What am I doing right now?

Wishlist for Christmas 2010

2009-12-26T15:04:00.003-05:00

Howdy all! Been a long time, eh? Just wanted to wish everyone a lovely, beautiful, wonderful, happy Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Midwinter... whatever Holiday you celebrate. Or even if you don't, I wish you a pleasant wintertime anyway. :) Soooo, the big day has come and gone. It was a very nice day for us, actually. One of the best Christmas Days I've had in years. Very calm, pleasant, restful... it did rain on us early, but by afternoon it was clear.

Anywho... just thought I would get a head start on my wish list for next Christmas. Ya know, get ol Santa Claus thinking on it anyway, so... this is my list of wants for next year (in no particular order):

1. High Speed Rail. Like the rest of the world is developing. Why can't I hop a train and make an afternoon trip down to my sister's place in FL? It's only 400 miles. Why should it take me all day to drive there? We've been talking about this since I was a little girl and it still isn't happening. Wake up folks! Park the car and get on the train already. Sheesh.

2. A Space Program that once again sets the standard for the rest of the world. I mean really... Japan, Europe and China are outstripping us in every direction. Mapping the moon; developing living quarters for settlements on hostile planets; etc. When we [humans] finally get out there en masse, American companies will be shut out of the resources to be found there.

3. A Mass Transit System for my town that will actually get me from my home neighborhood to downtown Augusta without having to drive for miles to the closest bus stop. (I don't really foresee this one happening but... I can dream, can't I?)

4. A job that pays a living wage. Preferably one that doesn't require years of college to obtain. I hated college. I'm just not cut out for it. But I can learn. I don't think I would mind a sort of manufacturing job or something like. And besides... how can we survive as a country if we can't MAKE anything for ourselves? Doesn't make any sense to me. All these companies moving jobs to other countries where they can exploit the workforce and then counting on bringing the goods back here where they can sell them for 20 times the cost to us rich gringos. Except... if we have no jobs we have no money!!! DUH. Now what you gonna do smart ass company man? Sell your goods to the cheap laborers you've been exploiting for what you sell it to us for? I think not. Sowing the seeds of their own destruction. OUR destruction. Idiots. However, I digress...

5. A power grid that is secure, safe, and "green". Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure. How many times do I have to say it? I'd work on an assembly line making solar panels, windmills, computer chips... whatever (see item number 4). I can do that. We used to build things here. Now we can't even maintain our phone lines and electric supply. And let's not get started on the general water supply...

6. A Pentagon staff that remembers it's history. How many times are we going to arm Middle Eastern countries and teach them to fight against us? They always end up turning on us. Do the idiots running our armed forces really think anything is going to change, there? Most of the folks over there are still living in the middle ages. No, that statement isn't politically correct but I think it's a fair assessment. If not physically then mentally and emotionally in the middle ages. I mean, what is that old saying about performing the same action over and over again and expecting a different outcome? We ought to just let those folks alone and let them live as they want. Oh but wait! We can't. We depend on their fossil fuel supplies too much. Right.... see items #1, 3, and 5. If we had renewable, sustainable, home-grown energy supply right here in the good old US of A we could just pack it up and let that part of the globe go about it's business without us. As a side note: I wonder if they would still hate us as much if we quit buying their oil? Or maybe they would hate us more if the money quit flowing to their kings, banks, businesses and jihadists?

7. Dope smokers to wake up and realise that their habit is killing innocent women, children and old folks in Mexico and other Central and South American countries. Choosing to do drugs is not "not hurting anyone else". There are ruthless, evil, inhuman beings running those Cartels that supply your weed, coke, etc. They kill people so that your money keeps flowing into their coffers. If you smoke their dope you might as well be pulling the trigger for them. Besides, dope makes you stupid. Don't do it. Or... I suppose, if you have to be stupid, grow your own and quit paying the killers.

8. People to quit trying to blow up planes. I myself do not believe the gates to Paradise are to be found in the flames of burning metal and human flesh.

9. A viable third political party in this nation. The two party system is NOT working. In fact... it has become an impediment to progress. Get rid of it. Change it. Fire them all and get some new blood in Washington DC. I don't know... something has got to give, tho.

10. People to do the right thing, because it IS the right thing, not for fear of a vengeful God. I don't know for sure if there is or is not a God. But if there is... I'm pretty sure he/she does not need a mere mortal to do their killing for them.

Anyway, that's my first 10. I may have more as the new year progresses. In fact, I'm sure I will. But this will do for now.

I sincerely hope everyone has a happy and prosperous New Year.

It's been a while...

2009-10-05T22:41:00.003-04:00

... but I thought I'd stop by and jot down a few thoughts:

I was watching a wonderful edition of "Globe Trekker" the other night. It was a journey through Mozambique. I watched these people, living in what I would consider abject poverty. No lights, no clean water, dirt everywhere... and they were beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. And it made me think... that old saying about beauty being in the eye of the beholder is crap. It isn't. Because we are trained in what to see as beauty. We are raised to see it in certain ways. We are not brought up to think for ourselves. In beauty or anything else.

I don't want us to loose in Afghanistan. Iraq? I could care less. We shouldn't have been there in the first place. The sooner we get out the better. But the government (as was) in Afghanistan allowed Al Qaida to attack us from within their borders. We were right to go in there. Should have never taken our eye off the ball in that country. Just another example of Bush/Cheney incompetence, but that's neither here nor there. They are gone and now all that's left is to clean up their mess. But if we loose the real, legitimate war... what does that make us look like on the global stage?

I don't want to live in a nation that is irrelevant to the global community. I was raised in the greatest, richest, most desirable nation to live in that has ever existed on this planet. And I like it that way. I don't want to live in a second or third world country. I don't know how. Maybe that makes me a sissy, but there it is.

I don't like the thought that Europe and Asia are surpassing us in all areas, education, technology, health, jobs, standard of living... but they are. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our kids aren't learning. Look at us! We are America. We should have the best schools, the best roads, the best access to the best health care, the cleanest water, the safest and most affordable food... on and on and on... but do we? No. We do not. And the saddest thing of all is that there are so many people in this country who are so stupidly racist and ideologically biased that they would rather we fall into the abyss than that we succeed under the guidance of a black Democratic President. Instead of trying to help him govern, certain elements of our society are working hard to insure that he fails. That we ALL fail.

And I hate alcohol. I really REALLY do. It's stupid. And I'm constantly amazed at how many people equate having a good time with having an alcoholic beverage.

I am very blessed in my friends. They keep me sane and give me a reason to keep going. Thank you all so much.

And thanks for the Wasabi Peas, Bunny! After I gobbled up all the ones you sent I went out and found some at the Kroger. And then the other day I was able to visit my Oriental market and they carry the very kind you sent me... I bought 5 packs and I'm nearly all finished with them, too! New addiction. Thank you very much. :)

It's Been a While...

2009-05-20T01:33:00.002-04:00

... and I'm sorry I've been away. As I'm sure you all know, I've been moving. I hurt my knee, now I'm having sinus trouble. It's messing with my equilibrium something fierce. I'll be seeing the doc this Friday. Or is that Thursday? Well... one of those days. Not tomorrow. Tomorrow is Mr. Cutie-Patootie John the Handyman. He's coming over to see if he can figure out why my refrigerator is dripping water onto the top shelf. It makes quite a mess. But I want to have it checked out before I spend money on a new one. I mean, I want a new one, but I want a new kitchen faucet and disposal first. Then a new fridge. Soon, but not this week.
Anyway, I love my new house. It's so comfortable and nice. I love being here.

Then there's this:
Photos show Pakistan 'expanding nuclear sites'
Knowing that certainly helps me sleep better at night. NOT.

An observation:
When I see Michael Steele I think of The Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" where David Byrne comes on stage wearing that huge suit. Sorry. But it's true. Especially that one brown suit that Mr. Steele wears. It just doesn't fit him well.

A shout out to Mr. Mike: I was driving to the grocery store the other day and I caught Honeymoon Suite's "New Girl Now". I felt obligated (happily so) to crank it up and sing along in your honor. BTW, I know I have missed a lot of your and Mrs. Mr. Mike's posts in the last couple of months. I will have plenty of reading to do as soon as I get the time. :-)

Okay, need to hit the hay. Gotta get up early tomorrow and make beautiful for the Handyman's visit. (picture me with a great big cheesy grin on my face and a slight blush on my cheeks) :-)

Okay, quick post...

2009-04-13T20:50:00.003-04:00

...
Capt. Richard Phillips was rescued and is in good health. Thank goodness. (not that it matters, but he's quite a handsome fellow, I think)
They say there isn't much that can be done about those pirates. Every country that has a navy of any size has ships over there, so why don't they just agree starting and stopping points on the troubled route and let merchant and tourist ships/boats meet up and then protect an entire flotilla of ships at one time? They could then keep the pirates from even getting close to the ships and thus prevent hostages being taken. Or maybe that's just too simplistic a solution. I mean... I'm not a foreign policy expert or anything like that. :-)

Faux News, Newt Gingrich, and others of that ilk are promoting a "Tax Day Tea Party". Just what we need, more idiots that don't know their history dumping tea bags into our nations waterways. They ought to all be arrested and then set to cleaning up the waterways they have polluted. These idiots are sooo stupid. The taxes they are protesting were put in place by their beloved Bush/Cheney admin. The tax rates are the lowest they have been in nearly two decades. What the frick are they protesting? Even they don't know.

Easter was pleasant. Then I hurt my knee while moving some stuff over to the new house. That was not especially pleasant. I took it easy today. (meaning I was down right lazy)

Today the President held the ages old traditional "egg role" on the White House lawn. From what I've seen of it on TV he was a right gracious, jovial, welcoming host. Great Job, Mr. President! I just want to say one thing about it. They made tickets available on-line, which was a good thing, since families from 45 states participated this year. But... BUT... According to several news sources they made a certain number of tickets available to gay and lesbian families. And those families wore special rainbow colored leis. I have a problem with that. And the problem is this: if you are trying for equality, why would you accept being singled out like that? It just doesn't seem very forward thinking to me. Then again... why should the President of the supposedly most "free" country in the world feel the need to make certain that any family, of any creed, religion, ethnicity, orientation, etc., felt welcome there? Shouldn't that, in this day and age, just be a given? Why in the world, in 2009, should one group of people still feel comfortable publicly calling for the denial of basic rights to another group of people in THIS United States of America? Why aren't more citizens of this nation outraged by this? And further more, why are so called Christian folks comfortable with the notion that God wants them to deny those rights to any other human being? I mean, once upon a time, not so long ago, "official" Church (any church) doctrine was that persons of African descent were not completely human and therefore it was perfectly okay to enslave them, rape them, kill them out of hand. Some hundreds of years ago, the official church doctrine was that the Earth was flat. ??? They changed their minds later on. Once it was considered a sin to eat red meat on Fridays. It was thought that being able to read the bible in one's own native language would lead one into sin. That it didn't matter if you could understand what the priest was saying, you could still get something from the Latin mass just because it was THE MASS. Not so now. They changed their minds. I'm not saying that I have a problem with them changing their mind. I'm just saying that I don't think anyone should be so sure and certain that leaders of the Catholic or Protestant churches are correct when they say that homosexuality is a sin. They could someday change there minds. Perhaps after they see which way the wind is blowing and determine that view is not popular anymore and that they are in danger of loosing followers who enrich their coffers? It's just a thought... I mean really... doesn't anyone else ever think about this stuff?

Okay, that's my say for today. Sorry I have been so hit or miss lately. Hopefully soon things will get back to some semblance of normalcy.

Our First Lady...

2009-04-02T20:25:00.003-04:00

...is so beautiful! So obviously strong, smart, caring... a no nonsense woman. And she also looks like someone I can relate to. She looks like a friend you can have a cup of coffee with and talk about the price of groceries with. She looks like she'd know what the price of a dozen eggs is and how much it takes to feed a family of four. She looks like the kind of person who actually gets down in the floor to play with her kids. Come to think of it, she looks like she knows how to clean a floor properly, too. I like that. (and I'm not saying she looks like a maid, she looks like a real woman who knows how to sweep and mop like I do)
I mean, I admire Hillary Clinton. I voted for her in the Democratic Primary. I look up to her and I would love the opportunity to talk with her. But I don't think I could really relate to her. Or her to me. She lives in a totally different world than I do. I don't think Michelle Obama would be intimidating at all to meet or talk to. I think she'd be fun and comfortable to be around.
I'm proud of our new First Lady (and her husband) and now... a link to a nice selection of pictures of her in London. She's amazing...

Buy American...

2009-03-26T01:57:00.003-04:00

...pot. I'm just sayin'. I'm sure everyone has by now heard all the talk about the insecurity on our nation's southern border. Drugs. Pot, weed, smoke, mary jane, mary do ja wanna. Marijuana. Whatever you want to call it. The problem in Mexico with the drug cartels is the next, new, now, news story. Suddenly it's the "in" story to report on. The free ticket to some place else for well connected news anchors. I've always been aware of the problem. Since I was a pre-teen pot has been part of my life. Most of my family and friends partook, or still partake, of this noxious leaf.

Do I? No.
Have I ever? A few times in my youth.
Did I like it? No.
Why not? Cause it stinks, and it makes you stupid.

And now I have an even better reason to not like it: the stupid, callous, cruel, foreign, mainly Central and South American, drug cartels are making a shitpot of money off of America's desire for the drug. It's stupid. If there was ever a good reason to not do drugs that's it. In this economy, in this day and time when so many Americans are out of work, making less money than ever, it's just stupid to send that much money out of the country.

Besides just the act of doing drugs being flatout, brain-dead, stupid... giving money hand over fist to idiots who kill innocent children just because their parent is a police officer, or a lawyer, or just some poor passer by who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time, is just wrong. Wrong.

Now, I know that not all people who do drugs are bad people. Most of them consider their habit an innocent, personal choice. But it's not. When you buy that bag of weed, that little pack of white powder... you are making it easier for some fatcat somewhere in Mexico or Columbia or Guatemala to kill some one's mother, brother, father, sister, son...

How do we stop this? What can we do? What should we urge our politicians to do to curtail this violent, lucrative trade? I say: legalize it. All of it. Pot. Heroine. Cocaine. All of it. Make it right here in the good ol' US of A. Let the downtrodden American farmers grow it all as a cash crop. Hemp, coca plants, poppies, what have you. Grow it here, sell it here, tax it here. And let all the idiots who partake use as much of it as they want. American farmers will grow it in a safe, clean environment; they will hire people to work their fields; people will get hired to process the stuff; farmers and workers will pay taxes on the money they earn; other people will purchase the stuff, and they will pay taxes on it. The farmers will make money, the farm workers will make money, the government will make money... everybody will be happy except those cartel leaders who will no longer have the strength and power to hold entire communities or countries hostage at their whim. We put them out of business for good and for all.

And what, you might ask, about the idiots who purchase all these now legal drugs? Well... it gets them out of the gene pool that much sooner if they are allowed to indulge to their heart's content. Not so?

What do you think? I'd love to hear opinions on this.

Thoughts

2009-03-03T16:13:00.006-05:00

Think with your dip stick, Jimmy! A catch phrase used by a fellow with a fake Scottish accent in a commercial for an automotive product. I call it an "automotive product", I think it must be an engine oil, but the commercial is so annoying. I remember the phrase, I remember the dude whacking other dudes with a dip stick, but I don't remember the name of the product. So... they annoy me with this stupid commercial with a phrase that sticks in my head, but the name of the brand they want me to buy does not. I would say that advertising campaign is a failure. So why don't they just go ahead and take it off the airwaves so I don't have to see it or hear it again? EVER.
Update
For those of you who want to see it: its a Castrol commercial. I looked it up... so you don't have to.

John McCain: is apparently showing his true colors now that he's too old to ever run for President again. Mr. Bi-partisan has turned into Dr. NO! Did any of you catch his production on the Senate floor today? It was rather stilted. Sort of an act. A very badly played act. I didn't believe for a minute that he was really as outraged as the words he spoke would have me believe. He even slapped his hand down on the table, but that theatrical display was totally miss-timed. It seemed like he was performing an SNL skit that he hadn't even bothered to read first and couldn't care less if he pulled off. I really think he needs to step down and get his health attended to. His appearance and his actions are very reminiscent of someone who has suffered a stroke. I wonder....
You can find his performance here, on cspan dot org. Sen. McCain appears about 20 minutes into the video. Enjoy.

This whole Rush Limbaugh brouhaha would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious, so dangerous, and so sad. It is hilarious to watch these so-called Republican leaders and big wigs stretch their wings and soar out above all the hateful, racist, sexist, holier-than-thou rhetoric of that disgusting pig. And then count the minutes until they come crawling back on their hands and knees to kiss his ring, to beg and plead for his forgiveness. Which, of course, he deigns to grant them after they've grovelled at his putrid, stinking feet sufficiently. What idiots! These people who worship Rush, who call themselves "dittoheads". WTF!!! They are proud that they don't think for themselves. They think its cool to just nod their stupid heads and agree with anything and everything that foul, slimy, oozing pustule of corruption says. And they DARE to call themselves Americans? Dare to call themselves Patriots? They dare to call themselves Christians? What kind of Christian would sow dissension and hate or support it? They can call that Christianity if they want to, but it isn't anything like the Christians I was raised with or respect. And it's serious business. These folks don't seem to understand that this bloated, disgusting, spittle spewing piece of filth is just using them. The more sheep he can get to follow him the more money he makes. And he understand their limited intelligence; their need; their desire to belong to a herd. And he plays on their fears and their twisted reasoning to lead them around by the nose. That reeking mound of maggot crawling filth has them all fooled. He's poisoned his followers and turned them into evil minded robotic, brain dead, little trolls. That is a sad thing. That is not American. It is not not NOT American at all to say you hope the President of the United States of America fails. FAILS! That corpulent, morally diseased bastard hopes our President FAILS!!! And the repugnicant party "dittoheads" are still scared to stand up to this creep and tell him where to get off! Why is his little "speech" not "incitement to treason"? Why is he not on the no fly list or in some left-over Bushian gulag in Rhodesia being water-boarded? I mean... that is his picture of a perfect America, isn't it? He thought Bush was the perfect President and that President Obama is going to ruin this country. Anyway... enough. I'll get off my soapbox now. Glad to get that off my chest. Thank you.

I Miss My Babe...

2009-02-22T22:48:00.003-05:00

...

it's so quiet around here without him. I can't wait until he's back home.

Humans!

2009-02-19T14:46:00.005-05:00

What a mess! Experts ponder space junk problem.

Egads! Talk about your environmental hazards! Do humans just naturally like to live in trash heaps? What the hell is up with that? Do we just not have the mental capacity to think ahead? Think about the future and what we're going to do once we've fouled our nest sufficiently that no one can live in it anymore. So far, this is the only planet we KNOW we can live on and we seem hell bent on thoroughly trashing it. What do we do then? Or do we just go on not caring because its not our generation that has to worry about it? What happens when that generation is born? Do we leave it up to the one's that it's going to matter to to come up with some way of salvaging it. Leave it to our how ever many great grandchildren to clean up after us? That's a real nice way to think about things.

Anyway, how's this for a suggestion: send up two space craft, like the shuttles, able to maneuver and sling a fine web between them and then let them sweep the main orbital lanes. Sort of like this:

Okay, so my drawing is awful, but you get the point, right? Just a thought.

As an exercise in futility, why don't you all put your ideas out there for a space clean-up project?

Gee, My Letter Is "G"

2009-02-11T15:22:00.016-05:00

My dear friend, Bunny, tagged me with the letter G. Let's see if I remember the rules of this little game...

Okay, this is what Serena, at Savvy Verse & Wit says:
"With that letter create your list of 10 things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and when people comment on your post, you must assign them a letter to keep the meme going."

So, lets get to work, shall we?

1. The obvious, and a little bitty cheat, would be: Good friends, Good food, Good music... but I'll try not to use that ploy again. :-)

2. Gorgeous Guys I can't help it. I just love looking at guys. Men. Fellas. Whatever you want to call them. I like to observe...

3. Geeks and more geeks. Geeks are beautiful. They know things... they aren't afraid to be different. They go their own way and are seemingly unafraid to do so. I admire them.

4. Grocery shopping. Yeah, I know... it's weird. I think it ties in with my fear of going hungry. If I can afford to go buy groceries then I'm not hurting too bad yet, financially speaking. Also, I love to cook (but Bunny got that letter, so I'm improvising), so buying food is something that I naturally would enjoy, right? Grocery stores are a stimulus to my creative cooking urges. There are so many things to look at, wonder about...

5. Gladiolas When I lived in Florida many years ago, I had banks and banks of these delightful flowers growing on the sunny side of the house. It was a glorious, riotous show of color. I tried once to grow them here in GA but the corms got all dug up by pesky squirrels and I had no flowers. So... I never did that again.

6. Grasses & Grains blowing in a stiff breeze. Its an image that is at once soothing and exciting to me. Soothing for the gentle motions. Exciting for the sheer power and grace of it. The image of such fields gives one a strong feeling of goodness, safety, life, bounty... muchness.

Hummmm, this is getting harder... perhaps I will pause here and go do something else for a while.

Another one:

8. Graciousness. Politeness, niceness... whatever you want to call it. It is the grease that enables the wheels of society to turn smoothly. So many people are not gracious now days. I think parents have forgotten to teach it to their children. That is sad. I try to be. I know I don't always succeed, but I do try. And I have tried to make my son understand the importance of it. People who are kind and gracious without having to work at it are special.

Oh! Here's another one!

9. Garum Masala. This spice mixture from India is a beautiful, beautiful thing. The aroma is a delight to the soul. Savory, warm, mouth-watering... if you have never tried it, you really really should. The basic mix is black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. I like to add a bit of lemon powder or lemon zest to mine, also. This is a very versatile spice mixture, and I think every family must have their own way of doing it. If you don't make your own, Nirav is a fairly good brand of pre-mixed to purchase.

Finally...

10. Greek Mythology. There was a time in my life when I was very young when I dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. Or a museum curator. I think I read everything on Greek mythology and Greek history, as well as Greek architecture, and Greek Classics... I immersed myself in all things Greek. It is still an extremely interesting subject for me.

My Question Is This:

2009-02-04T15:51:00.006-05:00

If he didn't know, why the frick did he "rehabilitate" this person?

"Holocaust denier told to recant.
The Vatican on Wednesday demanded that a prelate who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic Church. It also said Pope Benedict XVI had not known about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other ultraconservative bishops Jan. 21."

I mean, shouldn't this place-holder pope have known all the facts of the situation before he decided to lift the excommunication? I'm just saying... I mean, it seems to me that one who is on the world stage as he is, should try not to make these kinds of mistakes. Perhaps he isn't fully cognizant of how quickly these kinds of stories get out and around the globe now days. This ain't 1941, bub. Get with the program. I wonder how long it will take the Catholic church, (or any church, for that matter) to come into the new century? People all over the globe are looking forward and the organized religions of the world are only looking back. That does not seem to bode well for their sustainability.

And then there's this:
Darth Cheney talking to Politico.com about the existing terrorist plots that our new President doesn't see cause he wants to talk to our enemies. God Forbid! Talk to those devils? Why would we want to do that? Torture gets them talking much faster than just being nice. And besides.... it's just way more fun than talking to someone.
Wish that ghoul would just go away. Does he honestly think anyone wants to look at him or hear from him anymore? Or perhaps he thinks he's the only one who can save the Republican party? Oh please... David Duke has a better chance of that.

Anyway, you can read all about Cheney's interview here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18390.html

Man was wrong before about terrorist plots. Was wrong before when he warned that a certain middle eastern country had weapons of mass destruction. Why in the world would he think that anyone would believe him this time? Does anyone? If anyone is out there who reads this and does believe him, I hope you will take a moment to comment on this post and let me know. I am sincerely curious about it. Furthermore and on top of that... why does he come out and try to make these scary allegations to get everyone stirred up, without naming any proof, citing any sources, naming even one name of someone he got his information about... it's all out of his mouth with nothing but his mushy old brain to back him up. When will these dried up old sour grape raisins gonna get it thru their thick skulls? There time is over. They are as good as finished. Rs and Ds. If you aren't interested in moving forward, then you are dragging us back. And I don't want to go backward. I want to look forward, move forward, think forward, dream forward... Let's try something new now, shall we.

Dang, Obama!!!

2009-02-03T11:35:00.005-05:00

... am I the only democrat who pays her taxes properly? Why don't you appoint me to a post? I need a job. I swear... I love Tom Daschel, but seriously... who in their right mind really thinks that was an honest mistake? I have to say that my shiny brand new President is starting to get a few scuff marks on himself already. One more and I may just have some dirty words to say about it. Didn't he say things was gonna be different? Just wondering...

Thomas is going to Florida for a month this weekend. I don't want him to go. I never do. But this time... he's just a few months away from his 18th birthday. Just a few months until he comes into his settlement money. I'm so afraid that that devil down there will try to sweet talk him out of it, or talk him into staying there so he can "help" him figure out what to do with it all... thank God he can't get it all at once. But still... it's his. HIS. Not mine, not Frank's, not any body's but Thomas'. I know... I worry too much. Of course, I feel like I have good reason to. Maybe I don't, but I think I do. I worry so much about him. He's so honest, and I've tried to teach him about unscrupulous people and people who will tell a lie to get an advantage, but I don't think he would actually think of it that way if Frank tried to gain control of his money. Oh I don't know... I just worry.

Anyway...
Folks in KY still without power, heat, water... basic necessities of life. How is it that that can happen here in America? Why aren't more people as outraged about that as I am? Perhaps because we only think about INFRASTRUCTURE in this country when it's our very own personal infrastructure that isn't working? And then, when it does happen to us, personally, when our utilities come back on we are just so grateful to have them back that we don't take the time to tell our elected officials (local as well as state and federal) just how ridiculous it is that in America we have to live like refugees in a third world country in our own homes, because our power grid is so antiquated that it can't stand up to a normal winter storm... or a normal heat wave (And what does that say about what's gonna happen when the globe really starts to heat up? But that's a discussion for another day) Okay, okay, deep breath. Run on sentence, I know... bad, bad, BAD! Won't do it again. (at least maybe not in this particular post)

I'm heading off to bed now. Got a dentist appointment tomorrow. Dadgumit! I HATE having to wake up early. Tomorrow will make 3 days in a row. Plus the two days last week. I might as well just get used to it, eh? I AM NOT a morning person. I don't see any need for them. Ahhahahaha... can't we just "phase" them out? Retire them? Lay them off? I won't miss them.

Can You Say "Uncle Tom"?

2009-01-30T19:25:00.010-05:00

Michael Steele ~ Republican National Party Chairman

This man... he will say anything, do anything, be whatever he thinks people want him to be, to advance himself. He's a groveler, an ass-kisser, a spineless, gutless, self-respectless wonder.

Now that may be a miss-characterization. But it's my opinion. And further more... his "election" as RNC chairman just smells of a "us too" mentality in the Grand Old Party. They want their own first African-American. And this guy is sure willing to be their boy.

Puh_leeze...

And beyond that, I wonder how long it will be before the Sarah Palin part of the party breaks off and forms their own political party. Think about it. Just stop being politically correct and all that crap and think about it for a moment...

What portion of the country got more "conservative", more "Republican", in the last election? The Deep South. Now... tell me what region of the country is most known for being racist? Ya see where I'm going with this?

Anyway... that's my opinion on this news of the day. I'm sure some folks will be offended by it just as some folks will agree. Either way, it doesn't matter. Time will tell who's right.

Oh! That is Gnarly!!!

2009-01-29T22:38:00.003-05:00

Naked Science: Death of the Universe

Watching some TV... NatGeo, one of my favorite channels (except when they are running those stupid Dog Whisperer, Dogtown, Dog this, Dog that shows). Anyway... tuned in just in time to see some scientist theorizing on how the universe will end by just disintegrating. On the atomic level. So... you are standing there and because the universe is expanding (everything is moving away from everything else), the distance between one thing and another is getting greater and greater, so eventually even the atoms loose touch with each other... so, what we see as solid objects will just tear and rip apart right down into their constituent atoms. We, everything we know or think we know, will just dissolve.

What a horrific thought, eh? Glad I won't be around to experience that.

Can I Get a Amen?

2009-01-28T15:32:00.032-05:00

This man is a fox!

That would be Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA), the Republican Whip in the U.S. House of Representatives. I can't say I care much for his politics, but damn! I'd sure like to spend some time convincing him of the error of his ways. He's got that gorgeous dark hair and eyes and he looks ever so tasty. And he's got that soft Southern way of speaking, too. Too bad every word that comes out of that luscious mouth is wrong.

Anyway....

Been so serious lately, I thought it was about time to have a little fun around here. That means it's time for more fellas that look good to me.

Cameron Muncey

Lead guitarist for the band Jet. I like their music and I totally like the way this guy looks. I mean, really... turn me loose, seriously...
Even tho he has a bit of an emo look about him sometimes, I can live with that. I just want to use him for a little while anyway...

BREAKING NEWS

And he's OUTTA THERE!!!
Governor Potty-Mouth, otherwise known as Rod B. Blagojevich was removed from office today sometime around 5:30pm. It's the end of a sad era in Illinois. Guilty or not, he's embarrassed the people of his state. Guilty or not, when he saw the way the wind was blowing he should have bowed out and resigned with some dignity. Guilty or not... whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? I guess that's just the legacy of the Bush years. We all, you, me, Rod B., ALL of us, have a right to the presumption of innocence until we are proven guilty. This man, who has only been charged, not convicted... let me say that again... charged, not convicted, of any crime, was tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. And I don't think that court has the authority to sentence him. Or shouldn't have.

T.J. Holmes

CNN Weekend Anchorman

Lovely, lovely man to look at. Just beautiful. He should be in GQ. Probably has been already. He's just gorgeous... his soft, Southern accent just oozes sex appeal. He's smart, funny, ambitious... and he's GORGEOUS!!! Oh, I said that already, didn't I? Well, it bears repeating. He is.

Eugene Robinson

Washington Post Op-Ed Columnist, MSNBC analyst and political commentator. From South Carolina. A successful, personable, steady, mature man. Watching him I get the feeling that he is a trustworthy, honest, generous person. He exudes a warm, "you are safe with me" feeling that I really like. Bet he snuggles real good.

Okay... I know it's pretty shallow and also kinda not nice to comment on these guys looks, like they are just so much meat. But then again, I can be a bit shallow sometimes. And I like meat. I hope all you PC folks out there understand that it's all in fun and that no offense is meant to any of these fellas. Not even to Mr. Cantor who seriously needs to think about his path forward in national politics. I think he ought to consider changing sides. Just think... we now have our first black President. How long can it be until we have our first woman President? Our first Jewish President? I'm just saying...

And by the way... now that we do have a black President, is it now socially acceptable for a middle aged white woman to admit that she finds some black men attractive? Well, is it? No matter... it's been a long time since I cared whether what I did or thought was socially acceptable or not. I was just curious what other folks thought.

The Bacon Explosion
This is just DISGUSTING!

Please God...

2009-01-23T11:00:00.005-05:00

... let it work...

US approves 1st stem cell study for spinal injury
The article does not appear to give much hope for correcting Thomas' injury in the near future, but in time... who knows?

Thomas at 10 months, after nerve graft surgery. It didn't help much. But wasn't he a little cutie? He still is.

Headlines and Other Random Thoughts

2009-01-22T13:33:00.018-05:00

Thain resigns from Bank of America
This guy does not have a very good track record. How the heck does he keep getting jobs?

'Flying Car' Goes to Market
My first thought on this was: where can I get one? Then, hard on the heels of that thought was: this is one impractical mobile. I mean, you can't land it just anywhere. You have to use an airport. Sure you can just fold up the wings and drive it away... but still, highly impractical. There aren't that many airports and the ones you might use are not always near where you want to go...
Also, on a purely selfish note, I'm not sure I want those things flying all over the place. There are enough idiots on the roadways, who needs them in the air? Flying all over the place, buzzing people's houses, shopping malls, sporting events?

On the other hand... the first computers were not at all practical, either. And look at us now. I would not want to be without mine. In fact, last time mine was in the shop I felt like a part of me had been amputated. I was totally dysfunctional. Amazing how many times a day I jump on here, not to express myself, but to look things up. Find a recipe, when I need new ideas for a meal. Check the side effects of meds that the doc prescribes for me or a member of my family. Find out what time it is in New Guinea, just cause I'm curious that way. :) You get the point, I hope.

Army: Negligence caused GI's death
This is just sad. On so many different levels.

Conspiracy Theory???
Perhaps I'm just suspicious. Maybe I'm one of those crazy folks who sees bogeymen behind every tree and shrub... I just hit on this today while they were discussing the GOP senators putting a delay on Eric Holder's confirmation. I was like, "What the frick are they thinking? We NEED an AG! But that brings to mind the fact that we haven't actually had a fully functional AG office in 8 years.
Then they started talking about the fears of some of the fine Republican Senators that people who might have tortured detainees in the course of following orders might be open to prosecution if Holder is confirmed. And that made me think... what are they really afraid of? Of being prosecuted themselves? What did they really know about the process? When did they know it? Or... perhaps this is a deeper game? Maybe they suppose that if the American government does not prosecute or at least charge Bush and Cheney and Rummy, et al, with war crimes then the UN will. And if the UN tries to come in here and tell us what to do, then you all know that everyone is going to get up in arms and refuse to go along with it and so on and so forth...
Can't you just see the brouhaha over that? That would turn the average, man on the street American (half of whom did vote for GWB, TWICE!) into rabid, ravaging animals. You know it would. And then, voila! Bush is an American Hero. And it puts Obama in a most difficult position. And it gives the GOP a chance to retake power in 2012. How's that sound for a conspiracy theory? Pretty good, eh? Hey! That would make a great book or movie, no?

Shamwow!
The dude says in the commercial, "Made in Germany. And you know the Germans make good stuff." or something quite similar. And I find that very offensive. He says it like... we don't make good stuff here in America. Oh, that's right, we don't make anything here in America, anymore, good or bad. Still, the dude is offensive (what's with that stupid headset looking thing he wears. He even wears it in the commercial for that chopper thing he's doing now. I guess he's trying to become the next Billy Mays. I, personally, would not purchase anything from either of them. I'm not going to purchase anything from anyone who yells at me. That's just rude. And I'm also not going to purchase a cleaning product from someone who doesn't look like he bothered to take a shower before filming the commercial. The guy just looks unclean to me. Just my opinion. But the Germany thing really ticks me off. I'm sure someone here in America could manufacture something just as good. Except that small manufacturers have mostly been bought out by huge conglomerates that move all the jobs overseas where they don't have to give the workers any benefits and can get away with paying them a pittance for their labour. Cause it's all about the "bottom line", ya know? Gotta make that buck so the moguls can get their multi-million dollar bonuses and the company can make a huge profit and then not pay any taxes on it.... but I digress... sorry... :)

Okay, I'm off to watch Pitch Black with Thomas. See ya later... :)

Looking at the Future

2009-01-21T00:58:00.002-05:00

... and the future looks mighty fine.

Today was The Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama. I feel better already. How about you? I feel good again, but then I start to feel like something bad is going to happen. The legacy of GW Bush, I suppose. I have, perhaps we all have, forgotten to have hope, forgotten that sometimes good things do happen and without a bad thing happening soon after. Forgot how that feels, I have.

Until he has proved to me that I should not have hopes, until he has proved to me that I should not trust him... I will place my hope in my President and the administration he has chosen to surround himself with. Smart people, dedicated, honorable, smart, hard workers, pragmatic, progressive, have I mentioned how smart they all are? They are all uber-smart. Scary that in a way. To have a smart President again. Won't know what to do.

I am curious to see how the comedians handle this transition. I mean, it was soooo easy to make fun of Bush. He made it almost too easy. I think some actually got tired of riffin' on him. After a while it was like making fun of a retarded child... it just isn't funny. Wonder how they will deal with his race. Will the black comics get away with making racial jokes and while comics get shouted down for doing the very same thing. Or will race suddenly become one of those things, one of those stereotypes like being blond and big bosumed, or being Asian and being smart, or being Mexican and having huge families... I'm just wondering. Perhaps those things are also not particularly funny, but they are acceptable to make jokes about. Now... will it be acceptable to make funny about President Obama's hair when it gets humid? As a woman who suffers from the humidity also, I will not advocate poking fun at Michelle or the girls for that reason... is that view sexist? Or racist? or just American?

I am so proud to be American today. I'm so glad that I live in this nation and that I had the chance to vote for the person whom I wanted to lead me, and my country, into the future. I am so happy today I don't even want to bash GW anymore. It's enough for me, today, that he is gone. What happens after today is a whole other subject which I will probably rant and rave about later one. For today... I just want to savor the day. Enjoy not being a subject of King George any longer. I feel, in some ways, that this election was another revolution that "We The People" won again. And it makes me think that if we ever get lax again like we did when we allowed Bush to assume the office and when we turned a blind eye to what he and his cronies were doing to our rights and freedoms and reputation... if we ever get lax like that again... it might take more than a peaceful transfer of power to get this train back on the tracks. This could have so easily turned out so much worse. We could so very easily being living in a different country tonight. We must not ever just assume that "This is America", we get to vote every four years and get a new guy if we don't like the old one. That could so easily change. See how many people believed (and still do) that we have to give the government back our rights so that they can keep us safe. How are those yahoos gonna keep us safe? They are keeping themselves and their cronies safe. Me... I'd much rather not having anyone screening my emails, my phone calls... finding out what kind of books I read, what kind of music I listen to, what kind of food I eat, what kind of clothes I wear. I have some perfectly lovely Indian women's suits that I don't wear around here that much because you never know about the goobers around here. They could easily mistake it for Muslim or Syrian garb cause they just want to cause trouble and they don't want to take the time to even learn enough about the people they supposedly hate, to even pick them out of a crowd. Just take offense at the one person who looks different. Crock of foul smalling crap is what that is. But I also have no desire to have my tires flattened or my self mugged, so I wear them only rarely. Bummer. They are so comfy and cool to look at.

Anyway... I'm so happy today. I hope you are all happy too. I hope the whole entire world is happy today/tonight. I certainly feel more hopeful now than I did this morning when I woke up.I feel like the whole world has changed and I just hope that I can change fast enough to keep up. A change, it's gonna come, now....

See you guys tomorrow. On President Obama's first full day in office. I am so curious to see what he actually does. He's said that he wanted to get to work on day one... let's see what he does, okay. I will sleep with my fingers crossed that he does something great on his first day. Not like, superman great, or whatever, but that he will at least get the wheels visibly rolling on his agenda. And I hope the everyday average citizens like me will stay on the Senate and the House to work with President Obama to get some things done. There are some... some halfwits who will still prefer to play partisan games and be obstructionists... we can't let them get away with it. I have a repugnicant governor and repugnicant reps and sens... I'm gonna stay on them to work with this new President. They didn't see any shame in being "yes" men to Bush and giving him whatever he wanted when they had the majority. Now the don't and the only little bit of power they have is to slow down or even stop the programmes that Obama wants to get thru. We have to help him by burning our reps/sens ears off. Talk, call, email, write and old fashioned letter on paper, put it in one of those funny looking things called an envelope and mail it, by snail mail. Do all those things. Get on the Internet, visit blogs, join in the conversation, express yourself. Surely some of our screams, hollers, cries and obscenities will get thru to them. :)
Anyway, perhaps I can actually sleep tonight. I feel somewhat safer. Don't you.

And the super funny thing about this feeling of safety. It was never the "terrorists" the "enemies that are coming to get me" that ever scared me. What has scared me since Sept. 11 has been my own government. One should not be afraid to speak ones mind, but I found myself feeling concern when I was on the phone and expressed my view of Bush to someone... what if they come take me away to their 'non-existent" prisons/gulags somewhere overseas and my family has no idea where I am or what happened to me. That is what I feared while my government was supposedly keeping me safe. I felt like I needed protection from my government, but there wasn't anyone available who could protect me, not from that.

Thank God it's over. Thank God! I am happy. I hope you're happy too.

I Am Legend - A Review

2009-01-17T23:03:00.014-05:00

ATTENTION: SPOILER ALERT

Some of you may already know that I purchased the Will Smith movie: "I Am Legend" for myself for Christmas. Well... my son, Thomas, and I finally got around to watching it tonight.

I will tell you that I was really looking forward to seeing this flick. I LOVE Will Smith. Everything he does is gold. GOLD! The premise of the movie was right up my alley, too. I love those type of "apocalyptic", "brave new world", "lets begin again" movies. And books too. The concept is exciting, thought provoking. A story based on this premise has Potential, with a capitol P. There are so many things you can do with it. So many ways to tell a story like this.

However, neither Mr. Smith nor anyone else associated with this flick seemed inclined to put forth the effort.

I don't think Will Smith could be bad in a movie, even if he tried. And he's not bad in this one. It's just a weak story. This film could have easily been twice the length, and done right, it would have been great! Epic! Blockbuster! This movie uses flashbacks from the main character to tell us what led to this point. The flashbacks are not seamless. They are abrupt, poorly timed, and at times come a moment too late for the previous scene to make sense in the context of the current action. The flow of the movie is not smooth and it made for an anxious movie watching experience. Leaving this viewer feeling stress and tension where none was intended nor needed.

Furthermore, his family dies, his dog dies, HE dies, and the only characters that are left, that have any speaking part in the movie, are a lady and a boy. The boy is only there as a piece of the scenery, for all I could tell. And they both came in way too late in the movie for you to get to know them. I, at least, expended no emotion on them whatsoever. And they are the ones who survived! If they were going to survive I think they should have given us some background on them too. Something to give us some connection to them, a feel for them.

This movie could have been done so much better. It had Potential. It had a first-class star, it had computer generated monsters, who, in my personal opinion where way uglier than they had to be. And the ending was so abrupt, it had no power. Nothing about it made me think. It just ended. They could have done so much more... given us a look at perhaps the accomplishment of what Will Smith's character died for. Showed us a world getting better, people moving out from their safe place to re-people the world... but no... they show us the woman and kid entering a walled, gated, fortress like, community and that was it. No hopeful ending.

And I'm sorry... I like at least a not depressing ending to my movies. I know that some movies have to have a sad ending for them to be right. This thing ended so abruptly it left no time for tears. The only character you had an emotional investment in died before the ending. This movie was so perfunctorily told. Like a story you might see on your local six o'clock news. Move it along now. We have a schedule to keep. Only the pertinent parts need be told.

Well.... I feel a little like I was cheated. I mean, it was a Will Smith movie for crying out loud! If the movie had starred say... Vin Diesel, then I would have perhaps had lower expectations. Not that I don't like Vin, in fact, I enjoyed his "Chronicles of Riddick" way more than I did "I Am Legend", but you get my point, right? It's the expectation thing. I don't know, perhaps the story line just wasn't anything to get the movie moguls excited and they weren't willing to get up off of enough cash to do this movie properly. But if that's the case, then it shouldn't have been done at all. I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think the story was told adequately. There is so much more that could have been done, said, explained, explored. I feel sort of like I was told to expect a 10 course dinner and then only got an appetizer. (Ah... you knew I would get the food reference in there some way or another)

I don't want anyone to think that Will Smith's acting was bad in this film. It was not. Not exactly, that is. It was on par with the story: perfunctory; pared down; minimalistic. Almost like he, too, could have given more, if there had been enough time, enough money, enough interest...

People who love, who adore Will Smith, will want this for their library. I think people who, like me, enjoy this subject matter and enjoy reading about it, or watching movies about it, will be disappointed. There is so much left unsaid. I don't even feel like I watched an entire movie. I am left wondering, "Where's the rest of the story?"

So there it is, I believe that this is my very first movie review. How did I do?

ADDENDUM
Just read the wiki on this movie. I think it would have been much better had they used the alternate ending discussed there. If you saw the movie, you understand why. Parts of the movie led up to this, but then never took you all the way. That's just cruel. I'm even more ticked off now. I could have at least had a "feel good" ending for all my pains of watching the damned thing! Wonder if wally world would give me my money back? Nah... probably not.

A Political Blog Post

2009-01-15T12:19:00.016-05:00

Senate panel backs Clinton as secretary of state

"The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted overwhelmingly on Thursday for Hillary Rodham Clinton to become the next secretary of state, with Democrats predicting her leadership would mark a turn from warfare toward diplomacy.

The 16-1 approval by the committee paves the way for a full Senate vote after President-elect Barack Obama takes office on Jan. 20. Clinton is not expected to hit any major roadblocks, with Republicans and Democrats alike praising her acumen on the issues.

But concerns about her husband's charitable fundraising overseas remain. Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, who was among several Republicans who raised the issue at her confirmation hearing earlier this week, cast the lone opposing vote.

In a statement, Vitter called former President Bill Clinton's foundation a "multimillion dollar minefield of conflicts of interest."

"This could produce explosions at any minute, particularly concerning the Middle East where we least need them," Vitter said."

Just my opinion... but I strongly disagree with her being grilled about her husbands work. Her "fitness" for the job depending on what her husband has done or will do. I understand that the Clinton family is not your average, run of the mill, American family... but dang! I don't want a potential employer judging me on things my husband does or is responsible for. It wouldn't be right. It's not right for me, for her, or for any one.

Yes, I understand that they started this "two for one" thing way back when he was first running for President back in 1991. But that's over now. She's made that plain. And so has he. I think they ought to confirm her (or not) on her own merits and let Bill go on running his Global Initiative deal. How many of those members of congress have spouses who work for lobbying firms? How is that not a "conflict of interest"? Could someone please s'plain that to me? I'd like to see every one of them fess up to that.

And yes, I understand that she's likely to be confirmed without much trouble now that the Foreign Relations Committee has voted. But still... it was wrong! And further more and on top of that it was grandstanding on Vitter's, and others, part to even bring it up. And I don't understand why more women aren't angry as hell about it. Ya know... in the Middle East a woman cannot get a driver licence or a job or do other things, unless a male member of her family gives their permission.... now the "Greatest Deliberative Body" in the world, is making a big deal about a women's husband when considering her for a job she's immanently qualified for? Why doesn't that outrage more folks? It outrages me. But maybe that's just me.

Anywhoos... just watched Bush's final (yippee!!!! I'm ecstatic) State of the Union address. Can someone please tell me what drugs he's doing? I'd like to believe the last eight years have been that great, too. Sweet Jehu! What planet has that devil been living on? I think the vacuous, brain dead idiot really believes he was that good for our nation.

One spot of good news today: A plane crash landed in the Hudson River today and no one was killed. Okay, that's bad and then good. Very bad, and then very very good. And as a bonus, that story is trumping GW's last prime time address to the nation. Sort of like: okay George, there's the door, bye-bye; don't call us, we'll call you; don't let the door hit you; time's up, you're done; WOULD YOU JUST LEAVE ALREADY!!!

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries...

2009-01-12T14:25:00.008-05:00

... right up to the time when it turns into a bowl of pits, because you've eaten all the danged cherries and there ain't no more, and you don't have the f'in car so you can't go to the store and refresh your supply! And Oh! Woe is me!

Hope you guys are enjoying the cheap cherry crop from Chile while they are in season. Cherries are surely one of the "foods of the Gods". Besides, not only are they outrageously tasty... they are quite good for you. Well worth the hassle of dealing with a lil ol pit.

Hope you enjoyed what I intended to be a humorous attempt to get you all out there eating these delicious red berries before they are all gone. They only last a few weeks, you know. Then its all hydroponic or nothing until the American North West takes up the slack with their big, juicy, so good if you eat enough of them you will get dizzy, cherries. And Michigan and Pennsylvania also put forth a good crop. Other states as well. And I strongly encourage you to partake of the bounty the hardworking farmers of this nation provide. If you stop and think about it, it might make you cry too. The absolute perfection, the beauty of a Rainier cherry picked at the precise moment of ripeness. Better than strong spirits for making a person feel high.

Anyway, those Chilean cherries are right tasty, even if they are a bit smaller than some grown elsewhere. And at $3.00 per pound for fresh and in good condition, berries. Why wait? Enjoy them while they are here. You'll appreciate the local varieties even more when they show up.

Bon Appetite` my friends.

Homemade Croutons And Pizza Crackers

2009-01-12T11:41:00.008-05:00

I was going to post this on the cooking blog, but tricia posted that wonderful soup recipe "Easy Taco Soup" over there last night and it looks so wonderful, I didn't want to go over the top of it until everyone had a chance to check it out. I'm making it for supper tonight, in fact.

Anyway... here's a couple of items that I make for my family quite regularly. I made them over the weekend, in fact. They are easy to do and delicious. I think you will all enjoy trying them both. At least once or twice. :-)

Homemade Croutons

A lovely bowl of crunchy, savory goodness.

How do you make this delightful treat? Let me tell you:

1. One long baguette of sourdough, or bread of your preference, sliced thin. *The long, skinny ones are perfect for this.
2. Olive oil, or any healthful oil you care to use. If it adds flavor all the better. *For this batch I used the tag ends of the bottles of organic olive oil, avocado oil, and grape seed oil that I wanted to finish off. The olive oil was sweet and fruity, the avocado oil was smooth and rich, the grape seed oil added just a hint of tartness.
3. Herbs and spices of your choosing. *I used garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, lemon powder, basil, and black pepper. You can also make taco flavored croutons, curried croutons, whatever flavor you desire.
4. Place baguette slices in deep bowl. Sprinkle on the herbs and spices. Toss with enough oil to get the dried herbs to adhere to the bread. I use a quarter cup or less for one long baguette.
5. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in a preheated 300 to 325 degree oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the croutons are golden and crunchy. Or to your desired level of "doneness".

Before going into the oven:

I started making these homemade croutons one time when I had purchased too many baguettes and wanted to use them up before they went totally bad. It didn't take me long to realize that if I made these for my guys I could control the amount of salt and fat to a certain extent. I could use oils that offered more nutritionally than were used in the store bought varieties. They were such a big hit, I now buy baguettes specifically for this purpose.

I'm going to move on, now, to something that I'm sure you all know how to do, but perhaps have forgotten about:

Pizza Crackers!

This was supper for us on Friday night (01/09/09). Pizza crackers and a Cesar Salad with the awesome Homemade Croutons I discussed above.

Forget about spending money on that mediocre, mass produced, delivery pizza on "Pizza Night". My son loves these things. And although hubby doesn't admit to it, he likes them a lot, too. These little guys are super easy to make, versatile, and just plain fun.

So, how do you do it? Well... anyway you damn well please! tehehe... for this batch I used:

1. Whole Wheat crackers *which did not work very well. They didn't stay crispy. I usually use Triscuits, specifically the Cracked Pepper flavor, but I didn't have any last Friday night. You can bet I corrected that little issue on Sunday when I went grocery shopping.
2. Pizza or Spaghetti sauce of your choice.
3. Mozzarella cheese.
4. Turkey pepperoni *not necessary to use turkeyroni, I use it because its lower fat content.
5. Parmesan cheese to top it all off. *sorry Elsie, you can leave it off. After all, these are made however YOU like them.
To assemble, you just put your crackers down on a baking sheet, smear with a little bit of sauce, about a half tsp. or little less per cracker. Lay on a piece of mozzarella, followed by a piece of turkeyroni or pepperoni, or Italian salami or whatever you like (can use already cooked Italian sausage if you like it). Top with a thin slice of Parmesan cheese. You can also add slivers of peppers, onions, olives, anything you like, as long as its the proper size to fit on the cracker. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is all melted and goo-ey. Take up from the baking sheet as soon as you take it from the oven. Otherwise the melted cheese is prone to stick then your crackers break when you try to pry them up. These are good hot or room temp, just like regular pizza. I don't know about cold, cause there are never any left to get cold.

Pizza Crackers are a delicious, easy to do meal that kids of all ages enjoy. If you are careful, you can make a treat that is far more healthy than carry out/delivery pizza. And they are much tastier than frozen pizza will ever be.

Hope you'll give these two taste treats a try. They are really easy to do.

Does anyone else find this funny?

2009-01-09T19:29:00.003-05:00

Moschino Cheap & Chic Collection

They called it Cheap & Chic!!! Bwahahahahahaha... I'm rolling on the floor with tears streaming down my cheeks. I swear to GOD!!! If that's CHEAP Donald Trump is a runway model!

Besides, I can't imagine wearing ANY of that stuff. Well.... okay, maybe the two on the second row... maybe, just maybe. But I certainly can't imagine PAYING that much for either of them. Ya, know... even if I had as much money as Donald Trump, I don't think I could make myself pay that much for a frock. Well, maybe a wedding dress. If I ever felt the need for me and my man to renew our vows or if I wanted to get divorced and then re-married. And why in the world would I want to go thru all that hassle? (just kidding, dear)

Actually, I've never worn a wedding dress. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it. And I'm pretty sure I could come up with something more fun or useful to spend a bundle on than a dress I'm only going to wear once. Silly tradition, eh? Ought to be able to get more than one wearing out of something you pay that much for. Anyway... just my opinion. No offense intended to all you brides out there.

Islands...

2009-01-04T19:52:00.008-05:00

... in my stream of consciousness

A can of corn at the Kroger was 79 cents today. One week ago it was 55 cents. Great incentive to get that garden going first thing in the spring, eh?

My opinion, purely my opinion: Hamas and the Palestinians could stop this slaughter right now if they wanted to. Obviously they don't want to.

Bill Richardson withdrew his name from nomination for Sec. of Commerce today. Too bad. He's one uber-smart fella. Probably why he withdrew his name, eh? Smart enough to see what a big circus it would all be. Still say he'd be perfect for just about any spot in the in-coming administration. Oh well, perhaps he can just be used as a "man about town", "jack of all trades" sort of "unofficial" member of the admin. Someone who can work back channels that confirmed members cannot. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I really like Bill Richardson.

Why are stories about Zeus, Venus or Oden myths but we consider stories about Krishna, Moses, or Buddha to be religious texts? What makes one text more believable than the other? I'm just sayin'...

ADDENDUM
The Bush retirement plan: build library, enjoy perks

What kinda books will it house? "See Spot Run"??? tehehehe...
Well, I couldn't resist that. I saw the headline and that's the first thing that came to mind.

It didn't even bother me

2009-01-01T22:12:00.007-05:00

My man spent the entire day watching the Biggest Loser marathon on Bravo. AND IT DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER ME!!! How wonderful is that? It just dawned on me too. They were running a commercial about the show just now and it hit me... he watched that all day long and it never once punched me in my over-sized gut, or hurt my feelings, or anything like that! Before, when he turned on shows like that I was sure he was doing it to point out to ME that I desperately needed to loose weight (Which I DO know. I'm not stupid, for Christ's sake!). But still, it always made me feel sad and bad and mad and all that stuff. Gave me a real hard time, mentally and emotionally. Today... I didn't even notice what he was watching at first. Then I just tuned it out, like any other show. I think I may have reached another level of independence, or acceptance, or something... Perhaps just taking responsibility for myself and the way I feel. Not letting him set the tone for how I feel about myself.
What ever it is: Way to go, ME!!! High-five!

Myself? I have spent the day watching the marvelous, the wonderful, the one and only Mythbusters on the Discovery channel. They have been running a marathon, oh! lucky me! 2009 is truly off to a good start. :)

BTW, am I the only person on the planet besides gay guys who thinks Jamie Hyneman is sexy?

Don't ask me. I never noticed it before, either. I guess I spent way too much time watching them today. I'd like to get my hands on that one!

So... that's pretty much it for today. Actually, it's already tomorrow, here. So begins a new year. Glad I haven't lost my interest in guys. Glad today was a good day. Hope everyone out there has the best year ever! Love you all! Mean it!
Ciao.

Opinion on the Middle East Crisis

2008-12-29T21:09:00.005-05:00

Okee-dokee... here it is... this is my opinion. Only my opinion. I don't intend to offend anyone. I am not anti-Palestinian/pro-Israeli or vice verse. This is what I think (within my own little pea brain)

See, its like this: If I have a little bitty, brittle stick and I repeatedly strike my neighbor with it. And I know that my neighbor has a nice, strong, heavy, sturdy baseball bat... well, you get where I'm going with this, don't you? If I'm stupid enough to behave in that manner, I have to expect that eventually my neighbor is going to retaliate. And if I run and hide behind my precious son and my neighbor hits my son in the head with his great big, sturdy baseball bat, and kills him.... then, my son's death would be my fault, wouldn't it?

Ya see what I'm sayin'? If those Hamas idiots want to act the way they are, then why is everyone in the world protesting what Israel is doing in retaliation? Why doesn't everyone pour into the streets and protest when Palestinian killers blow up innocent women and children on a bus in Jerusalem? Why is it only wrong for Israeli soldiers to blow up a Hamas weapons cache hidden in a neighborhood of innocent women and children in Gaza? If they don't want their women and children to be blown up they shouldn't put their weapons under their beds. They shouldn't be so cowardly as to hide behind their women and children after they start a fight with someone who has bigger and better weapons than they do. Actually, strike that... they shouldn't be hiding behind them anyway, anyhow, for any reason, regardless of the type of weapons. And if the populace doesn't want that to happen they should insist they take their stupid "holy war" someplace else.

The whole thing about denying that Israel has a right to exist is just silly. They do exist. They will continue to exist. Deal with it. Live with it. Quit being stupid. Just think of all the good things you could do with the money you waste on weapons. Just think of all the wonderful inventions, arts, books, etc., that we'll never use, see, read, because the persons who would have invented it, painted it, written it, were killed before they could! Stupid. What has all your stupid fight about stupid religion gotten you in all these long centuries? Masses of poor, un-fed, un-washed, ignorant, wretched humanity. How can that possibly be showing respect for the bodies God created? Or the Earth God provided us? How can blowing up the land and the people therein be showing respect for anything? Wounding, maiming, denying the basic human rights to God's creations is quite irresponsible for a supposedly "Godly" people, eh?

Anyway, that's just what I think.

An Unexpected Gift Brings Joy Beyond Imagining

2008-12-27T01:30:00.004-05:00

Me, opening my beautiful Netsuke from my dear (and most observant) friend, Snowy. By sending me this truly wonderful, caring and thoughtful gift, you have shown what a true friend you are to me. Your gift made me cry tears of happiness and saddness. I know you understand the why for both. :) You are beautiful, Snowy. Tho I have never laid eyes on you in person, I KNOW that you are beautiful, through and through.

A close up (as best as I could do with the pictures Pete took) of my Netsuke. You can view it on-line here. It is called Hotei With Baby

Hotei. Cool. Very Cool. Here's the wiki for it: The Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神, Shichi Fukujin?), commonly referred to in English as the Seven Lucky Gods, refer to the seven gods of good fortune in Japanese mythology and folklore. They are often the subject of netsuke carvings and other representations.

I know myself to be a nurturer, a giver, a kind person. One who wishes only good things for others. I am content that this be my Netsuke. It touches me on so many different levels. And I'm proud to have him with me. I am sure he will bring me good luck in the year ahead. Thank you again, Snowy, for your awesome gift. You can be sure that I will absolutely cherish it for ever and ever.

Its a Party!!!

2008-12-18T18:37:00.012-05:00

Sugar Free (Mostly) Banana Bread
Well, how can it be totally sugar-free when the ripe bananas are full of sugar?

I just love these little individual sized baking pans. Mini cakes are so darned cute.

Out of the pans! And none of them stuck! Thomas was hoping there would be a broken one that he could try out. So...

... I broke one for him. He's so spoiled. But he's so worth it!

Here's the recipe if you want to try these. They are delicious! I have to give my sister Martie her props for this recipe. She made this one night while we were down at her house visiting. When I got home, I emailed her and asked her for the recipe. This is what she emailed me back:

Hey Sis,
Here it is:
1 c sugar (I use 1/2 to 3/4 depending on how ripe/sweet the bananas are)
1 egg
2 c all purpose flour (or 2 cup self rise, but leave out the salt and baking soda if you use it)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c Veg Oil
3 or 4 lg ripe bananas mashed
1 tsp baking soda
Nuts optional

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. I guess muffin tins wouldn't take as long as cake/biscuit pan? Anyway, you know how to do it I'm sure.

When I made these for gifting I only changed it like this:
I added 2 tsp baking powder (it helps make it not so dense) and I changed the sugar to just a taddy over 1/4 cup of Splenda. I think Splenda is sweeter than sugar, so don't usually use as much. I also only used 1/4 cup oil with 1/4 cup buttermilk. Then I added 1/2 c of hershey's sugar-free chocolate chips. Baked for about 15 minutes in the little pans. When I made the larger one (see picture lower down) I baked it for about 35 minutes.

Finished gift bags for the folks in Pete's office.
Each one contains:
Pecan Penuche
Maple Walnut Fudge
Candy Cane Fudge
Mocha Fudge
Panettone
1/2 dz. Assorted Cookies

As you can see there are no little banana breads in the sacks.

That's because I made a large one for them!
Okay, there was a small one in that picture of the gift bag contents, but that was a 'special' bag for someone who wasn't going to be there to get any of the big one.

And I made a platter with a mound of silver and gold colored sugar cookies rising like a mountain out of a sea of Mocha Fudge and Candy Cane White Chocolate Fudge.

This is a double layer platter of Pecan Penuche and Maple Walnut Fudge. Both really good stuff.

And last, but not least, a platter full of Coconut Macaroons and Chocolate Peanut Cookies. I love Coconut Macaroons. Don't know why I don't make them more often. They aren't hard to do.

Now for the Grand Finale!

And a good time was had by all!

I make the individual gift bags for the people that my husband works directly with. I make the platters for the people who work out in the shop and for any of the drivers who might come in. By all accounts it is appreciated and enjoyed. And knowing that gives me joy.

I hope you all have something that brings you joy in this season and in all the seasons ahead.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

2008-12-14T22:41:00.008-05:00

Courtesy of your friend, the candy making Elf.

Some of my fudge and sugar free chocolates firming up.

Close-up of the cute little chocolate mold I picked up at Walmart the other day. These are sugar-free peppermint candy cane chocolates for my sister-in-law. Hope she likes them.

Goodie bags queuing up to be filled...

Platters for the shop at Pete's work getting started...

What's inside the sack, Santa?

This is it, so far...

Individual sized Panettone (made 12 small loafs and one large one)
Pecan Penuche (made two batches)
Maple Walnut Fudge (made four batches)
White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge (made 5 batches*)
*had to make 5 of the peppermint because Pete keeps eating it

Close-up of the Candied Orange and Lemon Peel that I made, specifically for the home-made Panettone that I make. It's a thing I'm fairly proud of having the knack for doing. This stuff is to die for! I hope I can be forgiven for this show of hubris.

Our beautiful Christmas Tree. Hung with mostly ornaments that Thomas has made over the years, and special ornaments that have been given to me by people I care about. A few old store-bought ones that I've had for years. This tree makes me especially happy this year. Don't know why.

Okay, I'm off to make 3 more batches of Mocha Fudge. Love to all.

Dance Little Sister...

2008-12-06T01:04:00.002-05:00

... don't give up today...

Terence Trent D'Arby - Dance Little Sister

Indeed. And I didn't, as you will note. I'm still here.

I have discovered a thing about myself. I have a disease. It's called depression and there is no cure. The best I can hope for is remission. But that's neither here nor there, as my mother liked to say.

I have also discovered that I don't like selling my jewelry. I'm not a salesperson. And then, even when you say on your page that the item is sold "as is" people ask you to alter it somehow and then it doesn't work and it breaks and it's not my fault but I try to fix it and then they want to say they never received it back and yada yada yada... so, I closed my etsy store. I'm just not able to deal with that crap. I can't believe I used to work in customer service. If I had to do that now I think I would hurt somebody.

I also discovered that when I go grocery shopping I should pay more attention. Here's my funny Thanksgiving Turkey story: I bought a frozen turkey for our Thanksgiving feast. I didn't want a huge one but I wanted a whole one, not just a breast like we usually get. I wanted a drumstick, ya know? :) So, I'm digging thru the bin of turkeys and I find a small-ish one, around 12 pounds. I put it in the cart and take it home. Now... Thomas has a way that he saw on Alton Brown's show Good Eats on the food network of soaking a turkey in brine and seasonings over night and roasting it the next day. It's a really good way to cook a turkey. This is the way I almost always do mine anymore. So... I have my turkey thawing in the fridge for 3 days, on the day before Thanksgiving I make the brine. I had to do two batches because the turkey would be soaking in the cooler which is bigger than what I usually soak a breast in. Anyway... I cooks up two batches of brine and then I cut open the plastic wrap from the turkey and the most horrible smell assaults my nose! I swear to God I thought the bird was rotten! So I start looking on the package for a sell by date or something and wondering if I can find a fresh or already thawed turkey at 8pm on Thanksgiving eve! As I'm looking at the packaging (with my glasses on) I see that it says this is an already marinated turkey! Marinated and shot up with Cajun spices! I swear I never saw it when I bought the damned thing! I hate that nasty Cajun stuff they inject turkeys with. It's yucky, icky poo, nasty. Needless to say I was mortified. So Pete says, "maybe if you rinse it off really good and soak it a few times in fresh water it will wash it all off and then the brine will season it like we like it. So that's what I did. And I ended up with a totally inedible bird for all my hard work. It was gross. And further more, the damned thing was way hot. I can't imagine how hot it would have been had I not rinsed it off before cooking. I can't see how anyone could have served something that spicy to their kids, but... what do I know? So, we had prosciutto wrapped asparagus, delicious cornbread stuffing, baked sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. And no bird. It was a good meal anyway. Thomas did eat some of the turkey breast wrapped in a tortilla with some jack cheese and lettuce on it. He said it was good that way. I, however, purchased a new whole turkey and I plan to have a do-over real soon. Yes, I read the whole package very carefully to make sure this one is just a nice, plain, old-fashioned, season it yourself, turkey. And that's my Thanksgiving story. Nice, huh? Good thing the pecan pie was good. In fact it was outrageously, unbelievably tasty. I did good on that part of the feast.

Now then... I have made the candied peel and I'm going to do the coconut candy today then I will get the fudge shop opened. I love this time of year. Sugar is so fun to work with. It gets me all giggly and excited. Hope everyone else is all giggly and excited about this time of year, too.

Tuesday's Gone

2008-11-13T00:50:00.009-05:00

With the wind...

This was what I was going to blog about yesterday, but never found the time. Now... well, actually Wednesdays gone too. But now is when I have the time...

This was my view out the kitchen door on Tuesday. Aren't the leaves lovely?

The kitty sitting on the fence is Speckle Face.

This is Gray Boy and Blondie. You see that Blondie has a mouse she's caught and is trying to eat and Gray Boy is trying to maneuver around to steal it from her and he's upsetting her something fierce. She eventually took her mouse and climbed a tree to get away from him.

This is one of four of the little Black Babies. I call this one Fat Belly cause she has.... well... a fat belly. She likes to be picked up and cuddled. I think I'm going to keep her. She's too sweet to give away.

This is Speckle Face again with one of the little Blackies. Doesn't she have the most marvelous golden eyes. She's kinda scardy acting, but if you give her a goody she will let you pet her.

This is the very proper, dapper looking Mr. Whitenose. He's so funny. He wants to be loved so much but when you pet him he just can't help it, he tries to bite you. Its like he can't control himself, he likes it so much but then he turns around and bites. I can't give him away. His new family might not be so understanding. Unless it's someone just wanting a good outside mouser. He won't be good with kids, tho.

Look at little scardy cat White Face under the grill. He's so sweet. He's Blondie's and Mr. Whitenose's brother but he's not nearly so outgoing as those two are. Don't know what I'm going to do with him. I can't even catch him up or try to pet him. He won't let me near. Guess I'll just let him hang around.

Anyway... Tuesday was a good day. Hope you enjoy the pictures of my babies.

It's time...

2008-11-08T21:06:00.008-05:00

... for a few more talented, sexy, mighty-fine-to-look-at fellas.

My hubby looked very like these first two on the list back when I first met him in 1984. Is it any wonder I nearly fainted when we were first introduced? He had a nice singing voice too, back then. He still had kinda long, dark hair when we married 12 years later. He keeps his hair short these days, and it's mostly white now. But he still has it, unlike the unfortunate Mr. Taylor.

James Taylor ~ How Sweet It Is
I love, love, love this guys voice.
Sweet Baby James, indeed...

Jackson Browne ~ Rock Me On The Water
It seems I have been a fan of Mr. Browne all my life. Even when I was too young to know who he was. The song I have here is from his self-titled 1972 album, which also contains another of my all-time favorite songs, "Doctor My Eyes". My uncle Donnie purchased his hit 1978 album "Running On Empty" and was kind enough to let me wear the grooves out on it. I purchased his follow up album "Hold Out" myself, on 8-track. Wow... that was a long time ago, wasn't it?

Jonny Lang ~ Give Me Up Again
So talented. I truly would love to see this guy live. One of my very most favorite songs that he does is called "I Am" from his 1998 disc "Wander This World" which I own (along with all but his very first offering, "Smokin"). However... the only version available on youtube is of an unacceptable quality. You can sample it at Amazon.com here if you are interested.

Jimmy Page w/The Firm ~ Midnight Moonlight Lady
One of the best, most innovative guitarists EVER. Who doesn't love Led Zep? Or the Yardbirds? Or The Firm? Okay, okay... forget that last one, altho I did use a song from their incarnation here. I did like that group, even tho it was poo-poohed by the critics and treated like a red-headed stepchild by a lot of older Led Zep fans. I did own their first album (on cassette). And I do, personally, think it was good stuff from all members concerned. Anyway... the song I used here is actually a Bad Company song performed by The Firm... but I digress...

So, that's the list for tonight. These dudes are all uber-talented. Not to mention nice to look at for various different reasons. I love their passion, their artistry, the joy they have given me thru the years... I hope these music choices will bring you joy as well.

I just wanna say...

2008-11-06T18:40:00.003-05:00

... that altho I don't like Sarah Palin, I don't think she alone should bear the blame for McCain's loss. Sure she's a willfully ignorant, vapid, vacuous, small minded little chit... but the first fault was McCain's for choosing her for such high office when he HAD to know she wasn't ready. She may well NEVER be ready, but the first fault is his. And he's getting a free pass by the media on it! All day today, whenever I turned on the TV all I heard was how stupid she was, how she didn't know the countries in North America, how she didn't know that Africa was a continent, on and on, Fox Noise not the least of the bashers. But no one is talking about the stupidity of John McCain in picking her in the first place. Or the Republican party big-wigs, or whomever made the decision.

I am not defending her, you understand, I just think there is enough blame to go around and I think that the fella who made it possible for her to display her ignorance to the world should be a man and take his lumps right along with her. As well as his staff, the staff around her, the people who kept making excuses for her instead of getting her off the stage...

I do wonder what will happen to the Republican party now, tho. Suppose they decide to split into two parties. Perhaps the ones who supported and liked Palin will decide they want her to be their leader? Perhaps they won't reconcile with the ones who want Romney to be their leader? Personally, not just because I want them out of power for a good long while, I would like to see a split. Mostly because I would like to see more political parties than just these two major ones. More and more people are registering as Independents, but why shouldn't we have more than two major parties? Why can't we have 4-6-8? More? We aren't all the same and a lot of us don't entirely belong in either one of the existing parties.

So... now I'm going to go eat my sausage and kraut. Didn't make spaetzle, just put a potato in it for myself. I like it that way.

Update 11/07/08: Watched Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow last night and both of them mentioned pretty much the same thing I was saying above. Not quite like I did, but... they did bring up the fact that Palin was not the only, or even the first, person to whom blame should fall. I knew there was a reason I like those two. :)

Obama Wins!!!!!

2008-11-04T23:13:00.003-05:00

Lord, Thank you.

Take the Quiz

2008-10-29T15:24:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Bunny and Elsie, I have one too:

http://www.quizyourfriends.com/take-quiz.php?id=0810291450136433&a=1&

Don't Cha Need Me?

2008-10-28T11:57:00.005-04:00

... Hey, hey! Don't cha need me? Oh yeah!

The Billy Squier episode.

Billy Squier - In The Dark

I saw this dude in concert back in... ummmm.... 1984? August I think it was, or perhaps Sept. In Lakeland, FL. Ratt was the opener. They were so so. Not bad, not great, good fun. Then Billy hit the stage. OH MY GOD!!! I totally freaked out! I think I actually might have stepped on a few unfortunate souls in my quest to be right in front, nothing between me and this magnificent, gorgeous, talented, oh, just beautiful in every way, man. Nothing, that is but a couple of big, hairy goons masquerading as "security". The joys of "general seating", ya know?

This video is from that same tour, different city, tho. He was sooooo good.

Billy Squier - She's a Runner - Recorded Live in Detroit

Last but not least,

Billy Squier - All Night Long

Happy, sexy, fun loving, artist. I always wanted to get my hands in that lovely, curly hair.

Don't cha wanna live! Indeed.

A Day's Worth of Random Thoughts

2008-10-23T13:52:00.008-04:00

So... hubby comes home from work yesterday and says, "Honey, if you had been McCain's choice for vice-president this year you too could have got a $150,000 shopping spree for yourself and your family." So I says, "Wouldn't have worked, Sweetheart. According to their requirements I am over-qualified." (ba-da-bomp!)

Do you guys have any idea how good apples and cinnamon smell cooking on the stove?

I'm still waiting for my robo-call. I got them from McCain during the primaries, but for the general??? Cheap bastard. (Just kidding, I know he has other priorities)

I have three new books. Well, they are new to me. I bought them used and they've been out for a few years... problem is... with this wealth of new reading material, I don't know which one to start on first.

Another quandary, do I go vote early, or do I do the traditional thing and join my neighbors and friends at the polling place on Nov. 4th? I'm thinking on voting early. Starting on Oct. 27th the early voting place is open til 6pm. That way I can go after Pete gets home from work and I won't have to ask for the car. He might even come vote early with me. Seeing all these long lines... I can only imagine what Nov. 4th will be like. Lord knows I don't want to have to stand in line for hours. That doesn't sound fun at all. I mean, it's good that so many people are voting, but still... election boards across the country should have been more ready for the large numbers of people who we've all known for months are interested in this election. Now they want to act like the numbers are totally unexpected. Puh-leeze!

Well, whatdaya know? Just got my first robo-call of the general election season! I'm so excited. Whoopee! Can't ya tell? It wasn't a McCain call. It was for congressman Paul Braun. It went something like this, "Hello friend, this is Pat Boone. Yes... Love Letters In Sand, Pat Boone. I'm calling on behalf of my friend congressman Paul Braun..." that's about the time I hung up. I listened long enough to see who he was calling on behalf of, and then, click. I never did like Pat Boone anyway. I think I'd vote for "the other guy" just because I don't like him.

The older I get the more like my mother I look.

Alan Greenspan, the former Fed Chair, was up on the Hill today answering questions posed to him by members of the House. This dude was the top money man in the nation, perhaps the world, for the better part of two decades. And the best he could come up with when asked why he didn't see this coming was "our models were wrong"!!! Come on! After all this time, that's the best you can do? Two decades of running the show and you can't even make the effort to come up with a half-arsed short story for us? All he has to say for himself is HE GOT IT WRONG?! The dude sure has got lazy since he retired. Sheesh. I want a refund. I don't feel like I got my money's worth.

I made some outrageously, awesomely delicious whole grain roti for supper tonight. I used whole wheat flour, Indian millet flour, whole grain rye flour and I used barley flour on the board when I was rolling them out. They turned out soooo good. Then I made pork and potato curry to go with. Darned good stuff! Hubby had a sausage and cheese omelet, not being a big fan of Indian food. I also made a batch of apple walnut tarts. The house smells so good. I can't describe it.

Now I'm going to go put my foot up and watch the rest of Hardball. Then I'll watch Keith and Rachel and then, hopefully, I'll be ready to fall asleep. See ya!

Speaking of...

2008-10-22T15:28:00.002-04:00

The California Raisins...

Someone was sweet enough to put that one particular video of them on youtube. The video that I commented on my last post that I had got for my neice, Katie. So... just for you Pam:
Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

*Disclaimer: You may never look at fruits and veggies the same again. :)

Hope you enjoyed!

Put The Lime In The Coconut...

2008-10-21T14:43:00.002-04:00

...and drink em both down.

So... I was on my way home from getting my foot x-rayed today and I was grooving on Sirius Satellite Radio (which my awesome car came equipped with) and I was on the 70's channel. So, this song came on and I was like "WOW! I haven't heard that song in ages. I must look it up on youtube as soon as I get home and then share it with all my wonderful friends!"

I hope you enjoyed this little taste of silliness today. I sure did. Brought back many happy memories of being a barefoot brat playing in the sand in my Granny's yard in Florida.

I Got It!!!

2008-10-17T13:27:00.004-04:00

... Yippee! My Obama/Biden yard sign finally arrived! I'm so happy about that. However... the box it came in had been broken open and the packing slip was missing. I wonder how that could have happened? The USPS is supposed to plastic wrap a damaged package and put some sort of explanation on it for the damage if the delivery address is still legible, which is was. Oh well... I'm probably on some sort of list now for ordering something from the Obama Store. So be it.

The thing that pisses me off is that I'm afraid to put it up in my yard. Right now I have it displayed in my front window. I'm afraid that if I put it outside it will get stolen, vandalized, etc. Pete is worried that our house or car will get vandalized because of it. A fellow he works with put one in his yard and someone threw a rock through his front window. It makes me angry that I have to be afraid to display my political opinion on my own front lawn. There are at least 5 McCain/Palin signs in yards on my street. Do they worry about having their belongings vandalized because of it? I doubt it. But around here... even when I go to vote in the Primaries here, since GA has an open primary, which is where both Dems and Reps go to the same poling place on the same day and they have to ask for the ballot of their choice, when I ask for a democratic ballot the old geezers manning the table always have something snide to say such as, "Oh, she gets one of those ballots." or, this last time the old goat who checked my ID said something about the need for me to change my party affiliation. I don't remember his exact words, and perhaps he didn't mean it to sound so demeaning, but it does. I know some folks who would go so far as to call it voter intimidation or some such. And since we changed to electronic voting where we use those stupid little credit card looking things I never feel like my vote is counted the way I cast it. I mean, all the people at my poling place are republicans, how do I know that they haven't cast their votes first thing and then just let everyone else go and cast the same vote? I mean, I don't know how it works, but they keep giving the cards out over and over, they are supposed to wipe the memory between each use, but how do we KNOW they really do? The answer is... we don't know. Plain and simple, we have to take it on faith that they are counting our votes the way we cast them. But I don't really have much hope that they do. Count my vote correctly, that is.

Anyway... watched the debate the other night. Of course, my dear friends all knew I would. I thought that McCain actually started out fairly feisty. He looked almost like the McCain of old. Then... he let his irascible side show. After about 30-35 minutes he just looked old, angry, irritated, flustered. And the way he and all his supporters keep talking about how they always repudiate anyone who says anything untoward about Obama. Sheesh! He disputed one crazy old lady who called him an Arab. And I'm pretty sure she was a "plant" meant to ask that question specifically so McCain could say "no, he's not". And now they are using that one instance to say he always corrects such as that. And further more, when he was complaining about Obama not repudiating what Rep. Jon Lewis said... McCain just looked petulant. He looked like a spoiled little brat in an old man's body. He looked ridiculous. And why should Obama repudiate what Lewis said? Obama didn't put him up to it. He wasn't speaking on Obama's behalf. And further more, what he said was the truth. If you don't want people to accuse you of racism, of stirring up dangerous feelings in your supporters, then you shouldn't go there. Truth hurts sometimes.

Also... can I say something about the way McCain blinks his eyes so furiously? I mean... it's weird. You know, I was always taught that you should watch a person's eyes to tell if they are lying or not. Some people won't look at you when they lie. Some people will look at you but never blink. And some people will blink their eyes uncontrollably. The way he does that just makes me think he's a liar. Right or wrong, that's the impression I get. And the way he continually does that old man, lizard tongue thing. It's gross. Just gross. I don't like it. It doesn't give me a favorable impression of McCain. Am I wrong to think that way? Perhaps. But there it is.

And Joe Lieberman, can I say a word about that grinning idiot. He's beginning to look like some sort of life-size puppet. Has anyone but me noticed how he is always in the picture with McCain? It's weird. It's like he's on the campaign trail with McCain all the time. Instead of being in Washington DC taking care of the business that his constituents elected him to take care of. Why is he up McCain's butt like that? He isn't part of his campaign, or not publicly, anyway. But he trails McCain around like a little puppy. It's embarrassing. Or would be if Joe Lieberman could still be embarrassed.

As to Obama's performance at the last debate: I thought he was calm, cool, deliberate. I thought he could have been a tad more aggressive about the lies the McCain campaign tells about him. But I'm sure he knows what he's doing. He's ahead, isn't he? I just hope he doesn't get too cocky. But he seems to be aware of the potential for that to become a problem. I am just very very afraid that "something" will happen between now and election day, a bombing, a hijacking, a kidnapping, something... that will take the American mind off of the economy and drag everyone back down to that mentality of "take all my rights away, just keep the bad guys from killing me". And McCain is telling such outrageous lies now. Telling his rabid followers that Obama is a socialist, when he's not. Saying that if you make more than $250,000 Obama will take it and redistribute it to others. ??? And you know what? You know what??? Those idiots who support McCain, who go to his rallies, they are just eating this crap up. Swallowing it whole. And loving it! The loudest roars are when McCain tells the most outrageous lies about his opponent. And anyone with half a mind should be able to tell that they are lies, but these idiots are just rolling in it like hogs in slop. I don't get it.

And now the republicans are claiming that Obama is somehow in cahoots with, or instigated this Acorn mess with the voter registrations. And they keep calling it "Voter Fraud". Which it is not. It is potentially "voter registration fraud", which is an entirely different thing. But "Voter Fraud" sounds so bad, and dangerous, and so forth... what did McCain call it at the debate... "the potential end to the democratic process", or some such nonsense. "Voter Fraud" is when votes are cast that shouldn't have been. Like when someone votes more than once, or when "dead people" cast votes, or felons or what have you. "Voter registration fraud" is when people register to vote using an assumed name (of a dead person, a cartoon character, a famous person). If a person turns in a registration to vote form, such as a person hired by Acorn or other non-profit organizations, that organization is required by law to submit it to the board of elections or whatever that locality calls its office who's responsibility it is to verify said forms and issue voter cards. It doesn't mean that someone can actually go and vote under an assumed name. Or that someone who mistakenly registered two or three times to vote can actually go and vote that many times. But the republicans (and some media outlets) would have you believe that is what will happen. It is my personal belief that the republicans are positioning themselves to steal another election. I sincerely hope the American people won't allow that to happen to them again.

So... that's my political update. I'm about to break out in hives I'm so anxious for Nov. 4th to arrive. Sometimes I have to go to my "happy place" and just take steady even breathes before I hyperventilate. This election is so terribly important to us all. Lord please help us to get it right this time. I am afraid, and I don't like that feeling.

Speaking of being afraid: have you guys seen on the news about that little 6 year old boy who was abducted from his mother's home in Las Vegas, NV by Mexican drug cartel members? Because allegedly someone in the boys family owed the cartel millions of dollars and this was their way of getting it back. Have you guys seen this? How does that make you feel? How safe do you feel in your home now that you know that members of a drug cartel in Mexico can just cross the border, go to some one's house, pretend to be cops and then barge in, ransack the home, steal an innocent child and then get away, possibly already back into Mexico and there's nothing that American law enforcement can do? How does that make you feel? Secure our borders, indeed. I know I slept perfectly soundly last night, after hearing about this. NOT! How does it make you feel?

Enough, this is become a novella. About my foot, it hurts. Worse. I have an appointment with the doc for Monday at 2pm. I hope he can do something for the pain anyway. I don't particularly want to use crutches, but I don't particularly enjoy laying around on my butt with my foot propped up either. "Stay off of it as much as possible". What a joke. How am I suppose to do any cooking or cleaning or shopping or any of the things that I am supposed to do? Who does he think is going to do the ironing? Anyway... I'm trying to stay off it. It isn't fun. I'd much rather have full mobility.

"That One"

2008-10-09T19:12:00.005-04:00

...won the debate.

I was going to do a whole long blog on this past Tuesday's Presidential Debate. I even took notes and every thing. But you know what? I'm not gonna do that. I don't think it matters any way. Those who are going to vote for McCain have already made their decision and likewise for those who will vote for Obama. I think what I want to do is just make a few general observations.

As many of you know, I am an unapologetic Democrat. I voted for Hillary in the GA primary. I will vote for Obama in the general. However, as prior blogs prove, I did hope for John McCain to win the Republican Primary. He did. And boy am I sorry now. He's totally changed. He's turned into a doddering old fool who lets any and every one associated with his campaign pull him first one way then another. He doesn't act like he knows his own mind any more.

So... I'm voting for hope. I'm choosing the fella who makes me feel like I can still have a good life. I'm choosing the fella who makes me feel like our best days are ahead and not behind. I'm choosing the guy who is uplifting and gives me a sense of purpose, a goal. I'm choosing to vote for Obama.

I am voting against fear. I'm choosing to vote against the fella who decries dirty politics when the tactic is used against him, but uses it against his own opponent. I'm choosing to vote against the guy who doesn't have a purpose for me, doesn't have a goal for me, doesn't want to talk to me unless it's to bash my party of choice. John McCain is every bit as divisive as George W. Bush. He's every bit a divider and not a uniter as the current head of his party is. Why would anyone want any more of that?

I was thinking about this the other day: when I was growing up, they taught us that yes, we lived in the greatest country in the world, but we had a responsibility to make it even better. That we had a purpose, and part of that purpose was to work toward "a more perfect union". They taught us that while we were not perfect, we could work to be "more perfect", in fact, it was considered Patriotic to do so. It was the American Way. And it went hand in hand with the American Dream. Now days... if you even hint that America may not be perfect you are shouted down, called a traitor, un-American, un-Patriotic. We are supposed to think that we live in a perfect country, that nothing else need be done to make it better. How foolish is that? I'd rather live in a land where there is always room for improvement. I don't want to live in a land where there is nothing left to strive for, work for, look forward to. If you aren't improving, aren't learning, aren't building for the future, then you are standing still. And when you stand still.... you get passed by. I don't believe that America should stand still. I don't want the rest of the world to pass us by. I want to live in a country where if you work hard and play by the rules (fair rules, applicable to all) you can get ahead and leave your child with more than your parents left you. I want to live in a country where everyone can dream of achieving their concept of success, whatever it may be... a college degree, a business, a nice house, etc. And I believe that by voting for Barack Obama I can live in that country again. I don't know where we've been these last nearly 8 years, but it hasn't been America. Not my America. And I want my America back. I believe Obama can lead us there.

Vice Presidential Debate

2008-10-02T23:56:00.005-04:00

Just a quick word to my dear friends... I'm fine... just a tad depressed. I'm sure I'll feel better soon.

Now then... just wanted to jot down a few thoughts on the VP Debate that was held tonight. Not going to get in depth about it or throw out any quotes or anything, just my impressions:
I thought Sarah Palin was rude & disrespectful to both Gwen Ifill and Joe Biden. I've heard some talking heads say, after the debate that people found her "personable", "likable", "she related to real people". Well, I thought she was snarky, ugly, and I didn't like her. Her performance tonight didn't change that at all. In fact, she reminded me very strongly of George W. Bush. For some reason people liked him too. Look what a great job he's done. If tonight's performance made Americans like her more... well then, I guess Americans are still easily fooled. Or stupid. Or something.

Also... her use of the word "also" ALL THE FRICKIN' TIME, was exceedingly annoying. Also....
The fact that she didn't answer the questions, and started right out by saying that she wasn't going to answer the moderator's questions and that the moderator (Gwen Ifill) could just like it or lump it, essentially, was just wrong. Maybe she thought that made her look strong or decisive or something, but I think it made her look like she knew she would be unable to answer the questions and wasn't even going to try. Not to mention that it was just rude. Rude. Rude and disrespectful. And not only that! Not only was she inexcusably rude, she wants to make the office of the Vice President MORE powerful! What???? Who in this whole wide world thinks that's a good idea? Just that right there is reason enough to not vote for her ticket.

And anyway... she was a bit too much like a wind-up toy (doll) with certain memorized phrases that she repeated over and over. Nothing original or outside of what she had in her memory. Except maybe that wink thing. That was offensive to me. I can't quite figure it out. Did she think that was cute? Did she think that made her look smart or Presidential? Or even Vice Presidential. It was just too "cheesecake" to me. Like something she learned to do on cue while she was busy being a beauty queen. Not that there's anything wrong with being a beauty queen. Didn't all little girls wish they could be? Sadly, when she did it all I could see in my mind was the clips of poor little Jon Benet Ramsey on stage, all dolled up.

And last thought for now... I don't want Joe "Six-pack" in MY White House. I want Joe "Went to a real college-has travelled the world-knows stuff" in MY White House. In other words, I want Joe Biden. I don't want her, or McCain.

Oh! Thoughts on Joe Biden's performance. I think he could have done better. He's usually a much more interesting, fiery speaker. But he probably did the right thing. He knows about this stuff much more than I do. I'll trust his judgement. I think Joe is highly intelligent, strong, able, capable, a Statesman. He's someone you can feel safe having at the helm. I trust him. More than I trust that little snit. Or her grandfatherly running mate. When he said, "I'm proud of her record and I'm proud of her." that's what I thought of. Not of a man praising his choice of running mate, but of a grandfather saying he was proud of his little grand daughter. What does that say about his choice? Anyway... Joe, in my opinion, solidified his persona as a true Statesman. That's all I have to say about him.

So... it's late, I'm disgusted and I'm going to bed.

Love to all.

The Big Debate

2008-09-27T00:28:00.005-04:00

So... my inexpert opinion on what I saw tonight:

Barack Obama got points for looking sharp, being handsome and having a million watt smile.
Barack Obama lost points for saying "John is right", "I agree with John" too many frickin' times. Even when John McCain agreed with Obama he didn't SAY he agreed with him.

John McCain got points for holding his own and even taking control of the discussion on the economy.
John McCain lost points for never looking Barack in the face. He was hunched over, crabbed up and irascible looking. And he looses more points for continually doing that old man, lizard tongue thing.

Barack was friendly, reasonable, agreeable, knowledgeable... a bit too agreeable, in my opinion.
McCain was grumpy, unreasonable, and knowledgeable. Then there was this one point where Obama brought up the fact that he [McCain] got confused about whether or not Spain was our ally, and McCain didn't even try to defend himself, he just immediately started talking about a fallen soldier's mom who gave him a bracelet with her dead son's name on it. What the frick did that have to do with whether or not he knew if Spain was our ally or not? And on another occasion he chose to bring up the fact that he was a POW, when he didn't want to talk about a certain subject. Even so... I think that ploy will play with some people. Personally, I wanted to throw something at him.

All in all, MY opinion is that Barack and McCain dueled to a draw. I think Barack could have done much better if he'd just given it a tad more effort. I am concerned that he is trying too hard to not seem disrespectful to a man who is his elder. Or maybe he just doesn't want the "Deliverance" type people to start calling him "uppity". I hate to tell him, but... those types ain't gonna vote for him anyway. Wouldn't if they had to make the choice between having their nuts cut off or voting for a black man. Sad... but it's true. We still have a lot of those type folks in America.

I say I think the debate was a draw, but I could be wrong. Perhaps a majority of Americans has finally come to the conclusion that what we need is a President who will treat people with respect and dignity, instead of a President who is bluff, arrogant, and "tough" and who pushes every one around.

Opinions?

Sometimes when your neighbor's septic tank...

2008-09-24T23:35:00.007-04:00

... overflows and spills into your yard, even though it isn't your mess, and even though it's a smelly, disgusting job... the best (and fastest) way to clean it up is to roll your sleeves up and start shoveling the shit.

So... I watched that ridiculous idiot give his little speech tonight on the state of our economy. I wanted so bad to slap his ugly face off. While he was blaming Wall Street's greed and irresponsibility for this mess we're in, he was at the same time patting himself on the back for making it possible for them to be so frickin' greedy and irresponsible in the first place! I swear to god! He was smiling his smug little chimp smirk and talking all about how "they" had made it possible for more people to own homes, more entrepreneurs to start businesses, more people to get credit for cars.... oh puh leeze!!!! Yeah, "great job brownie".Your frickin' deregulation made it possible for all those people to do those things, and now because no one was minding the store all those people are now being foreclosed on, forced into bankruptcy, or loosing their businesses. So... what have you accomplished, dumbass? Nothing. A big fat, honking nothing. And now we have to bail your fancypants buddies on Wall Street out or the whole frickin' country looses everything. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit, but if we, the taxpayers, don't pay for your broken economy we're all gonna end up being owned by China or Saudi Arabia, or maybe they'll just split us down the middle, ya think? Well, you ought to feel right at home if the Saudis end up with Texas. I mean, you guys are so chummy and all.

Sheesh. This idiot is not good for my mental balance. He brings such violent emotions up in me. And I AM NOT a violent person. I'm actually quite a laid back, peace loving, calm individual. But that man just makes me see red. He's bad for me, he's been bad for our country, he's been bad for the entire planet. God I'll be glad with his "reign of terror" is over.

Speaking of which, has anyone else noticed how the phrase "financial 9/11" is beginning to be used to describe what's happening? I'm so tired of that being shoved down our throats. I'm just sick of it! Tired of it! Full up to the eye-balls with it! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! Be scared! Be afraid! Be terrified! The financial terrorists are coming to get you! Give me all your money and I will protect it for you! And the really scary part of that is that so many Americans still believe that lie. Still support the republican party. I'm so disgusted, I don't even know how to react anymore. I'm just flat disgusted. Are we even worth saving? If John McCain really has as much support as the polls claim he does... I'm just not sure we are.

Yes Indeed, It's Halloween Season....

2008-09-23T15:02:00.009-04:00

I rest my case.

Is Hank Paulson not one of the creepiest looking dudes in Washington?

And sure, of course he thinks the bailout needs to happen right now. If they don't think it thru and do it correctly, he gets $700 billion to do with as he pleases. That's BILLION with a frickin' B! And he wants it without any oversight whatsoever! And man... hasn't this happened once before. I mean, didn't this administration once tell us that we couldn't wait for PROOF to come in the form of a "mushroom cloud". I don't know about anyone else but I'm still waiting for that particular "proof". I'm beginning to think we was lied to. What makes this any different? Hurry up and do something, ANYTHING, before thinking about it.

And why is that nobody, Sarah Palin, meeting with all these world leaders? What the frick is up with that? Why does she need to meet with these people? And why would those folks want to meet with her? And why the hell is she being so protected from the press? What is McCain afraid of? That we might find out how ill prepared and small minded she is? Is he afraid that we will find out just how stupid a pick he made in his first major "Presidential" decision? Boy! It sure does make one question her abilities, doesn't it?

Speaking of the McCain campaign, is it just me or does his campaign manager not look uncannily like Jeffrey Dahmer?

I'm just sayin'...

And by the way... how screwed over do we have to be before people start to realize that John McCain IS NOT THE FREEKIN' ANSWER! HE'S A HUGE FUCKING PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!! It has been said that a people get the government they deserve. But damn! I don't DESERVE this! I know lots of people who deserve better than this! What I can't understand is why McCain still has ANY support whatsoever. If anyone is still supporting him it's plain and simply because they are flat out racist and can't make themselves vote for a black man. Or else they are so stupid that they can't make themselves vote for anyone who is not a republican.

Anyway... I don't feel real great, I think I have a touch of food poisoning or else some kind of bug or something. I was laying down and trying to watch the hearing this morning and that Paulson guy... my headache just got worse and worse the longer I watched him. I just had to let off some steam. Now that I have I think I will go lay back down. See ya!

What I think

2008-09-11T13:53:00.005-04:00

is this... I don't like it when my Uncle Glenn sends me his "God" emails. He and I differ philosophically on many points. He just sent me an email about praying in the Marine Corps. What's wrong with that, you ask? Why nothing! I reply. I don't believe in taking prayer out of schools, or taking the 10 Commandments out of courtrooms or any of that other baloney the hysterical folks at the ACLU stand for. I think anyone ought to be able to pray anywhere they want to, anytime they want to. As a private citizen or as a public figure, or for that matter, a government employee. As long as it doesn't interfere with their duties, why shouldn't they?

I do however, believe staunchly in the separation of church and state. I don't believe that a persons religion (or lack thereof) should be important to whether or not we want that person to lead our nation (or a small region of it). Why can't these religious freaks and intolerant "God" people grasp this simplest of ideas? If you make us into a "religious" state, how are we any different from the Taliban? If you force EVERY ONE to live by YOUR beliefs, how are you any different from the terrorists you claim to despise?

That's the problem I have with Sarah Palin and John McCain. She is an extremist and he is content to let her be so. He has chosen someone who would like to make us all live by her so called "ethics" and in a way that her religion tells her SHE should live. She would force her religion and her ideas down our throats if she could, and he is trying to put her in a position to do so. As Matt Damon said, "she would have the nuclear codes, and that scares me" or something to the effect, if those aren't his exact words. It scares the hell out of me, too. John McCain wants to make this woman President (essentially, since usually the VP does run for the top spot eventually, and this one stands a good shot of getting the job without even having to run for it because McCain is a doddering old fool). Just what we need, one more "God" person with their finger on the button. A combative, intolerant, abusive President. I mean, yeah, this last one has done such a fine job, hasn't he? I just love not having any money. I just love laying awake at night wondering if the bank that has my son's settlement money from his birth injuries is going to go under, leaving him with nothing. That makes me real happy, let me tell you. I just love knowing that all the good will we had around the world has been squandered. I love knowing that our great country is being run into the ground by a bunch of holier than thou pig-headed Neanderthals. I love feeling like our once great country, our country that once led the world in all ways... is swiftly sliding into ignominy. Our schools, our banking institutions, our governmental institutions, our health care, etc. are all at or near the bottom of the rankings. Hell! We have what were once considered "third world" countries that rank ahead of us in live births! Live Births! We can't even frickin' bother to keep our children alive!!! Gods!!!! The whole thing just pisses me off. Anyone who sits at home and doesn't vote in this election should seriously rethink their options. They ought to go to a women's shelter and work with those women and children who are the victims of rape, incest, domestic violence. They ought to go to the hospitals and look at those babies who are preemies or somehow injured during birth, who's parents don't have insurance, and who are being sent home to die because of it.

... the whole thing just makes me so mad. There isn't any excuse for this! Why aren't more people as upset as I am about this? Don't they see? Don't they understand the problem? Do they honestly think Bush and his cronies (McCain included) have done a good job. Do the people who are making as much per household as mine is really think they are better off now than they were 7 years ago? Do they really think the future is all that bright? I worry for my son, I worry for my nieces, for my sister... I worry for us. What happens if hubby looses his job. What happens when he retires? I am beginning to look at jobs, but I know, as a woman, I only have 2/3 the earning power that he does. If that much, around here. How are we going to keep our home? How are we going to pay for the utilities, the car, insurance???? When he retires he will still have medicare for some things. I won't be old enough to qualify for that. I won't have any insurance. How will I get treatment for my diabetes? How will I pay for my meds? Some of the ones I take are not on the walmart $4 list. If I didn't have insurance I wouldn't be able to afford to take at least two of the diabetes meds that I take. Nor the anxiety pills that I take. I certainly wouldn't be able to afford to see a doctor. What am I gonna do? Why don't you George W. Bush/John McCain/Sarah Palin supporters tell me that?! What am I gonna do? My hubby WANTS to retire in less than 3 years. What the frick am I gonna do about my health care??? How am I gonna make everything work and pay the utilities and mortgage payment and car payment and still have money left for food, meds, doctor visits, gas for the car???? Why doesn't someone explain to me how I'm supposed to juggle all that and make it work on just what he brings in from Social Security (which, by the way, will probably fail before he dies anyway and probably won't even be around by the time I'm old enough to be eligible).

Anyway... it was just a thought.

Gorgeous Geeks

2008-09-08T01:02:00.008-04:00

Okay, so this is the story. I'm not sleepy. My brain won't stop, so... in the interest of not thinking about things that keep me awake... I'm going to blog about the geeks (smart guys) that I think are cute. Maybe you agree with me, maybe not. Either way... let me know.

In no particular order, the "Gorgeous Geeks" are:

1. Dr. Brian Cox:
A Royal Society University Research Fellow based in the Particle Physics group at the University of Manchester, where he holds a chair in Particle Physics. He's only first on the list cause I just watched his show on the Science Channel and he was top most on my mind at the moment.

2. Paul Sereno, Paleontologist
I totally admire his perseverance. He seems so dedicated to his work. You got to admire that in a man. Plus he's really really smart, and I do like a man with a really big...

... brain. :)

3. Dr. Bob Brier, an Egyptologist specializing in paleopathology.
Now I realize that he might not be every one's idea of a wet dream, but I fell head over heels for this man the first time I watched one of his shows on Discovery (or maybe it was the History channel, or the Science channel, I don't remember now). I love his voice, I love his knowledge and the way he disseminates it to the viewer. He also has a wicked sense of humor.

4. Simcha Jacobovici, An award-winning documentary film director and producer.
I love this guys work. I've seen a lot of his stuff and I just love the way he presents his arguments. I don't know that I agree with him 100% of the time... but I'd sure like to go exploring with him...

5. Peter Woodward, Actor, Stuntman, Fight Arranger, Historian.
Okay, okay... I don't suppose he can technically be called a "geek", but he did get so into his work that he took the time to actually learn about it and those shows he did on the History Channel were superb. God! I love this guy's eyeteeth. Can't you just imagine him taking a little nibble on your neck?

Anyway... I suppose 5 is enough for now. I'm actually starting to feel sleepy. Hurrah! Better take advantage of it before it goes away again.

Nite-nite dear ones.

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

2008-09-04T23:41:00.003-04:00

Well... I listened. This is what I heard:

You must feel fear. Only I can protect you. I was a POW, therefore I am better and more honorable than anyone else on the planet. Obama will raise your taxes, I won't (lie). Obama promises to bring back old jobs, I promise to bring new jobs (lie). You can't trust Obama or the Democrats (lie). You can trust me and the Republicans (lie). On and on it went....

Lies. All lies. He's a lying, fear mongering, evil little spider monkey looking imp. Whats that Obama said in his speech? More of the Same. 4 more years of bush. Truth. Nuff said. I am so disappointed in McSame. I still had some little bit of hope left that he might say something that I could agree with. He didn't. I thought he might give me some little reason to hope that if elected he would be a good President. He didn't. I thought that perhaps he might have some little bit of something left that I could respect him for. He didn't. If he thought he was saying anything tonight that might make me or women like me, vote for him... He didn't.

I Take That Back

2008-09-04T01:54:00.002-04:00

Seems the Repukelican Party loves this Palin chit.

I did try. I DID. I tried to listen to her speech. Just to be fair, you know. But after she started putting me down, speaking condescendingly to me, telling half-truths, and just flat out lying, I had to turn it off. Besides.... the bitch has a voice that could crumple sheet metal or bend nails. Not to mention that the sound of it made me grind my teeth so hard together they were in danger of breaking. I don't like her. I wish I could. I wish I could vote for a woman. I really, truly do. But I'm not so sure Sarah Palin IS a woman. What she stands for, the party she belongs to, is so... so... what's the word? Against women and families (unless you are a card carrying member and rich).

They (repugnicants) were all trumpeting how she is the future of the party and yada yada yada... God help us! Wouldn't that just be a bitch if the first ever woman elected to be President in the coming years is a repukelican? And that party has ever been at the forefront of keeping women down and keeping them as second class citizens. They don't want a woman to have the right to choose (even in the event of rape or incest); they don't want women to get paid the same as a man for doing the same exact work; they don't want to help women support their families, keep their children safe from gang-bangers and drive-bys; they don't believe in preventative medicine; lets see... what else don't they like or believe in??? Well, I don't guess I really want to get started down that road, do I? I have not yet been diagnosed with high blood pressure and I don't want to risk it now. Especially since after Pete retires in a little over 2 years, I won't have any insurance anyway, unless I find a job that will offer it as a benefit. And if I only want to work just for the little coverage I can get. God knows there ain't any good paying jobs around here. Maybe Pete can train me to do his job and then I can just take it over when he retires. HA! As if....

And BTW: didn't it just fit that the musical guest at the repugnicant hoe down was the duo "Big & Rich"? With that manly acting Gretchen Wilson (wretched Wilson as I like to call her). And did anyone notice that hardly anyone was dancing or acting happy like they were at the Democratic Con? And the ones who were dancing weren't in tune or together and I saw a few who were just sitting around until they saw the camera on them then they started trying to dance and were off the beat. And that crowd... it didn't look like me. You know what I mean? I swear... at least 98% of the entire crowd were old, white, prune-faced people. When I watched the Democratic Con, I was so proud of my country! I was so impressed with the diverse crowd; Asians, Blacks, Whites, Natives, Indians, Jews.... everyone from everywhere. It was great. And they were all dancing and laughing and talking to one another and having a good time. Did anyone get the impression that any one at the Republican con is having a good time? Do any of those folks up in St. Paul look hopeful? Happy? Joy filled? No. They all look like what the Repukelican message is: fear, fear, fear... if you don't elect us you will be killed and terrorists will come take your house and force your children to follow Islam.... My God! I am so sick of their fear mongering. Sick and tired of it!!! If all Obama has is rhetoric and hope filled speeches... well, I'm with him. I'd rather be filled with hope than with fear.

Anyway, that's my blog about the Sarah Palin speech. I found it to be deeply offensive to me personally and in general as a woman. I thought she was profoundly insulting to any and every one who holds an opinion different from hers. God help us if the McCain/Palin ticket gets elected. I don't want this woman any where close to "the football", so to speak. I don't want this person making the rules. I don't want to live like this woman chooses to live and she thinks we all should! Anyone who votes for this ticket is a God-dammed idiot! I fear for my country and for the rights and freedoms that my forefathers and fore mothers fought and died to secure for me if these two get elected. Please God don't let the idiots of America choose our next President, AGAIN. The thought of that just makes me weep.

First and foremost

2008-09-02T06:22:00.003-04:00

... I just want to say that the fact that the woman's 17 year old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock is not an issue with me. There but for the grace of God and all that, ya know? But really, if her being pregnant was not a problem, why in the Sam Hill did they try so hard to hide it the day she was announced McCain's pick for VP. All that with her holding the infant brother and having the baby blanket all spread out over her front. And what did they drug that baby with anyway? He slept right thru all that cheering and yelling and screaming and hollering. What child, even a Downs Syndrome child, would do that? They had to have drugged him with something to keep him so still like that so he wouldn't move and show off his big sister's swollen belly. Isn't that a crude way to put it? Sorry.

And further more, I don't think McCain knew about it before he chose Palin to be his running mate. He picked her, like I said before, specifically because she is a SHE and because she had such wonderful conservative "values". And also (baseless slander ahead) because he probably thought she was cute. Personally, she has a very snotty look to her face. Her expressions are quite arrogant and pushy looking to me. I will agree, she is an attractive woman. If you don't mind the look on her face that says she knows she is the most wonderful thing on the planet.

Anyhow, and how much do you think they are paying this baby-daddy to marry Palin's daughter without making a fuss? Or did they just threaten to have him chopped into little bitty pieces and used for chum? (See? She ain't the only woman who knows a thing or two about fishing.) And how much do you think they had to brow beat the child to get her to agree to marry him and agree to keep the baby?

And why is it that if a Democrat does something, according to the Dobsons of the world, it's a sin, but if a Repugnicant does it, it's a human and humane thing to do? It's amazing to me that all these evangelicals who've been trying to peep into all our bedrooms all these years are suddenly of the opinion that underage sex and teen pregnancy and all that "is personal business and not for anyone else to pass judgement on"? You can bet your sweet ass that if one of Joe Biden's kids had got pregnant/or got a girl pregnant out of wedlock, the Repukelicans would all be screaming about how it was just another example of Democrat's immorality. They would be making the biggest noise about it, but because it's one of theirs, we should all just keep quiet about it and let it pass.

Like I said, I don't think it's anything to get your panties in a wad over. Considering that she doesn't believe in teaching her kids how to avoid the situation, it isn't surprising that her daughter turned up in this condition, poor kid. I have the utmost sympathy for her. First she has to go thru life with the name Bristol, and now she's gonna be a mother at the age of 17. Poor thing, she hasn't even begun to live yet and now she'll be saddled with a kid. As a loving mother, I can tell you it isn't always fun being a mom. But anyway... doesn't this say something about the quality of the mother's care? Does it not speak to the way she has lived her life and the kind of morals she's instilled in her kids?

And mark me, the worse has not yet come out about this Palin chit. There's more in the pipeline. I know it's supposed to all be for show, this nominating process at the convention, but I will be fairly surprised if the powers that be in the GOP don't find a way to un-nominate her or just flat refuse to second her nomination. They don't like McCain anyway, it would be a great way for the Party Powerful to demonstrate to him that regardless of what he thinks, he isn't in command of the Party, they are, and they can choose his running mate for him whether he likes it or not. I might be wrong, but I have to think that with all the baggage this hussy brings with her, with all the vetting that has not been done on her, with all the things they didn't bother to find out beforehand, they must be frantically searching for a way out of this. Either the Party will refuse her or they will convince her to remove herself from nomination. Then they will grab someone like Plasticman Romney, or someone like that.

Well, we'll see... I just had to get this off my chest. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. We'll see... Nite-nite, my friends.

Further more...

2008-08-30T04:45:00.004-04:00

... and on top of that... this old geezer (John McCain) hand selects this little Miss Beauty Pageant Contestant, totally unprepared, totally inexperienced woman (Sarah Palin) to be his running mate.

Think about it...

That old goat already has a history of philandering and cheating on his first wife... with the one he's married to now. Should this pair, McCain/Palin, get elected, when the dirt begins to come out, everyone in the Republican party who's been gushing over her selection will be so grateful that I will be laughing far too hard to say "I told you so!".

Yes, this is a totally unfair, totally unfounded, some would even say a foul, insinuation... but I'm just saying.... why does any man, especially an old man, hire a young, inexperienced, pretty, yet unqualified, woman for any job? Because he's looking forward to some pleasant games and diversions. That's always part of the unstated job description in situations like this.

Also, the woman reminds me a little bit of Monica Lewinsky, a little bit of Marie Osmond, and with that hairdo she wore to give her little "coming out" speech, she reminded me a bit of that stupid airhead chit Amber Frye, who was fooling around with that butt ugly Scott Peterson who killed his wife and unborn baby.

Yes I do sound a tad grumpy, don't I? It's 5 o'clock in the friggin' morning and I still can't fall asleep. I'm so pissed about that I could chew horseshoes and spit nails! I'm so sick of this not being able to sleep. I guess you could say that it's beginning to make me act a bit crabby, even.

So I guess I will quit inflicting myself on you, my gentle readers and go watch television for a while. Ta-ta.

A few personal thoughts

2008-08-29T19:17:00.005-04:00

Watching the news and thinking about stuff:

John McCain's choice for VP is so insulting to me. Does he think that he will get my vote just because he puts a woman, ANY woman, on his ticket? Does he think I am that stupid? And if you listen, you will hear men in the woman's own party refer to her as a "gal", a "princess", a "girl"... sorry, but that sort of shows me how much respect she has in her own Republican party. What it shows is that she was picked just because, and only because she is female. That is just as wrong as not choosing someone because of their gender. And how dare she try to grab hold of Hillary Clinton's coat tails and try to stake a claim to all that Hillary has accomplished. You can look up the transcript to her (Palin's) speech for the exact wording, but she did make reference to what Hillary said about putting 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling and then went on to say something to the effect that now women can go ahead and shatter that glass ceiling once and for all. As tho if her ticket gets elected she will have EARNED her position. Puh-leeze!!! This little chit really got my goat today. The only reason she got the spot is because of her gender. Oh yeah, and because it appeases the ultra-conservative base of the Republican party. Twisted little Peeping Toms that they are. Talk about whoring yourself out!
And everyone keeps going on and on about how she is the mother of 5 kids, one, the youngest, with Down's Syndrome. As a woman, as a mother, as someone who has had to work two jobs while raising my child... I am utterly and completely disgusted by this gushing coverage. My first thought, when I heard how many kids she had was, "Isn't she smart enough to figure out whats causing that?"
She's a life long pro-lifer, a life long NRA member, a virulently anti-gay marriage person, apparently a life long busy body. They are making such a big deal about her son being sent to Iraq. Well, she ain't the first mom to experience that. And she won't be the last, if McCain has his way.
And the pundits all keep saying what a "bold" move this is for McCain to choose this hussy. It wasn't bold at all. He did it strictly to appease his narrow-minded, crabbed souled base and to try to gather up disaffected Hillary Clinton voters. And I'm sure there are more than a few Hillary supporters who will vote for McCain just because they are stupid and believe that the nomination was "stolen" from her. Stolen my sweet ass! She lost because she ran a sorry campaign. I was mad at her from the first over the way she was running (or rather not running) her campaign. She was stupid about the whole thing. Pissed me off. I wanted so bad for her to get the nomination, but I knew she wouldn't. Obama was smart enough to run a better campaign. He deserved to win the nomination, end of story. And these stupid folks calling themselves PUMA's. "Party Unity My Ass". What idiots. If McCain wins this election, it will be, at least partly, the fault of these old windbags and retards. People like these are a waste of good breathing air. They want to set back women's rights and all that women like my mother and my grandmother fought and suffered for. How dare they!
And how dare the Republican party turn around and now "praise" Hillary Clinton as a political ploy (in Palin's speech) when all they've ever done was vilify her and lie about her and try to tear her down? I am just so pissed off about this whole thing. If the McCain/Palin ticket wins the election, I just don't know what I will do. Throw myself in front of a truck or just move to Canada. Or maybe Mexico. Reverse immigration? Hey, I have some claim. One of my many great grandmothers came up from Mexico in the mid 1880's.
And oh yeah, how dare John McCain mention women's suffrage today?! The old goat has no shame. If he had been in charge back then we NEVER would have got the vote. I mean, after all, he doesn't see any need for equal pay for equal work, no need for laws protecting women from domestic violence and other violent crimes. He sees no need for a woman's right to choose. And his new little "princess" feels the same.
And after saying all of that... the thought that this former beauty pageant contestant would be the "Commander in Chief" should something happen to McCain??? A 72 year old man. A man who has also already had two bouts with cancer. A man known to have a bad temper. A man who is all of this and also hoping to take on the most stress-filled, complex, important, job in the world??? She would quite literally be "one heartbeat" away from being the frickin' President of the United States!!! Does that sound like a good idea to any body??? Any body??? This is the stupidest idea I've heard from Republicans in a good long while, if ever. The thought that she might have to jump in and finish the job scares the hell out of me. You who know me know that I am very pro-woman. I believe it is past time that we had a woman President, but this is ridiculous! I'm outraged! I'm disgusted! I'm horrified! Actually, words cannot express my emotions at this situation. I think I'm having an aneurysm. I better wrap this up now.

Democratic Convention 2008 - Day Two

2008-08-27T00:17:00.009-04:00

Wow!!! Last nights speeches by Ted Kennedy and Michelle Obama were wonderful. They made me laugh, made me cry, made me feel proud to be American. But tonight's speeches were so far over anything I've heard so far. I hope Barrack gives the best speech of his life on Thursday night because if he doesn't... he stands to be upstaged at his own convention.

I watched primarily msnbc and CNN coverage with a tad of Fox Noise (just to see what the enemy is up to, you know) but I did turn on C-span just in time to see Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's speech. This guy is fantastic! Part comedian, part old-time Revival tent Preacher, part used car salesman. I really enjoyed his speech, which was not shown on any of the news channels and really should have been. He whipped up the crowd like no one I've seen in a very long time. Especially for someone who is not a national figure. For pure entertainment purposes, here it is from youtube:

Then former Democratic Governor of Virginia, Mark Warner, gave the "keynote" speech. It was a good speech and he's an articulate, pleasant looking, politician. But he didn't actually stir me much. I mean, I agreed mostly with what he said, obviously, but then... I mostly agreed with what Bob Casey said in his speech and I have huge differences of opinion with him. The overall theme of this convention so far seems to be "unity", "togetherness", "healing". That idiot Pat Buchanan on msnbc keeps finding fault with that and saying that the Democrats are not playing politics the way it's played in America. Well, maybe more Americans than me are tired of our leaders "playing" around with our country's well-being. I like it. I like the speeches about the future, about how China is getting a jump on us toward that future. I like the emphasis on Globalization and the need for us to keep up. I like the talk about the need to stop focusing on "left" or "right", "white" or "black", "moderate" or "liberal". I heard one repugnicant pundit making fun of Warner's speech about the need for good ideas and a willingness to work together to get the things done that need to be done. Well, if that's the way Repukelicans feel... then... well... I just can't think of anything bad enough to say about them. I can't for the life of me understand how normally rational, intelligent people who say they care about their Country and their fellow man can be Republicans anyway. The two things, being republican and being a caring person, are so opposite.

Anyway... then I watched Hillary's speech. She was magnificent! Wonderful! Frickin' AWESOME! She spoke of her accomplishments and experiences on the campaign trial briefly. She spoke of her support for Obama. She spoke about the need to come together as a party and as a Country. She spoke of her respect for John McCain and then the reasons why everyone should NOT vote for him. Then that idiot Pat Buchanan said something about: that won't change any one's mind. Hillary doesn't have supporters, she has followers who are in love with her and she can't transfer that love to Obama. How stupid is that? I love Hillary too. But I'm voting for Obama. I'm supporting him wholeheartedly. I had already come to that decision, but if I hadn't, I would just because she asked me to. That doesn't transfer the way I feel about her to him. Why should it? I just don't get the idea behind that statement from Buchanan. It just doesn't compute for me. But I see now the theme that the repugnicants are going to take. They are saying over and over again that Hillary and Bill don't REALLY want Obama to win. The Dems are STILL divided. I tried to listen to Fixed News some to see what they were saying, but it was so bombastic. So obviously wrong. So far away from the truth... I can't see how they have such a following. But then again, I couldn't understand how George W. Bush got elected President. TWICE!!! So, I guess one question answers the other, doesn't it? Lots of idiots watch Fox Noise. Lots of idiots voted for good old, I'd like to have a beer with him, George. And look what we got. Now most of us can't AFFORD beer! Who was it who said: "A people get the government they deserve." or some words to that effect. Except that... I'm a people, and I certainly don't deserve this.
So... that's my impression of tonight. I'm really looking forward to Bill's speech tomorrow. And the roll call. Bill was there tonight watching Hillary and he looked so proud of her. I know he's the consummate showman, but I love him. He's THE MAN! I don't care what anyone says about him. He will go down in history as our greatest President. EVER.

And now I'm going to go to bed. Keith Olbermann just said Roll Call will kick off when they return tomorrow afternoon at 5pm eastern. I don't know if he meant that they will kick off their coverage of it then or if it will in actuality begin at that time. I will be checking in with C-span throughout the day, just in case.

Bye for now.

OMG! I can't believe he said that...

2008-08-15T12:54:00.002-04:00

Just saw on the news a blurb from Bush. He was talking about Russia invading Georgia. He actually said this: "Bullying and intimidation is no way to conduct foreign policy."

???

Okay, just cause I promised it

2008-08-06T21:10:00.005-04:00

I'm going to post pictures of me doing Karaoke with Tina at the family reunion. I feel kinda guilty for taking so long but uncle Allen is a jerk and he totally ruined any joy I had in putting the pictures up. Bastard! Sue me will he? Well, as I've said other places, I'll send those old pictures to my mother in the smoke of a huge bonfire before I turn even one over to him. HE AIN'T GETTIN EM!!! Anyway, that's my rant, now here's me singin', sort of:

As you can see, I am [wisely] staying pretty far away from the mic.

I ain't no dummy and I know I sound rather like a frog being stepped on when I sing...

And this is where the stupid Karaoke dude had put his own stupid words on the screen in the middle of that David Allen Coe song, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name". Idiot. Me and Tina just ignored what was on the screen and sang it like we learned it. Smart girls, don't you think?

And I think this is where we were singing that Shelly West song, "Jose Cuervo You Are A Friend Of Mine". I might have enjoyed the experience a bit more if the dude had brought any more music than country. But he brought what Tina told him to bring and he didn't really do a very good job anyway. He was an idiot. And he thought he could sing. I actually begged him to stop murdering a Stevie Ray Vaughan song. He thought I was joking. Until hubby disabused him of the notion.

Anyway, that's my one and only time of trying to Karaoke. I didn't especially enjoy the experience but then again, I KNOW I can't sing. My sister Martie was supposed to make an appearance and get up and sing with Tina, but she never showed so I took pity on Tina a got up and sang a couple of songs with her. I don't foresee me ever doing it again.

Anyway, I sorta feel icky and ill right now, so that's about it for this post. I had to do it since I promised. So there it is. Love to all.

Soups On!!!

2008-08-03T01:14:00.011-04:00

Come and get it !!!

Okay, this is a picture book type thing of the Hot & Sour soup I made the other night. I was actually pretty proud of it. It was quite tasty and all three of us enjoyed it. That doesn't happen all the time, you know?

Okay... I'm getting started:

Three different types of dried mushrooms/fungi and some shredded, dried seaweed. Sorry, I didn't have any dried lilly buds. Must put that on my list. It was good without it, anyway...

On the chopping block. So you can see them better. Along with an Anehiem pepper and some carrots. I also put in celery and onions, some now and some later on in the cooking. I didn't want all of them to get mushy. Added some of them right at the end, actually.

Ummmmm, starting to look good. The aroma is driving me crazy! I want to eat some NOW!!!

Hey look! There's tofu in there! Oh yummy, yummy, yummy... I can't wait...

Okay, the egg is all stirred in and thready looking.

Now we can eat!

Ahhhh... garnished with a bit of fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lemon, just cause I like it that way. I've never had better in any restaurant. Well, okay... Mr. John in Longwood, FL makes better, but other than his China Gate... no way.

I am the Queen of the Kitchen! No, make that The Goddess of the Kitchen! Woohoo! I did good! Wish I could share with you all, but... unfortunately, its all gone now. All that's left is these few pictures to make your mouths water. Sorry.

Hope you enjoyed the pics anyway.
Love to all.

Family Reunion 2008 ~ Part Two

2008-07-30T21:04:00.008-04:00

Okay... so this is some more of the story... got up about 8am Saturday morning. Kinda tired, cause I didn't sleep very well the night before, but that isn't anything new. Showered, had coffee, sweated my nice clean feeling away sitting on the porch with Tina & Pete & Donald. It was so miserable hot down there. So humid, so Gawd-awful, wretchedly HOT. It was so hot and humid... I swear, if I ever complain about the heat and humidity up here again... I hope someone slaps me. 40 to 60 percent humidity is NOTHING, compared to over 75%! I promise you it ain't.

Anyway... had the shower, coffee, a bite to eat so I could take my meds. Packed the coolers and such stuff as I was taking and we hit the road, me, Pete and Thomas. This place was waaayyy out in BFE. Waaayyyy out in the woods. It was a nice drive, but jeez... how did Tina even find this place? And what in the hell was she doing so far out in the country??? I'm talking this was way out where the Rainbow People live. Who would have thunk you could find such nice facilities out there in that God-Forsaken place? Large wooden meeting hall, running water, refrigerators, freezers, commercial ice machine (which I sincerely considered climbing into and shutting the lid a time or two), two large microwaves; electric (obviously) clean restrooms, spring fed lake with sandy beach, large old oaks cleaned out beneath for playing and sitting... It was an alright place. Really pretty in a "rustic" sort of way.

When we got there some fellas whom I didn't really know (I think they were related to Robert's wife Wendy) helped me unload the trunk and then Monica and Joan helped me set up the salad bar. They didn't do it exactly the way I wanted it done, but hey! They were helping and I needed the help, so I'm not complaining.

Let's see... what happened then... I apologize for my brain still being a bit fuzzy. So much happened down there. Plus the heat nearly killed me. I think my brain is a tad "well-done", if you know what I mean? Then me and my aunt Debbie Jo talked a while. She liked my hats. Picked one out and wore it pretty much all day. Oh! I have to explain about Debbie Jo: She is my cousin Joey's mother. She was my uncle Allen's first wife. She always comes to the family things that Joey shows up to, and others usually, but always the ones Joey is at. For family reunion her sisters usually tag along too. Can't stand those girls. I love Debbie Jo, her sisters.... I would have to think twice before spitting on them if I saw them on fire in the street. Be a waste of good spit, honestly. Anyway... I always loved Debbie Jo and I always will. Some folks might think that it was weird for both of Allen's wives to attend a family function, but Joey is married and has three kids now and those three kids have a close relationship with both their grandmas. Okay, all three of their grandmas, since Joanna's mom is still living, too. Those kids have an abundance of Grandparents. And that's a good thing, as far as I can see. For some reason Joanna's parents didn't attend this time, and they were missed. Allen's second, and current wife is Bridget, who gets along with Debbie Jo as well as anyone can expect. She hasn't ever been anything but civil to her, but then, Bridget wouldn't be unless she was provoked in some way.

This is pretty much what we did before dinner:

Anyway... after we set up the rest of the food we all visited awhile and talked and watched the kids play then about 1 o'clock the guys carried in the meat and did the carving. There was pork, chicken, and deer sausage. There were all sorts of things like pasta salads, pea salad, deviled eggs (which I made) mac and cheese, greens, baked beans, a dozen or more desserts. There didn't seem to be as much food as there usually is. But then, there seemed to be an awful lot of folks that I didn't know, friends of friends and such that just showed up and ate and didn't exactly visit and join in with the rest of us. Somethings got to be done about that before the next one. Putting on one of these things costs way too much money for people who aren't much more than acquaintances to show up and partake without making any contribution whatsoever. Hate to be that way, but it does seem like bad taste to show up at a family reunion and eat what others bring and not even hang out with the rest of the peeps. Just eat and run... that ain't right, in my book.

Then, Jackie Petry said the Blessing and we all got in line. He always does the Blessing. He always does the funerals in our family, too. It's just like that. Known all of us all our lives, who better to bless us and bury us? I stood in line behind Debbie Harvell, whom I hadn't seen in just ages. She wasn't at the last few reunions. Then again, they were not in Florida, which is where she lives. I had a crush on her brother Billy all my life. I always thought he was the handsomest man going. Never mind that he was my Mom's age. Dark hair and eyes, tanned skin, tall, well built. He still is pretty danged fine, if you ask me. :)

This is what that all looked like:

Lord, there were so many people there and so few who brought dishes that if it hadn't been for my little salad bar there wouldn't have been anything to go with the meat for those of us at the end of the line. But it was hot and raw fruits and veggies was about all I could stand anyway. Thomas had a Ceaser salad with some of the smoked chicken meat on it. I had some chicken, some port and some salad and mostly fruits. I really chowed down on that fruit. It was so cool and refreshing. The kids all liked it too. I was glad I did it. Otherwise there wouldn't have been much that the kiddies liked. They ate all the bananas and grapes right away, and then did a good bit of damage to the baby carrots and broccoli and cauliflower. Everyone was snacking on that stuff before it was time to eat actually, so I was glad I brought plenty.

No one thought to bring any bread or rolls or anything like that. Tina was moaning on and on about how she knew she should have made that Mexican cornbread. But she was so busy cooking all that gumbo and doing so much else. Tending kids, playing hostess to every one who showed up at her door needing a bed... when did she have time? I could have made biscuits, should have, probably, but I didn't have the time either. Well, there was plenty of food, anyway. The desserts where marvelous and I had a bite of almost all of them. There were two nanner puddin's, a strawberry trifle, 4 or 5 different types of chocolate cake (of which I only had a couple of bites of the chocolate/chocolate one ~ that's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting), Tonya made a Hummingbird cake, which I did not have any of, they are much too sweet and rich for me. Monica's friend made a huge New York Style Cheesecake which I had a bite of, and which Thomas stoutly declared was "all right" but "not nearly as good as yours, Mom". Don't you just love him? He's his Mamma's boy, all right. There were a couple of buttermilk pies and some apple pies and some other things but you know what? Most of the desserts did not get eaten. I think it was just too hot. Plus everyone filled up on the BBQ. I think several people took some home for later. The nanner puddin' was good, tho. I did have a taste of that. Aunt Mutt (Aunt Martha whom my politically incorrect Grandpa called "Mutt the Diego") put me in charge of cutting and slicing the desserts, so... I sort of got to taste them all first. Or at least the ones I wanted to. She's so bad, knowing I ain't supposed to eat that stuff. But then, neither is she. I guess she did right. I didn't really want much more than a tiny taste of anything. I'm kinda off the sweets anymore.

Then... we all sat and ate and nibbled and talked and laughed and ate some more, and nibbled and so on and so on...

I will post the after dinner and Karaoke pictures tomorrow. I'm whupped for now.

Family Reunion 2008 ~ Part One

2008-07-30T10:36:00.006-04:00

We took Highway 301 down to Florida. It's a lovely drive thru the woods. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of that part of the trip. It wasn't very nice anyway... my darling hubby had to be an ass, as he ALWAYS is when we go somewhere that I'm really excited and happy to be going. I had hopes that it wouldn't happen this time, given that he's been all lovey-dovey these past couple of weeks. Guess I was right not to trust. That's neither here nor there, however. After all the crying was over, I enjoyed myself and pretty much ignored him.

Anyway.... we got there (to Tina's house) Thursday afternoon, Pete and I had a great big argument and such, and then my sister, Martie, and two of her girls (Emmy & Raina) came over. We had a good time visiting with them. It was so great to see her and the girls again. We made plans to go shopping the next day to pick up the stuff for the salad bar. She said she would be over before noon so we could go.

The next day I got up early and got ready to go shopping and then waited and waited and waited. I called Martie around 10:30am and John said she was still asleep. I gave her another hour and then another one... you get the point, right? Finally... around 1:30pm, she showed up. Me, Pete, Martie, Emmy & Raina piled into our car and hit the market. Stopped at the Freshco, which is a Hispanic/ethnic sort of a grocery store. I enjoyed shopping there. They had lots of fruits and veggies that we can't get up here. But they didn't have everything I wanted so we had to also stop at the Winn-Dixie on our way back home. Got home and then had to wash and chop and slice and dice all the stuff.

The guys were cooking the BBQ for THE DAY over at Robert's house. So Tina was cooking Gumbo and rice for over there. See... we always have a party the night before the official party. That's just the way it is. Everyone gets together when they cook the meat and gets all drunk and stuff. That's because we used to have a rule that no one could drink alcohol the day of the reunion. Cause Charles and Allen used to make asses of themselves. (as someone put it this year when asked about the no drinking rule, "we used to have that rule back when Charles and Allen drank. Now they don't so we don't need that rule anymore.") Anyway... These are the pics of the Friday night pre-reunion party. This was the first time my sister had seen any of these people in over a decade. Except me, Pete, Thomas, Tina and her kids. It was a very emotional time for her. Don't laugh or think that she looks old or anything. See, she was in the process of getting her teeth pulled and getting dentures and she lost her medicaid. So... now she doesn't have any teeth, but she's working to save the money and I'm trying to convince her to let us help her out. It's a long story and her man is worthless, but anyway... it was still a fun time and I think she's beautiful anyway. So don't tell me no different cause I won't believe you. :)

And that's the story of the first part of the family reunion. Sorry, but it's the short version. The next part will be of THE DAY. I'm going to take a break from this machine right now. I have loads of stuff to get done. Still not totally unpacked yet. Plus I have laundry to do, cleaning... so, will go take care of some of that and then do the rest of the pics sometime later.

Me In My Hats

2008-07-22T20:06:00.009-04:00

Someone asked me today if I would be posting any pics of me wearing my hats. So... here are some pics of me in my hats. Plus the last three I made:

This one has blue roses and two peacock feathers. I like it.

Front

Side

Other Side

Some strange chick taking a picture of herself wearing my hat.

This next one is the "Pimp" hat that I made for my Sister. I hope she likes it. I was running out of supplies by the time she said she wanted one. If she doesn't want to wear pink I will let her wear my beautiful white and red "Pimp" hat and I will wear this one. Unless, of course, someone else wants to wear it. We'll see how it falls out when I get them down there. If I can. Don't know if I can pack everything I want to take into our car. I'm used to having a van to load up with most anything I want. The trunk of this Azera is large, but its not a van, that's for sure.

Front

Side

Other side

Some woman with a big, goofy grin is wearing my Sister's hat!

This next hat is my Sunflower hat. It's fairly simple, but I like it. Then again, sunflowers are my favorite flower. I wore this hat when I went out and about today. To the Gamestop and the dentist and the pharmacy. It was nice to not have the sun in my face. But the brim is too wide to wear it while I am driving. It kept hitting against the headrest so I took it off in the car.

What a beautiful hat.

A girl could wear this hat anywhere

Especially someplace where she's likely to smile lots ands lots.

A few gratuitous grins, just for my friends:

This is the last day on Earth for me

2008-07-21T14:32:00.004-04:00

Or rather, for this me. Tomorrow at 3:30pm EST I will go to Dr. Loo's office and get my brand new partial. Then I can smile anytime I want to. Big, toothsome, crocodile smiles, ALL THE FRICKIN' TIME, if I want to. I'm so happy. I'm either gonna cry or wet my pants or both. I just can't stand it. I have to find something to do to keep me occupied until THE TIME.

So... now I'll have no reason to hide, no reason to stay fat and ugly. No reason to hope that no one looks at me too closely. I'll be beautiful. I mean it. No matter what I really look like I will be beautiful because I will be smiling, and everyone looks beautiful when they smile.

Keep On Smilin' ~ Wet Willie

My Walking Music for Today

2008-07-20T22:58:00.004-04:00

Okay... I walked the entire 2 miles today!!! Hooray for Holly! Ain't I special? This is some of what I was listening to to keep my lazy butt moving:

Deee-lite ~ Groove is in the Heart

Elvis ~ One Night With You
One of my all time favorite Elvis songs.

Eric Clapton ~ She's Waiting
This song has a great walking tempo ~ for me anyway

The Romantics ~ What I Like About You
A very invigorating song

The Troggs ~ Louie Louie
I like this version better than the Kingsmen version.

Marvin Gaye ~ Let's Get It On
for when I had to take a little breather and slow it down a bit.

George Benson ~ On Broadway
Man, this song really gets you going. The lyrics are so determined. It helps.

Etta James ~ I Just Want To Make Love To You
I love Etta James. She is soooo bad she's good.

Willie Nelson ~ Whiskey River

Gary Wright ~ Our Love Is Alive
This song has a great groove.

There was, of course, a bunch more, but I won't bore you with ALL the details. Suffice to say it was a good walk, a good time, a good thing all the way around. I enjoyed the music, the exercise, the memories some of this music evokes.

Talked to my sister today. She's so FABU, and I can't wait to see her in person. I'm so excited to be going to see all my family. Uncle Donnie called today, too, to wish me a happy belated birthday and to talk about the reunion. This always happens. Tina called me the other day to discuss plans. The closer it gets to time the more phone calls everyone makes and plans are discussed, discarded, re-tooled, re-discussed, ad nauseum... it's so great. I hope no one shows their ass. But if they do... I hope I'm there in time to see it, this time. Ahhahahaha. I always miss those type things and then just get old moldy gossip about it afterwards. If Charles and Allen have a fistfight, again, I want to see it. And if Donald gets drunk and nearly kills himself, which he probably will, I want to be there to take pictures. Does that sound cruel? Well, you'd just have to know my family. I don't think any of them grasps the concept of having a good time without involving alcohol, or drugs or both. But it does lead to some very funny moments and no one, in my lifetime anyway, has ever gotten seriously hurt (except the time that Donald nearly cut his foot in half lengthwise when he stepped on a broken bottle while canoeing down Rock Springs Run. Good thing they were nearly to the end of it and could get him to a car and take him to the hospital quickly. As it was... it got infected and was a horrible mess and Tina thought he would loose his foot. But he didn't and it got better and he didn't learn anything from the experience... You guys should see the huge smile on my face right now. If you knew Donald, you would understand my grin better. I don't think he's been sober in the 10+ years I've known him. I can't think what Tina sees in him, but then... she probably can't see what I see in my man. Then again, sometimes I can't either. :)

Think I will hit the hay now. Enjoy the music everyone. G'nite.

I forgot these two...

2008-07-19T23:05:00.004-04:00

Emmy's Hat

This next hat reminds me of something Audrey Hepburn would wear

Hey! It's my ONE HUNDREDTH POST!!!

2008-07-19T22:08:00.007-04:00

Not really fair is it? Since I just did hats on my last two. And guess what? I'm gonna do hats again on this one. Then, after I show off my hats, I'll blog about something else. Maybe a strange dream I had, perhaps a song I heard. I don't know yet. Right now, I got three hats to show you. And just three more left to do. Then my career as a Mad Hatter is over. Not that it hasn't been fun... but... I think I want to move on to something different now. I'm running out of ideas and also out of stuff to work with, so... and I AM NOT going to purchase any more stuff. I still have feathers, tulle and a few flowers. Lots of feathers, actually. Maybe I can find the patience to make a feather spray (fan) for one of the last three. Maybe...

Anyway, here's the three I did so far today.

Hat Number 6

Front

Side

Back

Hat Number 7

Front

Side

Other side

Back

Hat Number 8Front

Side

Back

So anyway... there they are. My man just don't get it. I was feeling so good and happy and silly and groovy and stuff and he made fun of my hats and just took all the fun out of it for a bit. Sort of like having ice water thrown in your face. But then, the poor man has no sense of humor anyway. How can I expect him to "get it"? His sense of humor is mummified. If he tried to limber up some and get silly, he would disintegrate and turn to dust.

That's not what I want to talk about tho. I don't want to think about it. I'm happy, happy, happy. I'm in my own little world where nothing bothers me and I'm not letting him in here with me to ruin my "special place". I am happy, truly I am.

I had the strangest dream last night. I don't know why. I mean, I wasn't even thinking about racing or anything like that yesterday or the day before. I been working on my hats and stuff. But last night I had a dream that I had a tryst with David Reutimann. Now don't get me wrong. He's one of my favorite drivers. He seems like a nice person, and he's got loads of talent. Plus... he's a good ol' Florida cracker head boy, so he's got that going for him. HA! And he is kind of cute,

but still... I so rarely remember my dreams and to think that I would remember one with him in it, when I've never actually entertained any deep thoughts about him. Strange.

I'm trying to watch the Nationwide Series race at Gateway tonight, which he is racing in, but they are having trouble keeping their lights on. It's an old, old raceway. But still... you'd think that they'd be better prepared for a live TV event. Oh well, that's racing. Anything can happen and usually does. Reutimann is running up front right now. Sweet. Perhaps I'll have to pay more attention to him. Wonder what that dream meant? It wasn't like I knew him or anything, not even in the dream. But we were sure making out. Very strange.

Anywho... I think I mentioned that I found my thumbscrews. Yep, I did. Anyway, one of the songs I listened to today was this one:

Brand New Key ~ Melanie

I remember this song from my childhood. I loved it when I was a very little girl, like before I started school or just after. Not sure when it came out, but I was very young. I know we were still living at my Granny's house and Virginia from across the street used to babysit us. She made a blue cake one day. It looked so weird, but it was tasty. She was a real "flower child", or would have liked to be, but her Dad was pretty strict and wouldn't let her indulge her "creative" side. She was a nice girl tho. I love her to pieces. Still keep in touch even tho she's been living in Canada for the past 30 years or so.

So.. that's my blog for today. Not very special I know, for post number one hundred, but there it is. I'm only partially here. I am, after all, watching the race.

See you all later. If I don't blog again before I go to FL, I will surely blog about that when I get back. Ta-ta for now.

Two More Hats

2008-07-18T20:18:00.004-04:00

My favorite, so far, I think.

Left side

Front

Right side
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I like this one too, I'm pretty sure. But what's with all the pink?

Front

Side

Back

Hats Glorious Hats

2008-07-18T02:17:00.002-04:00

Here's my hats, so far...

Hat number two

Hat number one

And that's all the hats I have finished for now.

Why Does Myspace Always Jack Up My Computer?

2008-07-17T20:18:00.002-04:00

I can't stand that place! I swear, I wish my nieces and sister and other family members would just quit contacting me thru that thing. But they all love it. Me... got no use for it except as a cheap way to stay connected to my dearly beloved, far-flung family. Every time I try to go on there my computer slows waaaayyyy down or freezes up entirely. Anyway.... enough about that...

I walked a whole mile and a half today! That was just righteous! It felt so good. I don't know why or how or anything, but I've been feeling so good lately. I feel boisterous, bouncy, silly, giddy as a kitty drunk on catnip. I'm likin' this feeling. I hope it never goes away. I don't care why or how, I just like it. Right now the world is full of beauty, love, happiness, good things. After feeling so low for so long, this feeling is 'over the moon' fantastic!

So.. what have I been doing? Besides turning 42? Not much. Walking, exercising with Gilad, whom I adore. He's freekin' great! Does stuff that even out of shape me can do. And it's fun. And he doesn't bully or talk down to you. When I get back from FL next week I'm going to purchase some of his cd's. I found an eBay store that sells them fairly cheap. I just don't want to get them now and then the mailman leave them on my porch the whole time I'm in FL. The heat surely wouldn't be good for them.

And I'm all excited about that too. Family reunion in FL, that is. My aunt/sister Tina found a place out in the woods, it's a historical landmark. Got a pavilion and a dining hall with kitchen and showers/restrooms and a private campground on a small lake. Gonna have karaoke (sp) dancing, perhaps a live band, don't know about that yet. Lots of good food, friends... and the best part is my sister Martie and her girls are going to come! I'm so excited I can hardly breathe when I think about it. She hasn't been to a family reunion since about the mid-90's. So, so long... Can't wait for everyone to see them. So far, only Tina and Donald and their boys are the only family members who have seen them, besides me, since the year 2000 when Mom passed away. And that was only her and John cause they didn't bring the girls to the funeral. If I could do handstands and back flips and all that stuff, I would be doing them. This is gonna be such a fun time. A fine time. I'm happy to be alive, actually. This is going to be good.

I got a dozen big floppy brimmed straw hats that I am decorating for me and some of the other "ladies" and I got a couple dozen Chinese folding fans for the heat that I plan to share out. Won't be enough to go around, but... first come first served, as the sign says. HA! My sister and I are going to go in together and put up a salad/fruit bar for our food contribution. I'm excited to be working with her on a project again, even if it is only shopping for and then assembling food. That's lots of fun too. We've been emailing back and forth, bouncing ideas back and forth. That's fun.

I think I mentioned that I walked a mile and a half today. And I felt good afterwards! I still had energy to cook supper. And now I'm ready to get to work on my hats. It was great tho. I finally found my thumbscrews so I had some good music to listen to again. You know... those little external memory things? Thumb drives. That's the phrase I was looking for. I jokingly started calling them "thumbscrews" with my son and now I usually can't remember the "proper" term for them. I thought I had lost them, and I was a sad, sad girl. But they turned up the other day, upstairs with the other computer. Whew! Like I said, I was gonna be a sad, wretched little girl if I had actually lost all that music.

Speaking of music: here's one song that I found particularly bouncy during my walk today:

Technotronic ~ Move This

By the way... Something has changed in my life, I like the color pink, now. Weird. I feel all "girly" and silly and stuff. It's good tho, I've never been a "girly-girl" before. I feel kinda silly and self-conscious about it, but... there it is. It feels good to put on makeup and paint my nails and buy a new outfit and shoes and stuff.

I feel good!

It just isn't working for me...

2008-06-29T20:16:00.005-04:00

... I mean, seriously, how stupid do they think we are? Or rather, why do advertisers insist on making such stupid ads? Those stupid Stride Gum commercials DO NOT make me want to chew their gum. Honestly. Why don't they say something about the flavors they offer, or something like that. Showing me a ram knocking some ugly guy down and making him spit out his already chewed gum is not making me want to put their product in my mouth. Does it you?

And then there's those Burger King commercials where the ladies are trying to run over "the King". Or those other's with that dude wearing the big, giant "King" head. That thing is just weird, scary, bad looking. And I don't mean bad in a good way, here. I don't like it. And when Burger King was doing the Simpson's Movie ads. That DID NOT make me want to eat at BK. In fact, I don't believe I've eaten at one since they did those. The one where Homer Simpson got poked in the eye with the mic and it showed all this oozy, drippy stuff coming out of his eye. How could anyone imagine that that was the least bit appetizing? Who's the stupid one here? Me? Or the idiot who came up with that awful commercial?

Or what about the Cialis commercial where the neighbor guy pulls up every evening in the sedan and the woman is taking no notice of him every day and then he pulls up on a motorcycle one evening and she just drops her bag of groceries and throws herself on the back of his bike and he zooms her off to the roadside motel. Puh-leeze!!! Taking that Cialis didn't make him any better looking. He still had a frog face, for crying out loud. Looking at the man gave me the heebyjeebies. I don't care what kind of sexual enhancement pill he took. Nothing could induce me to go anywhere with him and certainly not jump into bed with him. Ewwww, he is just gross looking.

Or those commercials where the guy colors his hair and suddenly he's so attractive to the young woman in the bar. Oh really! Who believes that crap? And what man can color his hair at home and have it come out looking natural? I mean what man who is interested in women?

And those fast food commercials where they show their food looking so yummy. The burgers look so fresh, juicy, with a nice soft bun full of cheese, veggies, meat... why don't they go buy one from their local franchise and show it on the commercials. What ever happened to "truth in advertising"? I don't know about you guys but I have never gotten a burger from any McDonalds that looked like what they show on the television screen in their commercials.

Anyway... watched that show Wipeout this evening. It was the special "encore" presentation. It was so obviously a Sasuke ripoff. I wonder how they get away with ripping Monster 9 and TBS and g4 off like that? Or maybe they didn't. Maybe they paid them off? Eh? What do you think?
Other than that, I guess it was an okay show. The announcers were kind of lame. Didn't sound very enthusiastic, I mean. The girl down on the sidelines talking to the competitors gave it a good try, but the contestants where pretty lame too. Didn't want to work with her at all. Oh well... Wonder how long it will last? One quarter, one half, two-thirds or the season, before it gets the ax. Or is it just a summer filler show? One with only a few shows in the can? I bet that's it. I so rarely watch network TV anymore. I'm not real familiar with how they do things now days.

Anyways... that's my rant for today.

Wonder what they'll say...

2008-06-20T14:11:00.003-04:00

... the Vatican, I mean. The Pope, specifically. NASA thinks they may have found ice on Mars. No big deal right? Space is cold, right? Why shouldn't there be ice? But what if there are tiny little micro-organisms found within that ice? What then? What will the Pope have to say about that? And for that matter, what will the heads of all the organized religions have to say about it? I refer to the Pope because I think what he has to say will have the most impact to the Christian religions, since they all sort of look to him. Anyway... one would hope that they are already getting their speeches nailed down, because its gonna be a big deal when they do find life on another planet. And I believe they will. Perhaps in my lifetime. I firmly believe that life is out there on other planets besides our own. But how does that effect what the Church has always taught about how the Earth was made, and how life began? I sincerely hope they are taking thought for this eventuality. Their flocks will need them to be strong, sincere, and truthful about this event when it does happen.

Why do we have the ability to get angry?

2008-06-17T00:24:00.004-04:00

I mean, really, why do we need to do that? How did it evolve inside us? And do other mammals feel anger, or do we just place that label on what is really, in them, fear? Watching babies, you can plainly see that the ability to feel anger is something we are all born with. But why? What does that ability do for us? Is it something we need/needed to survive? And what about all the other "negative" emotions? What do they do for us? How did we come to have them? Why do we need them?

On the other hand, if you are a creationist, why did God form us with the ability to get angry? Why did he give us the ability to fight? To kill? Didn't Jesus teach peace? Acceptance? Turn the other cheek and all that stuff? So... why did God make us with the inborn ability to feel anger, hate, jealousy, greed, etc.?

I'm not sure what I am. And I don't see why the two are mutually exclusive. Why can't God have set us on the path to evolution? Who says that he had to just snap his fingers and make us "full blown"? None of us was there, how do we know by what method he made us? Who are we to say that evolution was not his way of making us? Yes, I know the Bible says that God made the Earth and all things on the Earth in 6 days and on the 7th day he rested. Well, who are we to say that God's days are the same length as our days? Perhaps his days are equal to a million, million of our days, who knows? Perhaps he put the "spark" into the primordial stew and began life on it's way to what we now have. Why can't it have happened that way: Say God gave up the spark and then sat back to watch what became of it. I don't have a problem with that. Then he sent his only begotten son to us when we were supposedly evolved enough to need him. What's wrong with that theory?

It could have happened that way. All things are possible with God, right? Either he is God, or he isn't God. (I use the general term "he" here for ease of writing). Either you believe that anything and everything is possible with God or you don't. How can anyone put limitations on God, or say what God did or didn't/could or couldn't do? I confess that some days I still wrestle with whether or not there is a God. But most days I come to the realization that I do believe, just not in the way organized religion would have me believe.

But back to my point: whether life appearing on this planet was sheer accident and we did evolve from sludge and are supposedly still evolving; or some all knowing, all powerful Being, which most people call God, formed us and breathed life into us. Whichever way it happened, why do we need anger, jealousy, greed, hate, irritation, annoyance? The emotions that most usually get us in trouble. Why do we need gluttony for crying out loud? Whoever thinks that is a good idea? But really, what do they do for us? I'm trying to think of something that the ability to feel anger does for me personally, and I can't. All I can think that it does for me is make me feel bad and usually get me in trouble, if I don't control it. Is that it? Do we need those things so we can struggle against them? Is that what makes us human?

Today

2008-06-15T21:52:00.003-04:00

Kroger had Edy's no sugar added ice cream on sale... so I stocked up. I got a flavor that I would not have ordinarily purchased if it had been full price. I got a half gallon of Mint Chocolate Chip. I have to say its pretty darned good. Sort of like eating a frozen Peppermint Patty. I recommend it highly (for a change, anyway).

So, I've been wondering... Why in the world does spending 5 years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp make John McCain a foreign policy expert? Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for a person who can undergo that sort of thing and come out of it as well as Mr. McCain has, but still... how does being a prisoner of war make him an expert at anything other than how to survive and maintain one's sanity under extreme duress? (which is no small thing, I know). And how does one ask that question without sounding like one is being disrespectful of his service to our country? Making light of his travails, so to speak. Which I certainly would never do, but you get what I'm saying, right? I just don't see why he should use his experience during that war as a reason for us to believe he knows what he is doing in regards to this war.

Not that I'm saying Barack Obama would be any better or knows any more about foreign policy. I'm just saying...

Tim Russert. Wow. What a shocker. I usually caught the late edition of his Meet the Press show on MSNBC on Sundays. I somehow never seemed to wake up early enough to catch the first showing on NBC. I wonder if they will find someone to take over that show or if they will just wrap it up now. I don't think they will end the show. It's the longest running Sunday morning public affairs show in the history of television. They will have to find someone else to host it. I would hate to be that "someone". I'm betting they will rotate hosts/hostesses in and out of the spot for a good while before they pick a permanent replacement. I could be wrong but I just don't see anyone with any integrity wanting to take on that responsibility too soon after Tim's passing.

The flooding in Iowa is something else, isn't it? I can't imagine what those people must be going thru. What a terrifying experience. And we are in drought. Supposed to have gotten rain all day today and tonight and in to tomorrow. What few raindrops that fell on my house today would fit comfortably into my thimble. We are drying up and blowing away. Dust in the wind, so to speak. Has the weather always been this weird or is it just the age we live in? 24/7 cable news, Internet, instant access to information from anywhere and everywhere. Maybe that's it. Maybe it really isn't as "doomsday" as it seems. Yeah, that's it. We just never heard about droughts and floods in other places like we do now days. There, that thought makes me feel better... not.

Want to get back on my exercise program. I don't have any energy or strength. My muscles might as well be water. My legs and feet tingle and throb constantly. I wish it would stop. It's really quite annoying. I have gained back every single pound that I had lost, plus some. I am not amused. Well, will just have to try harder, won't I?

Speaking of which... sitting at this computer is not moving me forward toward my goal. Ciao.

Let me speak to you of the beauty of an orange...

2008-06-13T23:19:00.003-04:00

... fragrant juice escaping down my chin.
Fruit of the Gods, I name you...
Spicy, honeyed, cool, yet bracing...
Enticing, refreshing,
satisfies my yearning.

What can I say? It was a really good orange. Quite tasty.

Huh? What?

2008-06-08T23:51:00.002-04:00

War bill helps Iraqis, may ignore Katrina victims

Only in America.

Why doesn't everyone just get mad enough to march on their state houses, the White House, their congressman's local office? Sign a petition or something??? This is utterly and completely ridiculous. Damn!

Yes, we have no bananas...

2008-06-08T20:37:00.005-04:00

Actually, we do have bananas. What we do not have is unsalted peanuts and I'd really like to have some right now. Guess the cashews will have to do. Oh well, I like them too.

John McCain smiles way too much, and he says, "my friends" too much, and he blinks his eyes too much. And when he says something he knows isn't true (or the complete truth) he does this thing where he hunches his shoulders and begins to look like an evil little spider monkey thing. I can't believe I actually wanted him to win the repugnicant nomination. I thought he would be the best of a bad lot. Perhaps even be good for the country if he won thru to the White House. Now I'm not so sure. He seems to be trying to do exactly the same things that Rove did to get Bush elected. That's scary. I had hopes that McCain would actually be honest. I know... I know... he's a politician. Honesty is so far out of their collective reach it might as well be on another planet in some universe far, far away...

It was over 100 degrees today. That's way too hot for early/mid June. But there is no "Global Warming". Its all still a "theory", really. And what do I know? I just live here. The temperature shouldn't even be getting into the 90's yet.

Barack Obama is now the Democratic nominee. I voted for Hillary in the GA primary, so... he obviously was not my first choice. I'm really angry at Hillary for the stupid way she ran her campaign. She could have won! Actually, she should have run in 2004. She and Bill miscalculated badly. And they continued miscalculating and misjudging the temperature of the electorate. I think Bill is just too old. It is my hope that he behaves himself during the general election. The last thing we need is him out there sabotaging Obama's campaign the way he did his wife's. I have hopes that Obama can really change things the way he says he wants to. I know that the President doesn't (or rather, used to not) have more power than the Congress granted him. But perhaps he will be able to hold the attention of the American people for longer than 10 seconds. Maybe he can get the populace behind him and actually affect some change for the better. I have hopes... silly me, eh?

I have been so ill this weekend. Since Friday, actually. My women's curse, you know. A really bad one this time. Hate it when that happens. You want to get up and do things and take care of business and stuff and you can't . All you can do is lay on the bed, curled around a pillow, hoping like hell that you don't start heaving. Guess I didn't have enough calcium to stave off the cramps this time. It doesn't really stop them all together, but I do find that they aren't as bad as they can be, if I make sure I get enough. Would be so much easier to get an appropriate amount of calcium if I liked milk. But I don't. Except with Oreo cookies or the Famous Amos chocolate chip and pecan cookies. Dang! Wish I hadn't thought of those. They are really good.

Dang it! There were some things I wanted to bring up on the blog. Some points that I wanted to present to everyone. I was thinking about them while I was lying in bed suffering. Only, I didn't have a notebook nearby, so didn't write them down. So of course I can't remember them now. Isn't that the way it goes?

The Elf, Kasey Kahne, won the Cup race at Pocono today. Good enough. Stupid ol Kyle Busch came in dead assed last, which made the whole thing worthwhile television, in my book. Pocono is a long, long race. The track is weird shaped and was built for open wheel racing, not stock car racing. But stock car racing is their biggest money maker. Track is just too big for open wheel race cars. There isn't much passing in stock car races there, but open wheel cars are just pathetic to watch there. Speaking of open wheel racing... I caught a bit of the IRL race in Ft. Worth, TX last night, after the Nationwide Series race in Nashville, which Brad Keselowski won. (it should be noted that it was his first ever win in one of the three major NASCAR racing series) Poor Danika didn't do so well in the IRL race. Got wrecked into, I think. I confess that I was not quite fully awake as I was watching that race, but I think she did wreck out, or her pit crew messed her up or something. Anyway... And there is a woman in drag racing who is leading the points in her division. I was thinking... wondering... how come drag racing can have successful women competitors, and now open wheel racing can have successful women competitors. In fact, the IRL has 3 women competing on a full time basis. Or, at least two. I think Sara Fischer would like to compete full time but she's running her own car and hasn't much sponsorship. (silly girl. she should have gone nascar racing when she had the chance.) Anyway... if other types of motor sports can have women who are competitive, who drive for top rank teams, why can't NASCAR? Are the powers that be in NASCAR still such Neanderthals? (no offense to any Neanderthals out there) There have been women who have tried to make it in NASCAR. Tammy Jo Kirk drove the wheels off her truck the first couple of years that NASCAR ran the Craftsman Truck Series. But she was not photogenic. She was not young. She just wanted to race. So she lost her ride eventually and moved on. There's been Elton Sawyer's wife, Shawna Robinson. She had a deal with Bam racing in Cup for about half a season. Then they canned her and hired Ken Schrader. Like as tho changing the driver was gonna make that piece of crap car of theirs run any faster. Really. Sheesh. Then there was some talk about some young girl who signed a developement deal with Richard Childress Racing a few years back, but then... you didn't hear nothing about her thereafter. There are two full time women racers in the ARCA series, Ali Owens and Gabbi DeCarlo. Both run about mid pack or just out of the top ten. I think if they had good cars they could run in the top ten. And then there's Erin Crocker. Poor Erin. I think she had what it took. I think she was a real racer... then she had an affair with her car owner, Ray Evernham, and that was that. When their relationship went out the door, so did the racing deal. I don't necessarily agree with the way the media jumped on their relationship, but still... someone should have told the young girl that it was gonna be bad for business for her to date the boss. She still races in the ARCA series sometimes, but not much of that anymore either. Anyway... just wondering about that.

Guess I will wrap it up for now. I don't suppose this post is going to cause quite the furor that my last post did. Probably a good thing, too.

See ya!

Conspiracy Theories and other things that make you go "Huh"

2008-06-02T11:49:00.011-04:00

Let the rumors start here:

The fire at Universal Studios yesterday was allowed to burn out of control because:

1. The studio is in need of the insurance money.

2. Much like Nero, they needed the space for a new palace (movie set).

3. They wanted to distract the public from the fact that another stupid, lame, utterly unintelligent episode of the MTV Movie Awards was taping on their property.

The Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws committee met this weekend amidst a sometime racous crowd to decide the fate of the Florida and Michigan primary votes. This whole thing is so crazy, so stupid, so seemingly designed to insure a republican win in the general election later this year. How could Howard Dean be so stupid as to not see this coming? What was he thinking to be so heavy handed toward those two states to begin with? And why is it so important to protect Iowa and New Hampshire's status as "first in the nation" caucus and primary states? They don't speak for me. Why should they get to decide the nominees every election year? Why should they get all the news coverage and the influx of media attention and money every election year? Spread the wealth, eh? Highlight two different states every time, why don't they? Why can't my state of Georgia get some of that interest, some of that scrutiny. If we did, perhaps we would actually make some progress in this state as far as the politics, race relations, infrastructure... are concerned. Anyway... ya'll have all heard my rant about this before. I hope something gets done about it this time but I don't really think it will. After the election is decided everyone will forget all about this issue. We seriously need election reform in this country, tho. The DNC rules are so convoluted, confusing and downright contradictory, no one can understand them. Even the party big-wigs don't fully understand them. I'm not sure about the RNC rules, but they are probably about as confusing as the DNC rules. Anyhow... enough of that subject.

Stupid ol Kyle Busch won the NASCAR race at Dover this weekend. The powers that be in NASCAR are so concerned with having another "black hat" driver and they have decided that Kyle Busch is the guy. He's just not got the age, the gravitas, to pull it off. He just comes across as a punk, a whiner, an arrogant little pin-head. I just don't like him. Actually, it would be fair to say that I can't stand him. I root for him to hit the wall every race. Not that I want him to get hurt or anything. Despite the fact that I detest the boy and can't stand to look at him or hear his voice, and despite the fact that I always want him to hit the wall hard enough to get taken out of the race, I still wouldn't want him to get hurt. Figure that one out, why don't you? Nevertheless, the France family have decided that Kyle Busch is their "guy" this year, just like Jimmie "freekin'" Johnson was the last two years. I'll be glad when it's Tony Stewarts turn again. Or even say... a Richard Childress driver, like Jeff Burton or Kevin Harvick, or Clint Bowyer.

Why is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints considered a church and not a cult?

The statewide average for Regular unleaded gas in my state of Georgia is $3.949. The average in my local area of Augusta, GA is $3.889. My question is this: if we can no longer afford to drive to our jobs and we don't have adequate mass transit in our area and if no one is working and we all loose our jobs and can't pay our bills and can't buy groceries or video games or toilet paper or soap or any of life's little luxuries, or pay for electricity or water or home heating oil or cable TV or phone service and it all gets shut off (except for the rich folks) and then we all get thrown out of our houses and we're all living on the streets and in the woods and parks and on the sidewalks in front of our foreclosed homes... who is our government going to tax? Where are they going to get their money to pay for their healthcare and their limos and their big fine mansions and their caviar? And who are they going to tax to get the money they are sending overseas hand over fist? How are they going to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? How are they going to pay for the huge aid packages to Africa to fight AIDS and poverty and illness and starvation? And by the way... who's gonna bury us all after we've fell over dead in OUR streets from starvation, illness, lack of shelter, food, clean water? Who's gonna pay for the police to protect all of us homeless people from the thugs and gangs that want to kill us just because we might have a small scrap of food or an intact coat? Apocoliptic imaginings, you say? Maybe so... maybe no. The point is... we DON'T know. And our government is doing NOTHING about any of it!!! And NOBODY seems to care!!! You can't tell me that our dear president and his cronies didn't see this coming for the past few years. You can't tell me that someone from any of the preceeding administrations, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon... didn't know that this was in the pipeline. They just didn't care cause they didn't think it would happen in THEIR time in the White House. Well, its happening now. Time's up. Is it too late now to do anything about it? We can hope not cause one things for true: George W. Bush isn't gonna do ANYTHING about solving the problem. He's too dumb to cope with it or even to understand that there is a problem.

And Ted Kennedy is having surgery today on that recently discovered brain tumor. God keep him. Bad guy? Good guy? I think he is some of each. But no one has worked so tirelessly for his constituents than Ted Kennedy. Wish we had a Congressman to represent us here in Georgia as ardently as he represents his. I wish him well.

Oh Puh-leeze!!! There is no way in hell....

2008-05-27T23:23:00.004-04:00

... that any man is ever going to do any of this. Not with a straight face, and certainly not for more than 10 seconds. Who does this crazy guy think he's foolin'? He had to be laughing like a monkey the whole time he sat bashing away at his keyboard writing this article. Guys, really, is this some sort of "male humor" thing? Tell me please cause I can't on any day, for any reason, see my husband doing any of this crap (except cooking a meal and I hate it when he does that). And if he did I would be wondering what really awful thing he had done or was thinking about doing. Or whether or not he was fixing to divorce me. Ladies, am I right? Any woman would drop dead on the instant if her man voluntarily began to massage her feet, or actually handed her the remote. And further more and on top of that: from number 1 "Make it look like you want to do it." ??? How, pray tell, does this yahoo think a man is going to do that? He sure doesn't give any pointers on how they are to manage that part, now does he? I'm sorry, but this article is just a load of crap. If men could do any of those things with smile on their face... no one would be having to write a stupid article telling them to do it!!!
Besides... this article is sorta creepy on a whole other level. It's like Cosmo for men. I'm shuddering. I don't want a man who reads man Cosmo. That's just wrong. I don't want a man who butts in on my shtick, takes over my job, horns in on my turf. Being touchy feely is my job. The woman's job. I'm the one who is supposed to send a little note telling him how wonderful he was last night, or making him dinner (my man butts into my kitchen too often as it is), or driving him to the airport or watching a show or a sporting event with him. I would not want to have to have him nosing in on what I'm watching or doing or whatever. That's just not cool. In a relationship men and women have things they are equally responsible for, things that the woman is responsible for, and things that the man is responsible for. I have no intention of messing in his business and I certainly don't want him messing in mine. As far as I'm concerned,that's the way to keep a relationship running smoothly and happily. Let him stick to his territory and me to mine and we'll meet in the middle as it should be.
Thing is, I think we should each learn to accept our position and responsibilities in a relationship and just deal with it. If you aren't happy with what you are doing, then you need to really take stock of your situation and figure out if you need to go on down the road or if you just want to accept it. Sometimes going on down the road is the right thing to do. Sometimes staying and accepting is the right thing. Only you can make that decision. But each person should be able to feel safe in their "place". Your partner should not be trying to take over your position, your responsibilities. And you shouldn't be trying to take over theirs. It's better if each person knows without question where they are supposed to be, what they are supposed to be doing, what their job is in the relationship. That's what leads to a more harmonious union. I think.

Simply Red ~ If You Don't Know Me By Now

This one's for you, Mr. Mike

2008-05-24T00:19:00.005-04:00

Dio ~ Stand Up And Shout

It's the same old song
You've gotta be somewhere at sometime
They never let you fly.
It's like broken glass
You get cut before you see it
So open up your eyes.
You've got desire
So let it out.
You've got the fire
Stand up and shout-shout.
You've got wings of steel
But they never really move you
You only seem to crawl.
You've been nailed to the wheel
But never really turning
You know you've got to want it all.
You've got desire
So let it out.
You've got the fire
Stand up and shout.
You are the strongest chain
And not just some reflection
So never hide again.
You are the driver
You own the road
You are the fire go on explode.
You've got desire
So let it out.
You've got the power
Stand up and shout.

One of my all time favorite Dio songs. Thanks to Mr. Mike for reminding me just how great he is.

How about this one, Mr. Mike? Its from their second album "The Last in Line", which I also had on cassette.

Dio ~ We Rock

You watch their faces
You'll see the traces
Of the things they want to be
But only we can see.
They come for killing
They leave and still it seems
The cloud that's left behind
Oh, can penetrate your mind.
But sail on, sing a song, carry on
Cause We Rock, We Rock, We Rock, We Rock.
We pray to someone
But when it's said and done
It's really all the same
With just a different name.
So many voices
All giving choices
If we listen they will say
Oh, we can find the way.
But we'll sail on, sing a song, carry on
Cause We Rock, We Rock, We Rock, We Rock.
We Rock, We Rock, We Rock, We Rock.
We Rock!
We Rock
You watch their faces
You'll see the traces
Of the things they want to be
But only we can see.
They come for killing
They leave and still it seems
The cloud that's left behind
Can penetrate your mind.
Sail on, sing a song, carry on
Cause We Rock, We Rock, We Rock, We Rock.
We Rock, We Rock, We Rock, We Rock.
Ride out - stand and shout - carry on.
Sail on - Sing your song - carry on.
Cause We Rock, We Rock, see how We Rock.
We Rock.
That's rock.
We Rock.
We Rock.

The "other" Pete

2008-05-16T00:11:00.004-04:00

Back story:
My husband Pete and I met way back in July of 1984. I was just a few days past my 18th birthday. He was a few months past his 43rd birthday. I fell head over heels, ass over tea kettle, in love with the man. I mean, hard, sweaty, forget to breathe, feeling dizzy, running a fever, can't sleep, can't eat, can't remember your own name, in love with the man! We got together immediately. We lived together (since he was a truck driver, we lived in his truck) for about 6 months. I'll cut to the point of this story, but if you want to learn more about the background stuff you can click here.
Anyway, when Pete and I parted ways in 1985, I started dating a guy who's name is actually John Peterson, but I knew him then as Pete Peterson. Funny, eh, since my husband is also known as Pete and not by his real name, which is Alfred. Peterson was an army buddy of my uncle Charles, whom I just spent a week and half with in TN. He was from MA, he talked funny (to my Southern ear) he was cute, and he was good in bed. It was purely a physical thing. He was good fun to be around, but I didn't fancy myself in love with him or anything like that. It was just a little fling. Thing is, I saw Pete, my Pete who is now my husband, some little while after I had started seeing Pete Peterson. He came to ask me to come back to him, and I was having too much fun partying to want to do that. (Teenagers are so frickin' smart, aren't they?) So, my Pete knows that I was seeing that Pete right after I broke up with him way back then. That Pete and my two uncles Charles and Donnie, were best buds for many years, even tho I moved on and didn't ever see him again, except once, at my uncle TL's funeral when my son was about 2 years old and I was still married to his dad. Sometime around 1996 Pete Peterson lost touch with my uncles and they hadn't heard from him since, but I didn't know that yet.
That's the short form of the back story to this story:
You all know that my uncle Charles was having health issues last month and that I went up to TN to care for him and help him as I could. Pete (my Pete) and Thomas drove me up there on a Saturday and they drove back home the very next day, a Sunday. Funny thing happened that Saturday evening while we were all still at Charles house. A friend named Kirsten had brought over a lot of food and stuff and she and I were in the kitchen getting things ready for supper and the guys were all in the living room talking. The phone rang and Kirsten picked up the kitchen phone but, since she is partially deaf in both ears, she couldn't make out what the person on the other end was saying. She handed the phone to me and I immediately switch gears and go into my best "professional receptionist" mode. I say, "Charles West residence, Holly speaking, how can I help you?" and this guy with an exceptionally thick North Easterner accent says, "This is John Peterson. I'd like to speak to Charles, please." So I take the phone to my uncle and I tell him the name and he gets this huge smile on his face and he grabs the phone and hollers, "Pete Peterson, you bastard! How the hell are you, man?!" And I nearly fell over. See, the whole time I was partying with him and doing the wild thang with him, all those years ago, I never knew his name was John.
I went back to the kitchen and eventually Charles got off the phone and we all got to the table for supper. During the course of the meal, Charles has to tell Kirsten the whole story of how he knew John Peterson and that he hadn't heard from him since about 1996 and that my uncle Donnie had met someone in his line of work that was from the town in MA where Pete is from and he had asked if the guy knew him and he did. (actually, since Pete was the youngest of 7 children and the only boy, the guy knew his sisters, not him, but when he got back home he gave one of Pete's sisters Donnie's business card to give to Pete and she did.)
Anyway... I just thought it was weird. Kinda ironic, that the last time I spent any time at my uncle Charles house, I was seeing Pete Peterson and my Pete had come by to try to get me to go back with him. And then just when I go back to his house for any time, married to my Pete, that Pete Peterson, who hadn't been in touch with Charles for years, should call. It was just funky and funny and weird and I could tell that hubby didn't like it but he didn't say anything, so neither did I.
I wonder if that Pete will come to the family reunion this year? It's going to be in FL and he is living in FL. On the coast somewhere, Gulf side, I think. South of Tampa/St. Pete. He has a live-in girlfriend. I wonder what he looks like now? I wonder if he's fat or skinny? If he still has those adorable light brown curls or if he's bald. I wonder if his eyes are still twinkly, or if they've gone dull with age and life in general? I wonder if he wonders what I look like? I know he remembers me cause I identified myself when I took the phone from Kirsten and Charles said that during the course of their conversation he asked if that was me. I wonder if my Pete will find some reason that we shouldn't go to the family reunion this year, just on the off chance that that Pete will be there? He better not.
So... different kind of comedy story, eh? Ironic? Sad? Silly? Twisted? I just thought it was a little curious. So there it is: the story of The Other Pete.

Ah... so that's what it means...

2008-05-14T22:54:00.008-04:00

I always wondered about the name of this group: Three Dog Night. Now I know...

"The now-famous name came from a story about Australian aborigines who, on cold nights in the outback, sleep with their dogs for warmth. The coldest evenings are known as three dog nights."

That explanation came from their "official" website. I have also seen it said that the story was Eskimo/Inuit. Whichever... They were one of my earliest musical memories. They did so many, many fine songs. It would be impossible for me to pick just one as my "favorite". Tho I have spent hours and days and weeks pondering the words to this one:

Three Dog Night - Black & White

It came out in 1972 or 1973. I was 5 or 6 years old. Up to that time I had not seen many people who were not white. Except the older black couple who would come to my Granny's back door to sell their cakes. Yummy cakes they were, too. But they would never come to the front door, only the back. Curiouser and curiouser to a young girl who had never actually been taught to be prejudice. Anyway... like I said, their music made me think from a very young age.

Like this "One" which came out in 1969, when I was all of 3. It made me listen, it made me think, it made me feel... something... even at that tender age.

Three Dog Night - One

BJ Thomas had that effect on me too. His music is also one of my earliest memories. I still love his voice to this day. Besides, even at 5-6 years old I could see he was quite handsome. (I'm not kidding, he was, is, what ever...)

B.J. Thomas - Hooked On A Feeling

Anyway... not sure why these artists should stick in my mind, have made such an impression on me. I still am in awe of BJ's voice. And Three Dog Night still makes me go "huh" when I hear the name. And the song Black & White still makes me think, even now, these many years later. I guess I was really thinking about them now because of Barack Obama and race relations being in the news so much lately. You'd have thought we'd have evolved more since that song first came out than we have. Why should the color of someones skin matter? Why should anyone think it has anything to do with whether the person is capable? Kind? Intelligent? Sincere? A color is what you are, not who you are. The word "black" is an adjective, not a pejorative. Likewise for words like "white", "brown", "yellow" and "red".

The point is: as a human being, we are born with the ability, the instinct to love and to want love. We learn to hate as we grow. It is something we have to be taught. As a child, growing up in the South, I didn't understand that I was supposed to think of those two old black people any differently than I thought of any older person in my church or neighborhood. I showed them respect just like I did my Granny and her friends. I didn't understand why they didn't ever come to the front door just like everyone else. And thank the Lord that's a lesson I never did learn.

Thomas Update

As many of you know, we had to take Thomas to the emergency room late Wed. night/early Thur. morning (May 8) because of strong abdominal pain. It was an "enlarged" appendix. Thank God it was caught before full blown Appendicitis struck. He had it removed about 2pm Thur. afternoon. He had a reaction to the anesthetic, so they kept him in the hospital an extra day to make sure it was all out of his system. Naturally I stayed at the hospital with him the whole time. Except for a couple hours I took right after his surgery (while he was still sleeping it off) to go home and eat a real supper and take a shower and grab my meds. We came home Saturday, the 10th. Sunday, Mother's Day, he and I just slept all day and lazed around. We are recovering nicely now. Thomas has not asked for any of his pain medication. He is eating and sleeping normally. The only problem I have is keeping him from doing anything too strenuous. He can't lift anything, or be pullng and pushing on stuff until the staples come out. I will take him to see the doctor on the 20th to get that done and then he should be pretty much back to normal.
I have had an eventful few weeks and I hope all the excitement is over for now.

My trip

2008-05-06T23:40:00.006-04:00

Anyway... been gone a few weeks. Was in Tennessee with my Uncle Charles, who had massive, seriously serious abdominal surgery on April 2nd, wherein they cut a big tumor out of his stomach and then took out about 8 inches of what intestines he has left. He was in the hospital for 16 days before they let him come home. Then he was home for a week and then the day before I was due to come home, he had a little set-back and I had to take him back to the hospital, where they kept him for three more days. He got home on a Monday and I left him to come home that Thursday evening. I did enjoy getting to know him better as an adult. I had not spent much time with him since I was in my late teens. Other than seeing him at family reunions and other family functions. And I didn't spend much time around him even then. Its a long story but here's the short of it:

"In 1981 he was working as a longshoreman in the port of Houston. He was nearly killed when a load shifted and a ton of steel pipes fell on him. He was in the hospital for over 8 months while the doctors tried to reconstruct his insides and save enough intestines and stomach so he could survive without being hooked up to a machine. They managed it but he had to wear a colostomy ever since. He lost the ability to sire children; had permanent nerve damage in his right leg which is now atrophying after all these years. He did manage to keep it supple for 27 years. A miracle, actually. Anyway, he got lots of money after that and he had a lot of mental anguish and he began drinking heavily and doing drugs heavily and people started hanging around him cause he was always willing to pay for the party and he liked people who would be "yes men" to him. I didn't like most of them (even some family members) whom I thought were just using him. But I never have been much of a druggie and a boozer. I grew out of that when I had my son, but I never liked it much even before that. Anyway... I chose not to be around that kind of stuff. I didn't agree with his lifestyle and I didn't want his money and I wasn't about to be a "yes" person to him or let him boss me around and be rude to me. Now... he's used up all his money, he's pretty much in the poor house, he has to depend on the VA for his health care and this year he had a bout of Mersa (that horrible staph infection that has been killing people all over the world in hospitals) and it got into the colostomy wound area and they had to cut that out and remove the ostomy from the left side of his abdomen and re-situate it on the right. Then his insides didn't want to work after the surgery... he's had a terrible time. I truly feel for him. Sure, you can say he pretty much brought all this hardship on himself, as far as the money thing goes and all, but the original accident was not his fault and he's still my uncle and I still love him even tho I don't always agree with him. So... that's the shortest version of that story as I could do."

So anyway, I stayed with him cause I thought it was the right thing to do. I still do. But I was tired as heck when I got back home. I was home Friday and then we got up Saturday morning and drove to Rockingham, NC to see the ARCA race. The motel I had a reservation at was horrible. The bathroom was moldy; the beds were saggy, and there were two guys out on the balcony in front of our room drinking beer and yelling at the cars as they drove by. Scary. And gross. So I called the Holiday Inn Express which we had seen on our way in to town and asked if they had a room available, which they did. So I got a refund from the Regal Inn and we went over to the Holiday Inn. Very nice room, clean, didn't have any funny odors; the carpet was nice and didn't stick to your bare feet; the continental breakfast the next morning was quite nice as well. The race at Rockingham was fantastic. I enjoyed it absolutely. I saw my man Tony Stewart. Actually was able to touch him on the shoulder and he smiled at me! What a blast! I'm still on cloud nine over that.

The weekend was just beautiful. Bright, sunny, breezy, beautiful. I got a colossal sun burn. My face and neck are just about the color of a perfectly ripe tomato. I look like a freak, pretty much. But it was worth all the agony I'm going thru now. I touched Smoke! He's beautiful, too. Much handsomer than any picture I've ever seen of him. Maybe later I'll explain about the pictures I didn't get and the fat man who jumped up in front of me just when I was snapping the picture of Tony and so on and so forth. So I didn't get a good close-up pic of him. I touched him, and that's way better than any old picture, to my way of thinking.

Anyway... that's about all I can do for tonight. I'm still kind of tired out. Haven't quite recovered from my double trip, yet. Not sorry I went either place, tho.

I Had Totally Forgotten This Great Song!!!

2008-04-17T00:38:00.003-04:00

Rocky Burnette - Tired of Toein' the Line

The night of the 15th I could not fall asleep. I just couldn't. Stressed out, worried, whatever. So... I'm laying there in bed running through the channels over and over. There was nothing on to watch. I can never figure out why that should be. I mean, we gots over a hundred stinkin' channels. There should be something at least passably interesting to watch at 2 in the morning. Wouldn't you think? But there isn't. So... I started running through the Music Choice channels, which most of you know are the music channels you get with your cable hookup. No videos and way too much crap, but they do play some good music. My favorite channels are the classic rock, soul, disco and country channels, as well as the decades channels: the 90's, 80's, 70's, and the golden oldies channel that plays some 60's and 50's. Anyway... While I was laying there trying to fall asleep and not succeeding, they played this old Rocky Burnette song. I remembered it right away. It was one of my favorite songs that year. I love the way he kinda has that little cryin' thing going on, or the little hiccough going on. Wiki him. I was blown away by how much I DIDN'T know about the man. Him and Billy Burnette, either. No way you can classify this guy as a "one hit wonder". No freekin' way. Anyway... it is a great song.

Uncle Charles Update: Tina called today to say that all 9 of his doctors crammed into his room and ran her out while they poked and prodded him and gave him a good going over. His bowels seem to be starting to function again, which is a relief. They say he will be going home tomorrow or Friday. So I guess I will going up to TN this Saturday. I will be there until the following Saturday or if Pete does like we'll do going up and spend the night Saturday and him and Thomas drive back home Sunday, then I will be home the next Sunday. I think that is the smart thing to do. I wouldn't want to sit in a car for 7-8 hours, get out for an hour or two and then jump back in and go another 7-8 hours in the car again. I'm fairly certain that will tire Pete out way more than he could stand. He's not up to full steam yet, no matter what he thinks. I hate the thought of leaving Thomas down here by himself for the whole week. But I guess it will be a good test for him. We'll see how well he does with his responsibilities without me here to remind him when he'd rather forget. I'm nervous about the whole thing. I shouldn't be such a freekin' chicken. I'm scared of the drive up there, more scared of the trip they will take back without me. Pete will drive faster without me in the car and driving in the mountains is dangerous. I'm scared of how Thomas will do without me here. I'm scared that Pete and he will fight while I'm gone and Thomas is way bigger than Pete and stronger, too. And if Pete does something stupid like tell Thomas to take his best shot at Dad, like he did a couple of years ago. Stupid move. Thomas wasn't going to, but Pete told him to again, and he don't understand that Thomas takes things quite literally. He didn't want to do it, and he started crying, but when Pete told him the third time to take as good a swing at old Dad as he could, Thomas did. And he cried and he ran to his room and locked the door and hid in the dark. And Pete got his glasses broken and his pride hurt and a bloody nose. And I was so mad at him for putting Thomas thru that cause Thomas doesn't understand what just happened or why his Dad wanted him to hit him. It was a heartbreaking scene for me. The closest I came to leaving Pete since we've been back together. I explained to him that if anything like that ever happend again I would have to take Thomas and go live somewhere else, but... he may try it again just cause I won't be here. He's kinda sick and twisted that way, sometimes. And I worry about it. I know taking care of Charles is the right thing for me to do. It's what I have to do in order to continue being comfortable with myself. He's family. I have obligation to the elders of my family to try to help them and care for them when they are having hard times. Do I not? How would I feel if I didn't go and he didn't have anyone there to watch after him and he fell down or tried to lift too much and he injured himself and possibly died because of it. What would that make me? A murderer? Basically, because I know his need and if I don't try to help then at best I am being neglectful. Oh well... I'm going, that's all I can say. I will go and I will do my best for him. That is all I can do. Anyway... must get some sleep. Have to go shopping some more tomorrow. oops, it's today already.

Peace. Have a Great Night Everybody!

How come he gets the break?

2008-04-14T11:13:00.011-04:00

Senator Vitter won't testify in sex case

None of the other regular Joe's got off so easy. How come only the guys who no one ever heard of had to testify? Aren't their lives, careers, families just as important as David Vitter's? As the other government type guys who used this service? What gives. I smell a double standard here, don't you?

Who's bitter?
Me? You betcha! Of course those of us who are against the war, don't like the Bush policies (or lack thereof) and who have less purchasing power than we did 7 years ago are bitter. You'd have to be really stupid to not be feeling something negative about the way the world is trending right now. What's the big problem? Some people just can't handle the truth, I suppose. And others are apparently offended by it. And although I proudly voted for Hillary in the Georgia state primary; and although I still have hope that she will be the Democratic nominee so I can vote for her in the general election; the woman is beginning to get on my nerve with the way her campaign is being run. Surely she is smarter than that. What does that Penn guy have on her that she's hung with him for so long? Stupid move. And what's with Bill? I love Bill. I always will, he was a wonderful President. I've never been happier, had more enthusiasm, felt more general feelings of well being and hope as I did when he was running the show. But the man has got issues. Lately I have been wondering if he truly wants Hillary to be President. I think he's afraid that if she gets elected she might prove to be even better at the job than he was. He certainly seems to be working not for her nomination but against it. He needs to go sit down and keep his mouth shut. Or else, just stand there beside her with a vacuous smile on his face like most other political spouses (women) do.

Poem To A Horse - Shakira
You're to far to bring you close
And too high to see below
just hangin' on your daily dose
I know you never needed anyone
But the rolling papers for your grass
How can you give what you don't have?

You keep on aiming for the top
And quit before you sweat a drop
Feed your empty brain with your hydroponic pot
You start out playing with yourself
You get more fun within your shell
Nice to meet you but I gotta go my way

I'll leave again
Cuz I've been waiting in vain
But you're so in love with yourself
If I say my heart is sore
Sounds like a cheap metaphor
So I won't repeat it no more

I'd rather eat my soup with a fork
Or drive a cab in New York
Cuz to talk to you is harder work
So what's the point of wasting all my words
If it's just the same or even worse
Than reading poems to a horse

You keep on aiming for the top
And quit before you sweat a drop
Feed your empty brain with your hydroponic pot
I bet you'll find someone like you
Cuz there's a foot for every shoe
I wish you luck but I've got other things to do

I'll leave again
Cuz I've been waiting in vain
But you're so in love with yourself
If I say my heart is sore
Sounds like a cheap metaphor
So I won't repeat it no more

Oh My God! Have you ever seen a finer set of eye-teeth?!

This is a picture of Chad Little. The man was killer in the NASCAR Busch Series back in the day (mid to late 90's). Seems he was winning every race, or in contention to do so. Took a strange road to stock car racing fame. He was from Spokane, WA (where my great aunt Mary lived). Went to law school but never practised. Just went straight into racing. Weird, eh? Then he got a job driving the 97 John Deere car for Jack Rousch in the Cup series. He got the R&D car and never was in the running for any wins. Jeff Hammond (see my blog "You Sexy Thing...") was his crew chief at the time. I don't think they ever really hit it off. He works for NASCAR now, since he doesn't drive anymore. (Gave it up in disgust, I think) He's done most of the work getting NASCAR races in Mexico and Canada. He's one smart cookie. And he's so damned handsome. I always just wanted him to bite me on the neck. I mean really... just look at those teeth... Have you ever seen a sexier mouthful of teeth on a man? He did a TV show after his driving days were over, then started working for the powers that be at NASCAR. I miss being able to see him on a weekly basis. He's damn sure pretty!

Uncle Charles Update:
Just got a call from Tina. He's been down getting pictures taken all morning. They've been taking one every 30 minutes. They think he has an obstruction in his small intestine. They don't know what it is just yet. Hence all the pictures. The usual course of treatment for something like this is: 1. insert a tube and try to compress it and get it to pass on thru. 2. more surgery. Tina sounded scared. I'm sure she is. Wish I could be there for her. I can't. And I feel guilty about that.

Adam Ant - Puss 'N Boots

This one was always one of my most favorite Adam Ant songs/videos. Who ever came up with his videos sure had a lively, fun loving attitude. I wonder if it was himself?

This concludes today's program. Please join us tomorrow (or some other day) for another riveting episode of "What Am I Doing Right Now".

Good Bye.

Get Your A$$ Up And Walk!

2008-04-07T20:29:00.002-04:00

This is the song that I usually start my walk with. If not the first, then somewhere in the beginning of my routine.

Pantera - Walk

From there I may go anywhere from KC & the Sunshine Band and Brothers Johnson and Wild Cherry to Guns and Roses or Dwight Yoakum or Patsy Cline or Janis or Red Hot Chili Peppers, or whatever. Toward the end of my walk when I'm getting tired I usually play this next one:

Pantera - Cowboys From Hell

The drums really help me get to the end. The way the drums and guitar are dueling at the end is terrific. I love it. Always gets me excited. No matter how many times I listen to it.

Having said that... I did not take my walk today. Wimped out. BUT... I told Pete that since Thomas now has all his game stuff upstairs that I'm going to put my treadmill in the front room with my stereo, so I can do my walk anytime I please. Like right now. I could be taking a walk right now, since supper is all done and everyone is winding down for the day and no one needs me for anything. But no... the man has gone to bed and since my treadmill is in the bedroom... you guessed it. I CAN'T TAKE A WALK!!! Really chaps my a$$, to be blunt about it. I want a ME room. A room with a frickin lock on the door! A room where I can go hide away and do my thing, whatever that thing is. Oh well. Putting the treadmill in the front room is a start I suppose. I'll be happy with that.

Must get busy taking pictures of the new cheeses I bought so I can start cutting on them and tasting. I really went wild on my last shopping trip. I got Smoked Gouda, Smoked Cheddar, Smoked Provolone, Australian Cheddar, and a French cheese that is cow and sheep's milk mixed. That Provolone smells so wonderful I can't wait to try it. I think I may break in to it tonight. The thought is making my mouth water. I think I'll go do that now. G'nite all.

I said take it easy Baby

2008-04-06T21:28:00.006-04:00

I worked all day
and my feet feel just like lead.

Elvis Presley - Bossa Nova

You got my shirt tail flyin' all over the place,
and the sweat poppin' out on my head...

Okay... I had to do that. One of my favorite Elvis songs. Well, they nearly all are, but... you get my point, right? I was doing the laundry today and it was hot and I was being cheap by opening the windows and not turning on the AC. Sweat started dripping off my nose, and I couldn't stand it. Finally had to put on the AC. While I was standing there with the iron in my hand and the steam rising and the sweat dripping, this song popped into my head. So... in honor of being hot and sweaty and having to maintain an activity that you'd rather not be doing... I thought I would share the song with you. Hope you enjoy it.

Sugar update: it's fine. Been in the normal range for the past week and a half to two weeks. Only today it was 203/176. I think it was the wretched cookies Thomas and I ate yesterday. Damned things didn't even taste that good! Next time I splurge I'll make sure it's something I really, really want.

Damn! Just got off the phone with Tina. She's up in TN. Uncle Charles is still in the hospital and he isn't doing very well. She just got up there this evening and went straight to Nashville to the VA Hospital where he is. He's not getting up and walking like they want him to and he's having complications because of it but he says he's in too much pain to walk, he feels like his guts are going to fall out. That's what Tina said he told the nurse. She said they cut him from right below his breastbone to below his belly button. They had to take out more of his small intestine. He's not able to go because the pain meds are making his insides "sleep" (the doctor's description). They are trying to ease him off the morphine, but it's going slowly. I have no idea when they will be letting him go home. Tina is going to be there for this week then I guess I will be going next week. Or she might take two weeks, she doesn't know if she can. She's had training as a care-giver, I haven't, so if he needs extra special care it would be best if she could be there. I don't know nothing about it except how to dispense meds properly and basic cleaning and bandaging and how to sterilize things... Not looking forward to that part of it, I can tell you. Tina asked me what I was going to do if the cleaning of his wounds and all made me sick. I told her that if it made me sick I would just have to make sure I had a bucket nearby. HA! I mean, what else am I gonna do? He's my uncle. Family. I'm one of the younger members of the family, it's time for me to take a turn at helping out some of the older ones. I haven't ever been a position where I was able to do for others before. Now I am, sort of... my duty, my obligation, my need to be there. I just wish Pete wasn't being such a whineybutt about it. Like as tho if his sister needed him he wouldn't go. Or if his nephew or niece needed him he wouldn't go. I think he would. And if he wouldn't... well, that would just mean that he wasn't the person I thought he was. He would be someone I wouldn't want to associate with, much less be married to.

Anyway... Did mucho ironing today. Trying to get my things in order. I cleaned out my dresser drawers and made a start on my closet. Found things I'd totally forgotten I had. Doing things like that can sometimes be like a little mini-Christmas. It was actually a bit fun. The cleaning out part, not the ironing part...

Frank called this evening and wanted to know when he could get Thomas for a visit. I wanted to tell him never, but didn't. Thomas likes to go down there. He likes to see his half-sisters. Who am I to say he shouldn't? Pete always wants me to argue with Frank and get all worked up and upset. ??? I have never figured that out. When I don't he always fights with me and gets ugly and makes me cry. It's like... like... he figures that if I won't get upset by arguing with Frank that he'll argue with me and make me cry, but BY GOD! I'm going to cry one way or the other. It happens every time. Every single cotton picking time. It has never NOT happened. I don't understand it. From there it escalated to a rant on my poor housekeeping skills, my failure as a mother to teach my child any thing worth while and then ended with the usual litany of: I am a horrible person, I never listen to him, I never make him feel appreciated, that all I do is take and take and take and never give and oh, I don't know what all. The only thing that kept me from feeling like I wanted to kill myself tonight was the injustice of it all. The unfairness of it all. Frankly, he just pissed me off. I was actually too mad to feel suicidal. I guess that's a good thing, eh? He's such a dick. If I didn't love him so much I would be out of here so fast his neck would snap with the velocity of his head spinning. Oh well... no one said life was fair. In fact, I believe I remember my mother telling me that life was not fair and that only stupid people expected it to be. God knows I'm stupid sometimes, but I guess not that stupid.

Anyhow, then after I finally quite crying and got my sinuses back into some what working order is when Tina called. She'd just left the hospital and was making her way back to Smithville. She's going to go back first thing in the morning. More power to her. I wish her luck. Charles will probably make her cry. She's a faucet that never stops flowing, just like me. I hate that I cry so easily, and I know she does to. But she'll have to get stern with him to make him get up and walk and he'll speak harshly to her and she'll cry and he'll get disgusted and then he'll feel guilty and then he'll get up and walk, just like he knew he would before he made her cry!!! Guys. Sheesh! I'm not feeling real favorable toward them at the moment. Guess I'll end it here. Must hit the hay. Have lots of stuff to do tomorrow and every day this week.

Good night.

A propo of nothing...

2008-04-02T11:02:00.003-04:00

I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down
So don't you bring me down today...

Going Home

2008-03-27T22:02:00.003-04:00

... tomorrow. Well, you can't ever really go home, can you? But you know what I mean. I'm going to Florida tomorrow. Will stay at my aunt Tina's house. Okay, sometimes I call her my sister, cause she's not 4 years older than me and my mom mostly raised her with me and my sister Martie. So... I have two older sisters really. Anyway... we'll stay at Tina's house and Martie will bring her family out to visit. Thought she was going to come with the girls and stay with us the whole weekend, but creep face John (her husband) decided he will come too, so they won't stay the night, just come over both days. That's good enough, I guess. I have problems always wanting more than I can have, or deserve. I try not to, but... I really wanted to spend good time with her and I know with that man around it won't be a good time for her or probably any one else.

Would like to spend more than a couple days down there, maybe hit the beach, hit the Springs, do a little site-seeing, reminiscing... won't have the chance. Will be happy with what I can have and not cry over what I can't have. Feel so nostalgic tonight. Thinking about when we were growing up, the stuff we used to do, the places we would go. Simple stuff, hanging out all night with friends, feeling the breeze, breathing the air, watching the moon and stars, listening to music... good times. Was skinny back then. Skinny, blond with big boobs. HA! Never wanted for a date much back then. That's funny. I look at myself now and wonder where did that girl go? What happened to her? Can I find her again? I would like to. Things keep dragging me down. Side-tracking me. I have to concentrate so hard... Life is funny. You know? I'm sure everyone has heard the saying, "If I knew then what I know now..." Funny, I feel like, "If I knew now what I knew then...". Feel like my mind is drifting away from me, little by little. Maybe all the memories will just disappear one day and I won't know who I am. Maybe I'd be better off.

But I like to remember what the ocean smelled like. What the orange blossoms smelled like. I want to remember that lone palm tree standing out there in the middle of the salt flats surrounded by nothing but sawgrass and dark, brackish water, the sun going down in your eyes, as you drive down Highway 50 toward the beach. Florida was beautiful when I was growing up there. It's not so beautiful now. In fact, to me it's ugly now. The orange groves are gone, the salt flats are mostly gone, the rivers are all silted up or else built up around so you can't see them. The horse farms are gone, the pastures are all covered by houses and strip malls. Progress, eh?

Feel kinda sad tonight. Should be happy, but I'm not. Not really. Life is hard. Love is hard. Sometimes it makes no sense. To me anyway. I remember that I was always a trusting, loving, affectionate person. I loved being around people. I loved pleasing people, making people happy. Then I figured out that people lie. People don't really love you even tho they say they do. People aren't really your friends, they just say they are and then they turn around and hurt you. Just to see you cry. Just because it makes them feel big, superior...

Nazareth - Love Hurts

And it makes me think about all the people I've hurt in my time. Unintentionally, or otherwise. Hurt through just not being there for them. Hurt by doing or saying something utterly selfish and self-centered that brought totally unintended results. It makes me feel shitty. I hate knowing that I've hurt others, but it's happened. I will pay for it. Have already paid for some of the things I've said and done. Will pay more, I'm sure.

This is for you, Bill, where ever you may be, what ever you may be doing... I'm sorry.

Bob Seger - You'll Accompany Me

Don't Wanna Be My Friend No More...

2008-03-24T23:42:00.006-04:00

...I wanna be somebody else

Pink - Don't Let Me Get Me

So... I guess we will be going to Florida this coming weekend. Spend a couple of days with Tina and Martie and all the kids. Martie and her girls are coming to stay at Tina's with us. I hope she leaves butthead at home. 20 some odd years ain't made me like him any better. And I've tried. God knows I've tried. Just something about the man makes it hard for me to even look at him. Of course, knowing that he's beat my sister up; let her go hungry, homeless, un-loved all these years doesn't help. I know it was her choice. Her choice, her right. Still hurts. Why are men such dickheads? Pardon my language. Her choice, her right. My choice, my right. Right? Who's to say which of us is worse off and which better?

Truth to tell, I was looking forward to going to TN and nursing my uncle Charles after his surgery. Just to get out of this god-damned house. Just to be myself for a little while. I hate it here sometimes. It would have been nice to be somewhere else for a while. Somewhere no one really knows me; where no one has any expectations of me... But I guess that's off now. His surgery got pushed back and now his old flame (drunk arsed ho) is coming to take care of him when he does have the surgery. More power to her. Hope she ain't looking for a big payout cause he's done gone and lost all his money. Poor man is broke now and where are all his good-time, party buddies now? Moved on to someone else who can afford to pay their tab. Well, well... ain't we just a holier-than-thou bitch tonight? Yep. I'll even say, "I told you so." So there.

I feel so small, so wadded up and crumpled. I feel all dingy, and drab, dusty. I wanna go somewhere else, do something different, be someone else. Be the person I was before I cared what other people (he) thought of me. Not even sure I remember who that person was. I know she liked herself much better than I like me. I just want to be clean again. Free and clean.

Bob Seger - Till It Shines

My Life - The Musical

2008-03-20T21:09:00.003-04:00

Heart - Magic Man

Tom Petty - American Girl

Cat Stevens - Wild World

Adam Ant - Wonderful

BabyFace - When can I See You Again

Eurythmics - It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)

Jonny Lang - Breakin' Me

Shakira - Fool

Rob Thomas - Lonely No More

Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart

Now thats a fine looking man!

2008-03-20T19:53:00.001-04:00

For all my Viggo fan friends, enjoy!

http://www.geocities.com/hhollyd/Viggo.html

A bundle of flaws held together by chains of doubt

2008-03-20T15:07:00.002-04:00

I know what I am. I am nothing if not flawed. I know I am not a good person. I'm not a "kiddie" person. I am a mother, an aunt, a step-grandmother, but I don't exactly like children. Especially other's people's children. I especially don't like it when other people insist that I pay attention to their child. Every frickin' time I encounter them. If that makes me a bad person, so be it. I already knew that about myself.

I also don't want to push myself in where I am not wanted. And I feel decidedly unwanted at my favorite place to hang out. So... I'll cry for a little while and I'll "lurk" there for a little while, then I'll get over it. I know I am a difficult person to get along with. I am inpatient, selfish, doubtful, stupid a lot of the time, scared, scarred, imperfect. A lot of the time I can't stand myself, why should I expect any one else to like me any better than I do? Oh well, "expect the worst and all surprises will be good ones..." Sucks, tho. I'd like to be able to expect good things every once in a while and see them come to fruition. Sadly, I am an imperfect vessel, unable to live up to other's expectations. Well, imperfect vessels have rights and feeling too. I have just as much right to my feelings as the next person. Flawed as I am, I even have the right to get upset when someone continually shoves her kid down my throat non-stop at my favorite place. Well... so be it. Get over it, move on. finio.