Ya know

You just get use to things....like the Ol' Man having a beard. He just came down stairs, after having shaved off the majority of his beard. When I first met him, he had a beard, so that's how I always picture him. That's the guy I fell in love with...that face. I still love him with all my heart, but it's someone else...some other face looking at me, even though it's the same voice, same eyes. It takes a little getting use to...

If I could've

Done things differently 30 years ago, I would have 1) bought gold, 2) never gotten married 3 times, and 3) I would have had the hair on my legs lasered off. Do you have any idea how much of my life has been spent shaving my legs???

Wal-Mart People

I don't know how many of you have received the 'Wal-mart People" e-mail,...the one with pictures of, well, just plain every-day folk who shop at Wal-mart. You can check out the website here: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/ Judge not, least we be judged...but, holy cow! Do some of these folks even look in a mirror before the go out the door? I have to admit, I don't always dress to the 9's when I walk out the door, but I am presentable. The Wal-mart people who dress, shall we say, "differently" may live in their own world and have their own sense of fashion - which is fine by me. I don't have a problem with folks who march to a different drummer. It's the folks who have body parts (or just body!) hanging out, who are dirty, or sweaty, barefoot or wearing clothes 3 sized too small that I have an issue with. What has become of our society that makes it acceptable to go shopping in your underwear? The economy isn't the only thing going down the toilet these days...

Toy Story

They just don't make toys like they use to. The Ol Man buys the kids the "action figures", and within about 5 minutes, the heads are off. They're not the most expensive things on the planet, but, yeesh... No wonder they say for 5+ years; those heads could get stuck in a throat pretty easily. I don't remember Barbie's head ever popping off that easily, or Johnny West's head. It kinda creeps me out.

Didya Ever?

Squeeze a tube, and there's a blockage that suddenly becomes "unblocked" and what ever's in the tube comes squirting out? And I'm talkin' about glue...not the other "tube"! I did that with a tube of Super Glue and almost got my finger's stuck together, not to mention almost sticking the rubber cushion thingy I was gluing to the counter, instead of on the inside of the cabinet, where it belongs. Next time I need something "fixed", I'm calling the Ol' Man....

The Gods are Smiling

The weather is beautiful, and spring is in the air. The plants are starting to sprout, the grass is getting green, the trees are coming alive. Thank the Gods...I was so tired of winter...May Demeter bless us with a wonderful spring and summer! To learn more about the Greek Gods, check out this website: www.greekmythology.com We've got the boys this weekend, and I've kicked them outside to play...it's way too nice to be inside. The Younger's birthday is tomorrow, so we'll be baking a cake. White cake with blueberry filling and whipped cream topping and strawberries...what can you say, the kid's going to be 6 and he gets to pick out the cake. He'll also get his training wheels off tomorrow...that should be fun! My heart is just happy - I need sunshine!

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!

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.

House cleaning thoughts

The Never-ending Story isn't a child's fairy tale....it's house cleaning. With 2 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats and an Ol' Man, it just doesn't end. Laundry, dusting, vacuuming, dishes, shopping, cooking....I wonder what it was like back in the day when you had dirt floors. No vacuuming there...and I wonder if they worried about dust? I should imagine a 1 or 2 room house didn't have a whole lot of shelve space to collect dust. I did a tour through a colonial house one time, and they showed the table set with the dishes upside down. The explained that there wasn't any shelf space to put dishes away, and they turned them upside down on the table to keep the dust out. Sounds good to me.

Question

Do Monkey's have fingernails?

Facebook?

I'm getting old. I'm on facebook, but I have really no idea how it works. I can't even figure out how to upload pictures! I've got about 30 "friends" (didn't know I actually knew that many people!), and they seem to know what they are doing. I find it irritating, all the stupid stuff that goes on..."my virtual grass need watering"...you got a "poke" from X, So and So got a 1200 on this personality test, Here's an Angel for you!....how about you just chat about what's going on in your life? I guess some folks have too much time on their hands...that, or I'm just not "with it" anymore! I'm turning into an "old head", as the Ol' Man would say! I was thinking about that the other day. Not that my life is "over", but I'm at a time now that is completely separate from my "younger" life...the life I had in my 20's and 30's...on the move, working, partying with friends, travel, vacations. Now, it's home-body life. Baking cookies and sewing capes for the boys for Christmas, laundry, cutting coupons (I think it's pronounced COOpons, not Qupons...the word starts with a C, not a Q).

Rescue Worker?

Riddle me this, Batman -I know worms come up during the rain, because the ground gets soaked and they'd drown or something...but HOW do they get to the middle of the street, or, the middle of my GARAGE??? There's got to be some kind of magic involved. I have to admit, while it kinda skeeves me out, I try to return the little buggers to the relative safety of the rorrest floor, versus the paved street. Slugs, on the other hand, are on their own.

It's hard to find good help these days...

So, I'm at the grocery store, and, the green consumer that I am, I have cloth bags. I also have the "cold" bags - you know the ones, they have the shiny silver lining to keep the cold stuff cold till you get home. I hand the bags to the bagger girl, and, she starts putting stuff in the cold bags...but not cold stuff. By the time she get's to the "cold stuff" (i.e. meat, milk), there's no more room in the bags. How hard would it have been to put the room temp stuff in the regular cloth bags, and hold off on the cold bags till last, JUST IN CASE there was some cold stuff on down the line? Or, how about LOOKING at the groceries on the conveyor belt and SEEING that there's meat/milk that's going to be coming after the room temp stuff? Geez...it's not rocket science, bagging groceries, is it? I mean, you don't need even a high school education to get a job putting items in a bag, do you? Yeesh.

How does that happen?

So, I'm driving the car, and it's a very light rain. I've got the wipers on the slowest intermittent setting, so they swipe once every 6-8 seconds or so. However, the back window is completely dry! I'm sure it has something to do with physics or something...but I just found that completely bizzare...how the back window stayed dry. Question #2. How does a puppy pee every 30 minutes? We're still trying to housebreak Perle Rae...and I set the stove timer for 45 minutes, but she manages to pee right before the timer goes off! Aaarrrgggh! Do I have to take her out every 30 minutes...don't answer that, I know the answer is yes. It just kinda a pain in the rear as the weather is CRAP....rainy, foggy, cold. I thought Vlad, the Hound of the Baskervilles was a pain...I had forgotten how much fun a puppy can be! But, she's so cute!....

Bacon and Cheese, Please!

Does anyone get distracted the way I do? Maybe little kids... I'll get a thought in my head, and figure out I need to do X, then I'll pass by the sink, and realize I need to wash the few dishes that are there. Then, while I'm putting them away, I see that we need nutmeg, and I'll write that down on the grocery list, which is next to the calendar, and I'll see that we're having company come so I'll need to vacuum, and while I'm getting out the vacuum, I'll see that the laundry needs to be done...and by this time I've completely forgotten about X! Maybe I'm getting senile. The Ol' Man says I need to take Ginkgo Balboa (or Blaoba? Bogoa?), but I'm sure I'd forget to take it. A friend gave us a bunch of yellow squash. Why, on the gods green earth would you want to eat anything called "squash"? That's something you do to a bug, not something you eat. Anyhoo, since he gave us 7, I figured out I'd better do something with them. I found a recipe for a Squash, Onion and Pear au gratin. Believe it or not, it didn't turn out half bad! I even managed to sneak it past the boys. It had bacon in it, and cheese. I think they'll eat anything if I tell them it contain bacon and cheese....

Men are from Mars....

I've figured it out. For (most) men, sex isn't an emotion, it's a feeling. Think about the most decadent dessert you've ever had...French Silk Chocolate Pie, Fudge Brownies, Strawberry Shortcake, Creme Brulee, etc. Think about how it felt when you were eating it. That lusciousness, that slice of heaven dancing over your tongue. That's what sex is for men. It's that incredible feeling, with no emotion attached. They save that for the dog. Women equate sex with emotion, versus feeling. That's the difference. Of course, there are exceptional men out there...like the Ol' Man. He loves me (emotion) as well as loves the feeling of sex..the best of both worlds! And, I feel the same. Lucky me!

Am I really Welcome?

You know those "Welcome" flags you see as you are driving through a neighborhood? They hang off the porch or are on a wrought iron trellis thingy...they have flowers on them, or they say "Welcome, Friends!" and look so nice...but am I really welcome? If I walked up to the door, rang the bell, would the occupants of the house welcome me in for a cup of coffe and a slice of pie? Would they turn me down if I asked for a cup of coffe and a slice of pie and look at me like I was a serial killer or would they really welcome me in? Somehow, I think it's all a sham and they wouldn't welcome me in and would probably shut the door in my face.

Just a Thought

I was doing some research for my term paper for school, and I found several article that talk about health care...from as far back as 2004. Those article bemoaned the idea of "mandatory" health care, the rush towards socialism, etc. I just get the feeling we, collectively as a nation, are standing on the railroad tracks asking, "What's that bright light?" I'm floored that once that train smacks into us, we'll be suprised that we didn't see it coming....

Facebook/MySpace/Twitter

I have to admit, I'm a member of Facebook. Not that I have any idea what I'm doing, you understand. I think MySpace is like Facebook, which means I don't understand that either. And you can forget about Twitter - I'm completely clueless. Yeesh...I'm still trying to figure out how to use my cel phone. I'd hate to think that I'm so old that I need to get the Jitterbug phone. I'm not into video games or "apps" on my celphone or games on my computer. I'd much rather read a good book, see a good movie (something, preferably, with a plot versus over the top effects), or do something constructive (quilting anyone!). I guess the older you get, the less you feel like "wasting" time, because you realize that you are running out of time, and death is closer than birth.

I am not alone....

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/economist/172169

The above link is an article entitled Mountains of Debt: America's Economic Realities
by Charles Wheelan, Ph.D. I am not Chicken Little. Our world is crumbling around us, and some people are raising the alarm, but there seems to be an overwhelming apathy from the American Citizenry...which just FLOORS me. Now, it's not just the economy, it's not just the banking/credit system, it's not just the housing market, it's not just the car companies (as if all that wasn't enough!?), NOW, the individual STATES are starting to crumble...California, anyone? How about Pennsylvania...let's hear it for an 16% increase in income tax! Yeah! WHERE is the outrage? Mr. Wheelan said that Benjamin Franklin would be disappointed in us...and I think that's a VAST understatement...I think him and the rest of the founding fathers are rolling in their graves at the absolute, horrific mess we've made. Yes, "we"...because "we" elected the Congress, "we" bought houses we couldn't afford, "we" maxed out our credit cards, "we" bought into the whole consumerism that the media waved in front of our faces..."we" have brought this upon ourselves...there's no one else to blame. Myself, me and the Ol' Man are busting our humps to pay off our debt, not buying a new flat screen LCD TV or new Truck/car, eating leftovers, patching clothes, and pretty much making due with what we've got, because, I truly believe it's going to get worse before it gets better...and it's going to take a LONG time to get better...a long time.