Don't Let HER Touch the Cake!



OMG! We have some people who do not wash their hands after going to the bathroom and these same people just love to volunteer to bring in food to share with others or volunteer to cut cakes at office or unit gatherings.

Not on my watch. Never again! Ever!

I seem to always have the misfortune or is it really fortune to see them not wash their hands. At least I know! Let's start with an old supervisor. At first I was unaware that she did not wash her hands.

What I was aware of, was that she would volunteer to be the cake cutter at unit functions involving eating. She would begin to cut and icing would get on her fingers and soon she was licking or sucking the icing off her fingers and putting her spitty hands all over the next piece of cake she cut to get it lifted onto a plate. Enough of us would refuse to eat cake. Finally not wanting to seem standofish at office functions, a group of us who did indeed wash hands often, agreed that no matter what, one of us would grab the knife and be the cake cutter. We would never let her get hold of the knife.

Things were good then when we had to eat cake at office gatherings. Then one day I came to the ladies room just as she was coming out of a stall. We spoke. She left without washing her hands. On several other occasions, I have seen her turn the water on and let just the tips of her index finger and forefinger one hand..ONE.. get wet. She would then shake off her fingertips...(I guess there was about 2 droplets of water there) and leave. So much for being sanitary!

Next there is a woman who had 20 cats literally. She runs a cat shelter/rescue out of her home and loves to bake things. How was I to know that you should never eat what she brings in? Well, She did bring in some muffins not too long ago and they looked good and I was hungry. I got one and it was sitting on my desk. I had not eaten it yet. I had gone to get a cup of coffee.

The second I got back to my desk the phone rings and it is one of my coworkers telling me not to eat that muffin. I told her she was crazy. Why would I " not" eat the muffin? She said that noone eats from her because she has too many cats. What did her cats have to do with the muffin? I told her I KNOW she washes her hands. I have seen her many times washing in the ladies room. My coworker said,"Break open the muffin with you hands." I did. I saw a hair.

I told her maybe that was a fluke. Sometimes a hair can get into something. She told me to do it at again. I did and found even more hair. She is an elderly woman with salt and pepper hair, so this had to be cat hair. I told my coworker thanks. I threw away that muffin and got another. Maybe the first one was a fluke. I broke open the new muffin. It too was full of cat hair. I made a quick trip to the vending machine and got some cookies and went back to my desk.

I saw a newer employee go to the plate and get a muffin. I ran out to her and whispered to her not to eat it. She looked at me crazily. I told her to break it open. Cat hair everywhere! I told her to pass the word.

The funny thing about this is that the coworker who made the muffins will think that people are eating them and will make more. Little does she know the "breakopen" test had to be done before it just goes in the garbage. Noone wants to tell her to her face that all her baked goods are full of cat hair.




What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Dolce & Gabbana Pubic Jeans



Okay, now who is going to buy a pair of these for their boyfriend or husband? Christmas is coming! What public place can they be worn? The only possible place may be a trendy night club. Who wants to see a man wearing these on the street? I know I do not. Too much visible for me. They have also been called pubic jeans.

Dolce & Gabbana might have gone just a little too far. Sex sells but this is way over the top! Do we want to see public hair showing beneath a mans t shirt? Aren't butt cracks enough already?



What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

My Ballet Shoes

Karnival of Kidz

When I was 4 my mother signed me up for ballet lessons with the city ballet in my town. I loved ballet but in the beginning I did not like to practice at home. After awhile I got into my mother's routine. Go to class 2 days a week and then practice for an hour at home in the mirror on the other days. I began to get pretty good. When ever we had recitals, we had to go to class on saturdays also. When I turned 6 and entered the first grade, some of us were old enough to dance in the Nutcracker Suite at Christmas time. We had to audition of course and be selected to dance.

I tried out and was selected to dance in the teapot scene. Was I ever proud and so was my mother. I was in first grade and not only did we perform for the public at night, but we also performed for the schools during the day. Just about all the local schools took field trips to see the Nutcracker.



I felt like a real ballerina "star" because I had to miss school to practice and perform for the local schools. Now behind the scenes there were some real divas who were katty and some were very stuck up. But that did not matter when it came to the dance. All that was put behind when the curtains rose. We had had a very busy week performing each night and during the day. On the friday before the last weekend of the show I was at practice at the auditorium and a few of us were joking around. Playing. We were only 6 yrs. old or so in the teapot scene.



Well some of us were running and I somehow ran my right toe into a wall. The pain was unlike anything I had felt before. The 3 other girls running with me stopped and gathered around. We all looked scared as we were not supposed to be running any way. I tried to walk. I had to limp. How could I dance? Luckily we were at the end of practice and were waiting for parents to pick us up. We heard some of the older girls who were sugar plum faeries coming into the dressing room where we were and I had to recover and quick. Noone could know I was hurt or it would ruin the show. We did not have a replacement or alternate for my part. The alternates were already being used because some of the original girls chosen did not participate.

I steeled myself. My other friends with me knew better than to tell what happened. We would all be in big trouble. We all kept silent. Somehow I walked very slowly and deliberately with my ballet bag out the door to meet my parents without limping.

When I got home I told my mother what happened. I was still in extreme pain and I told her that I thought my toe was broken. To this day I know that it was broken. I told her that I could not walk and that she needed to call the school and tell my teacher that I was out of the final saturday performance. My mother was very upset. She was mad at me and mad that I would not be in the final show. I told her I had danced a show every week day during the day and had danced several night shows but I simply could not dance. She refused to call my teacher. She said I must dance.

Well, with that she began to do all sorts of home remedies to make my toe get better so that I could finish out the week. She had me soak it, apply heat, ice, topical medications like Absorbene Junior and all sorts of creams and other ointments. Nothing really worked. I needed to be seem by a doctor and most likely needed some crutches. I saw no doctor and was told to stay off it and walk just to dance. I was going to dance. There was no way I was not going to according to my mother.



Well Saturday came and I was still in pain. After taking many pain pills and wrapping my toe, I was able to walk without a limp even though each step casued me extreme pain. My face could show no pain either. I was a dancer. My mom said that to be a great dancer I had to dance through the pain. As this was going to be the final show, I felt that I would be able to make it. I had to. I had no other choice.

The curtain rose and the performance began. I waited and listened with my friends for our musical cues. We got into position and danced the teapot scene. All was good until the very end. I was able to make all my steps until the very end. When we were exiting the stage, I was about one step behind all the others due to pain. It was a flawless performance until that exit. At last it was over and I was happy with being one step behind. I had made it through until the exit. It was over. I would be able to rest and not dance until my toe heeled.

After the show, one of the very stuck up prima donna sugar plum faeries came up to me and told me that I was not a good ballerina. She said that because I was one step behind I had messed up that scene. As noone except my friends and mother knew that I was really suffering in silence, I was crushed by her words. Really crushed. Those words hurt me to my soul. I still have that wound today. In the end it was okay because I had to tell myself, I was injured and not at 100%. Granted noone knew that, but it was true. I did not bother to tell that to her. She was not worth it.

After the performance, the ballet school was on holiday break until January so I had time to heal. I did heal and in January we had awards for the holiday performances. All of the girls in my class and scene got a wonder silver engraved pendant on a silver chain. It was engraved with our names and the dates of our performance. That to me was the greatest gift of all. It validated to me that I was indeed a good dancer. And I really was. I still have my pendant and today I have it on a silver charm bracelet. It is one of my dearest possessions.

I did continue to dance for the city ballet school and just when I was learning point, we moved to the suburbs and it was too far for me to get back to that school to dance. I did not dance any more as formally as that anymore, but I have taken many other sorts of dance classes in school and college. It was not the same though. Once we moved, it was on to new and better things..like the violin. ( I started with it in 4th grade and took regular classes until I graduated college. That is why dirty fila is taking violin now. She is using my violins.) I still play.

Now as for my mother, I have always had an issue with the fact that she made me dance with an injury. I did not think it was right then and I still hold that opinion now. I guess she was just doing what she thought was the only option.

In my heart of hearts I am still a prima ballerina. I love the ballet and I normally try to see the Nutcracker every year. It makes me just a little misty when I see myself dancing the teapot scene flawlessly, exit and all. That is what I see when I see that scene. I see me and every step is perfect.

Here I am. We took these pictures in December just before the performances. The school had photographers brought in and we all had a chance to put on fancy toutous and have our pictures taken in a variety of ballet poses. You can tell this picture is very old. My parents had it in a scrap book but it has become yellow with age. I did try to restore some of the color with the HP color program. I used the program to make it a black and white and with that the aging is not so pronounced.

Needless to say, these pictures of me are also some of my most prized possessions.







What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Your Inner European

Take the test! What is your inner european? Here is mine.






Your Inner European is Italian!









Passionate and colorful.

You show the world what culture really is.





What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Michael Flatley Back!

My irish shoes are dancing for joy!

Celtic Tiger is here!




If you have read some of my earlier posts you may well know that I am in love with Michael Flatley! He is such a creative talent. I love Michael Flatley! Remember my desperate attempts (in an earlier post) to see Lord of the Dance in 1999 in downtown Toronto? I was totally defeated when no matter what time I tried to go, all the tickets were sold out...every last ONE! Never the less I did get to see Lord of the Dance at a later date. The world changed forever and since then I have been totally enamored with Celtic music.

When I got my IPOD one of the first of my many cd's I loaded in was my soundtrack of Lord of the Dance. I literally listen to that soundtrack every single day of my life and on days I may miss, I listen to it 2-3 times on some other days to make up for it. I am listening to it right now. For local celtic music I listen to NPR : Fiona Ritchie and the Thistle and Shamrock. It is a great shoe! Be sure to check it out on your local NPR station.



Back to my man Michael Flatley. He has a new show called Celtic Tiger. I can't wait to see it. Right now after checking the show dates, the tour is in Canada first and then moves to North America. Here is a little bit about the show Celtic Tiger.

Michael Flatley, the internationally acclaimed master of dance returns to the stage to spearhead his powerful new dance spectacular, Celtic Tiger. With his unrivalled skill and artistry, Michael Flatley ignites the world of dance once again with a bold, dramatic and daring production which fuses the spirit of Ireland and its history with dance and music. The result is an epic masterpiece in which Michael Flatley pushes the creative boundaries to deliver Irish dance as a dynamic and power art form.

"Celtic Tiger portrays the oppression of a people and the tiger symbolizes the awakening of their spirit and their struggle for freedom."
Michael Flatley

Ireland’s history provides a dramatic story board for Michael Flatley, challenging his creative ability to produce a spectacle that is at once provocative and sensitive. The story unfolds with the Celts. And as darkness fills the stage the pulsating sound of tap signals the beginning of a daring production that is masterful in terms of choreography, music, stage presentation and costume design.

"The show itself is a 90 minute spectacular. It is very fast moving, powerful and hard-hitting and I think that it is something that you have never seen before."
Michael Flatley

Images of Irish history fill the first half of the show which ends with the portrayal of the birth of modern Ireland as a nation state and a people who are constantly emerging from the jaws of defeat. The choreography, music and stage presentation combine to create a visionary interpretation of a people’s quest for freedom and the nobility of their spirit. The second half of Celtic Tiger builds on images of modern Ireland and celebrates new life in America and across the globe. The invincible spirit of the Celtic Tiger is the thread that draws the images together weaving a tapestry that is a celebration in dance drama.



(Be still my heart!)


Interested in Michael Flatley's Shoes? Read here to get info on where he buys his special shoes: Michael Flatley's Shoes. They are designed by Freeds of London.

Erin Go Bragh!

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Shoe Fly Pie: Carnival of the Recipes


Shoe Fly Pie

Shoo Fly pie has its origins in the Pennsylvania Dutch regions. I heard that the pie got its name because it was so very sweet and flies had to be shooed away from it. I am all about pie and all about shoes, but shoo/shoe fly pie, I am not so sure.

It is the molasses I am not sure about. I have never been able to get used to that taste. The same thing goes for cane syrup. Karo to be exact. When I was little my mother loved Karo syrup and I did not. She used to buy it for our pancakes. Can we say ruined? I was always begging for Mrs. Butterworth’s or Log Cabin. But noooooo! Karo it was. I barely ate pancakes when I was little. They were always thick and dripping in Karo syrup.

But back to molasses. Mom used to have that too. When the Karo ran out she would try to put molasses on pancakes. That was even worst. She was raised on Karo and molasses she would always tell me. The only thing worst than Karo and molasses is black licorice or black licorice jellybeans . That is worst than all three combined.

So, I am now all grown up, wearing high heels now so I think I might just try this Shoe Fly Pie. It looks really good and from what I hear, people love it. Maybe I am missing out. I have clipped this recipe to try at thanksgiving. I know my mom will love it!




For the crumb part:
1/4 c. shortening1 c. brown sugar1 1/2 c. flour

Work the above ingredients together.

For the liquid part:
1/4 tsp. baking soda1/8 tsp. nutmegGinger, cinnamon, cloves3/4 c. molasses3/4 c. hot water1/4 tsp. Salt

Mix well together and add hot water. Into an unbaked pie shell, combine crumbs and liquid in alternate layers with the crumbs on bottom and top. Bake 15 minutes at 450 degrees, then 20 minutes at 350 degrees.


What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Shoes for Decorating

While surfing the web for shoe related things, I can across some wonderful shoe tiles made by an artist named Wendy Costa. She makes handbags and other useful items like make up bags or business card cases, wonderfully decorated with shoes. They are not all shoes that she uses. They are rather cute. Check out her site for all of her other things. Here are a few pictures of her tiles that are for sale on her site! These look like must haves for the near future. I can see me using about 4 of her tiles in my home. Pretty darned cute! Each tile has a name as well.

Circus Shoe
Roller Scates
Shoe Fly Pie
Broccoli Shoes
Boovygroots





What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Snoop Dogg Shoes


Snoop Dogg now has his own line of shoes, just like most of
those other rapp stars. I did happen to catch him doing on interview about
his shoes this past week on some some sort of celebrity news show like Access
Hollywood. He looked good. Compared to other interviews I have seen
where he looked drugged out of his mind, he looked clear and spoke very
succinctly about his shoes and what they meant to him. I was
surprised.



Snoop Dogg has entered into a partnership with sneaker company
Pony and will release his own footwear line, "The One and Only," described as a
"a creative fusion of Snoop's signature West coast flavor and style with classic
Pony design."
A nationwide marketing and advertising campaign featuring Snoop
Dogg is currently being produced to support the line, which will hit stores in a
limited run in early 2005.
"I wore Pony's back in the day playing football
and always liked their style," Snoop said. "I'm excited to be a partner in
bringing the brand back and adding a little Snoop Dogg flavor, so get ready for
The One and Only!"

Killick Datta, the CEO of Pony International labeled Snoop
one of the "greatest entertainment successes of our time," and said that Pony
was committed to bringing forth a quality shoe.
"Pony is committed to
matching Snoop's high standards in everything we do under this incredible
partnership and it is clear by hisexclusive commitment to us that he has
confidence in our ability to do so," Datta said. "Snoop Dogg's versatility and
commitment as an artist along with his laid back persona has carved him a place
in entertainment and now fashion history.



What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Shoes Speaking Out Of Turn

Pat Robinson suggests that the U. S. should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He says that Venezuela is the launching pad for communists and Muslim extremists. He says we need to go ahead and take him out instead of having another war.
More here

Michael Graham was fired for saying that all Muslims are terrorists. Clearly all Muslims are not terrorists. Why condemn all Muslims on the actions of a few? More here

Courtney Love proclaimed to the world that she has been clean and sober for a year. Well, just a short time later, she was ordered into court and sent back to rehab for the final time. After that it is jail time! She is soooo very troubled. More here

The Piano Man was all a hoax! He finally confessed! I must admit I was intrigued when I first heard the story.




What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

What HAS Been Going On?

Well, in a months time all sorts of things have been going on. Due to AOl problems I could not blog about it. I had a birthday. I turned 45 the last week in July. Birthdays with "5" and "0" are normally traumatic ones for me. It means I have to do something out of the ordinary for rebellion. I have decided that I will get a tattoo. Yes.. a tattoo. In the next few weeks it will happen. I have not decided what, but I have decided where. The small of my back, you know, right between the hip bones. Something symbolic. Happy belated birthday to me! :)

dirty Fila had a birthday. A week after mine. We made our birthdays last over 2 weeks. We had fun. dirty Fila wanted to go on a shopping spree for her birthday so I took her to the mall. We spent about $150 on shoes...not for me... for her. For school. We found some on sale and some not. We got her about 4 pairs for school and casual wear. I think I have created a monster or maybe "the love of shoe" gene is something that can be passed on at birth? She is a shoe lover after my own heart. All she wants to do is look at shoes when we go to a mall.

I got an ipod mini. It was not something I was dying to get, but a good opportunity came along so I got one. My employer has a website and one of the links was a link to the apple store with special corporate discounts on apple products, just for our employees. The prices were very low so I got one. It is kind of neat! It will be hard for me to reach 1000 songs any time soon. I have about 340 songs on it now and that is just about my entire CD collection.

I have made the only decision I could make regarding my next car purchase. It must be a Land Rover. I love them. I love their sleek lines and their practicality. I have adopted Missy Elliott's Loose Control as my new theme song. My mother thinks I am crazy!

I bought myself a pair of boots for winter. They are a pair of sketcher boots. Fun but stylish. Here they are:


Shindigs Flurry


Well.. that is it in a nutshell for now. I have been on the mad search for a cowboy boot for this winter as well. I will let you know what I find. Wow, it feels good to be able to blog again!


What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Computer Problem Solved!?

At least for now. Today has been the first day I have been able to get onto the internet from home in about a month. I know that AOL tech support is absolutely sick of me. I made nightly calls to them and we did numerous things, did numerous fixes over and over and over again with no luck at all.

I am not sure why I was able to get on now! It is a mystery that I hope is solved, fixed... whatever! Now I can blog again! I think that AOL needs to credit me for a month of free service since I have been out of commission for so long. The last 2 or 3 posts were made from work in secret. I could not keep that up. I have too many people coming to my desk all day long to blog at work. I would not be able to do that without interruption or fear that someone is standing near reading, waiting for me to finish typing to ask a question.


What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Computer Problems Revisited!

Still having computer problems. I spent another 30 minutes on the phone with another AOL guy last night trying to get me to connect to AOL. The problem is still unresolved. The next thing for me to try (according to AOL) is to get an AOL disc and call them with the disk. There is some sort of fix on the disk that they will try. He last mentioned something about files that would support the software and they would walk me through that. I will be getting a disk today. This is so very frustrating. It is amazing how dependent I am on my computer and feel cut off without it.

Now what does that say about our society and the world of computers? Is that really air that we are breathing, Neo?


What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Wild Dogs Taking Over Hong Kong Disney

Now here is a very interesting piece of news!
HONG KONG (AP)--Hundreds of wild dogs are roaming Hong Kong Disneyland's grounds a month before the park opens, raising concerns that guests and staff could be attacked, a Disney spokeswoman said Sunday.

Park officials are seeking advice from animal experts - including the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - on how to clear out the dogs, which haven't attacked anyone, said Hong Kong Disneyland spokeswoman Esther Wong.

Packs of dogs surface by the hundreds from neighboring hills after dark and pester staff, The South China Morning Post reported Sunday. Wong said she didn't know how many dogs wander the theme park.

Hong Kong Disneyland, which the Walt Disney Co. (WIS) plans to open Sept. 12., is on reclaimed land on the outlying, sparsely populated Lantau island.

The dog issue came under scrutiny two weeks ago when the Post reported that Disneyland staff were using the animals as guard dogs, which were later rounded up and killed. The accusations drew criticism from animal activists.

The park denied using any as guard dogs, but Hong Kong's conservation department confirmed 45 dogs had been caught around Disneyland since May, and some were euthanized.

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Computer Problems!!!

I have been plagued by computer problems for the past week or two. I cannot get connected to the Internet. I have AOL and for the life of me I keep getting that error message “ the network failed to respond properly.” I have done the AOL trouble shooting procedure about 8 times. I have had AOL redetect my modem and finally on yesterday I called AOL

I got a foreign sounding man which makes me think that AOL is doing what my company is doing...outsourcing the computer technical team. My company has outsourced our computer help desk to Ireland. It was in India about 2 years ago, now it is Ireland. Can you even begin to understand people in Ireland on the phone??? Hell No! At work you have to have them repeat what they just said about 2-3 times because the accent is so strong.

Well, my foreign AOL man and I began to go through all the things I had done to correct the problem. I had done everything correctly. So he decided that he wanted to clear out the old connectivity things I had done in hopes that the computer would magically connect to AOL with a fresh start. So he walked me through the steps to get to the AOL connectivity folder via the control panel. I even got a case number. He said that hopefully when I tried to log onto AOL now, it would happen.

I ended my call with him and with baited breath, I logged onto AOL. It went through about 27 tries. I tried again and again for the next 2 hours last night and still I cannot get logged onto the Internet from home. What to do? It is seriously hampering my ability to blog.

Here I sit at work with Finishing Shoes pretty close by and other managers walking all around me. I am trying to secretly get this typed and cut and pasted from a word document into my blog. This is not so good. All I want to do is kick AOL in the butt with a diamond buckled shoe. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. (FYI…I did virus scans and ran the defragment program also to be sure I had no viruses and to be sure I was running at top computer speed.)

This may it for today as far as posts! I am obviously wearing a pair of bad luck computer shoes.




What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~

Cute Shoes and Walt Disney World

Always wear the correct shoes when going to Walt Disney World. I have been on holiday for the last 2 weeks and believe it or not decided not to blog. Now I have been having withdrawals so here I am again.

During the 2nd week of my vacation I took dirty Fila and my nephew to Walt Disney World and all I can say is, “what was I thinking?” The trip itself was magical and we had a fabulous time for the days we were there. It certainly was magical on my pocketbook. I went with $800 cash (determined not to use any plastic) and when I got home, I had exactly $13.59 in my wallet out of that $800. The money magically disappeared each day! And quick!

The “what was I thinking?” relates to shoes. The first day I wore a pair of 2 inch brown sandals with cork wedge heels. Now these shoes are perfectly comfortable at home for daily walking but they were murder after about 1 hours of constant walking/movement at WDW. I looked good. The shoes matched what I was wearing but please, I was having some bout of shoe insanity. After that first hour, I decided I had to go back to our resort and change. Yes, I had bought tennis shoes--3 pairs. So on when a pair and the world was a much better place.

I had bought 3 pairs of tennis shoes in case we got caught in a rainstorm and a pair got wet. I had a pair of new balance, nike and a pair of avias. So all was good until later on in the first day my nephew said that his feet were hurting. I grew alarmed. I asked why. He said that his shoes were too small. Well, that night he had a blister and I delved into great detail about his shoes. Apparently those shoes were from this past school year and he had grown over the summer to they no longer fit.

The only option was for him to wear my shoes. I gave him a pair of my less feminine looking athletic shoes and he was good to go after that! We got caught in the rain one day and our shoes got drenched. Luckily I had extra pairs.

I have learned my lesson. Cute shoes and Walt Disney World do not mix. Not even if you want to dress up for a dinner at the park. It still is a long walk/ordeal in “cute” shoes to get from a resort to a nice restaurant in Epcot (Italy, Japan, Canada) or at Chef Mickey’s or at the Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom. When you get there, you may look cute, but most likely you will be in pain and look like Quasimodo! I know! From experience!

Cute shoes and Walt Disney World do not mix!


What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~