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Welcome to My World

The rantings, philosophies, and memories of a retired military, ex-diplomat, tattooed biker chick, quilting o'lady, pagan college student step-mom.

No guilt trip here - I refuse to to cave into that trap - about anything. Everything happens for a reason (Karma? Fate? Destiny? Dumb Luck? or Free Will...) and it is what it is. I've come to a point in my life where I can accept that.

Eveyone always told me to write a book, because I have so many funny stories, life experiences, unique view points...but, a book? What a pain in the ass. Blogging seemed like the next best thing, so, if you're ready (and there's room enough for everyone!) fire up the bikes and lets ride....

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Coffee


I didn't start drinking coffee until I was in my 30's. I had a late start. The only time I had ever tried coffee, it was harsh, bitter, so I didn't bother. Then, I had a fabulous friend who introduced me to the wonderful world of Java. It was when I was stationed in Germany, and the Base Exchange had just opened a coffee shop. He bought me a hazelnut latte and I've been hooked ever since. It didn't taste like the coffee I had in the past, it tasted more like CANDY! Had I but known the joys of coffee earlier. I'm not a black coffee drinker...but a flavor coffee drinker. I'm currently enjoying a hot cup of chocolate truffle gourmet coffee from Folgers. Bless their hearts. I also like chocolate raspberry (why don't you pronounce the 'p'?), and vanilla biscottie. I do like hearty roasts and I take cream and sugar, thank you. I think of coffee as grown up chocolate milk. I can't say I'm addicted...but I sure do love it and don't particularly like starting my day with out it. Oh, yeah...it stopped snowing, but there's plenty of white stuff on the ground. The Ol' Man returns today from his "man time"...I'm sure glad he'll be home soon!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Question


When you burn your tongue when you drink something hot, why doesn't it blister?

Friday, February 26, 2010

My Life In Hell - Day 2




I took the dogs out for a final (2) walks last night, and fell both times. I then proceeded to go to bed at 2100hrs (9:00pm). Thank the Gods, the dogs let me sleep till about 0830 this morning, and I woke up to more snow. And it's still snowing at 1005. I had to shovel a path from the front door down the driveway just so I could walk the dogs. The nice neighbor said he'll use the snow thrower later to do the whole thing properly. One of my girlfriends sent me a joke e-mail, "The diary of a Snow Shoveler"...basically, this guy loves the first snow, and becomes more and more cranky as the winter drags on. Needless to say, by the end of winter, he ends up in the nut house. We've got so much snow here, I don't think the nut house people are going to be able to make it to the house to cart me away. The Ol' Man will come home around August and find that I have been eaten by the dogs.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

My Life In Hell







It started snowing last night, it's snowed all day, and it's not suppose to stop snowing till June, I think. There's about 80 feet of snow on the ground, and, thank the gods, my next-door neighbor used his snow thrower to do the driveway - not that I'm going to drive anywhere anytime soon. The Ol' Man is out with his buddies doing manly things and won't be home till Sunday, at which time I'm sure the house will be entirely buried under 1,000 feet of snow. Since he's not here, I have to walk the dogs. Since The Hound of the Baskervilles had his nuts cut off yesterday, I have to be very careful with him - no running, no stairs, no play with the Baby...which means I have to walk the dogs separately, making twice the work. I've taken them out for a walk twice (that being 4 trips total), and I've fallen 3 times and had 2 damn-near spills. At least I've got enough milk.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

I did it

I stuck the Q-Tip all the way into my ear canal, and I didn't die! I had heard, once, that a Dr. said your ear is like a self cleaning oven, and that was why you didn't need to stick a Q-Tip in your ear canal. But, my reasoning is that even a self cleaning oven needs the gunk wiped out from inside after it "self cleans". Hence, I must clean out my self cleaning ears with a Q-Tip. Besides, it feels sooooooooooooooo good.

Monday, February 22, 2010

I buy things on sale

I look through the flyers and find stuff on sale. Grapes for $.99, Italian sausage for $2.50 a pound. I also go on line to sites like P&G or Johnson & Johnson and find coupons for stuff that we use. We also eat leftovers...mostly for lunch. I just hate wasting stuff, be it food or money. I'm also thinking about using the extra cat, dog and my hair from our brushes to make blankets. I'm trying to think of a use for the cinders from the fireplace, if anyone has any suggestions...

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sunday

If we didn't have the dogs, I would have slept till about noon. With the dogs, however, that is not possible. I must kill the dogs.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

I'm a WINNER!

The local quilt shop had a "Notions Commotion" event today. A rep from one of the ruler companies was there to show off some new gadgets. I won a door prize! They also had munchies as well as giving each visitor a fat quarter (a swatch of fabric). Pretty cool. The boys went to the Monster Truck Jam. So, a fun day was had by all!

Friday, February 19, 2010

"United" States?

Are we really the "United" States of America anymore? This country is so fractured. When did that happen? When did it become acceptable to be a Mexican-, African-, Latino-American instead of an AMERICAN first? When did we become less of a "melting pot" and more of a "salad bowl"? Why do we stand by and allow our elected officials to use our money to bail out specific entities (AIG, Detroit, etc), while we drown our children in red ink? What happened to pride in a hard days work versus entitlement? What happened to the rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? Health care isn't a right. We can't expect the "haves" to support the "have-not's" by force...that's Socialism. America is a Republic. American's are individuals and need to take responsibility...not default everything to the government. It's time to stop blaming everything on someone else. But the question remains...how do we turn it around?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ouch...

I took the dogs for a "walk"...wait a minute, let me rephrase that. The dogs dragged me around the block today. Of course, there's still a ton of snow on the ground, and at one point, they took off, and I got jerked off balance, fell on my face, and bruised up my knee. But I didn't let go of the leashes! Yeah, the fun never stops here!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Poor Mr. Poo


Mr. Poo will never know the joys of fatherhood. We got his OFA hip results back today, and he didn't pass. The x-rays showed slight hip dysplaisa...which means he's a no go for breeding. So, it's time to call the vet and have his manhood removed. He's still our Mr. Poo, and we still love him very much!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Noooooooooooooooooooo!

The radio just said we're to expect ANOTHER 2-4 inches of snow - which means, up here on the mountain, we should get another half a foot.....waaaaaaa! I have to admit, it looks like the Stay Puff Marshmallow man puked all over our front yard.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Frugal


Ah, St. Valentines Day...the day of CHOCOLATE. I don't care about flowers, or diamonds, or fancy cards...give me CHOCOLATE! The Ol' Man bought me a box of chocolate several years ago, and the box was a beautiful, red velvet heart. I couldn't throw it away after I ate all the chocolates, so I kept it. The next year, the Ol' Man had a brain storm, and took the box back to the chocolate shop and had them refill the same box, which saved $! So, for the 3rd year in a row, I get a lovely box of chocolates, in a red velvet heart that also filled with love...

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Drive in the country


Well, we drove to the Sports show yesterday...and drove right back home without getting out of the car. It was, as the Ol' Man said, a goat rope. You had to park about 5 miles away from the actual site, and then you had to wait for a bus. Yeah...not so much. There were about a billion cars parked (at $8 a pop), and about 5 billion people waiting for transportation to the show. I can say I wasn't looking forward to being "asshole to elbow" deep in people, being moved along like cattle. The Ol' Man felt the same, so we skipped the whole shebang. Worked for me. We had leftovers for dinner.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Can ya Dig it?




We ended up with about 18-19 inches of snow... yeah! Not really, they said on the radio that the highways were clear, and they did plow our street. It's not bitterly cold, but it is pretty windy. The poor pups...the snow is so deep, it's over their heads! The Ol' Man and I are suppose to go to the Harrisburg Outdoor Show today- the biggest one on the East coast, so they say. It'll be interesting to see how it goes, with the snow and all.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Yeah, it's SNOWING


Like mad....it started last night, and when we woke up this morning, there was about 3-4 inches on the ground. It's been steadly increasing in severity all day. We're up to about 6-7 inches, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. Yeesh....that damn groundhog. Burrrrrrrr! They should have held the Olympics here in the Pocono's. I think I'll be staying indoors till Spring...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Census


This is an interesting piece -




I, for one, don't plan on giving them anything more than what is Constitutionally required...specificially, the number of people who live in this house. They don't need my phone number, ethnicity/race, sex, whether or not I own or rent...the Government is too far out of hand as it is....but that's just my opinion.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Can You See It?








In King, North Carolina, a "state of emergency" was declared on Friday because of SEVERE WEATHER (i.e. a SNOW STORM). Not a civil riot, not because of a military uprising, not because of a militia outbreak, but a SNOW STORM. I'll say it again, a SNOW STORM.

The good citizens of King, North Carolina, were informed that, because of the "state of emergency" because of a SNOW STORM, they were "alcohol restrictions" a curfew and....hold on to your hats, folks, "a ban on the sale or purchase of any type of firearm, ammunition, explosive or any possession of such items off a person's own premises."

"We appreciate the support and cooperation of everyone with our efforts to keep the citizens of King safe," Paul May, the King Chief of Police, said.

WTF??? Alcohol restrictions? Gun bans? Under the guise of keeping citizens "safe"....from a snow storm? Is this America or Russia? The creeping begins...can you see it? It starts small, seemingly inconsequential. It starts "somewhere else", and it won't happen in my town/here. But once that snowball (no pun implied!) starts down that slippery slope - and, unfortunately, that snowball is rolling, it's going to be awfully hard to make it stop. It's going to get bigger (abet, slowly, insidiously), but it's going to creep until John Q. Public wakes up one morning and he's found out he's lost all his rights. And Mr. Public will wonder, "how did that happen?". Well, Mr. Public, it's happening right now. Unfortunately, I don't think there are enough true Patriots out there anymore to take a stand and say NO, THIS ISN'T RIGHT. How sad...how sad for this once great country. Our founding fathers are spinning in their graves at what we've become.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

New Quilt Project


I've started a new quilt project...it's a Civil War inspired Simple Star. It's the first time I've used a "kit". The Ol' Man picked it out, and he was a tad disappointed. The colors didn't match the picture. The picture was much more red, and the quilt colors are brown. Maybe I'll finish this and give it away and try to find the colors the Ol' Man likes better, because he likes the pattern, and it was fairly simple to make.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Mad Max?

Yeah.....Congress just raised the debt ceiling, job losses are all over the news, foreign country's are going bankrupt, the housing market is still in the tank, etc., etc., etc.,....is the end near? The Ol' Man and I had a discussion about "the end", and what it will mean. Will the world's economies and civilizations go completely Tango Uniform and Mad Max will be a reality? Will there be a complete collapse of governments? That's one side of the coin. The other side is that there'll still be "functioning" governments, but it'll be the wheel-barrow-full-of-money-for-a-loaf-of-bread scenario. Either way....whether it happens next year or 10 years from now, how do you plan for this? Does anyone else even think about planning for this vision of the future? We are so entangled in technology...will people be able to live with out electricity, if it comes to that? What's going to happen on 12/20/2012 when all the stars and planets align with the center of the Milky way Galaxy? Am I TOTALLY off base even thinking along this line? Should I stick my head in the sand and just be concerned with my little sphere of influence and hope for the best and have the don't-worry, be-happy mindset? AAACCKKKK! I can't do that!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Marketing Slogans

When I was driving today, I heard an ad for a casino...the tag line was something like, "Because you were born to want more!". I heard an ad for a consumer credit card place that said, "Are you $x in debt? It's not your fault!"....Really? Who's fault is it? The sales person who stuck a gun to your head and made you buy a bunch of crap you didn't need? Unfortunately, there are a lot of stupid people out there that believe what they hear. There are a lot of stupid people who are not willing to take ownership of their lives. There are a lot of stupid people who are willing to just let someone else take the blame for their own stupidity. It's not MY fault I can't pay the mortgage on a $500,000.00 house when I only make $32,000.00 a year - it's the bank's fault. It's not my fault my kids can't read because I don't take the time to check their homework - it's the school system's fault. It's not my fault......well, ya know what, it is your fault. I have NO sypmthay for anyone who get's into a mess and expects someone else to pull their bacon out of the fire.

Monday, February 1, 2010

My "Grandpa"

All my "natural" grandparents are dead. Luckily, the Ol' Man still has both his Grandma and Grandpa on his mother's side. I've adopted them as my own - they are wonderful, perfect, quintessential "grandparent" types. They're in their 80's (I think), and they look just like Grandma's and Grandpa's are suppose to look like. Grandpa is gluten intolerant - can't eat bread. I had never heard of that before. When the Ol' Man and I went to the store the other day, they have an organic section that has a bunch of gluten-free stuff (crackers, pasta, cereal, chips, cookies...). I did a search on Google, and found out that gluten intolerance, also known as Coeliac Disease, is a hereditary disorder that affects the immune system. There's tons of information on the Internet about it...recipes, websites, medical stuff. Anyway, the Ol' Man and I bought a bunch of stuff for Grandpa and put together a "care package" for him. I'm so happy to have a Grandma and Grandpa again.