I looked around at my dust bunnies floating along the floor in the wake of the air conditioner wind.  I looked at the crumbs on my tablecloth.  I looked at the dishes in my sink.  I came back to the computer and opened up my blog.  I learned a long time ago.  The dirt will wait quietly for you.  It grows - but it's quiet.

The Hoss PoD is going well this week.  People seem to like the theme.  I'm going to do the Ben PoD sometime in August.  Hopefully I will get inspired when I start poking around the gallery. 

Well, back to my paper on technology advancements affecting unemployment and the GDP.  If you made it to the end of that sentence without yawning more power to you.  I fell asleep just thinking about typing it.  Never mind trying to write a paper about it.

Ewww - wouldn't that be a horrible book title?  People would look at it and run screaming.

I got 4 of my five questions finished for this week and the fifth one had me stumped.  I asked lots of people for help.  I even posted on two websites hoping that someone would have some information.  But nope.  I asked one of the guys at work who "finds this stuff fascinating" and he was confused by the aggregate demand curve graphs as well.  More reading... more research and finally I found something that I think was the right answer.  Now let's just hope that I was correct and able to make sense in my answer.

You know what though?  Someone submitted all these questions to homework.justanswer.com (I found them when I was searching for the answer to Q5).  But the answers are hidden unless you belong and pay.  I don't mind asking friends (and Alan G) for help but I think that goes too far.  

Now I have 3 days to do my report.  Anybody know anything about savings rates and their affect on consumption?  Eh - never mind.  I know you don't. 

I had my check up with the Oncologist yesterday.  It was a bit stressful.  I needed a scan which means no food but drinking oral contrast which makes you really cold (I forgot that part).  I also needed an IV inserted (forgot about that too) and then more contrast injected which warms you up.  It makes you feel like you're drinking a bottle of rubbing alcohol (another forgotten detail) and then warms you down to your groin area and you think you are going to pee right on the table (that part I remembered).  FUN!  Well, when they inserted the IV they took blood and said that was all I needed so the scan tech could remove the IV - yay! 

But, then I was told (post removal) by the reception people that I needed more blood work but then the nurse said "No you don't" and sent me to see the Onc who wanted to know where my blood work was.  I got poked again.  Long story short - I got the all's fine.  She didn't even give me grief about not losing the weight I was supposed to.  I really do adore my Onc.  She's so positive and a very cool person to know.

So, here's the part that might make you shiver.  When you get an IV they have to inject saline to make sure the line is clear and working.  Well, my arms are so thin, that anytime something is injected in, I can feel the ripple of liquid going up my vein and if you look at my arm you can see it!  The scan tech was holding my arm when she injected me and she could feel the stuff go in.  It grossed her out a bit - I could see it in her face and I asked.

Jeanie - thanks for agreeing with me that Alan should have time to help me.

AD - thanks for his phone number.

Well, week 1 down. I did alright.  I'm not impressed with the instructor.  It's all online and other than posting a couple of questions for us to answer based on the readings and grading our assignments, she is completely hands off.  She doesn't participate in any of the class discussions to answer her questions.  The lesson plans are prepared by the college.  So what is she teaching?

Now we're on to Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product and Gross National Income.  What can I say, the class is kinda gross.

And it's humid too.  Last night was cool but humid.  Very weird and... gross.

I asked a bunch of people at work if they understood economics and got the same reaction from everyone.  A wry smile, eye roll and a shake of the head.  NOBODY knows crap about economics.  Or rather they don't remember anything about it.  Seems as though everyone took a class in school and decided to promptly forget the torment they went through. 

So I've decided to change my tactics in finding a tutor.  When in trouble go straight to the top - I want to speak with Alan Greenspan.  Personally I don't see why he wouldn't help me.  I'm sweet (even if I can swear like a longshoreman), I can be funny, I pay my debts and I need his help.

So can anyone put me in touch with Alan?  I have a report due tomorrow and 5 more weeks of torture.

Thanks.

I'm already not in a good mood because of all the stupid crap going on at work.  A macroeconomics class sure isn't helping my mood.  It's all freakin' math and buzz words.

This blows.

A big shout out to my friend Francine for the awards and recognition she received at work.  I'm very happy for her - she deserves it!

We have summer hours at work right now.  So if you make up the time during the week you can leave early on Fridays.  Well I already put in extra time to leave on Mondays but I've been going in an extra 1/2 hour early so I can leave on Friday too.  Although today I stayed until after 4:00 because it was so quiet I was able to get through some stuff that was hanging around.  I got home and weeded the garden and pulled some weeds out of the lawn too.  Chef will be nicely surprised about the 2nd part!

He did some grocery shopping before he went to work today.  Yay!  I hate to grocery shop so it's wonderful when he goes.  He told me that he bought tomatoes but they were the safe ones.  I said something like "huh?".  I could just picture him shaking his head.  Apparently some tomatoes have been affected by e-coli in the soil. 

   I think I need to watch the news more.