This is total random thinking…

I understand when there are multiple stalls in a bathroom, then it should be segregated, one for men and one for women. Sometimes the men’s room has urinals, definitely can’t be mixed.

My query is in regards to single bathrooms, when there is no difference between the two, nothing special on the wall, no urinal, both have a toilet, sink and paper towel holder.

Here’s my question…why does there have to be a men’s and a women’s sign differentiating between the two, especially if they’re not cool or special signs.

Whenever the ladies room door is locked and I really have to go, I go into the men’s room and do my thing and that’s that. It’s no different, so why the different signs?

Allergies..allergies…allergies…ugh

I grew up in NYC and the only thing I was allergic to was cigarette smoke. I moved to Georgia and sure enough, the adage was if you don’t have allergies before you move to Georgia, you will! I made it about ten years, maybe a little bit more and then it was all over.

Atlanta has some of the highest pollen count on the planet every Spring, the cars are yellow and the run offs are yellow and green. Lovely.

As soon as Spring hits, I’m sneezing and wheezing and blowing my nose, weehoo. I suffer every year and then I found this great herbal remedy, a dissolvable pill that directed you to take one every two hours and like clockwork, every two hours I needed them.

I moved to Colorado and have sneezed maybe four times, and that was because my nose was itchy! I have been loving it! I can be outside all day and no issues! Love love love!

Michigan has been so-so, I’m starting to get affected, but not like I was in Atlanta. Well..do you remember when I went to Atlanta for the Dirty Girl 5k? I was getting off the plane and right on the jetway, the humidity hit me and then my eyes started to water and I began to sneeze…Nooooo!

From Atlanta, I went to Boston and it wasn’t too bad, at first..I ended up having to take a Zyrtec after a while, then back to Michigan and it’s again, so-so, but we’ve been having a lot of rain, so that helps.

Today I am back in Boston and I barely made it off the plane and I am sneezing and my nose is running like crazy, I may shvr already used up a box of tissues and I’ve only been here about an hour and change!

I took a Zyrtec when I couldn’t take it anymore and I think it’s working, I’m not sneezing, my eyes aren’t too itchy and my nose isn’t running, but I think I’m about to fall a sleep where I’m sitting!

So, in conclusion, Mother Nature, what did I ever do to you? How can I make this right so I can stop sneezing!

I hope I haven’t talked about this already! [ha ha ha, oh brother!]

When I’m going on a trip, I look forward to packing, figuring out what I need to take, how many nice outfits do I need, how many nice dinners? Bathing suit, jeans, pants, under things, shoes, books, toiletries, all that stuff. I get to pack my bags, hope that they are under weight, get to the destination, unpack as quickly as possible, get the room and bathroom set up the way I want it and then relax for the next week or so, whew.

Even at the end, packing everything up is not that bad, maybe there are some new souvenirs,  but it all goes back where it came from, most of it dirty clothing anyway, so super easy to pack. Then home again and ugh, unpacking, well, put everything in the laundry room and put the travel toiletries back in the closet/cabinets they stay until the next trip.

So…as you may have guessed, I don’t mind packing and unpacking for vacation.

Now, packing and unpacking for work…it’s hit or miss and here’s why. It all depends on where I’m going and how long I’m staying. I had one contract that I was never anywhere more than two nights max and let me tell you, two nights was great, I could actually take a few things out of my bag, one night, i just got things out of my bag and if I was somewhere for a week, look out!

On this project, I am in one place for six months, what? I get to unpack and stay unpacked? well, for a period of time at least. In the first few months of the project, I was going home each week, I didn’t bring a big bag because I didn’t need that much. Then there were times I wasn’t going to get home for maybe two or three weeks due to my schedule or maybe I was traveling to an alternate location. For those times, I had a bigger bag and more stuff.

Progressively, I’ve added a few things, I have my materials for class, food that I’ve bought to keep in the room so I can have breakfast, snacks, maybe even some other meals. And now, I’m going to be here until the end of July, not sure when I’m going to get home, which is great for the project, but now I might need some more clothes, what?

So…here is where the title of my post comes in. I’m not a fan of packing to leave for the weekend because there is so much stuff to deal with! The great thing is that I get to keep as much as I need to here at the hotel in a closet down by the front desk and they have been so great about letting me keep what I need to here. It’s now about five bags! Oh brother! The last one is toiletries. I have gotten smart about packing the night before I am leaving and taking it all downstairs except for what I need in the morning and my toiletries.

This is the reason I don’t enjoy packing is that I have to pack it ALL into those bags and take them downstairs knowing that I am coming back in 3 days, that’s the frustration, if I was going for a week, not a big deal, but it’s just 3 days and I’ll be back [well, more like 2.5] oh well, it’s got to be done so I’m gonna do it, oh wait, it’s already done.

But…I made my hotel reservation for June and July for both months and when I check in, I will unpack and that will be that for two months! wahoo! Go me!

So, now…I am packed and ready to go tomorrow. MGS is turning four on Friday and I am going to be there when she wakes up! Go me! I can’t wait!

Ok, gotta go, alarm is going off at 5:50. Goodnight!

I am all for saving the environment and the trees, but…

When I am in a bathroom and there is an air dryer, I think ok, this is good, save a tree, no paper towels. Then I look around to get out of the bathroom and I still have to touch the door handle, what’s that about?

Am I just supposed to use my sleeve? What if I’m swearing short sleeves?

Ok, rant over.

I got the strangest call today.

I thought it was from a recruiter and while I am not looking, I wanted to be polite instead of having them leave a voice mail. “Hello, Ms S?” “Yes”, “This is ___  with the National Guard, you had expressed interest in finding out more information about joining the National Guard.” “What?”

And so it went downhill from there, for him, not for me. I was laughing a bit and I apologized for laughing, but where did he get my information and the idea that I was interested in joining the National Guard? He tried a few sites and then mentioned the Warrior Dash, I said oh, ok, I did sign up to do the Warrior Dash in Denver this coming summer, he said that was probably it.

I said I wasn’t interested and they probably wouldn’t want me, I love my country, but they wouldn’t want me. [We know I’m vegan first of all, and then I don’t do well with people telling me what to do, especially at this age, maybe if I was younger…] He said of course they would love to have me and then I asked what the age range was.

“Oh, we have them from just starting out at 17 to our cutoff.” “What’s the cutoff?” Oh, we have them all the way to 32-34. I said reverse that and you have my age! “Oh, well, thank you for your time and I’ll remove you from our list.”  “Thank you and thank you for all you do and good luck in your search.”

And thank you to all the service men and women who have served our country, I honor you.

Jam packed day!

The day started early as it was a Monday and there were things to do! Goodbye hugs and kisses all around. By 8:15, both kids and ACS were gone to school and work and GES and I got to work, straightening the house, doing laundry, moving clothes from the closet, checking the sizes, give away pile, folding, putting away.

We accomplished a lot before 9am!

Then on to breakfast, just the two of us, we each had a breakfast sandwich and shared a pancake, yum. Then back to the house, more laundry and pack up the car to take care of some returns. Go go go.

We got back to the house had some lunch, I got some work done, finished packing and it was time to go to the airport. JF, from across the street gave me a ride to the local train station.

I got to the airport in plenty of time and when I checked, it was not a very full flight and wahoo, I was in the exit row and no one was with me, I had the entire row to myself and if I could have stretched out across the aisle, it would have been something!

The flight was uneventful, getting to the hotel equally uneventful and here I am telling you about my day. Time to get some rest, the alarm is going off in a few hours.

Back to it, have a great night!

While I enjoy hibachi, it’s a crap shoot for vegetarians.

If you don’t know what hibachi is, it’s where they cook your food in front of you. You have choices, such as chicken, steak, shrimp, scallops and this time tofu, yeah me!

I have enjoyed hibachi for a long time and when I go, it’s a test for a vegetarian because they cook everything on the same surface, the test comes in when you don’t know if they cook the veggies or meats first.

A lot of times I’ll check but tonight I didn’t, so I got to have the veggies and tofu cooked on the grill after they cooked the chicken, steak and seafood, even using the same spatula and knife, interesting flavoring.

I’m going to chalk this one up to stupidity on my part, but no I’ll effects so we are doing alright!

There are so many people I am finding out went to college at University of Michigan and have great memories of their time there and recommendations for where to go and what to eat.

Case in point, RSK got all excited about the Pizza House, http://www.pizzahouse.com, and the Chipati, what? The Chipati, it’s a ginormous pita pocket filled with stuff, I kid you not! Check out the site.
http://annarbor.pizzahouse.com/zgrid/proc/site/sitemnup.jsp?nls_sf=tm5216&nls_st=tm1270421&id=4103317810560&ctx=ct156772812&mnuid_it=129281&vnmi_it=1754

I went earlier in the week with KS and TS in Ann Arbor and had a lunch sized Chipati, it was manageable, but still too much food, so I ate half that night and then the other half with a veggie burger the next night.

It just so happened that RSK was going to pick me up from the airport, so I asked if she wanted me to bring her a Chipati, she was so excited, she said and I quote…”I’m so excited I could pee!”

Then GES decided she needed one after all the hype, then ES asked for one and I decided to bring one for ACS, I’m glad I cancelled the one for me because there was no way I was getting five on my flight, these things are huge! Look at this picture!

The refrigerator is full, with just these four boxes and tomorrow will be the test, everyone is coming over for a party and will partake of the chipatis, I may have to bring more with me the next visit!

Interesting.

Before you ask, I know you know I’ve been a vegetarian for a long time, and if you didn’t know this, I’ve been lactose intolerant for almost as long. A few weeks ago was the last straw and I have gone full on vegan, well ovo-vegan. I’ve never had a problem with eggs and I think they’re yummy, when I’m in the mood, hence the ovo-vegan.

If you didn’t know there are different levels; a pescatarian is someone who only eats fish, a vegetarian eats no meats (poultry, beef, pork, etc, fish, animal byproducts) but might eat eggs and dairy, that’s where the expression ovo-lacto comes from.

So, I gave up meat and poultry when I was a kid, then about nine years ago, gave up fish, this was tough, but I got used to it. Once in a while, if I am in the mood, I might eat fish, but it’s very rare.

I’ve continued to eat some dairy, but with complications. I found Lactaid milk, wow! After a few years, can’t have that, then I tried soy milk and eventually became allergic, so I’ve moved on to almond and rice milk. I’ve taken the Lactaid pills so that I can eat dairy and they worked for a while, but unfortunately, no more.

As I mentioned, a few weeks ago I became full on vegan, well, ovo-vegan. There are a few things I can still eat because it doesn’t bother me. I can have butter and a little Parmesan cheese, so far so good, who knows what will happen in the future, but for now, give me at least that!

All about the same time, I cut out dairy, cut down my carb intake and started working out regularly. It’s all working together and I think I’m starting to see results, might be too soon to tell and I think I feel better not eating dairy, still too soon to tell, I’ll keep you posted.

It is a bit tough finding a happy medium and I know vegans throughout time have figured it out, I just have to get there. I have found it tough to find things to eat at some places, so many restaurants offer dishes with cheese, some have vegan cheese, but not many. I don’t always want a salad and if there is no veggie burger or spicy black bean burger doesn’t help.

I feel bad for my friends who have to listen to me worry about this new venture, so to speak. They are very nice and try to help me find things, but it’s frustrating. I’m usually pretty good about finding things, but now that I’ve cut out dairy, it’s getting more difficult. I’ll get there. When I’m home or at the grocery store, no problem, it’s restaurants that are a little trickier, but being in a college town helps.
So, thank you to my friends.

My new slogan “Vegetarian by choice, vegan by force”. Makes me smile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism