My weekend, the HEAT, and new app for Kindle

WELCOME to my new follower, Gypsy Jane! I am a gypsy at heart, myself, and appreciate you following along with us.  Welcome aboard!

WOW, on the TV news they just said it's 105 degrees at my office in San Diego right now at 11:00 a.m.  That's HOT, especially for San Diego.  I'm home today because I worked on Friday, and it's 98 at my house and climbing.

Today I slept in until around 9:30 and it was hot already, sun streaming into my living room, so I closed everything up and turned on the A/C (probably only the third or fourth time this year I've used A/C).  Catch it early and I'm usually good for the day in weather like this. Plus, I'm on a special SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric) program where I allow them to shut off my A/C periodically at peak usage times during summer months and I get a credit of $100 in December.  That paid for my December and most of my January bill last year.  Since I don't usually turn my A/C on, unless it's super hot, that's a total win for me.  I have a feeling they might shut me down for a while this afternoon, so I'm cooling things down now. 

I must be getting old. When I get home from a trip, after all the driving, visiting, playing with grandkids, etc., it takes me weeks to get back to normal. I've been so tired since I got back-and a little under the weather, but I've also not been able to sleep, which is unusual for me. Today I'm finally back to normal.

Saturday I slept in late, did virtually nothing all day, then dressed and took Katie out to grocery shop in the early evening, had the car washed, and stopped at the pet store to get food and treats for Katie.

I got her a cool new toy, a ball with both sides cut out, and you put a treat into the cutout, and the dog has to work at it to get it eaten.  She loves it! It was kind of expensive, but it has kept her busy now for two days, and she hasn't finished it yet. I bought a refill, too, which I'll give her in a couple of days.

Double sided Everlasting Treat Ball.

The ball comes with one "edible" insert, so you have to buy a spare Everlasting Treats, and use one of them.

This is what I usually give Katie:

It's just a simple ball with a hole in it - you put in treats and the dog noses it around and the treats fall out as it rolls.  It takes Katie a while to empty it.  I don't put "treats" in, I put in another kind of dog food, so although she thinks she's getting a treat, she's actually getting good, nutritious dog food.

Sunday I woke up early and realized it was going to be hot. It's was 100 degrees, or close to it, on Saturday, with the same predicted for Sunday and today. So, I brewed my cup of coffee, put the laundry in the washing machine, dusted the house, vacuumed, put the laundry in the dryer, stripped and changed the bed, cleaned bathrooms, hung up and/or put away clothes from the dryer, got everything done that I've been putting off for three weeks. The house is shining!  Then I scrambled some eggs, made another cup of coffee, and sat down to catch up on my blog reading. I turned on my air conditioner yesterday, too.

My condo isn't insulated, at least I don't think so, but the previous owners put in double paned windows and I have a neighboring wall on the north and south, so I stay warm in the winter without the heater and cool in the summer without my A/C.  Most days.

My plan for today is to catch up on my blog reading, maybe play some computer games, and do a bit of  Kindle reading.  I'll probably take Katie for a walk in the evening when it cools down.  My house is clean, my shopping and laundry are done, and so I can just take it easy and rest up for work tomorrow.

By the way, I've downloaded a free Kindle app on my new Droid2.  I found out this morning there's a free Kindle app for the computer, too, either PC or MAC.

 I like the way the Kindle app looks.

Amazon.com has lots of free books you can download, which is what I usually do.  If you download one free book, usually other free ones will come up on your screen.  Just double check before you download it to make sure it IS free.

I just downloaded the app, and all 158 archived Kindle books from my account at Amazon.com are now on my computer to access whenever I want.  Some I've read, some I haven't, but now they are all available to me on my Kindle, phone, or PC.  I don't need to have my Kindle with me to read them.  Pretty amazing!

That new Kindle looks pretty nice, but I wonder how the sales will be now that they are offering free apps to use your phone and computer just like a Kindle.

Before I finish, I just checked The Weather Channel for San Marcos, the (north San Diego county) city I live in, and it's 107 degrees right now, at 12:15.  I haven't been outside yet, but it sure is nice having A/C!!!  The little weather gadget at the bottom of my blog is for Encinitis, which is on the coast directly west from me about a 15 minute drive.  The closest I could get to San Marcos for the gadget.  It's where my son and his family live and since it's on the coast, it is a little different, but usually pretty close.

From me and Katie, have a nice Monday and a good evening, everyone!  : )

Do you like taking polls?

I've noticed there are a couple of bloggers putting polls in their posts.

I LOVE taking polls!  Unless it's something I want to keep to myself, I always answer them.  I thought I'd add the poll below to this post to see if you like polls.  If so, I'll add some to my blog from time to time.  I'll always have it set to show the results to the voters.  You can't vote more than once, but your answer will be anomymous, only your vote will be recorded.

If the result is negative, I won't add polls to my blogs (often) - but remember, I LOVE polls. So I hope you do, too.  : )

FIRST POLL:

(Apparently after a period of time the link to the poll times out and isn't accessible in the blog. When I came back and looked, the poll is gone.  Check October 10, 2010 for a photo of the results.)

There you have it.  Voting will be open for two weeks, or until October 10 at 6:00 p.m.

Let me know if you have any good ideas for future polls. ; )

By the way, my chicken soup is delicious!  I'm saving some to bring to work for lunch in my "soup thermos." 

From Me and My Dog, have a great Sunday!  : )

Response to comments, and where I work

Thanks for all your nice comments yesterday.  Moaning about working and commuting so long yesterday and it's effect on Katie was very therapeutic.  I think I don't have enough to complain about!  : )   

In response:

1.  Yes, potty trained dogs really do hate to have accidents.  And I'm always afraid once she does, it will be easier the next time.

2.  I do have potty pads, but forgot about them.  Thanks, I'll put one out for Katie and keep it there, Just In Case. 

3.  Hulu - yes, I have that on my computer, too, as a Favorite, but for some reason I never use it.  It does have more to choose from than ch131.com. I'll have to pull it up today and see which shows are there.  I'd love to see Dr. Phil and Oprah's past shows, if anyone knows of a website that has them.

4.  I had a question about where I work - that would allow me to bring Katie in. It's a small office, working for a general contractor who has businesses in northern and southern California. He is very entrepreneurial.

We do not have customers coming into our office, and there are only three full time office staff here in San Diego (the corporate office) and the boss, who is gone a lot.  The rest of the employees are in the field.

He also owns a body/repair shop where he takes care of our fleet of trucks and works on custom cars which he buys in ragged condition and brings back to like-new appearance and working order, and then sells.  I think that's his favorite business, his baby.  He does a lot of the hands-on work there, orders all the parts, I think he still paints them, too, in the paint booth.  He drives them for a while, then sells them.  

We owned a restaurant for a few years that was voted the Best in San Diego in it's class, that was just sold.  I think he owns four businesses now, but I expect something new will appear when he's finished working on our new office/shop.    

We don't bring pets to work, but I have in the past when work was being done in my condo and I couldn't leave Katie there.  Another employee occasionally brings in her daughter if she's in a bind.  He's the kind of boss who doesn't care what we do all day, as long as the work gets done. We have an office manager, who watches TV all day while she works and takes care of all her personal business, the bookkeeper works from 8:00 to 2:30, with an hour lunch.  Then there's me.  I work four days a week from 7:00 to 3:30.  I am his personal assistant and handle some personal business as well as whatever else he needs me to do for his businesses -  marketing, correspondence, collections, advertising, research, etc.  Sometimes I'm swamped, and sometimes I'm not, depending on what's going on. We all have different jobs and different hours, and we back each other up when needed. 

The IT guy, accountant, attorneys, and others are not on the payroll, but are called as-needed.  It's a pretty sweet operation.

My boss is very good at what he does and is a bit of a perfectionist.  He's easy to work for as long as we do our jobs well.  He provides full medical, dental, vision, and chiropractic benefits, vacations and holidays, an ongoing stash of treats for the office staff (whatever we want) and daily coffee, and the best work environment he can provide.  He has almost no turnover in the office, as you can imagine.    

So, that's where I am four days a week, and will stay until I finish building my castle, and retire.

(No photos today. The only thing mentioned that I could get a photo of is a potty pad.  No photo is better than a photo of a potty pad.)  

It's Saturday!!!  From me and Katie, have a wonderful day, everyone!  : )

www.ch131.com

First, I want to thank everyone for their comments.  I really appreciate it when I see that someone has left a comment, and it's fun to see what you all have to say.  And I appreciate it when you leave answers to my questions.  Believe me, I'm listening!  I love reading your blogs and leaving comments, too.  : )

I had to work today on my normal day off (a co-worker asked if she could take today off and switch with me and I agreed) and it was a looooong day with an hour and a half drive home.  Then I found a big yellow puddle in the middle of my bedroom carpet, which is very light tan.  It really shows the yellow. :(   Not Katie's fault.  I left at 7:45 a.m. and got home at 6:00 p.m., longer than her usual day being cooped up in the house.  She went out in the morning at the usual time, and I'm home two hours later than usual.  That's a long day for her, too.

When I agreed to take this job almost 3 years ago, it was with the provision that I could set my own hours, and I chose 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. because of the terrible San Diego traffic.  Those hours help my commute immensely.  I pretty much get to drive the speed limit all the way to and from work.

However... when I work in place of this other employee, I have to work her hours, and I get off at either 4:30 or 5:00, depending on the day.  Driving home on a Friday, leaving at 4:30, increased my commute by one hour.  And I took some detours and made u-turns to speed things up.

I decided when I got home and saw the puddle, and took Katie outside and she still had to go more, that I'm not doing this anymore.  From now on, I'm taking Katie to work with me if I have to work anyone else's days or hours.  Otherwise, it just doesn't work for me. Or for Katie.  I'm sure it will be okay with my boss, but I just hate to ask for favors, you know?  But since I'm doing a favor, I'm going to ask for one in return.  I'll let you know how that works out next time.

So...  now that I have that off my chest... : ) ...

Other than the above, this is going to be a short post.   Because, I'm tired (see above) and going to climb into bed and watch TV until I fall asleep.

I wanted to tell you, in case you don't already know, about www.ch131.com.

Now that the new shows are out and THANK GOODNESS there's something to watch on TV again, especially for us frugal folk that only have Basic Cable, I'm really enjoying my old shows and some new shows.  Unfortunately, sometimes I'm too tired to stay up to watch them, or there are two on at the same time.

I know, I know.  Can you say TiVo?  Or DVR? 

But, being one of the frugal folk, I don't want to pay for them.  I did call my cable company yesterday to ask about the DVR, and it costs almost $20 per month.  Just to tape shows????  I have a DVD Player/Video Cassette Recorder.   I have cassette tapes.  Then I thought, TiVo?  What would that cost?  I did some Internet searches, but couldn't quickly find the cost of TiVo, but the TiVo machine looked pretty expensive.

So, those two are out.  But ch131.com is in!

If you haven't heard of ch131.com, it's an Internet site where someone in the mid-west or on the east coast films TV shows without the commercials, and puts them up on this site.  So, I can watch them an hour sooner than they are showing here on the west coast, which gets me to bed an hour earlier, and also, I can watch them any time after they are up on the site, so if I want to catch up a week later, I can.

If you click on this, you can read the TV shows listed so far this week.

I just caught up on the shows I've missed this week (the ones in the purple color).  I don't think it's as good as a DVR or TiVo, but maybe it is.  I don't have to set anything, just go to the site and pick what I want.  Of course it doesn't have everything that's on TV, but enough for me.

By the way, when you click on a show you want to watch, a screen comes up with a box in the middle with an ad on it.  Wait for a minute, and another box will appear at the bottom that says: "Close to Play."  THAT'S WHAT YOU CLICK ON TO SEE THE SHOW.

So, that's my tip for the day.

I just let Katie out for her final final, and when I stood up I could smell the most wonderful smell.  I said to myself, "Boy, someone is cooking something good!"  That's when I remembered the chicken I put in the big pot of water when I got home from work.   Thank God I put it on LOW!  The remains of a roasted chicken I got at Costco - they are so good.  To make soup tonight that I can eat over the weekend.   I have all the veggies and chicken pieces all cut up on a plate next to the soup pot, ready to throw in once I drain the broth out.

Well.    I sure do have some potent soup broth.    To throw the other ingredients into.    Tomorrow.

From me and Katie, have a good night, everyone!  : )

Build your own castles

WELCOME to my new followers John and Bridget, Travels of John and Bridget.  I'm so happy you've joined me and my dog, Katie, on our journey.  We're glad you're along for the fun.

I don't remember when or where I first saw this picture:

I think it may have been in an ad, but I'm not sure.  I only know that when I saw it, it really resonated with me and I thought, "Build your own castles," and I scanned it into my computer and saved it so I could keep it. (My apologies if the creator of the image reads this.  I can't give credit at this point, since I don't know where I got it.)

This was lots of years ago, and I must have been going through a period in my life where I was disappointed in people, and my plans and relationships with other people weren't working out, and I guess I decided I was going to "build my own castles," and not rely on anyone else. 

I made personal stationary with a small graphic, used the image as a logo on a personal "business" card, and made an iron-on sheet to press it on a t-shirt.  I always put "Build Your Own Castles" under the graphic.  And I meant it both simply and aggressively, I think.  This graphic became my own private, personal Statement, with a capital S.

I remember this box of blocks, maybe my kids had them when they were young.   They fit perfectly into a wooden box when the blocks were arranged correctly.  I don't think it's a memory about the actual box of blocks that draws me, but there is something that speaks to me when I look at the graphic.

All my life I've had dreams about houses.  Really good dreams, about a house that I suddenly find out is mine, and when I go into it and walk around, I find secret rooms or closets filled with treasures of various kinds, and they are all mine, too.  Each dream has had a different kind of house, and each house has a different kind of treasure.   I specifically remember the first "house" dream I had when I was a child.   That's when I realized I dream in color.  I can still see the dream as I'm moving through the house, all the bright colors.  Many others followed throughout the years.  Always good dreams and I'd wake up feeling happier than usual.

Somehow my "house dreams" and this graphic go together.  I get the same good feeling when I see this block castle, and think about building my own castles, or in other words, fulfilling my own dreams.  Not needing anyone to help me build my own future.  Not having to help someone else realize their dream, and ignoring my own.

I think that's what I'm doing with my plan to retire, dispose of my condo and all my "stuff," buy a small RV, and live on the road.  This will be my "dream house," and think of all the "secret rooms" I'm going to find with all the treasures.  Each campsite, each RV park, each city and state, everywhere I travel will have new secret rooms with new treasures for me to find.  Building my OWN castles, on my own terms, for myself.

BUILDING MY OWN CASTLES 

I might even put the graphic and title on my little RV when I get it.  Wouldn't that be great?  I think living out my dream of residing in a small RV will be wonderful, and hopefully put me in a place I really want to be.   Emotionally, spiritually, and physically.  And if not, I'll move to another place.

So, congratulations to all of you out there who are building your own castles.  And for the rest of us, let's start Building Our Own Castles!

From Me and My Dog, have a great evening, everyone!  : )