Seven Days To Go

We have seven more days to go on this vacation and it seems like it is going way too fast. While we aren't pushing ourselves, just about every day has been filled with things to do. We have been eating WAY too much and indulging slightly in adult beverages--but that is what you DO on vacation! Yesterday we spent the day at the Kennedy Space Center--so unbelievably amazing! I DO have a lot of pictures that I will be posting, but they don't do justice to what we saw. Today we spent the day at Downtown Disney and had just as awesome of a day. We are going down the Atlantic coast tomorrow and will get to Epcot later in the week. Every day another 'adventure.' How cool is this? :)

Florida

A week from tonight we will have spent our first full day in Florida. The time since we decided on this trip has gone by fast, but not as fast as this next week will.

This all came into being because friends of ours were going to Florida for a vacation and asked if we wanted to go, too. Since we haven't really gone on a vacation since Vegas--our trip/s to St Paul are more about visiting our daughter--we said 'sure!' While we have been in Florida two other times, they were all about Disney World, but this trip will be about 'Florida.'

We have rented a house to stay in. It has four bedrooms and its own pool. Here is the floorplan:


I love the fact that the pool is all screened in, so there will be no bugs to worry about! It really looks cool:


I think this is the way to go--we have privacy, lots of room, laundry facilities, kitchen, etc, and it all is for far less than a hotel.

We have already been talking about some of the things we want to do--after all, we will be there for twelve days, so we need a bit of a plan. Of course, Disney World will be visited. We probably will only go for one day and that will be a visit to Epcot. I feel that Epcot has the most to offer for adults--and we can stay till quite late, as we will stay for the fireworks. Both coasts will be visited--K and I have been to the Atlantic Ocean, but neither of us have seen the Gulf coast. The Kennedy Space Center will be a day's activity. I'm not a big space person, but this is very historic and shouldn't be missed. Up in the air, but a good possibility, is to catch a Tigers' spring training game. I have NEVER seen any pro-sporting event in person and even a pre-season game would be better than nothing. I am, however, a little sad to think that my first pro-event WOULDN'T be a Wings' game, but, oh well. I'm sure we will have more things to do than time to do it in, but that is usually the case with vacations.

I'm doing quite well with my planning, so far, but when Thursday rolls around I will feel as if I haven't done anything. I believe I have everything that I will be taking--K, however, is a different story. I can never get that man to do a thing for a trip any earlier than the day before we leave. At this point, I don't care if he has clothes for the trip. Whatever he needs, we'll just buy when we get there--whether he likes it or not! ;) I'm just not going to let myself get all worked up about things--I don't want to start this trip all stressed out.

I hope to be able to post while we are gone--I AM taking the laptop, even though we don't have internet access in the house. If I can't get online, at the very least I should be able to 'Twitter'--and those short messages DO appear on the sidebar of this blog. I really can't wait for this to begin!

Hockey Day in Michigan

Damn NHL schedule! Here it is Hockey Day in Michigan and the Wings don't have a game. You would think we could get a Wings' game on this 'special day,' but noooooooo. Instead, I have watched two college hockey games and am watching my second Canadian team's game. Yippee. And the college teams were both from downstate, not even one of our local universities. The only bright spot in all of this: I got to watch Toronto completely annihilate Pittsburgh. That was fun.

Happy Valentine's Day

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Men Are Stupid--Sometimes, Anyway!

Janet sent this to me today and I HAD to post it!! Enjoy.


Pocket Taser Stun Gun, a great gift for the wife.

A guy who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Taser for their anniversary submitted this:

Last weekend I saw something at Larry's Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse- sized taser. The effects of the taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety...

WAY TOO COOL! Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time, I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!!!

Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right? There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and taser in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, 'no possible way!' What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best...

I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as if to say, 'don't do it dipshit,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for the heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and . . . HOLY MOTHER OF GOD . . .WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION . . . WHAT THE HELL!!!

I'm pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs. The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note: If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. A three second burst would be considered conservative. IT HURT LIKE HELL!!!

A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I had no control over the drooling.

Apparently I pooped on myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair. I'm still looking for my nuts and I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return!

P.S... My wife, can't stop laughing about my experience, loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it!

If you think education is difficult, try being stupid !!!

Detroit 4, Minnesota 2

At long last, the Wings are beginning to play like champions! Tonight they won their sixth straight and hope to win number seven tomorrow. And they are doing their winning with several injuries AND tonight neither Z or Dats scored. Even Ozzie played one of his better games, so things are looking up--at least for tonight.

I'm loving having the Euro Twins back together and having Baby Boy on the second line is keeping a smile on my face. Even Babs mentioned how well he was doing there, so I'm hoping it stays this way. VF got another point tonight and he now has a +/- of 10! He was unbelievable on face-offs and is at over 51% winning them. ALL of the Wings were amazing at face-offs tonight. Leino got another goal and it will be very hard to see him sent back to Grand Rapids--but he will, most likely, be back for the playoffs. Just quite a good effort from one and all.


--DETROIT - FEBRUARY 12: Ville Leino #21 of the Detroit Red Wings celebrates his 2nd period goal as Marek Zidlicky #3 of the Minnesota Wild looks on during their NHL game at Joe Louis Arena February 12, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan.(Photo By Dave Sandford/Getty Images)--

Tattoos

Don't let anyone fool you: getting a tattoo hurts. A lot. So why do it? I have been told that GETTING tattoos can become addictive--I think that HAVING tattoos can become addictive. I'm afraid I might be falling in the latter category. I went out and got my second tonight--and am planning to get more.

Anyway, I decided on what I wanted for my second tat and figured it was time to get it. After all, it has been more than six years since I got my first one. I made an appointment and wound up with a different tattoo artist than the last time--and I love him! He was such a sweetheart and we found out that we are neighbors--he and his girlfriend live just down the block from us. As a matter of fact, he walks his dog past our house almost every day and he said I should make sure and come out for a chat the next time I see him. I must say, though, that all the people at this particular place are the nicest bunch you could ever meet--even if you probably would run like hell if you met them in a dark alley! (The artist who did my tat tonight is the most 'normal' of the bunch--he didn't have any ink showing at all, except for the small part of a tat that crept past his T-shirt neckline.)

So, I got my second tattoo and almost got a third. Unfortunately, I saw my dermatologist today and got some cortisone injections and the cortisone moved into the area where I wanted another tat, so it wasn't something that could be done. Oh, well, maybe in a few weeks I can go back for it.

K has no tattoos--even though he was in the Navy. He said most of the enlisted short-timers didn't have any ink, but the lifers had a lot. He said anything you could think of was tattoed onto bodies--and he saw some beautiful work. Now, after all of these years, he is very close to getting his first tattoo. He keeps looking and has an idea what he wants, but it still needs refining. Trouble is, his ONE tattoo will probably cost more than twice as much as what I have paid for two--and it will take a lot longer to do. Hey, more power to him if he can stand the pain!

So, now for the big reveal. The pics aren't that great and my arms look like legs, but here we have tattoo number one and tattoo number two.



I think they're kind of cool. :)

PLEASE--NOT Again!

Brett Favre tells Jets he's going to retire.

Have You Been Squished?

Today I went for my annual boob squish. Now, I know it has only been about six months since my last one, but the doctor wants me back on my 'normal' schedule, so squish happened. Today brought my total of times I had to have this procedure done to four for the past year--such fun.

I was pleasantly surprised by how fast everything went. The hospital just got a new digital imaging set-up, so the entire procedure took half the time. And that is always a good thing. However, my skin WAS stretched to beyond the breaking point--I will be shocked if my entire chest ISN'T bruised in the morning. But, everything looked fine--at least at first glance--so I shouldn't be getting 'the call' like I did last year. And, I won't need to have this done for another year. Thank goodness.

glitter-graphics.com

Wings 5, Predators 3

Short and sweet: the Wings won their fifth straight by beating Nashville tonight. However, the score should have been MUCH more lopsided as the Wings had 51 shots on goal compared to Nashville's 21. Z got two tonight, as did Datsyuk. My Baby didn't get any points, but his +/- is at 9 and he IS getting some scoring chances. He did get another penalty--naughty boy--but I don't think he was credited with any hits. His face-off percentage got a slight bit better, but overall I don't think he's doing too badly. Being on the line with Hossa has helped him a lot. I'm absolutely thrilled that the Euro Twins are back together--I think it helps the entire team.



--Detroit Red Wings center Valtteri Filppula (51), of Finland, collides with Nashville Predators right wing Patric Hornqvist (27), of Sweden, in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009. (AP Photo)--

Holy Wah!!! Detroit 3, Pittsburgh 0

The best things about today's game:

--Sid was shut out--he only got one shot off.
--Hossa, who played for Pittsburgh last year, got a goal.
--Conklin, who played for Pittsburgh last year, got a shut out.
--Baby Boy got another point.
--Datsyuk got TWO goals.
--The team played very well.
--They won on national TV.

The worst things about today's game:

--Nobody hit Sid in the mouth. (Sorry, I can't stand the little shit.)
--Baby Boy didn't get a goal.
--The game was on NBC.

An all around good effort by the 'boys' today--and after playing less than 24 hours earlier. If they can keep this up, nobody will be able to stop them. Three more games this week--let's see what they can do. Today, at least, I am a happy woman.

I LOVE the smile on Hossa's face after his goal--have to post the pic! That goal certainly stopped the boos! :D


--The Red Wings' Marian Hossa, right, celebrates his third-period goal with teammate Chris Chelios on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009. The Red Wings beat Pittsburgh, 3-0. (AP)--

Red Wings vs Penguins

DANG! Why can't these games start later so that I could play the 'Sidney Crosby Drinking Game?'

Only 30 Left

Yep, just 30 games left in the regular season and it is time for the Wings to get their act together and start playing like they can. Today's game was a good start, as they beat the Oilers 8-3. They had 5 goals in the first period alone, but didn't keep up the pressure in the third and allowed three goals. Still, they played more like themselves than they have all season--and it's about time.

I could also have titled this post as "It's February So That Means The Wings Are Falling Like Flies." The injuries are beginning to stack up and it is getting scary. First, Brad Stuart goes on long-term injured reserve because of the way he went into the boards just before the all-star break. He should be back in the next few weeks, hopefully. Tomas Holmstrom has been having groin problems again and needs surgery just like last year. He is gone for about 5 weeks, but should be back in time for the playoffs. Tomas Kopecky has a hip that is bothering, but would have been able to play tonight if it had been a playoff game. And Johan Franzen got hurt during tonight's game and there is no word as to how bad his hand is. Keeping my fingers crossed over THIS one. Thankfully, Z came back from his back problems last game and is playing like he never was gone. Dan Cleary took one nasty hook/slash to the jewels tonight, but he claims to be fine. Maybe his wife would have a different opinion, if she was asked tomorrow. ;)

The one good thing to come out of the injuries is that some of the guys from Grand Rapids are being called up. Downey came up for one game and so did Abdelkader. Helm is playing again and we finally have gotten to see Ville Leino play some games. Leino is the second Finn to play for the Wings and he is impressing. In three games, he has gotten two goals and on assist--I believe he WILL be playing on the 'big' team next year. It will be nice for my Baby Boy to have someone else from Finland on the team--as long as VF stays in Detroit!

Babcock has FINALLY started playing the lines I have wanted all season long--and it seems to be working. The Eurotwins are back together on the first line and have done rather well. I think the entire team likes it best when Z and Pasha play together. Baby Boy is now on the second line with Hossa and it has really done wonders for his point tally--he now has 25 points! I think VF might be getting it together--finally--as he is putting up some points and is actually doing more hitting! Now all he has to do is start shooting more and he will end the season very nicely. He still is at a little over 50% with his face-off wins, so that hasn't changed at all since last year--and that is a VERY good statistic. If he can pick up his play, then he might not have to worry about the possibility of being traded.

Tomorrow the Wings play in Pittsburgh. At least today's game wasn't that tiring and Babcock kept everyone's time on the ice to a minimum, so they should be ready to go. A couple of things are bothering me about the game, though. First, it is on NBC, so we get to listen to the announcers drool over Crosby. Of course, being on national TV the officiating could very well be VERY bad for the Wings--kind of to be expected. The worst part of the game, though, will be the Penguin fans. I expect a lot of booing as soon as Hossa shows his face--and it will continue every time he has possession of the puck. They still can't get over the fact that Hossa wanted to leave Pittsburgh--you would think they would have gotten over it already. But, I can't fault the Pittsburgh fans--well, not TOO much. It seems as if EVERY team's fans have SOMEONE that they will boo relentlessly for years and years and years. Detroit fans STILL boo Federov and HIS sin happened quite a few years ago. I certainly don't understand it. At least Hossa is very aware of what will happen and he can adjust as he needs to. All I want is a win--I don't care HOW they do it, I just want them to win. If the win is pretty, all the better! GO WINGS!!!!


--DETROIT - FEBRUARY 07: Theo Packham #49 of the Edmonton Oilers battles for the puck with Ville Leino #21 of the Detroit Red Wings during the first period on February 7, 2009 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)--

BEST Friday Funny

What more can you want? Friday, LOLDogs, and a reference to the funniest show ever!

Acting Lessons, Anyone?

I REALLY want to meet the person who talks the Red Wings into doing the little 'films' that they do. This person could--as they say--sell an icebox to an Eskimo! And it happened again for Groundhog's Day. Watch three of the Wings--my Baby Boy is the star--show their acting abilities. They don't need to give up their day jobs--PLEASE! :)

And now I present to you, 'Motor City Fil.'

LOL Funnies

Tuesday--not the best OR the worst day of the week. Actually it is kind of a "MEH" day. So, we need something to chuckle about. Here are LOLDogs and LOLCats to provide entertainment. Enjoy!

Another Great Site

Once again, I was surfing the interweb and found a link. I really wish I could remember WHERE, but not happening. Anyway, this is quite hilarious, so make sure you visit--it will either make you feel less alone or make you be very grateful for the mother you do have!

Postcards From Yo Mama

What A Way To (Probably) End A Career

Yesterday there was some sort of sporting event and it seemed to impact the NHL--namely, there were very few games to watch. BUT, I did manage to find one worthy of my time and so I saw Boston beat Montreal. (BOO!!! And I ONLY wanted the Habs to win because I don't want the Bruins to keep getting the points.) Anyway, the strangest thing happened: I thought I was going to have to fix my TV in order to watch the game and then it became abundantly clear that the problem was with the Habs uniforms. They decided--probably because this is their 100th year--to wear retro jerseys and they were AWFUL!! Don't believe me? Here is a picture:


A lot of people are likening these to barberpoles, but I just think they are atrocious. I couldn't really focus my eyes throughout the game. What in the world were they thinking? But then, they ARE French-Canadians, so...

And now I get to the point of the title, Robert Lang. Lang was a Wing a few years ago and then wound up playing for the Blackhawks before finding his way to Montreal. He has been doing quite well this year. Unfortunately, he left yesterday's game with an injury. At first, it looked as if he came down on his left leg in a wonky way and probably suffered an ankle injury. As it turns out, he got his left Achilles tendon sliced by a skate and is out for (probably) the rest of the year--and the real possibilty is that his career is over. Word has it that it takes at least a year to heal and come back from this injury--and it doesn't seem likely that someone will do so at the age of 39 or 40. Quite sad, really. And as I have said many times: what a way to make a living! Here is a picture taken just shortly before his injury as he celebrated his goal--a much happier time.


Be well, Bobby.

UPDATE: Lang underwent successful surgery to repair his severed Achilles tendon. He is expected to be out indefinitely. (DUH!)

Uh, Oh!!!

Now, I'm probably the only person in the US to say this, but Michael Phelps just didn't thrill me at all. Okay, so he won all of those medals, but still. Frankly, I think it just isn't fair that he could win so many medals doing basically the same thing. It just doesn't seem fair to someone who, for example, plays basketball. The basketball player can ONLY compete for one medal, so there will NEVER be one who wins numerous medals during one Olympics. So, anyway, I didn't find much to rave about.

Today it is being reported that a picture surfaced of Phelps inhaling from a marijuana pipe--and he acknowledges that it IS him in the picture. He has apologized for his behavior. Don't these people live in the real world? Don't they realize that there are always people around with phones that take pictures? Or do they think they are so great that they are immune? I really would like to know just how they think.

Here is a link to the story.