Well, it has been a week of firsts. Friday I had my first taste of BARIUM. Yum. I knew I was in trouble when I called to make the appointment and spoke to a lady by the name of Danielle. We chatted and I casually asked her if it tasted bad and she said 'Yes'. Somehow I did not fully trust my friend Barbara who said it wasn't so bad and that it actually tasted sweet. OK, sweet is good. You would think Danielle, being in her position would at least lie or say it is not so bad. Nope, she said it was awful. Thinking about this, I prepared my strategy. I would simply drink down the tiny container without tasting it and that would be that. When I went into the X-ray room, the young assistant told me to sit down and explained the procedure, adding that I would have to drink some awful stuff. I sat and there beside me on the table loomed a large plastic glass of a white chalky substance. You can't really classify it as a liquid, not once you pick it up and realize it weighs 5 pounds. Why do they put in a skimpy plastic glass - I was sure it would just spill right out of it. I then thought oh oh,it may hard to just swallow the whole damn glass at one time - but before I could formulate another plan of action, I was informed that I was to actually take a sip and HOLD it in my mouth until I was told to swallow. OY. I kept telling myself that I should just do it and get it over with, there are much worse things in life than this. It is strange to me that with the fantastic strides they make in medicine every day they could at least come up with something a little less foul. I was proud of myself that I did not gag or throw up and Gail was surprised to see me 10 minutes later.
Yesterday I went for my annual blood test. Instead of going to my usual testing place where I have to wait for two hours with hundreds of other people, I was told I could go to a local hopital, Mount Sinai Hospital Center. This was good news because it was close to home, there was ample parking, there would not be a long lineup of possibly flu-infested people and (bonus) I was excited because a cute guy, Tony (who was rumoured to be extremely gentle) was going to do my blood letting. My secret plan was to tell him that Gail thought he was adorable (which she does)and hence every time we would run into him Gail would be embarrased. Since we go to the hospital daily to visit with my brother, I was thinking I would get a lot of milage out of this. Things did not bode well however when I was waiting outside the lab and heard female voices and not Tony's. I was called in and I proceeded to sit down in the chair. Apparently Tony does not work on Mondays. Who knew! The lab technician was a woman whom I did not know and I realized I was in trouble when she kept tapping my arm for a vein - over and over and over again. She was very nice however and hopefully next time I will get the young and handsome Tony!
A shopping tip - do not, I repeat do not, shop at Canadian Tire. It seems that everytime we buy something at that store we end up having to return it. We swore the last time after having to return a large humdifier (why is it always a large object?) it would be the last. But oh no, Gail saw an ad for tables on sale and since we needed some additional folding tables off we went to that store again. We hauled home two large folding tables and got them up the stairs. I set up one and realized it was for midgets - being only about a foot and half off the ground. It was even too short for Gail and I! I checked the front label and it said something about being a Mesa table ???? and it could be adjusted to a normal height. O.K. the first table opened like a charm. Next came table #2. One side opened but we simply could not get the second leg to extend. We tried everything and it lay on its back for a week and every so often one of us would go over to it and yell to the other one to come and help and we would try again. I checked the bill and it said we had 90 days to return the lousy table, so a week and one day later off we went with the table. The two of us had to carry it in and after much waiting our turn came up. The girl at the counter asked what was wrong and we told her. She looked at the table and the top (it was black plastic) was all scuffed up. This condition was no doubt a result of laying on its back for a week while we kept pulling at its leg, and as Gail so succintly put it "schlepping it back and forth". Like anyone in that store knew what 'schlepping' meant. The girl then spoke to another girl who looked at the table and said we could not return it for money, only for a credit since it was in bad shape. We said it has to go back anyway since it is defective, and the bill says we have 90 days. Oh no, they said with glee, if you read the back of the bill it says that in SPECIAL CASES you have only 7 days to return the merchandise and it is now 8 days. So I said well how do you know if your merchandise is a SPECIAL CASE, it's not like you told me when I bought the thing that is was a SPECIAL CASE. They then proceeded to call over a man in a red shirt who tried to open the leg. Grunting and groaning, pulling on the leg, it simply did not budge. Vindication. However the two girls held fast and would not give us our money back. Actually we originally just wanted to exchange it for a new table, but just on principal we now wanted the CASH. No go. We then said we wanted to speak to the manager. OK so finally the manager in his red shirt shows. He proceeded to take the table and kept telling us to stop yelling. I swear my blood pressure must have gone up by 50 points. So the little creep pushes and pulls the leg of the table and voila - it opens. So Gail says well too bad we aren't taking that table since it will probably be impossible to open or close again. He said well tough then, we will have to take another table and no credit for you. Fine. Out of the two tables left, one was broken and we checked out the other one. We took it back to the girl who said we now have to stand in line to check it out. It was only an exchange but anything to further aggravate you (I think that is their motto) SHOP AT CANADIAN TIRE - WE WILL BE SURE TO AGGRAVATE YOU AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. We were behind an elderly lady who must have been there for 10 minutes, while the lady behind us kept saying there should be a special line for old people - right, that's all we are missing - having to show your 'old age' card in the check-out line!) Anyway by the time we finally got out of there we were yelling at each other and we made a solemn vow to never go there again. I pointed out again that that is what we said the last time, but Gail insisted we get these two tables since they were on sale and we needed them. Hence it was all her fault!!!
Eureka moment - (While looking the mirror) I was recently thinking about why as we get older we lose hair where we want it (on our heads) and grow it where we don't (all over our face). I actually came up with answer - you get hair all over your face to hide your wrinkles!
We have been making lots of Pandi products and still have more pins, necklaces and bracelets to design. We have posted some of the pins that we have already made and they look absolutely great on sweaters, pashminas, scarves, blazers, t-shirts and even cloth purses. We have also posted some more pictures of the pond as fall is fading and winter is getting ready to set it. It has a surprising beauty with its muted colors.
My desk is packed with papers and we have new merchandise that has not yet been put onto the site. Gail has loads of pictures to take. Stressful times. To make matters worse, we are also trying to watch our diets and of course Gail is losing weight while I seem to not drop a pound. It has been a while since we have shopped for clothes and we finally went to look for jeans. Holy cow - I got scared when I looked in the mirror. Was that really me - I checked around to see if I was alone in the dressing room. Yep.
So I will sign off for now since I have finished my breakfast and have to get back to work. Have a great week everyone. Once again we welcome your comments, and don't forget to visit www.beadandsave.com for great beads and great savings!
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