We Gather Together ...

So the Barger household had a busy turkey day. Both my sisters and their families (with the exception of a bro-in-law and a nephew who both had to work) came down to Southern Indiana for the holiday. We were gonna go up to Indy for the weekend, but then since dad was in the hospital, they came down. (And much to my cowardly lion's dismay, the three nieces and sister Ha slept at my place.)

Wednesday evening, I left work early, since both bosses were gone for the weekend, and I had OT I could sacrifice, and I went out to Wadesville for dinner with the 'Rents and Ho and her family. The meal was deer stew (bro-in-law Tom procured the main ingredient during hunting season last year) and homemade biscuits (with Ho's homemade elderberry jelly), and now that I'm thinking about it... why didn't any leftovers come home with me?!? Humpf! Natalie and I drove back to my place in order to be there when Ha and her two daughters got there. After the initial greetings and dumping of baggage, we were off on the ubiquitous snack run. Since I had instructions to pick up some last minute items for the next day, we hit a Schnucks in lieu of the usual Walgreens. I have to say that wandering thru a store with gaggle of giggling teenage girls (Sorry, HO2.0, you're still a teenager!) is quite the experience for me. And much like the pain of childbirth (or so I've heard), the pain of it disappears quickly and I blindly go forth for snackage with them each time they stay at my place like I don't know how insane it's gonna be. Sigh.

And one of them, as I'm deciding what flavor of Smirnoff Ice to buy, states quite loudly in the middle of the store... "Will we get to have some of them??" To which I responded... "Why, no, Strange young person! You're a minor and the legal drinking age in the great State of Indiana is 21, and you will not be legal for a couple more years." DUH! Goober.

Back at my place, we settled down to watch Stephen Colbert's A Colbert Christmas - The Greatest Gift of All. Oh, look we're standing under the mistletoe. Well, this is awkward. tee hee!

Thanksgiving morning, I awoke and made the pumpkin pies, as my daddy says I make the best pies, and we were off - over Pigeon Creek and thru the trees to my parents' house we went. My and the sibs' plan was to make the dinner with as little stress and effort on mom and dad's behalf. And although we had to have mom make the dressing so it would be her usual FANTABULOUS dressing, I think we succeeded. Ho2.0 set out the gnomes' traditional Thanksgiving meal, and I do not have the pic from this T-day yet, as the pics were not taken with my camera - but a pic of a previous year's gnomes' thanksgiving is on the right. Once the gnomes had been taken care of, the rest of us chowed down.

Thanksgiving is a time to count your blessings, and (with the exception of Sophie and Gizmo, who couldn't make it for the festivities) sitting at that table were a big part of my blessings. I've been blessed with albeit weird, but loving, family and friends, a warm home, a good job with bosses who respect me, and more than what is necessary for my survival. One thing I was not grateful for was the migrane that hit me before the evening was over.

So when we made it back to my place, Ha and the nieces watched Casino Royale in preparation of our plan to go see Quantum of Solace the next morning. And while I, like every other red-blooded woman in the world usually wouldn't turn down an op to see Daniel Craig in the nude (even if he is being tortured at the time,) I drugged myself down and hit the sheets. But that just meant that I felt all the more ready to drool over him the next morning! Ho made the comment that the first time saw him without his shirt on (in Casino Royale) she had a hot flash! Here would be my opinion of Quantum of Solace: I enjoyed it very much. You really need to watch Casino Royale first, as this movie literally starts where the first one left off.. which is unusual for a Bond movie. And I agree with Ha that he could have had his shirt off more. And these movies are decidedly less campier than, say, the Roger Moore James Bond movies - which I grew up on, BTW, so for me, Roger Moore WAS James Bond. I know there are those who say Sean Connery is the best. But I grew up on Roger Moore and HE was James Bond to me. Now, (well, after Casino Royale, actually,) I can clearly state that Daniel Craig IS James Bond. Whoo ... I'm having a hot flash just thinking about it!

Anyway, after the movie, after lunch, after doing the dishes, Ho and Ha, et al., packed up and headed back to Indy. I'd had a very enjoyable time, but I was happy that they left, so I could go home and cuddle with my kitties, and not have to hostess. And I know mom and dad were exhausted by the time I left their house, but they had a good time too. Now we can relax some until Christmas.

The Official Obituary

Big Red, 6

Big Red passed away last week on Friday, November 14, 2008 as a result of a tragic accident at his workplace, KDDK, in Evansville, Indiana.

A service was held the same day, according to his religious beliefs. Burial took place later that day with parts of him being interred in Steve and Rosemary's trash cans, and the vacuum cleaner, according to housekeeping beliefs.

Big Red was born in 2002 in Hershey, Pennsylvania where he was a lively child, melting people’s hearts, but not in their hands.

Mr. Red chose not to work in the family business, but instead went to work as an M&M Mars spokescandy alongside his friends Yellow, Green, and Blue.

In the fall of 2006, Big joined the KDDK family, working as a candy dish, he could always be found on Rosemary’s ledge. He brought comfort and chocolatey goodness to all his co-workers and friends.

He is survived by his son, Red, Jr., and his grandchildren, the Mini M&M’s.

Memorial contributions can be sent to Chocoholics Anonymous.

"This Song has No Title" - Elton John

This week has been busy, still working more OT and coming home exhausted. Although today it occurred to me that since dad was in the hospital, we're having Thanksgiving down here this year instead of in Indy like was originally planned, and since mom doesn't have room for everyone to sleep at her house, the three teenage neices stay with me, and since I'm having guests who might not appreciate staying in a pig sty, someone ought to work on cleaning my apartment. I came home from work tonight and instead of turning on the tube (Must See TV, you know...) I put on my bat boppers (don't ask) and I've been doing laundry and herding dust bunnies. A couple members of the herd tried to break loose from the pack at one point, but I caught'em. Ok, I've been writing this blog for the last few, and I checked my email, and I wrestled with Sophie as I put clean sheets on my bed, but I've been working, too. Honest!

Anyway, one more day this week, then the weekend. Hopefully we'll all survive it. Me, I don't know. I'm afraid that I raised enough dust this evening that I may be attacked by the ghosts of dust buffalo all night. Where's the Benedryl??

My plans for the weekend include, in this order, Friday evening with the Cluck. I can tell you about them later; Saturday morning, an oil change - we're bordering on 5,000 miles here; go to Wadesville and help clean mom's house for T-day weekend; come back home and attack another room of my place. Somewhere in there, assuming Ho and Ha get me the grocery list, I'll be shopping for T-day weekend, and I really ought to get any remaining Indianapolis-bound Christmas presents bought so I can send them all back to Indy with Ho and Ha. And I wouldn't mind seeing the new James Bond film. Is it any wonder that I'm still reading the same book I started in September? And I STILL haven't watched that Netflix movie!

I'm going to finish blanket-a-fying my bed and hit the pillow. g'night.

"All the world's a stage.." As You Like It

So as I said, life had returned to a balance of sorts for Rose. So Tuesday of last week, the 11th, I guess, and I'm at work, happily (well, maybe that's an overstatement - how about resignedly) working some OT and my phone rings - it's mom and they're admitting my father in the hospital. He'd been problems going wee for the last month or so, and had had a catheter in for the last couple weeks. Well, not to go into too much gorey details, things stopped working correctly, and there was blood involved, and they hospitalized him to get it to stop.

Now, I've previously mentioned that having something happen to either of my parents is not exactly a situation that's on my Top Ten List of things I want to have happen. But I did ok. And yes, I realize that HE was the one in the hospital, but this is MY blog and I'm the star! Sigh.. where was I? Oh, so we get him admitted and resting, they give him an IV and get ready to hook him up to the big catheter to flush out the blood and blood clots which have formed and mom and I left. Ok, now that sounds callous, but it was getting late and we needed to drive back to Wadesville to pick up stuff so mom could stay at my place, since I have an extra bed and I live about 5 minutes from the hospital.


Ultimately, dad was in the hospital from Tuesday until Sunday morning. Mom spent each night at my place and each day at the hospital with sickee. Gnarley the gnome graced dad with his appearance at the hospital, so while mom wasn't there, dad was still in good hands. I think every nurse who came in to check on him got to hear all about Gnarley. :)

But I think I handled it well. There was the first night that I came home with mom, got her settled on the extra bed, and then crawled into my own and started to cry. Gizmo, my cowardly lion, crawled up in my arms and stood for a second staring at me, nose to nose, then he curled up on my chest and purred me to sleep. But I kept myself busy being the family communications officer. Was that Lt. Uhura? I forget. Anyway I emailed the family and the peeps to keep them abreast and informed of our prayer needs. And there was the OT I was still working, and then going to the hospital and making runs out to Wadesville for stuff for mom and dad. And the run to Walgreens to buy dad a Twinkie. :)


So, after 6 pts of blood and a pt of plasma, several IV bags of Cipro (sp?), and five nights in the hospital, the bleeding was under control and he was able to come home. We got him settled on the couch, fed him, and he fell asleep. According to mom, he slept until bedtime when she poked him and told him to wake up and go to bed. She rested. I went home and rested... although I still haven't watched the movie I received from Netflix almost 2 weeks ago! Whew... time for a nap.

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..." Henry V

I haven't had much time to post lately. I was so happy and rested when I returned from my mini-vaca in September and then it hit the fan and it's been so crazy that I barely have time to think at night. For example - I'm still reading the same book that I started in Charleston, in September. And for anyone who knows me, you know that's just not ME!

So as I said, I get back and all is well. The next week, the woman who did subrogation at my firm went on a vaca. (Memo to self, never go on vaca again.) While she's gone, IT hits the fan and we find out that the client isn't too happy about her, and therefore our, performance. So I, having 10 years experience in Subroland and being its former sovereign, jumped into the breach. Resulting in a nice chunk of OT change for Rose - (hich went to help pay off the souvenir I brought back from Charleston. (BTW, got my annual raise in there, too, so the OT was post raise! :$) Where was I?

Oh, so the girl came back, let's call her BA, and found out about the fan (and what had hit it) - things looked like it would all work out, but then Chris came back. Chris being the partner in charge of the subro client. Chris likes meetings, so he started having meetings with everybody involved and by the end of the day, BA resigned. Sigh.. Remember, there's me with 10 years experience sitting here thinking all is well. I get in on Tuesday morning and find out about the resignation and that I'm going to have to continue life in the breach until we can get someone hired. Chris asked me if I'd like to return to my reign in Subroland and I graciously (as we former royals are wont to be..) said, "No, thank you."

Flash forward to November, no one's been hired. We've reorganized things so that there are three of us doing subro - with me in the lead. (Remember when I graciously told Chris, "No, thank you."? Yeah, I do, too!) I'm still working OT, but not in the vast amounts as before. I'm tired, but the remainder of my life was in balance, so fate decided to pour a little more coal on the fires of my life..

Alas, poor Big Red! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite comfort, of most excellent chocolate.

My apologies to Shakespeare for the title, but Friday, there was a loss in my life. Someone who, for the last year or so, had played an important role. He was a gift. Two friends went “antique-ing” (I’m pretty sure I never thought that I’d be saying those words) and saw him. They thought of me and had to get him for me.

He was just a ceramic red M&M candy jar… or maybe a cookie jar… I don’t know. But I brought him to the office with me and ever since, he’d sat on the ledge of my desk and contained comfort in the form of multi-colored, candy-coated chocolate. No matter the season, whether it was Easter pastels, patriotic Red, White and Blue, or Halloweenie colors, he was always prepared to help us get through the rough times. I know he was looking forward to Christmas, as the red and green M&M’s were already in the drawer from which he got his supply of chocolatey goodness.

Do you want the gorey details?? OK! So things have been very busy at work, and my usually chaotic desk was even more so. Steve (Boss #1) started cleaning a couple of files out of his office and began piling files and binders up on my ledge. When the pile got too high, gravity took over and a binder slid downwards, forcing the Thanksgiving rubber duckies and the pen container over and Big Red down, down, down. I find it ironic that the Law (of Gravity) killed him IN a Law Firm. But then I’ve been really busy and probably just need a good night’s rest. I’m sorry to say that despite my having my camera in my purse, I failed to get a picture of the accident scene. We were too busy trying to resuscitate him.

Cards and mementos of remembrance can be sent to me, his only surviving family member.
A friend sent me a card (about …arrgh.. 20 years ago) and I’ve attached it below because although it deals with chocolate chips, instead of M&M’s, the sentiment is similar.

Big Red - 200? - 2008 - Rest in pieces, Big Fella.