Out of My Mind

Those 'I Feel So Bad You Can't Understand' Blues

2012-02-02T03:26:00.000-05:00

We have all been sick, hurt, or in one way or another, in some sort of discomfort. And these are times when we manage to say some very silly things. And I have stories...

--The Sister-in-Law was in the early stages of labor with her first child. She was at her parent's (my in-laws) house waiting until it was time to go to the hospital. After a slightly uncomfortable contraction, she looked at my mother-in-law and said, "But you don't KNOW how much this hurts!!!" My m-i-l just rolled her eyes and shook her head: She had given birth to FIVE children, herself.

--The Second Granddaughter was experiencing some menstrual cramps. This is the one who happens to be Miss Drama Queen. After moaning and groaning all day long, she looked at her mother and said, "But no one has EVER felt like this!"

--Yesterday, The Son-in-Law had a hernia repair. As surgery goes, this was quite minor--and the only incision was a small one made in the navel. He was given a 'twilight' anesthetic and was in the hospital only three hours. From the way he was acting, The Oldest said you would assume he had been in the ring with Mike Tyson for 8 rounds. And he told The Oldest, "But you have NO IDEA how much pain I'm in!!!!" The Oldest has given birth 8 times--five of which were by C-section.

Thank goodness we love those we take care of and are taken care of by people who love us. Otherwise, I think there would be quite a lot of slapping upside the head going on. :D

***I'm VERY thankful that there hasn't been a camera going while I was sick, in labor, or recovering from surgery. I'm certain being around me wasn't any walk in the park during those times. ;D***

Police Log

2012-02-01T02:44:00.000-05:00

Guess what? We finally have a few good stories to pass on!

(These all happened on different days.)

--1:43 AM, subject on the roof refusing to come down.
Just one thing to say about this: IT IS THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING WINTER!!!!! I don't think I WANT to know why s/he was on the roof.

--9:41 AM, report of neighbors banging on walls, was just ice falling.
I kind of have the feeling that the person doing the reporting has some ISSUES with the neighbors. ;)

--6:07 PM, two subjects arguing, throwing snowballs at each other.
So now we can't do snowball fights? {shaking my head}

--6:30 PM, complaint that a snowman in front yard has male genitals; removed by builder.
First of all, just wait two days and the genitals will either be covered with snow or will have melted enough that they would not be evident anymore. And secondly, WHO examines a snowman enough to actually tell that it has male genitals? Unless the builder made them so big that they couldn't BE ignored... And I'm not too clear on WHAT was removed by the builder: The snowman or the genitals? :D

A Working Dog

2012-01-31T02:24:00.000-05:00

Almost every time we take one of our road trips--like we did this past weekend--I visit one of the 'named' pet stores in the town. Our cat is a bit picky in her eating habits, so I have to get to a bigger store with a better and larger selection of food. The strangest thing about our cat is that I cannot buy the same food two bags in a row--in other words, she will be happy with food for one bag's worth and then needs something new. At least these days she WILL eat seafood--something she wouldn't touch when she was younger.

When I get into the pet store, I must walk all through it, just to see what is new. I always enjoy looking at the animals they have ready for adoption from the Humane Society--and those animals are almost always cats. This past Sunday there were six young cats--not kittens, though--ready for adoption. I loved seeing that none of them were distressed in any way. Some days when I go there, some of the animals will be crying for attention, where these cats seemed to be quite content to wait for someone to take them home. They all were healthy looking and very calm. If we lived closer to this store, I would have a hard time not to take every one of the animals home with me. And it was very hard for me to leave one of the cats: a Russian Blue mix. Kind of like this:

Just look at that face! But, our cat will not tolerate another feline in the house, so I can't even think about adopting.

A lot, if not most, pet stores will allow pets to visit the stores with their owners. It is always fun to see the different pets shopping and be able to pet and talk to different breeds than what I normally get to see. On Sunday, I saw a real working dog--and he was gorgeous. He was a German Shepherd and was wearing a 'drug detection dog' vest. The handler also said that he was a cadaver dog and had been in some disaster areas doing his job.

(The dog looked a LOT like this.)

While I love the look of German Shepherds, I do have a healthy respect for them--as well as a bit of a fear. I was shopping on the other side of the store from the dog and all of a sudden I heard a very deep, loud, and frightening barking--which I assumed was the drug/cadaver dog. I know for a fact that if I was confronted by a dog barking like that I would confess to anything--including the crucifixion of Christ! But, when I got to the checkout, the dog was laying down calmly and a three-year-old boy was petting him--so, obviously, he only sounded vicious.

It seems as if most working dogs that I see--seeing eye dogs, for example--have a look about them that makes me want to cuddle them. I know you are not to talk to or distract a working dog without asking permission first, so I usually just leave them alone. But I find it very, very hard to do. Anyone else just want to touch and talk to working dogs, too? And why is that? Do we respect what they do so much that we want to 'reward' them with some affection?

Is Someone Watching Me?

2012-01-30T17:47:00.000-05:00

The other day I was reading some comics online and came across this:

I couldn't help but wonder who is spying on me. Remember this post? :D

If we can't laugh at ourselves, we'd spend all of our time crying, right?

Bite Me!

2012-01-26T19:11:00.000-05:00

The first thing I had done to our cat when she came into our home, was to bring her to the vet to have her 'fixed' and declawed. Most people would applaud me for being a responsible pet parent by having her spayed. However, a good many of these same people would vilify me for the declawing. It seems as if the declawing is actually the amputating of the first joint of the cat's toes and not just removal of the claws. I'll accept this, as I know nothing to dispute it. However, all of the 'side effects' that people say a cat has to live with because of this procedure haven't cropped up in my cat--as far as I can tell, that is. She has always been a HOUSE cat, so she never needed her claws for defensive purposes or to hunt. (And she has never given the impression that she ever WANTED to hunt, so...) I believe she has been a happy animal for her entire life and I know she has lived a good, long life BECAUSE she has been declawed. I KNOW I never would have put up with this:

Days of Our Lives

2012-01-25T02:28:00.000-05:00

Every year, between Christmas and New Years, my 'big' project is getting the new calendars ready for hanging. I transfer all of the birthdays and special days and whatever appointments we already have scheduled. The biggest task is blocking out K's work schedule--something that I MUST do because it is crazy. Even though his work days rotate through the same 28-day rotation, I can't figure it out in my mind and HAVE to have it written out for me to look at. And so, I sit and 'take care of' calendars the last week of every year.

This past December, I took all of the calendars that I needed to get ready and decided to get the job done. It seems as if I'm adding more calendars every year and the task takes longer each time. This year, I had four to work on--one for the kitchen, one for the computer room, one for the sewing room, and one for the bedroom. I got myself situated in the kitchen and proceeded to work on calendars while I watched the hockey game. I had a 'master' calendar that I used as a reference for copying onto the 'permanent' ones. Everything went well through the first three calendars--and then I got to the fourth one. The 'Bunny Suicides' calendar. I pulled out the gel pen and started to write in the upcoming special days for January when I realized things didn't look right. K's birthday is on 4 January--a Wednesday in 2012--but 4 January was in the TUESDAY space on the 'Bunny' calendar. WHAT?!?! It took me a minute or two to realize what was going on: The 'Bunny Suicides' calendar started the week on MONDAY and not on Sunday. Who does that? I know that 'Bunny Suicides' is a British thing, so is this a common practice in Europe? Or is this common for business? After all, the business week begins on Monday, not Sunday. Needless to say, a thankless, annoying task was made just a bit more complicated by this--and I will try my hardest to NOT go through this again. Sadly, no more 'Bunny Suicides.'

***I bought this from Barnes & Noble and there was no mention of the format. Last year's calendar had the days in the 'right' order, so I never expected any problem. Even though reviewers mention this fact on Amazon, it would never have helped me, as I had purchased this early. I just have to remind myself of the format each time I look to see what day it is. :)***

A Different Time

2012-01-22T19:07:00.002-05:00

A lot of people entertain their children by allowing them to play with their cellphones. I realize that smartphones are much, much more than just instruments to talk on--I have one myself, after all--but this is something I don't understand. To begin with, smartphones are HELLA expensive and not what I would want a one-year-old to play with. I am almost OCD when it comes to my electronic gadgets and the thought of letting ANYONE, much less a child, mess with them makes me break out in a cold sweat! (As an aside, after two years of usage--when I go in to replace my phone and extend my contract--the sales reps are astonished that it isn't a right-out-of-the-package, brand new phone. I take extra-special care of my gadgets. ;)) I pay insurance on my phone monthly--something I felt was prudent on my part--and still I would need to cough up $100 for a replacement phone, if need be. And how often would you need to replace a phone that a child played with regularly? I also cannot imagine trying to pry the phone away from a kid who is engrossed in his/her game if a call came. Talking on a cellphone is difficult as it is, if you are around a lot of noise, and it would be TRIPLE difficult if your child was having a tantrum because the phone wasn't in his/her hands anymore. Because I don't have any children messing with my phone, I don't know how many parental controls can be utilized. So, can the child make calls to China without your knowing? What about buying apps that you don't want to pay for? And, of course, there always is surfing the interwebs on the phone. While I have an unlimited data package for my phone--something most carriers aren't giving as options anymore--most people don't. How much would someone be paying in overage fees, etc, if a kid got his/her hands on the phone? And do people even think about this stuff, or care?

When I was a kid--yes, I went there ;D--the telephone was something that was not played with. I barely knew how to use the thing, but it didn't matter because it WASN'T a child's toy. Of course, those were the days when you paid for every long distance phone call and even your local calls, after a certain amount. And the calls were charged at different rates according to what time it was. This all was confusing enough for adults to remember, much less kids, so the phone just was off-limits to the young-uns. And the biggest reason why kids didn't use the phone as much as they do today: NO call waiting! In the parent's house, the phone was a lifeline and for any kid to tie up the line for hours at a time was a big no-no. When we WERE allowed to use it, we would make our call, say what was needed, and hang up. The amount of shit I got into as a teenager when I had marathon phone sessions with boyfriends, was unbelievable. Do kids even HAVE limits these days? And if we needed to say something to the person in the next room, next door, or even a couple of houses down from ours, we would just go TO them and talk face-to-face--a concept I don't think kids even understand.

In so many ways, I just don't recognize the world today. I'm not saying that things were 'better' when I was young, just much, much different. The kids who had their own cars, extension phones in their own bedrooms (I would have KILLED for a princess phone), and access to the 'pricier' stores to buy clothes were considered 'spoiled.' (And the rest of us kids were jealous as hell. ;)) In the world today, our local high school had to expand the parking lots because so many kids felt 'entitled' to drive their own cars to school and kids as young as 10 have cellphones plastered to their ears, constantly. Far too many kids would give you a 'if looks could kill' glare if you even suggested they went to Walmart to look for clothing. Every kid has at least one computer--sometimes two or more--at his/her disposal at all times and they wouldn't have it any other way. In our fast-paced world, there is no such thing as the word 'wait' for kids. They believe in instant gratification and won't accept less. But then, how many adults are the exact same way?

Change Isn't Always Bad

2012-01-21T17:40:00.000-05:00

I was watching 'House' earlier today and realized something: I don't miss the character of 'Cuddy' at all. There were many things I never liked about the character and I'm really not sad to see her go. First, this was a woman who was supposed to be at the top of her game, a professional in a very demanding and prestigious job. Yet, she dressed in a way that would be frowned upon in the 'typing pool!' Really now, how many professional women dress with their 'girls' hanging out like she did? I'm not saying that the character had to dress in turtlenecks and long skits, just in a more professional manner, is all. I also didn't like how she was so wishy-washy. She would piss and moan to House about how he shouldn't be doing what he did, yet she never punished him in any way. Everything she did was with reluctance. And when she finally showed some backbone when she stood up to the rich guy over House, she pissed and moaned about it. Every chance she got, she let House know that she threw away millions of dollars and it was his fault. These are just a couple of things I didn't like about her. Looking back, I don't think the character was all that well written and I am not missing her in the least. So, what do you think?

At The Movies

2012-01-21T05:09:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen the trailer for 'One For the Money' yet, you soon will. This is the movie adaptation of the first of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels--the first of 22 she has written. The first one was published in 1994 and I started reading the series in 1995. I've read all of the books and am still enjoying them--even though some of them are starting to seem like Evanovich is 'phoning it in,' so to speak. For the most part, I laugh until I cry while reading these books and have been known to wake the household with my laughter--at 3:00AM. I certainly hope she doesn't continue this series too much longer because the books are not as good as they once were--it is best to get out when you still are on top. Anyway, before I start with the movie, here is a bit about some of the characters:

The main character, Stephanie Plum, is a Jersey girl. In Book 1 she is recently divorced and laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer. Desperate, she gets a job as a bounty hunter/apprehension agent. Having no experience is no deterrent, as she is in real need of a job--and the bail bondsman is her cousin. Stephanie lives on her own in a nondescript apartment building with her hamster, Rex. She is quite close with her family and often goes to her parent's house to eat--especially when she is having money trouble. Stephanie describes herself as being of Italian-Hungarian descent, that she has a fast metabolism, has brown curly hair and blue eyes.

Stephanie's parents live five miles away and her maternal grandmother lives with them. While The Parents try and cope with a daughter who is involved with serious situations, they also have to cope with grandma, who is more than a little 'off.' Grandma's favorite thing to do is attend wakes at the local funeral homes. She often will open the casket to 'take a peek'--and this usually has hysterical consequences. At some point, she acquires a gun and will whip it out at very inappropriate times--she manages to shoot a (cooked) turkey during dinner in Book 1.

Stephanie gets two men in her life in the first book. Joe Morelli is someone she has know almost her entire life. Joe--or the Italian Stallion--is a bad boy turned vice cop in the 'Burg.' She gave up her virginity to him when she was 16 and they have had a love/hate relationship ever since. They renew acquaintances in Book 1. The second man that Stephanie becomes involved with is Ranger. He is Cuban-American and a fellow bounty hunter. Ranger is gorgeous and mysterious and a man of few words. (He has the ability to turn Stephanie's knees to Jell-o just by whispering "Babe" in her ear.)

Vinnie--Stephanie's cousin--owns the bail bond office where she finds work. He is a complete and total sleazoid--it is rumored that he once had a romantic encounter with a duck--and most people can barely tolerate him. Most of his time is spent avoiding work of any kind and talking to his bookie.

In the first book, Stephanie meets Lula--a hooker. Eventually, Lula 'gives up the life' and goes to work in the bail bond office as a file clerk. She is best described as a plus-size black woman who attempts to shove a size 16 body into size 10 spandex. She favors bold and bright colors in her apparel.

While this series of books are described as crime novels, I find them to be more comedy than anything. The first few books had more dire and serious aspects to them, but the later books seem to be much more light-hearted. One of the best things in the books are the crazy, kooky characters. A running joke throughout all of the books is Stephanie's inability to keep cars in one piece--she has the tendency to get several destroyed in every book. (Although, she isn't always entirely culpable in the destruction of the vehicles.) The one car that never gets damaged in any way is the one designated as her 'go-to' car whenever she is in need: Her uncle's powder blue '53 Buick Roadmaster.

Almost from the time The Youngest and I started reading these books, we could see them being turned into movies. We would sit and discuss who we wanted to play each part and pretty much agreed on who would be best suited for each role. And now the first of what may be many movies has been filmed and is about to show up in the theaters. To say I am more than a little disappointed, is an understatement. I realize that the people who would have been perfect for these roles are 10+ years older (or dead!) and wouldn't work anymore, but still. (Actually, some of the actors probably were too old ten years ago even.) I'm not sure I will be seeing this, as I cannot tolerate the actress who will be playing Stephanie: Katherine Heigl. Anyway, here are the actors cast in the movie and the ones I think would have been a better fit.

Stephanie:
Katherine Heigl was cast.

I always thought that Stephanie Zimbalist (remember her?) would have done wonders with this role.

(Of course, I remember her from her 'Remington Steele' days and she was WAY too old even ten years ago.) Other suggestions were Debra Messing and Sandra Bullock. I'm REALLY not feeling Heigl in this part and I hope it won't hurt the movie too badly.

Joe Morelli:

Jason O'Mara was cast.

I favored Joe Penny in this role.

Once again, I remember him from his younger days. Some people thought that Joe should have been played by Joe Manganiello or David Boreanaz. I'm not too sure which of today's actors I would pick...

Ranger:

Daniel Sunjata was cast.

I could never see anyone but Benjamin Bratt as Ranger.

One suggestion for Ranger that I might be able to get behind is Jason Momoa, but I'm not too sure about Vin Diesel or 'The Rock' in this part.

Lula:

Sherri Shepherd was cast.

The only one I could ever see as Lula was Marsha Warfield.

She probably was too old to play Lula even when she was on 'Night Court,' but I could see her in this part. The other actors suggested instead were Mo'Nique and Queen Latifah. I could see Queen Latifah doing this part well.

Vinnie:

Patrick Fischler was cast.

I really can see this casting, but my first choice would have been Danny DeVito. No one plays sleaze like he does.

Some thought that Steve Buscemi was made for this part--and I could see him doing it, as well.

Grandma:

Debbie Reynolds was cast.

I could see no one but Estelle Getty playing Grandma.

Most people think that Betty White or Ann Morgan Guilbert would have been much better choices. I agree that Ann Guilbert would have played the hell out of this role.

Now the question is, have any of you read these books? How do my picks match with yours? And other than these books, have you ever made up your mind as to who should play certain characters in movie adaptations of books you have read--and how pleased or disappointed have you been? Do movie adaptations ever live up to your expectations or are they always worse than the books? Discuss.

A Shower, A Shower, My Kingdom For A Shower

2012-01-17T23:23:00.000-05:00

As I said yesterday, while I'm wired up, I can't shower. While I, basically, shower every night before going to sleep, there are times when I don't, for one reason or another. I'm not necessarily okay with that, but I can make it through the day after not showering with little thought about it. A swipe with a washcloth and a tie to put my hair up and I'm good to go for the day. For some reason, this is NOT working for me right now.

To begin with, I can feel my skin 'crawling' underneath every one of the patches that are in place. Is this my imagination or is my skin REALLY that itchy? It could very well be mind-over-matter. But, that isn't the only itching problem--I seem to have the 'creeping crude' right now and every place I scratch just moves the itch a couple of inches further away. I can't seem to stop the itchiness--and, again, I don't know if this is all in my mind or not. I just feel as if there is a layer of 'stuff' that I don't want on my skin and scalp--and it itches.

I get to have these patches removed about 2:00 PM tomorrow and I'm pretty sure I will be in the shower by 3:00--and I can't wait! FYI: You don't EVER want a shower more than when you CAN'T shower.

I'm Really Wired Tonight

2012-01-17T00:06:00.000-05:00

The title of this post isn't a euphemism at all--I am LITERALLY all wired up tonight. And I will be until Wednesday afternoon.

Last Thursday, I had my annual physical--and, once again, I had an EKG. After I got home, the nurse called me and said the doctor was a bit concerned because my heart rate was so slow. First, she wanted me to quit taking the atenolol--a blood pressure med--and then come in to have a Holter monitor put on. I really think I could have told the doctor what the cause of my slow heart rate was: the atenolol. Not only does this drug lower blood pressure, but it slows...the...heart...down. If I had MY druthers, I would have just stopped the medication and seen what happened. But, the doctor wanted me monitored, so I went in today to have that done.

The first thing the nurse did when I got to the office was to attach the patches and then attach the electrodes to those. The wires then got plugged into the recorder and I was set to go home--looking something like this:

Of course, I have larger boobs and less hair on my chest, but you get the idea. ;D I was given a diary to record my activities so that the recording could be compared to what I was doing if there happens to be any 'incidents.' And, as I said, I will be wearing this thing until Wednesday afternoon.

I'm not really worried about what is going to be found with this, because I don't think anything is wrong. I still think stopping the atenolol is all that is needed for me to raise my heart rate--and it is a bit higher already. Unfortunately, my blood pressure is up already, too. I don't know what the doctor is going to do about that, but I hope it isn't putting me on another BP med--I don't do well when my BP meds are messed with. But right now, the thing that is upsetting me the most is that I can't bathe while wearing this thing--and I'm going to have one wicked stank after 48 hours!

The Love of My Life

2012-01-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

After being married for 38+ years, it is easy to forget why you married your spouse--or, at the very least, to take him for granted. On Thursday, K reminded me--without knowing it--why I love him so dearly.

Wednesday night it started to rain. THEN, it cooled off and the rain turned to snow. Of course, the roads became very snow-covered and slippery--that ice under the snow is particularly greasy, especially when covered by a wet(ish), heavier snow. I had mentioned to K how nervous I was about getting myself to my doctor appointment Thursday morning, even though the office is only about 5 blocks from us. But, driving defensively and slow, I knew I could make it with little trouble.

Thursday morning, I got up and noticed that K's back-pack, lunchbox, and other work paraphernalia were still where he puts them when he gets home from work--and he was supposed to be at work at that time. I tracked him down in the computer room and asked him what he was doing at home instead of at work. His answer? "I took the day off so that I could drive you to the doctor's." And that melted my heart all over again--just as he did so many years ago.

Eating Well

2012-01-08T10:18:00.000-05:00

So, does this ^ look good to you? Does it remind you of a peppermint shake or smoothie? Well, it has no mint in it whatsoever. It is an example of a 'green smoothie.' Green smoothies seem to be the big thing these days. There are green smoothie diet plans and other diets that use them as a big part of the daily menu. What exactly is a green smoothie? Green smoothies are vegetable based, for the most part, and a lot of them are made with spinach. Here is a common recipe:

1 1/2 cups fruit juice
1 frozen banana, cut into chunks
1/4 cup yogurt
2 cups fresh spinach

Directions:
1 (Peel the banana BEFORE you freeze it!).
2 Pour juice into a blender jar.
3 Add chunked banana, yogurt, and spinach.
4 Blend thoroughly on High.
5 Enjoy! This recipe obviously can be tweaked to your heart's content -- add other fruit, use flavored yogurt, or even add ice cream or sherbet. It's an especially good way to use fruit that's slightly past its prime.

It seems as if most of these recipes have 60% fruit and 40% vegetables in them. This is a good way to get veggies into your body, especially if you aren't a very big veggie lover. I don't particularly like vegetables, so I am always happy to find a way to get more into my diet. The surprising thing is, you DON'T taste the veggies in these smoothies! Of course, depending on what you put in them will determine how they taste. And the recipes are VERY forgiving--you just add whatever you have on hand and blend.

Today I made my smoothie with a banana, a container of vanilla yogurt, a bit of orange juice, some frozen strawberries, and two handfuls of spinach--and the darn thing was very good. I used my immersion blender instead of a regular blender and it worked very well. I do believe these will be on my menu for quite a while. And I can pretend I'm doing something to eat better. :D

TMI--Once Again

2012-01-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

Most women, as we get older--and especially if we have gained weight and/or ever been pregnant--tend to get incontinent. This just is another way our bodies turn on us with age. As I have been pregnant twice,

have gained far too much weight to talk about,

and have stepped over that 'woman-of-a-certain-age' line long ago,

I have three strikes against me and do have problems.

About four years ago, I had an 'incident' on a day trip that we took. As we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant where we were going to eat breakfast, I had a coughing fit.

Considering we had just driven for almost four hours, I had quite a full bladder and the coughing made my body 'give it up,' so to speak. That day taught me to take an extra change of clothes whenever I was away from home for any length of time. AND I also learned that there were products for women to use for incontinence. After this, I don't leave the house without wearing a 'pee-pad.'

And I never had a big problem again--until earlier this week.

On Tuesday, we went for a shopping trip. I know better than to have a lot of liquid before a trip, so I was looking forward to stopping into the IHOP

for breakfast--I NEEDED my morning coffee.

We pulled into the parking lot and K jumped out of the Envoy.

Just as I was getting ready to get out, an H3 pulled in next to us. The guy--an early 30-something guy with wife and kids in tow--looked straight at me and gave a 'hey, lady, YOU can wait to get out of YOUR vehicle because I'M driving a Hummer' look.

(As if an H3 is a REAL Hummer. :-P) So, I sat and waited for him to get his kid out of the backseat before I opened my door. Of course, I had to be VERY careful that I didn't hit his precious vehicle and I wasn't paying quite as much attention to the condition of the Envoy's running boards OR the parking lot as I should have--and they both were icy.

So, as I stepped down onto the running board, my foot slipped and I bounced off of the running board--and peed myself. I then bounced off of the parking lot TWICE and peed some more.

Immediately, I could tell that things weren't good. As I peeled myself up from the pavement, I gingerly made my way to the back door of the Envoy so I could get my change of clothes. I didn't stop for anything when we got into the restaurant--I just went directly to the restroom and proceeded to get out of my wet clothes. We ate our breakfast and had no more incidents for the rest of the day--something that I was grateful for.

Okay, so I had an incident--AND I had myself prepared. I was wearing a pee-pad, as usual, but it did NOTHING for me. I am now contemplating the possibility that--on trips, at least--I may need to 'graduate' to something that will offer a bit more coverage. YIKES!!! Does this mean I have to wear full-on Depends?

Or do I have to think about adult diapers?

I think I'm far too young to consider either! Whatever I decide, my story gave my girls something to laugh about--little do they realize that the same problem just probably is in THEIR futures.

From a Facebook Post...

2012-01-02T21:16:00.000-05:00

I will grant that 'we' didn't do everything right, but 'we' also can't be completely to blame for the state of the world. Some of these young whippersnappers are just WAY too judgmental and self-righteous. But, isn't every generation? ;) Nevertheless, a good come-back...

Checking out at the grocery store recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then…? After some reflection and soul-searching on "Our" day here's what I remembered we did have....

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. And isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

On Second Thought...

2012-01-01T03:59:00.000-05:00

For some reason, my body decided to leave 2011 and begin 2012, sick. I'm not too sure what I actually have. At times it seems as if I'm suffering from flu and at others it is as if I 'only' have a cold. Either way, I don't think I should have been allowed to get near this computer the last few days, as my mind is a bit cloudy. So, if I have left any disjointed comments on your blogs or if anything I've written here lately seems a little 'off,' I apologize. I've just been under the weather. :) I do plan on being well by Tuesday, however.

Another Day, Another Year

2011-12-31T18:15:00.000-05:00

As humans, we aren't ever satisfied. We always are looking to 'change' and 'do better.' Tomorrow is a new year and many people will make resolutions. And most of those will be broken before the month is done. I don't make resolutions--I can't deal with the guilt of broken ones. ;)

I don't know if it is because I'm getting older, but holidays and 'special occasions' don't hold the same fascination for me that they did when I was younger. I don't know if there is one holiday that we celebrate that isn't man-made, so why is it that they are so special? If one doesn't have family or friends to celebrate with, the day is the same as any other--there is nothing to make one day different from another. Anniversaries, of one form or another, are different--THOSE are days when we commemorate something and aren't arbitrary in any way. But, the specialness of those days even begins to weaken when you've celebrated the same day for decades--after a while, the only ones that are special are the 'biggies.'

Years ago, I used to come close to having a panic attack on New Year's Eve--I always worried about 'what the new year would bring.' Everything was an unknown and frightening. I would wonder what the year would bring to me: Death? Birth? Health? Illness? Financial gain or financial ruin? The good/bad things that could happen were endless and I worried. These days, I know there is very little I can do about what will take place--and why worry about something you may not be able to change? Of course, I know I can do SOME things to steer my future in one direction or other, but for the most part, what happens will happen. So, why worry? And so New Year's Day becomes just another day to me.

To all I wish a happy, prosperous, healthy, and blessed new year. I can only pray this comes to be.

Facebook--Again

2011-12-30T04:43:00.001-05:00

For the time being, at least, I'm sticking with Facebook. It certainly doesn't seem as if Google+ has gone anywhere and I don't know anyone who hangs out there anymore. (Actually, I forget that I even have an account.) I really don't know why I'm staying with Facebook--most of the people I have 'friended' are terribly annoying and not anyone I'd be around in real life for any length of time. But I stay, mainly because I find things out I wouldn't any other way. (AND for the people who are dear to me. :)) So, here are some of the whack-a-doodles I am friends with:

One of K's nephew's daughters has friended me. I don't ever remember seeing this girl in person--ever. She is about the age of The Oldest and lives in California. With the amount of things she says she has done, she should be about 64 years old. I can't believe anyone can be quite as accomplished as she claims to be and not be older--or rich, or a celebrity. If you can do all she supposedly has done at such a young age, you have to have a lot of money--something I am sure she doesn't have. For several months, she posted every single tornado watch/warning that was issued in the US. I don't know why, I don't ask. (If you don't think this cluttered up my timeline...) She says she auditioned for one of those singing contest shows--while she didn't win, she got praised up the wazoo and encouraged to try again. She knows three languages, other than English. She acts, sings, and goes to school--with a double major--all while raising a few children (not sure how many) as a single mother. (I'm not sure if she works--doesn't seem like it.) And these past few months she has been deathly ill and the doctors can't find out what's wrong with her. (I don't believe it is a recurrence of the cancer she has had twice.) So, is this girl interesting and accomplished, or just a complete and total whack-a-doodle? I would like to ask my sister-in-law, but how do you ask someone if their grandchild is a head case? If I'm wrong about the girl, I'm sorry, but I kind of have a feeling she is 'not all there.'

Now, my family is more than well represented on Facebook--and most of THEM are people no one wants to know. My cousin's daughters, for example.

The youngest of the two girls hasn't been on Facebook as much these days--she now lives with her two boys and no computer, since the divorce. (I can't understand how her ex actually kept her around as long as he did.) While she was married, all of her time was spent on Facebook, complaining and belly aching over EVERYTHING. She hated her life and her step children. And it didn't seem as if she actually did anything around her house--and yet, she complained about the way things were done. (It sounded like her ex did most/all of the cleaning and cooking. She only looked after the boys--the kids she gave birth to.) Even though she is a presence, once again, the fact that she only can post via cellphone has kept her off of Facebook as much as she used to be.

The oldest of the girls is the biggest drama queen in the world. And she airs the family laundry every chance that she gets. These days she has been bad-mouthing her in-laws and her husband's best friend so badly that I'm surprised anyone is still talking to her. (Not too long ago she berated her father's family, so she is an equal opportunity lambaster.) She just gave birth to her sixth child and we had to 'listen' to all of her health issues daily--and this is because the doctors told her to never get pregnant again. She decided to ignore the medical profession. I believe my Oldest must have the patience of a saint, because she is quite close to this girl--and I can't understand how.

One of my non-relative friends is very dear to me, but he is living vicariously through his kids these days. He keeps posting about his sons' band and the gigs they play. I couldn't get through one of the videos he posted, so I'm not too sure how good the kids are, but they really seem like brats to me. (I've never met them, but some of the things he writes...) Anyway, I'm just happy that they live far away because I'm not sure I could figure out how to say "No, thank you." to going to watch the kids perform.

Of course, one of the things that gets me the most are the conversations some people have to post--these are conversations with their very young children that THEY find hysterical and interesting. (NO ONE who reads this blog is implicated here!!!) Many times I have read one of these and wound up shaking my head, asking myself "WTF????" I've said it before and I'll say it again: Not EVERYONE thinks your kids are cute/amusing/geniuses. I'm happy YOU think they are, but just keep it to yourself, please.

I got on Facebook because of my girls--I figured it would be a good way of keeping in touch with what is going on in their lives. Come to find out, The Youngest doesn't post often to Facebook--I believe she does most of HER communicating through instant message and texts. Now, The Oldest shares quite a bit--and a lot of the time she shares too much. Today, she commented on someone else's status update and I found out something I wish I didn't: It looks as if she is planning on getting pregnant again next year. There are no words...

My Time

2011-12-25T04:23:00.000-05:00

via tatethegreat.com

It is 3:00 AM on Christmas morning. The Youngest and her husband and K are sleeping. The cat is curled up next to the heat run, sleeping. I have the crock pot cooking our Christmas brunch and I am just enjoying the quiet, by myself. This is my time.

For the last 48 hours I have been running myself ragged. I did laundry, last minute cleaning, shopped, cooked, wrapped presents, and about a dozen other things. I didn't, however, relax or do much sleeping, but I knew my time would come. And it has.

On Christmas Eve evening, we went to celebrate the season with dear friends, something that has become a tradition in the last ten or so years. We ate, drank, made merry, and exchanged gifts. Afterwards, we drove through the silent streets of our town and looked at Christmas lights. While most were pretty to look at, sadly, there were far more disastrous attempts than beautiful displays. But, that's the way it is every year. Too many people begin decorating with a very good idea and then wander off into some surrealistic, modern art sort of thing that makes absolutely no sense--I think they suffer from adult attention deficit disorder. That is my only explanation for some of what we saw.

When we got home, the four of us opened the gifts we had for each other. I was pleased to see how more than a few of the gifts we gave turned into some of the favorites of all time. Gift giving can be such a hit-or-miss affair, that it is great to hit a home run--and I believe I/we hit several. K and I got a couple more things for the hockey cave as gifts and I got another Nativity--this time, an all-animal-shaped-like-bathtub-rubber-duckies one. I will have to post a picture of it before I put the decorations away. And once again, K outdid himself in the jewelry department and gave me a pair of gorgeous diamond stud earrings. Yeah, I think I'll keep him.

A little bit of time was spent admiring/studying/playing with the gifts we received, but in due time each one of us began to lose our zip. Conversation grew scarcer and yawns became more plentiful. I put the crock pot going and the rest of the family settled for some much needed sleep. And I came to the computer room to be alone. I have always loved the time when everything is done and I can sit by myself and relax. It is such a peaceful time and a relief when I get to this stage. Having grown children allows me to 'be done' so much sooner than when the girls were at home.

In the next week or two, I will put the Christmas decorations away and begin my time of being content. Winter will bring that out in me, as I stay in more often and don't feel any pressure to leave the house--after all, NO ONE would go out in the snow if they didn't need to. Sitting in the corner of the couch, drinking a hot mug of tea and watching a hockey game or old movie or reading a book will become my activities. I will attempt to do all of the 'after Christmas' things that I vowed to do only a week ago, but will probably only accomplish one or two of the tasks. And I will ignore any guilt feelings I may get--until next year at this same time.

For now, my short term plans are to get through the last of the holiday duties: the Christmas meal. The evening will be spent visiting with The Youngest and her husband and then they will leave on Monday for home. K will go back to work on Tuesday and Wednesday and then on his week off we will take a day trip to do some after-Christmas shopping. Finally, I will be able to put all of this holiday stuff to rest for another year.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas full of family, friends, food, and festivities. And I wish a blessed, healthy, and happy New Year to each and every one of you.

via marriageandbeyond.com

Let's Talk Meds

2011-12-22T03:25:00.000-05:00

We are told that generic drugs are no different from the brand name ones. I guess this is true, but in at least one instance, this is not--and doctors and pharmacists agree. When someone has hypothyroidism, the drug of choice--or the name brand drug of choice--is Synthroid. Over the years, the patent on Synthroid has expired and we now have quite a few different meds to take care of this condition/disease. After being diagnosed with hypothyroidism, I was put on one of the meds to control my condition and over the course of time, things got better. I was relieved when we got to the dose I needed and everything was stabilized--and it all came to pass with the drug Levoxyl, a generic thyroid supplement. All was going along fine until the day I went in to pick up a refill of my meds and the pills looked MUCH different from what I was used to. Levoxyl looks like this:

And I was given pills that looked like this:

Same color, VERY different shape. But, I was told both pills/meds are equivalent. And I was okay with that until I had my next blood work done--and my blood levels were unstable, again. It took me another round of blood work a few months later before I realized that my new problem was tied to the change in my meds--and I was correct. After discussing this with my MD, he prescribed Levoxyl, no substitutions, and my levels have been stable ever since. Another lesson learned.

**********

A few months back, K saw his doctor and pointed out a bit of a rash/dry skin that he had behind his knees. It was diagnosed as a kind of dermatitis and a prescription for a lotion was written. K filled the prescription and his rash was taken care of in good time. The other day, he brought the bottle to me and asked if I would order a refill for him. The name of the medication--mometasone--seemed familiar to me, so I had to look it up. As it turned out, K's lotion for his rash is the same medication that I use as a nasal spray for my sinuses, Nasonex. Same drug, different forms, for two quite different problems. Interesting.

**********

A while back, I wrote about a friend of mine who was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. He ultimately decided to have a bone marrow transplant and has had some set-backs and side-effects from it. He wasn't tolerating a medication called tacrolimus--which is given as an immunosuppresant agent for those having transplants--very well and the doctors were needing to do some adjustments. The name of the drug sounded very familiar to me, but I put the thought out of my mind. After all, I knew of no one else that had received a transplant of any kind, so I shouldn't be familiar with the drug. And then one day, I reached for one of my many lotions/potions/ointments that I use for the psoriasis I still have and there was a tube of Protopic, which is the ointment form of tacrolimus! I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, as psoriasis is an auto-immune disease and the immune system needs suppressing in order for the skin to heal, but it stunned me, nevertheless. It's hard to wrap your mind around two such different uses for the same drug.

With these three examples alone, I can't imagine what it takes for doctors to 'get things right.' And 'get things right' is what they do more times than not. While their mistakes can, and often do, have life-ending consequences, it still is a wonder that more mistakes aren't made. Whenever I think about it, I have a new respect for doctors and all that they know.

To Make Up For The Last Post...

2011-12-21T08:14:00.001-05:00

As I surf the interwebs, there ARE times when I actually will read the comment sections of certain stories. I don't know WHY I do this, as I usually just get frustrated and angry by the idiots who comment. Yet, I read. (I'm afraid I might have masochistic tendencies. ;)) One thing that you find out very quickly is that there are only a few comments that get recycled over and over again. And Linda Holmes over at NPR noticed this same thing when it comes to the inevitable 'year-end' lists we'll be inundated with shortly and wrote an article about it: 'The 20 Unhappiest People You Meet In The Comments Sections Of Year-End Lists.'

Here are a few of my 'favorite' commentators:

7. The Self-Punisher. "I always hate your tastes, so I knew this would be a miserable and useless list before I decided to click on it and read the whole thing, and now I know I was right."

11. The Person Who Thinks You Were So Close. "I like all these picks, but you ranked The Descendants as your #4 and Martha Marcy May Marlene as your #5, and they should be the other way around. FAIL."

14. The Minimalist. "These blow."

Too funny! For the rest of the list, go here.

The Gifts of the Season: Depression and Guilt

2011-12-21T07:43:00.000-05:00

The concept of loving the Christmas/holiday season is so foreign to me, it may as well come from another planet. I don't understand people who really love the holidays. As far back as I can remember, this time of year has always left me depressed for one reason or another. Since being a little girl, nothing about the season has ever met my expectations--I've always felt as if 'something' was missing. Even though I have never experienced the perfect Christmas, I'm at a loss to explain what the perfect Christmas is like. I guess the Rockwell painting images are what I expect, but not consciously. If I could KNOW what I want, it would be so much easier to try and replicate it. Alas, I haven't found the answer to what a perfect Christmas is.

Becoming an adult just made me more determined to make things perfect for myself and those around me. I did my best to give/make the perfect gifts and decorate my house perfectly. I baked and cooked and crafted until I couldn't see straight. I never wanted my kids to know how I felt about the season--and I think they didn't until they grew up. Still, each January left me more depressed than the year before, as I couldn't come close to what I wanted--even though I didn't know what I wanted. On top of not getting what I 'wanted,' I also felt like a failure because 'something' was always missing.

For years we went 'back home' for the holidays--and we brought all of the gifts for the kids and everything else we needed for 'the day,' to The Parent's house. We spent part of Christmas Eve with the in-laws, went to Christmas Eve church services, had gift opening at The Parent's, and completed everything with the kids getting their Santa gifts on Christmas morning. And throughout the time I spent there, I had to try and make everyone happy. We didn't spend nearly enough time with the in-laws as we should, because The Mother didn't want us to enjoy ourselves away from her. I felt disloyal if I had a good time with the in-laws, so I suppressed any happiness there and limited my time with them. Of course, spending most of my time with The Mother didn't help me, as she has ALWAYS been depressed during the holidays. Not only couldn't I make everything good for myself, I couldn't even do for others. Just another example of me not being good enough.

I finally decided that it was too stressful for me to keep going home for Christmas, so we started to build our own traditions in our own home. This should have been a good thing, but I was then placed under so much guilt for not spending time with family, that I couldn't get out from under it. I not only was dealing with The Mother about this issue, but the in-laws, as well. And the beauty part of all this was that K was the one who would always tell me in November that we were staying home, and so that is what I told everyone. Of course, as the middle of December rolled around, he would always bend to his mother's will and change his mind. He didn't tell her this, usually, but it was made very clear that we COULD go there if only I would agree. Of course, by that late in the season, it was too much MORE work to change all of the plans, so we stayed here and I piled a bit more guilt onto myself.

Things might have been less depressing for me if the rest of the family would have come to US every few years. But we were the ones who had to haul our two kids, luggage, gifts, etc, etc, etc, 100 miles when it would have been so much easier for The Parents--for example--to come here for a few days. After all, there was just the two of them. But no, they wouldn't do it. And so I took us out of the family circle and made us outsiders. MORE guilt.

Throughout all of the preparations and celebrations, I was a complete and total bitch--especially to K. I worked myself to death and was so sleep deprived that I probably was a danger to myself and others. Of course, I couldn't take out my frustrations on The Mother--heaven forbid--or any other family members, so K got it full-force. And I KNEW what I was doing as I did it--and couldn't stop myself. I had such inner turmoil that it was a wonder I didn't sprout a dozen bleeding ulcers every year. The wicked witch of the west was a pussy cat compared to me. I don't think I can EVER properly do enough for him to make up for how I was--and I still feel guilty.

Many years have now passed and I'm not dealing with the same things as I once did. I see how circumstances shaped my perspective on the season and I know what I did right and what I did wrong. And I still can't shake the hatred and depression. Oh, I put on a good enough act--even though most people KNOW how I truly feel--but if I'm smiling at this time of year, rest assured it IS all an act. I'll play along just so others won't be brought down to my level, but I am never truly comfortable around people who are having a good time--it just seems foreign to me. And as soon as it is all over, I will face my disappointment once again, because this year won't be any more perfect than any other.

A Great Idea

2011-12-18T02:49:00.000-05:00

I finally finished my Christmas decorating. I have to take that back--I'm ALMOST done with my Christmas decorating. However, I have so few things left to do, that, in essence, I AM done. I kept everything much more simple than I usually do--much less decorating happened this year than in the past. I just don't have the energy to go all-out these days. Maybe next year...

Anyway, I did one thing that I haven't done before--simply because I never thought of it. One day while surfing Pinterest, I came across the following picture:

I LOVE this idea! Simple, yet fitting in a bibliophile's home. And I KNEW I had to make my own book tree. My biggest problem is lack of floor space, so I knew I wasn't going to make the tree as tall as I would like, but I did my best. And this is what I came up with:

Not too bad, hey? The tree topper was given to me for my birthday by my very best friend--adorable! Next year I will figure out a way to make the tree at least five feet tall--and maybe even taller! I just have to figure out where I can put it. And with the amount of books I own, I could do an entire FOREST of book trees. Now, that is something I would like to see.

Cue the Pity Party (Updated)

2011-12-17T23:25:00.000-05:00

via http://gallery.kg4cyx.net/index.php/

Every year around this time, I have to have myself a pity party. I never know what exactly will trigger it, but I watch and wait to see what sets me off. Today, I got my cue for my pity party.

My husband is generous to a fault--and that is one of the reasons why I fell in love with him. Sometimes, though, I wish he were a bit more selfish. And he is what caused me to feel sad tonight.

Way back when, K scheduled vacation time for Christmas. The Youngest and her husband have been coming home and spending Christmas with us for several years and had/have every intention of doing so this year as well. But, good intentions don't always turn into good things--or don't in a timely manner. The S-I-L is one of the 'low man on the totem pole' employees where he works, so he isn't in a great position to dictate when he will take time off. For the last few years, he has used his lack of asking for off-days during the year as leverage to get holiday time, but he doesn't feel as if he should push it this year. So, here we are, a week before Christmas and we STILL don't know if the kids will be with us for 'THE day.' As nerve wracking as this is, I can live with not knowing until the last minute. I'm not going to do much more if they show up, than what I would do, anyway. I will find out in due time if we will have company, or not.

Now, back to K. He is one of the top 10(?) in seniority where he works. (He may be even higher on the list due to retirements, but whatever. He is HIGH on the list.) He can pretty much dictate when he wants to take time off and get it--which is a perk for having been there as long as he has. My husband certainly doesn't abuse his position, however. For example, he makes sure (as much as possible) that he doesn't ask for time off during hunting season, so that the ones who DO hunt can have THEIR time. He also is very good about giving up holidays to people with young families. We don't do big 'family' visits for Easter or the Fourth of July, etc, so he will gladly work and let someone else have the time. And this year he has made it known that he will give up his Christmas vacation if we don't get The Youngest here.

Every few days, K has been asking me if I have heard whether the kids are coming, or not. Tonight I told him that I STILL don't know what the plan is and he told me that he will be canceling his vacation when he goes back to work--that the time is winding down and a decision has to be made. He is doing this so that one of his co-workers--a guy who is at the plant as a bit of a second-career sort of thing (basically NO seniority, whatsoever), with grown children (that he sees often during the year), and no grandchildren--can have the time off to be with one of his kids, who will be here. So, if our daughter doesn't come home, I will be here, home alone, for Christmas. And that has caused me to have a pity party for myself.

I know that this isn't the end of the world and that I probably will be relieved to have time for myself, but right now it doesn't feel very good. This very possibly will be as low-key of a Christmas as we have had in quite some time. And so, I will wallow in pity for a time and then pull myself up, slap myself upside the head, and say "What the F*** is your problem, woman?" And I know that all will be right with the world.

UPDATE: Just spoke with The Youngest and they WILL be here for a couple of days next weekend. They won't get here until Christmas Eve and have to leave the day after Christmas, but they will be here. What a difference 24 hours makes! :) (And K's vacation will stay in place--thank goodness he wasn't at work today to change things.)

War Between The States

2011-12-10T19:20:00.001-05:00

We don't often see wars between two states, but for some reason or other, Michigan seems to be a participant (possibly) more than other states. The most famous war is the one with Ohio, but these days, we are fighting with Wisconsin. And Wisconsin fired the first shot. Here is the story...

First, this is what Michigan looks like:

Of course, the thing that everyone thinks of most when they think of Michigan, is the shape of the Lower Peninsula:

The shape makes one think of a mitten--plain and simple. And we who live here will use our hands to point out different places in the state, just as if we were holding maps--even using two hands so that we can show places in the Upper Peninsula, too, like this:

This concept is so famous and common, that no one could possibly think that any other state would take and run with it for THEIR state. But we underestimated Wisconsin.

Here is Wisconsin:

Here is Wisconsin next to Michigan:

So, which state looks like a mitten? Well, Wisconsin thinks THEY do and have a tourism ad campaign going on in which they use a mitten-shaped Wisconsin:

To say that some Michiganders are not pleased, is putting it mildly. There are YouTube protest songs and there are 'explanations' as to how Wisconsin CAN be seen as having a mitten shape:

Anyway, there are some people who actually have their panties in a bunch over this and then there are the rest of us who are using this as an opportunity to make fun of the 'cheese-heads.' Bring it on, Wisconsin, we're ready for you! ;D

Being Green?

2011-12-10T11:20:00.001-05:00

Most of my Christmas shopping consists of sitting in front of the computer and letting my fingers do the walking. It makes my life so much easier to do it this way and I'm much less apt to get cranky if I don't have to deal with people. With seven grandchildren to buy for, I don't have the energy to figure out what each one would want as a gift. My solution to the grandchildren gift dilemma is this: I have them write a list of all of the books they want and then I buy them. They are happy and my shopping takes very little time.

Some of the books that the kids ask for are out of print, so I do business with the used book stores online. But, the majority of what is wanted are new books, so Barnes & Noble gets a good chunk of money out of us every year. And because I had a number of per cent off coupons to use, I wound up placing three separate orders to finish up my B&N shopping. Yesterday I got a little more than 1/3 of the books I ordered.

These books were sent in three separate boxes--but they were NOT from three separate orders:

Now, to fully appreciate how absolutely ridiculous the difference in the packaging and the contents is, here is a picture of the two side-by-side:

First of all, I have a problem with the amount of packaging, because it is completely wasteful. As you can see, all of the books could have fit in one box, instead of being shipped in three. This makes little sense to me, as all of these books are sent to the same address, paid for from the same credit card, and the same membership number is used to make the purchases. Sending so many boxes couldn't possibly be profitable for B&N, as I get free shipping for EVERYTHING because I'm a member. Ridiculous.

Until these companies can figure out a way to use less shipping material, I don't want to hear another word about how we should do everything to be 'green.' MY little amount of wastefulness is a drop in the bucket compared to what I'm seeing from the companies I deal with on a regular basis.

Write and Run

2011-12-05T17:57:00.001-05:00

It has been a few days, so I thought it was time to do an update. NOT that my life is exciting or anything. :)

We'll start back at Black Friday. I didn't go out--of course--so I didn't know about the excitement until The Oldest called me. (From 100 miles away.) Shortly after 3:00 PM that day, several--8+--businesses had bomb threats called in to them. Walmart, Target, the mall, and several other stores and a hotel, were the targets of the threats. Everyone had to be evacuated from the businesses and the places were searched. Nothing out of the ordinary was found, so everything was up and running and back to normal a couple of hours later. As of today, no one has come forward--or, at least, been given the reward--and we are no closer to knowing who did this than we were two weeks ago.

Some people seem to think that the threats were made by someone attached to the 'occupy' movement. Now, I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person, but I STILL think it was a bunch of kids at home, unsupervised, with nothing better to do. It will be interesting to see of the people responsible will ever be caught. (And I'm not holding my breath that local law enforcement WILL 'get their 'man.'')

**********

We finally have snow. Over the weekend a storm front moved in and dumped many inches of snow on the area--just not here in town. We only got enough snow to blanket everything, but that is the way it is so close to the Lake. Still, I do believe winter is finally here.

**********

Last week Thursday, we did our monthly road trip. Normally we go on the road on Friday or Saturday, but this month was different. Our friends were having house guests this past weekend, so we moved our trip up a few days so that we could get together. I truly am happy that things worked out the way they did--we didn't have to fight quite as horrendous crowds on a Thursday as we would have on Friday, so that was a very nice thing.

**********

http://theletter.co.uk/index/5414/

I am trying to get myself motivated enough to begin the Christmas decorating. And I am not succeeding. But that isn't the worst of it: I still have to make an effort to get GIFTS bought. But I have to actually write out a list, first. To say I'm behind in Christmas preparations, is putting it mildly.

**********

Our truck has finally gotten the 'once over' from the shop and everything that needed to be, is now repaired. We are giving the truck to The Youngest and her husband just as soon as we can make arrangements to transfer possession. K decided to pass the truck on, as it isn't worth a bag of rocks if we used it for a trade-in--it IS over ten years old--and our daughter and husband can use a second vehicle. K was all set to buy a new truck and then he decided against it. He wants to see how we get along with only one vehicle, so that is what is going to happen. I understand his thinking: There are times--most of the time, actually--that the Envoy just sits for days without being moved. However, I dread the thought of not having a vehicle at my disposal at all times. I love the feeling of freedom that I get when I know I can leave the house any time, day or night, that I want. This is going to be very interesting...

**********

And finally, I will close out with another Christmas reference.

There are some people who don't do the whole 'Santa' thing with their kids. Some feel as if it is against their belief system, others feel as if it is teaching their children to mistrust the parents because of the lying. The Oldest and her husband never have done 'Santa' with their kids. I have no idea why and I don't ask.

Growing up, I was taught to believe in Santa Claus. And I pretty much believed until I was in 4th or 5th grade. (EDIT: Upon further review and thought--and a couple of hours later--I think I found out about 'no Santa' when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade--NOT as late as this. I know I was a late bloomer in far too many areas, but NOT quite THIS far behind. ;D) Then, one Christmas Eve, I stayed awake and heard The Parents putting out the gifts and I finally knew the truth. But, for a few years before this, I questioned whether the guy was real or not--and I would ask The Mother if he was. She NEVER lied to me, but told me this, instead:

"You will never get any presents from Santa Claus again if you stop believing in him."

Quite a good way to get around the 'lying' issue, yet a nice way to keep your child young for a while longer.

http://www.sharenator.com/Santa_Claus_DEAD/

Going To The Movies

2011-11-27T22:35:00.001-05:00

I really enjoyed reading the 'Girl With a Dragon Tattoo' trilogy. I find that books have so much more to offer than their movie counterparts, but was quite intrigued when I found out that there had been a Swedish version of the book/s made. Even though I could only find the (first) movie in Swedish with English subtitles, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was very true to the book and well done. The US trailer:

After hearing about the Swedish movie, I found out that Hollywood decided to do a US version. And I cringed. I was extremely afraid that the actors in the US version would be 'pretty'--not what the characters in the book were described like, at all. And I had no better feel about the new version when I saw who they cast as Lisbeth:

Rooney Mara

photo by Eric Roffman

Look at that sweet face! How could she POSSIBLY be the troubled soul that is Lisbeth Salander? I KNEW this would be a disaster. And then I saw this:

via W magazine

It looks like they did a good job transforming her into the character--hopefully the girl can act. We'll have to see just how close to the book the movie stays--THAT will determine whether it is as good/better than the original. I am very much looking forward to this--so much, that I just may go to the theater and see it there. I don't do this often, at all, so it better be worth it. The trailer is very interesting:

So, are there any movies you are looking forward to seeing this winter?

Consequences

2011-11-26T21:10:00.001-05:00

(This one's for you, Leazwell. ;))

via http://www.ironaccents.com/52-18383.html

On Being Related To Santa Claus

2011-11-25T01:28:00.001-05:00

from http://02varvara.wordpress.com/

For someone who hates Christmas as much as I do, having Santa Claus in my family tree is a real burden. I am just about the Scrinchiest (combo of Scrooge and Grinch) person to ever walk this earth, so Santa is probably very disappointed in me.

How am I related to Santa? Let me explain. It all begins in Scandinavia...

The Sami (Lapps) are the indigenous people of the northern part of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia (Sapmi or Lapland)--basically, north of the Arctic Circle. Traditionally, the Sami have been the people who are reindeer herders, and in some countries, they are the ONLY people who can raise reindeer. At least one branch of my family is Sami.

Santa Claus is from the North Pole, north of the Arctic Circle. He also owns and raises reindeer. So, if Sami live north of the Arctic Circle and are the only people who own reindeer, then it stands to reason that Santa Claus is Sami. One of the most famous Santa Claus villages is in Rovaniemi, Finland--which happens to be where some of my 'people' come from. (It stands to reason that he is from someplace in Sapmi--the North Pole doesn't have reindeer.)

Now, let's put this all together. We see that Santa Claus is Sami. I definitely have Sami blood. Santa very possibly comes from Rovaniemi--my people come from there, too. The only conclusion I can come up with is that Santa and I are related. He probably is one of my great-great-great-etc-uncles. Cool.

How can someone who is related to Santa Claus hate Christmas as much as I do? I guess the answer to that would include enough hours in a psychiatrist's office that s/he could build a summer home, so we won't exactly go there. And even though I barely can make it through the season, I am proud to claim Santa as a relative. Jealous, aren't ya? ;)

***I did almost this exact same post a few years ago, but for the one or two new people to this blog, I thought I would do it again. Sorry to bore the ones who have read this before. :)***

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T18:04:00.001-05:00

I will begin my Thanksgiving meal tonight--K is working the night shift--and be more than halfway done with cooking for tomorrow. The turkey will be cooked and I will get my gravy, potatoes, and rutabaga done--all of the most time consuming items on the menu. It is so much nicer to do it this way, instead of trying to get everything done in one day.

I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you will have a good day with friends and loved ones. Let me know if you serve THIS for your meal:

Turducken

However, I'm not too sure I want to know if you serve this:

Cherpumple

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Bambi Killer

2011-11-23T17:58:00.001-05:00

Our second granddaughter got her buck yesterday. This is her first year hunting, so she was pretty pumped about it. She had to call and tell me all about it--AND let me know that she even helped field dress it. She said it was "GROSS!" :) Her older sister got HER first buck the first year she hunted, too. I guess it is a case of beginner's luck.

I have no problem with people who hunt. The Husband used to hunt and trap when we were in high school, but has done neither since we got married. If he had had friends that were into hunting big-time, I'm sure he would have been, too. But, he just doesn't have anyone that he would go out with. And I REFUSE to eat wild game, so he would be left with trying to find someone to take the meat if he actually managed to get something. (However, the local food banks accept donations of wild game, so none of the meat has to be wasted.) The Oldest's family pretty much depends on the meat they get from hunting. She is hoping that her oldest daughter AND her husband will be successful this year--it will keep them going for quite a long time. They still have a few days to try.

Can Lead To Obsession

2011-11-21T19:25:00.001-05:00

Several weeks ago, I got an invitation. It was from The Oldest and it was for me to become a member of Pintarest. If you have never heard of this website, here is what Pinterest has to say about itself:

What is Pinterest? Pinterest is a social catalog service. Think of it as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can post collections of things you love, and "follow" collections created by people with great taste.

How do I add a pin? You can upload a file using the Add a Pin button in the menu bar. We recommend installing the pinterest bookmarklet (in the yellow bar above). It's a special button that lets you pin images from any website.

Okay, that doesn't REALLY tell you what the site is. It is quite interesting and a real time-sucker, if you allow it to be. I joined after getting my invite, but didn't really do much there for about a month. I now try to go there for a few minutes every day. Why? Let me try to explain a little more.

First of all, in my humble opinion, 50% of the people that are there are getting married or WANT to get married, as a lot of the stuff is wedding-related. Another 50% are homemakers that are trying to save money by doing-it-themselves. THIS is different than the 50% who do crafts just to do crafts. And then we have the 50% who love food--quite a few of the 'pins' are recipes. (Okay, so that adds up to more than 50%, but you'd understand if you spent time on Pinterest. ;))

From my short time on Pinterest, it is obvious that you can find just about anything you want here. Just some of the categories people 'pin' to are: Architecture, Art, Education, Gardening, Humor, Outdoors, Photography, and Others. Members are able to make their own labels for the things they 'pin,' so the categories are unlimited. For the most part, I go on this site and look at recipes and crafts. However, I have found a lot of other interesting stuff as well. I know I'm not explaining this well, but only because this site is not easy to explain.

When you go to the home page of Pinterest, you will find something that looks like this:

Each of those pictures is something that has been 'pinned.' Many times, you can click on the picture--maybe click twice--and be brought someplace for more information, or the instructions to make, buy, create, whatever is in the picture. I have found more craft projects and recipes than I ever will have time to do. And yet, I continue going there for more.

If anyone wants to get an invite to Pintarest, let me know. Contact me at outofmymind (dot) cmk (at) gmail (dot) com and I will send one to you. You just might become an addict--or find you have more will power than you ever thought you had. :D Then, get back to me and tell me how you feel about Pintarest. I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this. Oh, and be sure to follow me if you become a member!

So Many Truths

2011-11-20T20:21:00.001-05:00

(Sorry this is so small--hope you can read it!)

Today: Animals

2011-11-18T13:10:00.001-05:00

We have far too many chipmunks that make our yard their home. And it isn't easy getting rid of them. We can't shoot them, because you can't use firearms of ANY kind in the city limits--and that includes BB guns--and our neighbors actually feed the little rodents, so we have to be careful that they don't find out we ARE trying to eliminate them. K doesn't want to use poison, because we still have neighbors who allow their cats to roam and he is afraid we might kill THEM inadvertently, so we try and deal the best we can. While observing the chipmunks, it has come to my attention that one branch of their family tree has short tails. I'm not sure if it is a genetic mutation or if one of the adults chews the tails off of the babies, but they do have short tails.* This doesn't even make me give a second glance to the tailless ones any longer, as I have gotten used to seeing them regularly. However, I DID do a second, third, and even FOURTH glance at this the other day:

Yes, we now have a tailless grey squirrel in our yard. I am assuming he found himself caught in a trap or got taken down by a cat and was left without his tail. Either way, he doesn't seem any worse off without it than any of the other squirrels WITH tails are. The only problem is that I think he may be considered undesirable by the rest of the squirrel clan: I watched one of our other guys chasing him out of the yard the other day. It will be interesting to see if he is with us all winter.

**********

I have always loved dogs with loose skin. Bloodhounds, basset hounds, shar peis, all at the top of my 'would love to have' list. However, since working in vet clinics, The Youngest has curbed my desire for loose-skin dogs. She said that they have the tendency to smell bad--the skin folds hold moisture and bacteria and give off an odor--and are very prone to getting bad skin infections. That kind off turned off my wanting one of these dogs in my home. However, I can't help but think they are the cutest things ever. And then I saw this picture:

This little pup is a shar pei/basset hound mix and about the most adorable thing I have ever seen! He doesn't seem to have quite as many wrinkles as either breed does on its own, but it isn't fully grown yet. It would be interesting to see how well his skin fits when he is an adult. Still, I could hug that face for DAYS and not get enough of this little guy!

*The reason I consider the 'chewing off of the tails' scenario is the female cat The Mother had when I was in high school. For some reason, the cat would chew off all of the whiskers of her babies--and she KEPT them chewed off as long as they were with her. Weird.

Controversy

2011-11-17T13:01:00.001-05:00

The announcement that many stores will be opening at midnight on Black Friday has caused a shit-storm of controversy. Many, many people are putting up blog posts and status updates about this. And then you have the comments. Seeing as I am usually behind times, I thought I would jump on THIS bandwagon early. Unfortunately, as I have gotten older, I usually can see BOTH sides of an issue and have no clear-cut opinion either way about this.

First, for the one or two people on earth who don't know: I REALLY hate the holiday season. I would be so grateful if I could go to sleep on Black Friday and not wake up until the 3rd of January, just so I could miss most of the hype. And, as usual, I blame The Mother for my hatred of the season--but what else is new? ;) So, with that out of the way, here we go.

Quite a few workers are lamenting the fact that they will not be able to have more time with their families before they have to head for work on Black Friday. Well, boo-ficking-hoo! Even today--30+ years with the same company--The Husband is not guaranteed every holiday off. He works rotating shifts and many years in a row will work on Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's, the Fourth of July--you name it, he works it. These days, it doesn't matter as much to me as it did when the girls were young, but it can get a bit lonely when you're by yourself 'celebrating' a holiday while everyone else is celebrating with loved ones and/or family. But, it is something that I have had to live with. The Husband has a good job and this comes with the territory. And please, DON'T tell me that, just because you are working at Walmart, you didn't know you would have to work on holidays. Since almost every store in the known universe is open 24 hours a day, SOMEONE has to work, and you just might be the one holding the short straw. A lot of people feel that the workers have nothing to complain about, as they at least HAVE jobs--no matter how crappy--they need to suck it up. And in this economy, that is a valid point.

Of course, the other side has a good argument going for it, as well. A lot of people wonder why the workers can't have even one day free to spend with their families. Why are these stores so worried about a couple of hours, that they have to open at midnight? Don't the workers deserve a little time off? There really is no sane reason to push the season even earlier than it already is. This, too, is a valid point.

As old as I am, I remember a time when stores were closed on EVERY holiday AND every Sunday, as well. (Hell, I remember having only two TV stations and THEY only broadcast for several hours each day.) If you didn't remember to get bread and milk on Saturday, there was very little you could do on Sunday if you ran out. Sure, we had a few 'party' or convenience stores, but the choices were extremely limited. I don't even know if the one store in my hometown had more than a half-dozen quarts of milk delivered at any one time, so you had to get there early if you needed some. (This same store NEVER was out of hard liquor, beer, or wine, however. ;)) The ONLY people who worked on holidays or Sunday were nurses and cops and firefighters and any other 'essential' personnel. (The Husband would have been an essential person, even back then: He works in an electrical power plant.) But, we now demand 24 hour shopping and we are having to deal with needing people to work, even on 'traditional' off-days.

Personally, I wouldn't mind if there was a law stating that Christmas shopping/advertising/etc couldn't last more than the two weeks leading up to the actual day. (I am a big advocate for this same law being applied to elections, but I digress.) It seems as if people are actually SURPRISED that Christmas falls on December 25th and have to be reminded of it every single year, with all of the ads and hoopla. Really!?!?!? These days, you can buy ANYTHING at any time of the year--and often for less than you pay around the holidays. If you want to buy for Christmas, then do it all year round. (Good advice--if only I could follow it. :D) I honestly see no need for the 'big push' that begins on Black Friday.

And talking about the Black Friday 'sales'... Has anyone noticed how things are almost beginning to feel like bait-and-switch tactics? Every year I peruse the ads--as most people do--and am amazed at what are being considered the 'big buys.' For example, I can assure you that this year one of the big electronic 'must haves' is going to be e-readers/tablets. With both Amazon and B&N coming out with their latest and greatest, many people are going to be wanting to buy one of these gadgets. The problem is, you will find Walmart, K-Mart, Target, etc, selling devices such as this for great prices--much, much cheaper than Amazon or B&N sell them for--but the devices themselves will be very inferior to the higher priced 'brand name' ones. People will be happy to buy one of these devices for less than half the cost of a Kindle or NOOK, but they will be very underwhelmed and disappointed by the lack of features--and they will wonder what the hype about these gadgets is all about. Without a great deal of research, many people will waste money on under-powered, little-featured items. And this goes on all of the time on Black Friday. I've seen this same type of selling of computers and cellphones and music players, etc. So, I have found that--at least the past several years--there is absolutely no reason for me to shop on Black Friday. At least NOT in the early morning hours, as many of the deals are still in place in the afternoon and evening.

As one of a very small minority--and despite the inconvenience factor--I don't think I would be all that sad if we went back to the days where stores were closed on Sundays and holidays. I don't know of many things that I need to get on Sunday that, with a little planning, I couldn't take care of on one of the other six days of the week. Granted, this would change how we do our road trips, but it wouldn't be that bad. And to think,

"In 1965, a Senate subcommittee predicted that by 2000, Americans would be working 20 hours a week with 7+ weeks vacation. (via @JohndeGraaf)"

NOT quite what was predicted.

Taking A Side

2011-11-16T21:53:00.001-05:00

I don't read any celebrity magazines and I really don't know who happens to be 'in' these days, but I kind of know who Justin Bieber is. (Unfortunately.) He sings, I guess, and has a big following among tweens. I have never heard anything he has sung, as far as I know, and I don't particularly want to. And I don't think I EVER would have been thrilled with him, even when I was a tween. But, to each his own.

From what I understand, Justin has been accused of being a very naughty boy. A woman has accused him of being the father of her child and there probably will be a paternity test involved, as he has denied this. I have to side with him: He isn't the father of her baby. How do I know? Look at that picture and tell me he knows WHY females are on this earth, or what he is supposed to do with one? Case closed.

WAAAAYYYYY TMI!!!

2011-11-13T04:25:00.001-05:00

The human body doesn't digest whole green peas well at all.

An Open Letter

2011-11-07T04:22:00.000-05:00

Dear Sam's Club Shoppers,

I have to apologize to all of you. I am sorry that I went into the store with a purpose--and that purpose was to SHOP! I didn't have my cellphone attached to my ear and I actually paid attention to what was going on around me, so I didn't bash into your leg with my cart. I didn't go to the store in order to eat my Sunday lunch--and completely block the entrance to the aisle with my cart and fat ass as I stood there scarfing as many samples down as the demo lady allowed. I didn't go into the store after taking whatever drug that causes total spaciness and stand in the middle of the aisle trying to figure out just where I was--while keeping everyone from being able to move through the aisle where you happened to be meditating. I TRIED to hear if someone said 'excuse me' and 'pardon me' if they thought they were inconveniencing me (or if I was inconveniencing them)--something far too many of you don't understand. It seems as if most of you shoppers lose every bit of hearing and considerateness you may have as soon as you hit those sliding doors. I apologize if that makes me irritable--even though I TRY to not show my irritation. I'm sorry if my FINALLY getting your attention is looked on as rude, but it DOES take my husband and me almost four hours to get home from the store, so we really want to get done with our shopping in a timely manner. I realize my home's distance from the store is not your problem, but I don't have the convenience of stopping in after church 'just to pick up a few things,' so I need to 'move it along.' I don't want any special considerations--I just want aisles I can walk through freely and quickly. Is that too much to ask?

Again, I apologize if I have crossed over a line with my 'wants' and 'needs.' I realize my life isn't nearly as important as you seem to think yours is.

Thank you for your time--and I completely understand that you will ignore this. But I felt I had to try.

cmk

A 'Checking In' Post

2011-11-07T03:49:00.000-05:00

I couldn't believe it had been almost a week since I actually responded to the comments, but I took care of that tonight. Part of my problem has been my utter despair/depression with how the Wings have been doing, but it's a little better now.

The team started out the season with 5 wins in a row--and then they followed with 6 losses! My happiness is WAY too connected with how the Wings are doing, but that's just the way I am. Thankfully, they won Saturday's game--BIG time--and my world is a happier place. We'll see how long THIS lasts. ;)

We did our monthly road trip this weekend and it turned out quite nicely. I had a good amount of luck in the shopping department--although, I couldn't find a pair of shoes to fit me in the ENTIRE store...GRRR. (It REALLY sucks to have such a high instep like I do.) I am very much NOT happy with having to listen to piped-in Christmas music this early in the year, however. And it is in EVERY. SINGLE. STORE!!!! We barely are done with Halloween and we have to think about Christmas already. I think it is a conspiracy to send me to a psychiatrist or something. I hate the 'holiday' season.

We are experiencing what I feel is an ideal fall season. Our temps are in the 50s during the day and the 30s-40s overnight. I could live with this year-round. And yes, I realize I'm one of an extremely small minority.

K is on his week off, so that should give us some time to do running around locally. I need to get to the supply-place and buy my carton of paper towels, so that is one thing we can do. And he has to go back on the roof to do some repairs, so we're hoping the weather holds up and he can do it. We have to have the roof replaced next year, but these repairs can't be put off til then--the joys of living in an old house.

I don't know if I mentioned it to many of my readers, but we got the word a couple of weeks ago that the power plant where K works will more likely than not be closing by the year 2017. This SHOULDN'T affect K in any way, as long as the time table is what they announced, but if things go the way they have in the past, the closing could come several years earlier. This MIGHT affect K's plans to retire. The big thing that this changes is our plans to build a new home--NOT going to happen now. So, we are looking at taking care of an old home. But, at least we have a roof over our heads--not what far too many people can say these days. Everything will work out as it should, so I won't worry needlessly--maybe. :D

And finally...

On Saturday night we went with our friends to one of the local Mexican restaurants--a favorite of ours--for dinner. I SWEAR we didn't have too much to drink--we actually were only just getting into our martinis--and we laughed over the description of "Chimichanga de Queso" in the menu:

We had quit reading before we got to the word "cheese." :D

Changing For The Better?

2011-11-04T20:46:00.000-04:00

Hi there. Yes, you have gotten to my blog and I have changed things up, again. Well, actually, Blogger has made it easy for me to change things, so I did. They have come up with something called Dynamic Views for blogs and I decided to try it out. So, what do you think? I like it--kind of a cool, new look.

While it seems to be much easier to navigate through this blog, the reader can change up how s/he explores. Look up ^ and to the left< and you will see several terms like Classic, Flipcard, Magazine, etc. You can click on any one of them and give this blog a new look--one which you might feel more comfortable using. It's kind of fun. Go on, play around with the different views, I'll wait.

Now I have to ask: What do you think? Is this as much fun and as cool as I think it is? Leave a comment. (You have to open a post to get to the comment section--might wind up being a pain in the ass. Hmmm.)

Possible Obsession?

2011-10-31T01:48:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, while doing some research on the Sami people, I came across a website that sold handmade bracelets. They are made in Sweden by Sami artisans and use reindeer leather and antlers, along with pewter coils--which the Sami developed hundreds of years ago. The bracelets are of both traditional and modern design--some of the modern ones use Swarovski crystals, among other elements. I tend to be more enamored of the traditional styles. And I knew, very early on, that I wanted several of the bracelets.

The first bracelet that I got is probably the closest to traditional design that the website carries:

The second one I got still has a lot of traditional elements, but has a little bit of a modern feel:

The third one has more of a traditional look, but has an added color:

I was satisfied with having the three bracelets until I saw my fourth on the site a week or so ago:

This one has a silver cross medallion and a silver button, instead of antler. It is quite plain and the leather is EXTREMELY soft.

All of the bracelets can be worn separately, but they also work very well together.

This picture helps show some of the details better. They really are beautiful.

I'm not completely done buying bracelets. I still have one more in mind and it will be much different from the rest. It will have to be custom made for me and it will be two strips of leather--one red and one white--braided together with a pewter coil. And of course, it will be the bracelet I will wear with my Red Wings jersey. I'll post a picture when I get it.

Hopefully This Is New

2011-10-27T00:22:00.000-04:00

I was so sure I posted about this, but I can't find it anywhere in this blog. But, after putting up the post about dying, I had to add a couple of 'inappropriate things' that I have heard at wakes/funerals.

K had an identical twin brother who died less than a year after we married, as the result of a motorcycle accident. (He was hit by a guy driving without a license or registration.) We were in South Carolina and had to rush home for the funeral. With the sadness of someone so young losing his life, much too much managed to be said in an inappropriate manner. And before I start to bash anyone else, I will start with what *I* said!

K's boat was getting ready to set sail to the Mediterranean for a several month cruise, when we got the word of his brother's accident. While he was on the cruise, I was going 'back home' to live so that I didn't have to be by myself in a place where I knew practically no one. His brother did hang on for a few days before he died, and when we got the call, we decided that I would just move back home (early) when we went for the funeral. He came home in the middle of the afternoon, after he was told of his brother's death, and we began the task of packing up the apartment. After breaking our lease and getting packing boxes and tearing down the place, we got a few hours of sleep and were on the road around 4:00 AM. And then we drove for 22 hours until we were in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, when we finally stopped and checked into a hotel for a few hours. We got 'home' late that afternoon and K went for a nap, as he had done all of the driving. He was supposed to go to the funeral home with the rest of the family, to make decisions, but he needed the sleep more. And this is where I 'stepped in it.' I made the phone call to K's mother to let her know that he wouldn't be able to meet them at the funeral home. And the words I used were this: "K can't make it to the funeral home because HE IS SO DEAD!" Yes, I said it. If a hole would have opened up and swallowed me, I couldn't have been happier. More than 20 years later, I mentioned this to K's oldest sister and she said nothing had ever been said about all this. Whether she was trying to make me feel better or K's mom had been so distraught to have noticed, I'll never know. So, I can't really blame anyone else for being inappropriate, because I've done my share, as well.

As I said in the 'dying' post, people say wrong things at very inappropriate times. I understand that it has a lot to do with being nervous and not knowing the RIGHT thing to say, but some people need to keep talking, no matter WHAT they are saying. And here we have remark number1:

Woman to K: Wow! I looked in that casket and it's just like seeing YOU in there!

And for remark number 2:

Woman to K: I never could tell the two of you apart. One of you was taller than the other, right? I guess if he were standing here next to you, I'd be able to tell which is which, right?

Oh. Boy. But, as I said, people get nervous and talk just to talk--and don't filter anything. Maybe this is a lesson we all can learn from.

Buying Locally

2011-10-26T20:19:00.000-04:00

With the economy the way it is, we are constantly being asked to support our local businesses. As far as I can, I try to do this, but there are times that it really isn't possible or feasible. Getting medications from a local pharmacy is something that we are--pretty much--banned from doing. We CAN use a local pharmacy if we want to, but our insurance company won't pay its part beyond three months, and I have to pay my deductible every month instead of every three months like with the mail order pharmacy. Going with the mail order pharmacy that the insurance company 'forces' us to use, is really a no brainer on our part--if we want to use our benefits to the fullest and spend less money, we go along with what is dictated. And this has ALWAYS been a sore spot with me.

When I first began getting my medications by mail, I questioned the safety of the meds. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I was worried about whether I was getting the correct meds, just that I questioned the way they were stored and transported. My meds (except for Enbrel) come by US Postal Service, so they are put on trucks--NOT refrigerated--and transported from great distances before they reach my mailbox. It seems as if every place my meds come from are in the south--and I get meds all year long, from the coldest days in winter to the extremely hot days in summer. In my mind, I can't feel that this is, in any way, good for the medications. While my local pharmacy may be getting medications by truck, they, at least, are getting MEDS and not all forms of junk mail at the same time. I would think (hope) there are safeguards in place.

I also like the personal touch of shopping locally. Not only do the people know you, but they quite possibly are your neighbors. When I was getting my meds from our closest pharmacy, I would be greeted by name, asked how I was doing, and told everything I needed to know about what I was taking. They were always willing to help before I even asked--and a lot of times problems were detected and solved before I was even aware of them. Somehow, this just made me feel a bit safer than when I talk to a faceless voice over the phone.

Today, I got another dose of why I hate doing business the way I am forced to. After nine weeks of not being on Enbrel, I have gotten the go-ahead to begin again. Last night was my first injection and I only have one dose left, so I needed to call and schedule a shipment, which I did today. While I probably should have done this last week, other times when I've tried to get more Enbrel when I had two or more doses on hand didn't go so smoothly, so I waited until I was down to my last dose. First, I was told that they would have to call my doctor to get permission to restart my shipments, as they had been halted. When I said that *I* was the one that halted them and explained my reason, the woman did agree it was a valid reason to not have to call my doctor. But then, she said that my prescription had expired and they needed to call the doctor after all. Now, I'm not sure if I made a mistake, if the pharmacy made a mistake, or if the doctor did, but I began using Enbrel in the month of May and if the doctor writes my prescription every April/May, then I should still have a couple of refills left. I don't understand what happened, but you can be sure that if I was dealing locally, we could have figured it out. To say I'm a bit upset is putting it mildly.

So, the pharmacy has to get in touch with the doctor to get a new prescription. The doctor has to get back to the pharmacy and begin a new, valid prescription. The pharmacy has to get back to me to schedule a shipment. THEN, I have to wait for the delivery company to get my meds to me. When I asked how long this will take, the woman said it will be a week to get the prescription validated, if the doctor gets back to them right away. Excuse me?!?!?!?!?!?! Telling her that I only had one dose of medication made her 'assure' me that they will put a 'rush' on this and, hopefully, get it all straightened out in less time. I can pretty much guarantee that my local pharmacy would have had this straightened out in one day's time. I'm REALLY not a happy camper tonight.

It's Inevitable For Everyone

2011-10-26T02:08:00.000-04:00

Today's topic du jour? Death. But really, not in a morbid way. And why has this topic been on my mind? Well, The Mother called the other day to get my 'info' as they are updating their wills, etc. Of course, this made me think about how my feelings about my own death have changed as I've gotten older.

First of all, I don't fear death. This doesn't mean I WELCOME death or can't wait to die, I just don't fear dying like I did when I was younger. If I was to die tomorrow, that would be fine with me. The only thing I fear in terms of dying is to die a slow, painful death--THAT I fear. But as for death itself, I am not afraid of the unknown because I am sure there is a better place for me when I'm done with this world.

Up until a few years ago, the thoughts of being an organ donor left me cold. I have always admired anyone who would make the ultimate decision to leave their organs to people who could use them, but the thoughts of my body being hacked up and sent to the four corners of the earth wasn't appealing. Now that I'm older, I am 100% committed to being an organ donor--provided there is anything on my sad-sack body that is still viable. After I'm 'gone,' I will have no use for my body or any parts of it, so whoever can use them is welcome to have whatever.

I think one of the reasons why I'm not worried about what happens to my body when I die is the fact that I have decided to be cremated instead of buried. This, also, was a decision that took some time for me to come to. I just didn't like the thoughts of my body being burned up. After thinking about where I would like to be planted for eternity--and not having an answer to that question--I decided to be cremated and have my ashes scattered, somewhere. We have never been a family that goes to the cemetery to visit on a regular basis, so having a place where my family could go and 'talk' to me just isn't very important. Besides, I just don't feel as if I need to have my own little piece of real estate for all time.

As for my funeral, I haven't changed my thoughts on that. I want my closest family members to be able to say their good byes to me while I'm in my casket, but then I want the casket closed for the wake. It has always bothered me to no end to hear what people say when they look at a body in a casket.

"S/he looks so peaceful." Yes, people look peaceful in their caskets because they are fricking DEAD--and have no worries anymore!
"S/he looks like s/he's sleeping." NO! The person is DEAD and looks DEAD!!!
"S/he looks so good." Again, NO! S/he is FRICKING DEAD!!!! Dead is dead and it doesn't look good.

Of course, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stupid things people say. BUT, I would sit straight up in my coffin and deck someone if I had to 'hear' those sorts of things at my wake. And I KNOW I would haunt the person who was less than kind to me in life, yet cried hysterically at my wake because 'it is so sad.' HEY! If you like/love me NOW and will be sad when I'm gone, let me know NOW and don't cause a scene at my wake/funeral! If you haven't realized by now, I have very serious issues with funerals and mourners. I have attended far too many funerals/wakes in my time and I have seen it all, so I have very strong opinions about what I do and don't want to happen at my funeral.

Coming to some decisions has really given me a sense of peace--just as we all should have when it comes to our final wishes. And this, despite the uneasiness it causes to most people.

Say It Isn't So

2011-10-23T19:17:00.000-04:00

Today I looked out the window and in the front yard of 'the crazy sheep lady's' house was a "FOR SALE by owner" sign. OMG! How will I ever know it is spring without the sheep doing their annual migration to the front yard after the snow goes?

(I can't believe I actually found a site that sells the sheep--and had a pic! This is EXACTLY what the they look like. I'm really thinking that I like these.)

Anyway, I can't believe the woman is selling the house already. She is a retiree and hasn't lived here for more than 5 years. She spent a lot of time and money upgrading the house--it was built as a Habitat for Humanity home--and it seems unusual to do so and then sell this soon after. K suggested it might be a medical issue with her and that might be true. However, she still looks as fit as ever, but you never know. So, it looks as if we will be having new neighbors in the near future--and all I can hope for is that they fit in with the quietness of our street.

A Couple of Things

2011-10-22T16:40:00.000-04:00

I got a package today. While it wasn't unexpected--I placed the order several days ago--I had to chuckle to myself when I opened it. I believe I have now, officially, joined the ranks of 'little old ladies.' One of the items in the box was this:

What you have here is a pocket/telescoping back scratcher and I bought it to put in my suitcase so I never have to be without one. Far too many times I find my back itches and I NEED something to take care of the itch, so a back scratcher comes in handy. I have scratchers in almost every room of the house--next to the box of Kleenex--so that they are within reach at all times, but I never had a traveling one. Until now. And this just makes me feel SOOOOOOOOOO old to admit. Do ALL little old ladies have back scratchers and boxes of Kleenex within reach at all times? I think we might. :D

**********

A few days ago, we had an item in the police logs that I forgot to save or post. It dealt with a missing woman, in her 50s. The police were called because her family couldn't find her for several hours. When she was found, it was determined that she had spent her time at the local casino. Mystery solved.

This story just tickled me because it raised so many questions. First, I am assuming the woman had no medical issues that the family was concerned about: Alzheimer's or other dementia, etc. I wonder how long it took the family to figure out she was 'missing' and does she live alone? Did the family just call on the phone or did they actually go to the house and look for her? Does the woman have a history of going off on her own? (I would think she doesn't do this often, or the family wouldn't have been so concerned.)

This is the kind of thing that would happen to me. And it would be my KIDS rather than K that would call the police. If I don't let my girls know that I am going out, they track me down in any way possible and let me know that it is not nice of me to leave the house without letting them know I'm going to be gone. The problem with this is, I WILL call and say--for example--that I'm going shopping or out to eat with a friend. The response is usually less than enthusiastic that I would bother them with such trivial news. However, if one of them would happen to call when I was out--and I didn't enable call-forwarding or answer my cell phone--I would get a message that goes something like this:

Daughter: WHERE ARE YOU? You leave and don't tell anyone you're going!!!! What the heck--you NEVER leave the house!!! I wanted to ask you something and you're gone!!! Call me when you get this!!!

I cannot say how many times I have gotten that same message from my girls. I guess I am supposed to be at their beck-and-call even though they've been away from home for so long. It DOES make me feel loved, however. :)

Making Donations

2011-10-21T17:45:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again when all of the organizations are out and about trying to get our money. The 'season' seems to begin around the start of the school year, as so many school groups beg for money all school year long. Yesterday, I got hit up for the second (third? fourth?) time this year. While I really don't mind--and I always will give when a kid actually takes the time to come to my door and try to sell me something--there are times I just feel like handing over the money instead of 'buying' something I really don't need.

Just before school started, I was asked to buy a discount card from the football team. This involved several businesses in our town giving discounts on goods and services when presented with the card. While this isn't too bad of a deal, it turns out that the ONLY business I do regular business with is the hair salon where I get my hair done. I could use the card there, but it is just taking money out of the hands of one of my very best friends, so I can't do that to her. So, I'm left with a pretty useless, plastic card that will be thrown away when it expires. I should have just handed over the ten dollar bill and told the kid to keep the card.

The Boy Scouts came calling at my door yesterday and I felt the need to pay them for some crappy popcorn. Between the Boy and Girl Scouts, I'm very disappointed in how commercial they are becoming. Much too much time is being spent on selling stuff that--let's face it--isn't all that tasty. We had the popcorn a couple of years ago and I wasn't impressed. The only thing going for it is the minuscule amount you pay for--there barely will be a one-time snack for one person in the can I paid $20 for, so I won't have that hanging around the house for too long. And when was the last time you bought Girl Scout cookies? Those things are getting smaller and less in a package, while the price is going up every year. And they ARE NOT as good as they used to be. But I still buy them and pay the money.

I had a few years where the money train had come to a complete halt here. My girls were out of the house, so they weren't selling and there were no kids in the neighborhood coming door-to-door. The guys that K works with had their kids moving on out of the house, so we weren't getting hit up through work. The grandkids are home schooled, so there aren't any fund raisers through them, so I wasn't shelling out the big bucks like I had. It was nice. But now things are changing--the neighborhood is getting filled with school-aged kids again and so they are on the move once more.

Within the next few months, I figure I have the hockey kids, the band kids, the kids from the French club, and the Girl Scouts knocking on my door. The only ones I'm really waiting for are the ones who will sell me the fudge-filled Easter eggs that a local candy company makes--and I don't know WHO sells those anymore as fund raisers. But whoever comes selling the eggs will be surprised, because my order alone will fund their group for the next six months.

Frustration: UPDATED

2011-10-17T08:07:00.000-04:00

Since Friday, our cable, internet, and phone has been wonky. Everything keeps 'winking' off and on, sometimes for seconds, other times for minutes. We have all three from the same company, so I am assuming that our high winds have wreaked havoc and are what is causing the problems. But just in case it is something else, I have to 'make the phone call' today. I HATE talking to customer support. Whenever this problem is taken care of, I will post again. On the other hand, I may try later today and see if things work out. I'm leaving my options open. :D

UPDATE: I made the call and we 'fixed' our phone by rebooting the modem, but they still scheduled a service call. When the guy came to the house, he said there was an amplifier that needed to be repaired/replaced and THAT is what was causing all of the problems. Thing is, the person who reported this is an employee of the cable company and he lives just up the street--yet, he never reported the problem until Monday morning. Maybe he was afraid he'd have to work on the weekend, so waited until his regular work day? Anyway, problem solved--for now. ;D

You CAN'T Make This Stuff Up

2011-10-10T18:31:00.000-04:00

This did NOT happen here, but I found the story in our local newspaper. I will put up the story with no comments--and you can come up with your own jokes. ;)

NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP)--A 50-foot-long bridge in western Pennsylvania has been stolen, and its owners say they're baffled by the crime and have no idea who took it.

New Castle Development spokesman Gary Bruce said Friday that he "couldn't believe it when they told me it was gone."

A state police report says the 20-foot-wide span in North Beaver Township went missing between Sept. 27 and Wednesday.

You can find a little more on this story here.

Just A 'Keeping In Touch' Post

2011-10-06T17:33:00.000-04:00

One thing is really hurting my chance for being over-the-top happy today and that's the weather. Now, most people are unhappy with rain/snow/sleet/cold/etc, but not me. Noooooooooo. I'M not happy because it is October and the temp is close to 80*--and should continue to be this warm through the weekend. I just want to get on with the fricking fall already--is that so wrong? ;) And we are doing a road trip this weekend, so that means I will be shopping in stores that have already turned their a/c off, so I will be sweating like a thoroughbred right after running a race--NOT a pretty picture, by any means.

In other news...

Today K and I celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary. After this many years, we don't go all-out in celebrating, though. I think we'll probably order pizza for dinner and then watch the Tigers and some hockey--a REALLY big night for us. ;D And it's not as if we are/feel so old, it's just that 'special' days aren't all that different from any others and this far into the marriage, we don't necessarily need to make big deals out of them. That being said, K DOES do extra nice things on big days. Today he gave me a beautiful matching necklace/earring set as a gift and he also brought flowers home. I really did get one of the 'good ones' when I married him.

The NHL starts its new season tonight and the Wings begin theirs tomorrow night. I should NOT be this happy. ;) While other people wait for Christmas, my biggest day/night of the year is when I finally get to watch hockey again after a very long off-season. I'm warped, I know.

I have been playing around with my nookCOLOR and have been having far too much fun. Finally, I got around to trying to load some DVDs onto it and I must say it is EASY! Surprisingly, the picture is fantastic when seen on the nook and I'm amazed at how nice it is to watch something on a 7" screen. Now, all I have to do is take the time to transfer some things onto the nook--it IS VERY time-consuming--and then I'll have movies/TV shows with me at all times. I also found out that transferring music onto the thing was super-easy, as well, so I can always have music going while I read, if I want. I am very much loving my rooted nook and can't wait for 2-3 years down the road when I get myself a full-time tablet. (I am waiting a bit before getting a tablet because there just aren't that many options with Android right now. I WILL NOT buy an iPad, so I will wait until things settle down and a clear front-runner is named in the Android market. I'm thinking this will be an anniversary gift I get myself in a couple of years...)

With fall here, I'm looking to get back into some crafting. I have been doing a bit of sewing now and then and need to get into it much more. I have baby shower gifts to make--one of the babies is almost 4 months old already--and bridal shower gifts. Of course, I ALWAYS have things I need to make for the grandkids. Last night I made a reusable, cloth snack bag. I think it will do very well for dry snacks--trail mix, pretzels, etc--and will be used a lot by the friend I made it for. I used ripstop nylon to line the 'bag'--which is made out of cotton material--and put Velcro as the closer. It came out pretty neat and is one of those things that I have to make for the granddarlings. The original instructions called for using oilcloth as a liner, but I didn't have any in the house, so the ripstop was used as a replacement. I think I'll be getting some oilcloth and trying that variation, too. So little time to do so much. ;)

I have mentioned how the neighborhood dogs come to the house on a regular basis to beg me for treats. The dog from across the street is a daily visitor. The poor thing is getting up in years and every day I notice how old he is looking. He is getting more and more 'pigeon-toed' as time goes on and his joints really seem to bother him when the weather 'turns.' I hate to say it, but I don't think he will be with us for much longer. To top it all off, his face is getting that 'old dog' look--the fur is turning whiter and whiter. He still is happy and smiles whenever I give him his treat--he will be missed when he is gone. (However, I will NOT miss him using our yard as a toilet...) Here is (as K calls him) my boyfriend:

After he got through his 'puppy' years--which lasted until he was almost three--he became one of the nicest, sweetest dogs I have ever been fortunate enough to know. But, I really don't know how many more winters he'll be able to last.

This Should Have Been Done Sooner

2011-10-02T17:13:00.000-04:00

First, I want to say thank you to everyone who has been concerned about me. And yes, I am doing fine--knock on wood. It has really been a busy time, so I didn't get this posted earlier, as I should have. The Youngest and her husband were here for the weekend--they came in on Thursday night--so that he could participate in his first half-marathon. While he didn't do very well, he also didn't come in last--he was more in the bottom of the middle of the pack--but I give him so much credit for actually FINISHING. I wouldn't be able to do a quarter mile before saying "The hell with this!" and going home. :D

Now back to the afterwards of the vaccination. I have given myself four milestones that I feel I have to pass before I think I'm pretty much past any side-effects. My first milestone was the 24-hour mark. I figured if I could make it through that long without an allergic reaction, then it probably wasn't going to happen. My next one is at the one-week mark, followed by the 2-week. My final is going to be 4 weeks and I think I'm pretty safe after that. (Of course, are we ever completely 'safe' when something is introduced into the body? But, that is beside the point.) I see my dermatologist after the 3-week mark, so we will discuss my going back on Enbrel--which should happen after 4 weeks.

A couple of days after getting the injection, I would up with an injection site reaction. My arm got a rather large red, warm area to it. This is not something that would be unexpected with me--after 2+ years of using Enbrel, I STILL get a reaction at the injection site. The redness finally went away on Saturday and I can barely see where the color was anymore. I also got a tremendous itchy feeling in the area, but that, too, is pretty much gone. So far, that is the extent of my side-effects. And I feel as if I can breathe a bit easier with each day that I am symptom-free.

Every day further from when I got the injection is a bit easier for me emotionally. As I haven't kicked-off (yet), I am feeling a bit more confident that I won't because of this vaccination. And I am actually feeling a bit more confident and pleased with my doctor. I was very much thinking that I was going to have to find a new PCP after last January, but I am slowly beginning to change my mind. While the woman is EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE in terms of medical advice, that isn't always a bad thing. And I do give her a lot of credit to come and talk to me for 30 minutes--unscheduled--before I got the vaccination. She really didn't need to take the time to do it. And I feel as if she talked WITH me much more than she did in January. In January I felt as if she was talking down to me a bit too much, but last week we had more of a discussion. Of course, it wasn't exactly a meeting of equals, but she seemed to treat me a bit more like someone with intelligence than she did in January. (All of this could very well have been a perception problem on my part, too, so I'm not completely blaming her.) As of right now, I'm leaning toward keeping this doctor and seeing if we can work things out. It's looking good right now.

A Hard Day

2011-09-28T03:41:00.000-04:00

To say that Tuesday was trying, is putting it mildly. I finally went to get my shingles vaccination and it definitely didn't go the way I had planned.

I was under the impression that my PCP was on-board with me getting the vaccine after being off of Enbrel for 4+ weeks. This was discussed with the PA last week and Tuesday was the first day I had a chance to go in and get 'shot.' I mentioned to the nurse the problems I had had in trying to get info on all of this and she left the room and came back with the doctor. We wound up talking for almost 30 minutes about what I was about to do. Without coming right out and saying it, I don't believe the doctor was happy with me getting the vaccine. By the time the injection HAD to be done--there is a time limit as to how long the stuff can be left out of the freezer--I was so confused and teary that I couldn't make an intelligent decision. As it turned out, I finally said, "Just do it!" and got my vaccination. And then I came home, hoping I didn't make a very, very big mistake with my health.

Part of my problem was the fact that I was tired--I didn't get nearly enough sleep before I went to the doctor's office. And the doctor came down pretty hard on me--and I finally figured out why: she REALLY doesn't like Enbrel. As it turns out, she had a patient die as a result of using Enbrel. (I'm wondering just how much cause and effect there can ACTUALLY be attributed.) Anyway, we went round-and-round and I got more and more confused as we talked. I had the injection and then had to sit at the office for 30 minutes to make sure I had no ill-effects. And when I was released, it was with the warning to call if 'anything unusual' happened to me--but with no time-frame. By the time I got home, I was pretty close to having a panic attack because I was so sure I was about to die! (Yeah, overly dramatic.)

As I said, I was pretty tired, so I took a nap and after waking up, I'm less stressed over what I did. There are risks with whatever we do when it comes to our health. Even treatments that have been around for decades--vaccinations, etc--have the possibility of causing life-threatening side-effects. And, as I cannot UNdo what I did, I have to live with whatever consequences MIGHT happen. I'm just hoping that there will be NO side-effects.

What Do YOU Do?

2011-09-26T23:08:00.000-04:00

Once again, someone on Facebook put a rumor as their status update. This one is about Facebook beginning to charge a fee for anyone who wants to continue using it, etc, etc, etc. This rumor has been going around for quite a few years and is completely false. (However, that being said, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it became a pay-for-use site in the future. Just my opinion.) Every couple of weeks or so, one of my 'friends' will post something like this--something that is 100% false and can be proved as such by taking a quick trip to snopes.com for verification. This type of activity used to be done by email and I would get them in my inbox regularly. I would then point the one who sent the rumor to the proper site on the internet and let them know they were spreading false rumors. I don't get very many of those emails anymore--I think I got my message across. With email, I was able to keep my 'chastisement' as a private affair--and the only people subjected to these rumors were the ones who got emails from the sender. However, Facebook is much more public and I would hesitate to embarrass someone by telling them they were wrong in front of the whole world. I realize I could just send a private message, but I don't want to embarrass anyone, even privately.

So, the questions come: What do YOU do in a situation such as this? Do you correct the person or wait to see if someone else does it first? Does it matter if the person is close to you or merely an acquaintance? I wouldn't hesitate to take one of my kids 'to the woodshed,' because they both know enough to check these things out first. However, if a 'friend' that I have never even seen or talked to in real life does this, I don't have the nerve to correct them. I KNOW that several people (those who sent emails in the past) have felt as if I was trying to prove my 'superior' intelligence or trying to belittle them in some way--which is/was NEVER my intent! I don't know how to broach this subject without having it seem as if I think the other person isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Suggestions?

Questioning, Again

2011-09-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, the Red Wings and Flyers played an exhibition game. The score was tied at the end of overtime, so it moved into a shootout. During the shootout, someone threw a banana peel on the ice. Anyone with even a slight awareness of hockey knows that things are thrown on the ice all of the time--octopi, hats, rubber rats, slabs of beef, etc. Now, other than the NHL powers-that-be, things thrown on the ice are pretty well tolerated by everyone--until the banana peel incident. And why was this different? The player on the ice at the time was the only black player for either team. And someone decided this was a racist incident--which it probably was. And the (hockey) world exploded for several days.

While I would never argue that racially motivated acts are okay, I do have some very serious concerns about this entire affair. First of all, this game was a pre-season game. That in itself meant that not a whole lot of people were watching it. There was no audio or video broadcast of this game--other than to an area in and around Philadelphia. So, the fans in the arena and the (relatively) small viewing audience were the only people who actually saw this happen. And I question how many people saw this, even if they were at the game--several players were questioned about this later and they weren't aware of what happened until they were told. But, someone DID see this and ran with the story. I don't know where it first appeared--Twitter, a news story, a blog--but someone made a story out of this. And once it was out there, it became fodder for opinion pieces, blogs, newscasts, Twitter, Facebook, etc, etc, etc. This was reported and talked about ad nauseum for several days.

As I said, I would never advocate for a racially motivated act. I also don't believe society is benefitted by sweeping unpleasant topics/acts under the rug, BUT... And there is the problem. The person responsible for this was never found, so we really don't know what his motivation for throwing the peel was. I'm NOT saying there wasn't a racial element to this, but I'm saying that the assclown who did this probably had a bigger reason for his actions: PUBLICITY.* And he got his share of publicity. This is pretty much the only thing that was 'talked' about for several days.

Now, we come to my question. Is this something that should have been ignored? This could have flamed out very quickly, because of the small amount of people who saw what happened. Actually, it would barely have been a spark if it hadn't been reported. Have we become a society so politically correct that we have to 'make a big deal' out of everything, even if the intention was nowhere close to what others perceived? We are finding in all areas of our lives where huge stories are (manufactured?) from small, insignificant incidents--from politics to our personal lives--and it doesn't seem to help do much more than inflame. I do have to wonder who is benefitting from this--other than the 24-hour news sources and the assclowns who want publicity.

*I realize that I am publicizing this just as much as everyone else did, but I don't reach a big audience, so I don't think my little blog matters. ;)

Men Are Perplexing

2011-09-26T04:13:00.000-04:00

It is obvious that God, after he made Man, saw that he could do a bit better--and then he decided to create Woman. And just so we wouldn't get too full of ourselves, he made sure that we would NEVER understand men and why they do the things they do. I was confronted with this, yet again.

The new TV season has just begun. This means that there are new shows being aired for the first time and there are new episodes of returning programs. Also, football season is underway, so that means anyone can watch a game at any time of the day or night for the next few months. And to top it all off, the comedian Jeff Dunham--who is probably The Husband's favorite--had his newest special air on Comedy Central last night. My husband, who I don't understand at all, watched none of these. Instead, he watched, for the 3,462 time, a rerun of Lord of the Rings. On network TV. With commercials and edits.

So, why should this bother me? It bothers me because we own the entire Lord of the Rings collection. Actually, we own TWO SETS of the Lord of the Rings. Instead of getting up from the couch, going to the DVD shelf, taking a DVD and putting it in the player, and watching it in all of its uninterrupted glory, my husband watched it on network TV. And he didn't even watch it in high definition!

I will never understand men.

Overly Critical, I Suppose

2011-09-24T01:21:00.000-04:00

The FLOTUS decided her cause for the duration of Barack's reign is childhood obesity. One of the things that went into effect because of her is the new 'food pyramid,' or "MyPlate." While I don't get why this cost so much money to put into effect--somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million--there are a lot of people who like the change. (I think it was a waste of money, but that is for another time.) Along with MyPlate, there is a campaign going on called Let's Move! This is an attempt to get children to be more physical in order to burn more calories. Not a bad idea, as even I will admit that kids just don't burn off the calories like they used to. While I don't agree that there has to be a campaign for this, some people do. As far as I'm concerned, parents should just turn off the TVs, computers, DVD players, etc, and kick the kids outside for some 'play time.' That, after all, was what we did. And very rarely did you ever see obese kids--even though there WERE a few that enjoyed a bit too many sweets and were, at the most, 'pudgy.' I think most of us found the pounds creeping on when we got a bit older and lost that 'play time'--you know, around the time we figured we were 'too cool' to run around outside like the kids we were. ;) It seems a shame that so much taxpayer money has to be spent on such things that are common sense, but I guess there is much more frivolous waste of money than this.

As part of the Let's Move! campaign, several PSAs have been filmed and are being shown on TV. One of them bothers me--A LOT.

Okay, so I understand what they were trying for here, but it just seems like classic bullying behavior on the mother's part--you know, the kind of stuff that comes out of sibling interaction. This is the exact kind of thing I did to The Brother when he was young--as I'm sure most of us did to younger siblings. This video just left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Not Surprising

2011-09-23T00:52:00.000-04:00

I ordered a new bed for our cat. It was delivered today.

After spitting on it, she went here to sleep:

Playing The Waiting Game

2011-09-19T07:08:00.000-04:00

I am not a patient person--never have been. Waiting makes me testy and I tend to put my life on hold while I wait. And that is one of the reasons why I have been MIA here. My wait has been going on since before Labor Day.

My very good friend came down with shingles last winter. She still is suffering from the side effects. Thankfully, there is a vaccine for this and the recommended age to get it has been lowered from 60 to 50. Of course, insurance companies aren't paying for this yet, but J said she would pay four times the amount it costs ($250) just so she wouldn't get shingles again. K's doctor strongly suggested that he gets this--and with K's kidney problems, he definitely needs to watch his overall health closely--so we started doing research and making phone calls to see what we need to do to make this happen. Other than making sure we could pay for this, K was good to go whenever he wanted. For me, it was another story.

Being on Enbrel, I knew I couldn't get the shingles vaccine, as it is a live-virus vaccine. Also, GETTING shingles while on Enbrel is not a good idea--there is the possibility for some extremely serious side-effects. I knew I didn't want to get shingles, so I had to find out what I needed to do to make this happen for me. There was next to no info that I could find on the interwebs--other than 'do NOT get a live-virus vaccine while on Enbrel.' So, my first call had to go to my dermatologist's office to find out how long I had to be off of Enbrel in order to get this vaccine. I needed to know how many days/weeks/months after my last injection was a safe amount of time for me to get the shot and then I had to know how many days/weeks/months AFTER before I could go back on Enbrel. This call took place a week and a half before my appointment at the internist's office--plenty of time for me to get the info needed so that the internist and I could plan my course of action. At least you would think so. The call-back from the dermatologist's office never happened, so I went to my appointment completely unprepared. NOT. HAPPY.

As soon as my appointment was done, I marched up to the dermatologist's office to see if I could get any answers from them. As it turned out, they weren't getting very much info themselves. The closest anyone would come to answering their questions was a drug rep said that 3weeks before and after should be okay. With that small amount of info in hand, I decided to make a couple of calls of my own.

My Enbrel is handled by a specialty pharmacy, so I called to see what they had to say about all of this. The pharmacist said he is hearing that patients are abstaining from Enbrel from 2-4 weeks on both sides of the vaccination. So, the 3 weeks that the dermatologist was told is in that time frame. I then called Amgen, the company that makes the drug--WHY I didn't do this first is beyond me--just to see what they had to say. I was NOT impressed or happy. The recommendation? 'Every case is different and every patient needs to talk to his/her own doctor and plan a course of action designed specifically for him/her.' Big fricking whoop. So, it was back on the phone, this time to my internist to see how we are going to proceed. I made the phone call last week Tuesday. I still have not heard back.

Tuesday will be four weeks since I last gave myself an injection and I don't know how much longer it will be before I am in a full-blown psoriasis flare. So far, my skin isn't reacting too much to the absence of Enbrel. I am finding some stiffness in my joints that could possibly be the beginnings of arthritis, but I'm not going to jump to any conclusions. Right now I just want to get this over with so I can get back to my life--and the sooner the better. When I finally get the go-ahead for this vaccination, I'm hoping there will actually be vaccine available--shortages have been occurring. I'm really, really hoping all of this can be resolved in the 8-week time frame I had in mind when I first started considering this. 'Cause I REALLY don't play the waiting game well, at all.

Make Your Own Title

2011-09-18T20:34:00.000-04:00

They say 'a picture is worth a thousand words.' I only took one picture at the Renaissance Fair this year. The husband called this 'Pretty in Pink.'

Yes, that IS a male...

Public Restrooms

2011-09-06T04:37:00.001-04:00

A bear may sh*t in the woods, but this is one woman who won't. I also won't use outhouses, rarely use Port-A-Potties, and am very selective as to what public restrooms I use. I became overly familiar with a wide variety of public facilities when my oldest was a child. She would RUN to the restroom whenever we walked in the door of a place--even if she just went before we left the house three minutes earlier. There wasn't a restroom/facility that we didn't go into in the three-county area--for some reason she had a fascination for them. Anyway, I saw more than my share and I certainly know which ones to avoid and which ones are fine for me to use.

***To completely get away from the point of this post, I MUST mention this. There now is an app for your mobile phone that lets you find people who will allow you to use their bathrooms for a fee. This is for those people who don't want to use public restrooms--and for people who are so desperate for money that they will let strangers come into their houses and use their most private rooms to do God knows what in them. I CANNOT comprehend this, as I wish I had a second bathroom in this house just so I wouldn't have to share with my husband! There ain't no way on God's green earth that I will let total strangers come into my house to use my 'throne!' I. Don't. Get. It. If you must read more, you can go here and here. I get a great amount of pleasure in reporting that I couldn't find one person who thought this was a good idea--and most find this creepy and very, very dangerous.***

Now that we have traveled a bit, I have a greater variety of restrooms to like or dislike. For the most part, McDonald's aren't too bad--but I usually go there in the morning or around lunchtime. I don't have a clue as to how bad they may be in the evening. Barnes & Noble facilities are more than adequate and decently clean. I am very impressed with the restroom at the World Market store that we frequent--they even have taken a stab at decorating with some of the stuff from the store. I have never seen it in a shambles and it comes the closet as any restroom to my bathroom in terms of cleanliness. I'm very impressed with casino restrooms--both in Vegas and locally. (Although, I DID get lost in a restroom in the Venetian casino in Vegas--I got turned around and had to ask directions to get out again. Yes, I have problems.) And, for the most part, I haven't been in a Sam's Club restroom that isn't taken care of very, very well.

The Sam's Club we usually go to just did a major re-model of the restrooms a year ago. They put all new stalls and sinks, floors, counter tops, toilets, etc, etc. The only thing I have a problem with is the fact that they used stainless steel for the stall walls--TRY and keep those looking good without spending hours a day cleaning them. But they did a great job and everything works well. I'm real pleased with the self-flushing toilets, but am less so with the automatic faucets--for some reason or other, I can't get those to work for me any more frequently than 50% of the time. However, I am ECSTATIC over the Dyson hand dryers.

If you have never seen/used one of these, you have no idea what you are missing. First, you place your hands straight down into this dryer. Then the air comes on and blows your hands dry. But, the WAY the air blows on your hands is a lot of fun. While it doesn't FEEL as if it is strong, when you look at your hands, the skin looks just like those pictures of astronauts' faces when they are getting belted by strong g-force. It's as if your skin is almost liquid itself, the way the air manipulates it. I usually use this restroom JUST so I can wash my hands and use the dryer. (Yes, I know that is off the wall, but these dryers are FUN! :D) I'd have one in my own home but 1) I don't know if they sell them for home usage and 2) I probably couldn't afford one even if they WOULD sell one to me.

Whenever I use a public restroom, I will use the handicapped/family stall if available and there aren't a lot of people needing to use the facilities. I find it so much easier to have the space and the toilets are higher up, which is so much easier on my knees. (I'm getting old and experiencing the family 'knee trouble.') If you don't go into the family stalls, you might not have seen the 'seats' that are on the walls for babies.

These are where you strap your child in so that you can 'go' without worry. While I'm sure busy mothers love these, I find them a bit creepy. The seats are much too far away from the toilets, so that if the baby isn't strapped in perfectly, a person couldn't just reach over if s/he starts to slip. And it looks too much like you're hanging your kid on the wall. I just get creeped out by these things.

I have spent much too much time lately thinking about public facilities, but with our impending trip to the Renaissance Fair, I know I will have to use a Port-A-Potty if needed. I just hope that if I really have to use one, I don't need it more than once. I think I'm having a panic attack already.

Just Business As Usual

2011-09-05T04:00:00.000-04:00

I needed to fill the refrigerator so that we actually could have food to eat, so I went out earlier to shop. Of course, I can't go out without making the obligatory stop at Wal Mart--or, as the case was tonight, the land of the RVs. WOW!!! The RVs were lined up end to end all around the perimeter of the parking lot. I don't think I've ever seen so many there at any one time before, so I was quite amazed. But then, it IS the unofficial end to summer and people want to get that last trip in before school starts.

It is pretty cool that Wal Mart allows RVs to be parked in their lots for free. Not that Wal Mart is losing out in the deal: every time I see one of these things parked, there are people walking to the store to buy. There is a definite method to this madness. One of the guys that K works with laughingly says when he retires he will buy a Chevy, put all of his belongings in it, and park at Wal Mart to live. I wonder how many have tried this already? :)

This town is unbelievably crazy this weekend. First, the students are back--and not one of them know how to drive in this town. There is some sort of half K or full K run this weekend, so that has brought a lot of people in. But the big draw is the annual blues festival--and THAT gets an awful lot of people from quite a distance coming here. So, the traffic is absolutely nuts. And the drivers are going to get someone killed.

Wal Mart is situated on the main highway that runs through the UP. Of course, we don't have interstate highways, so every business has its own entrance onto this major road. Target is across the highway from Wal Mart, so the traffic along the corridor there is quite extensive. To help with left turns, a traffic light was installed at the intersection. A pain in the butt for people passing through, but essential for those who are trying to get to one of the businesses. When I go to Wal Mart from our house, I have to make a left turn to get into the parking lot. The light for the through traffic was green, but the left turn lane had a red light. When I got to the light, there was vehicle in front of me making a stop, but BARELY. And then the car turned left while the light was still red!!! I know people are always doing the wrong things while driving, but it still flabbergasts me when I see something like this. Here I am, hours later, and I can't believe I really saw this. That driver is certainly an accident waiting to happen. And I am staying in the house until the holiday weekend is over.

Me Being Obsessive--As Usual

2011-09-04T02:59:00.000-04:00

We just came back from an overnight road trip. We actually haven't had one of our trips in a couple of months--the timing has been bad with K doing overtime and all. So, this was a very nice outing. Of course, we did far too much shopping and went to eat with our best friends--nothing spectacular, but a nice change of pace from our 'normalcy,' as it always is. The last thing we do before leaving the town we go to is stop at Sam's Club and do our final 'spending of the money.' We 'take orders' from friends and family and pick up whatever is needed, along with our own needs. And it was in Sam's Club that one of my ugly obsessions came to the forefront.

When I buy something, I want it to be in pristine condition. Whether it is a box of cereal (do NOT try and sell me a box with a bent corner), a can of beans (I won't accept a label that has a tear in it), or an apple (NO bruises at all), I want it perfect. And there is NO living with me when the purchases are bigger: my car better GLOW with shininess--and NO barely perceptible streaks; my washing machine better not have a ding, scratch, or dent; and my couch better have even seams and matching patterns. If I'm paying the big bucks they are charging, everything better be to my satisfaction. However, one thing bothers me more than the others and that is magazines and books that have been read and mishandled and put back on the shelf. I hate wanting a book and finding only one copy that has bent pages or a wrinkled dust jacket. It drives me insane to get a book in the mail and finding the corner of the cover bent. Most of my books look like new AFTER I have read them, so I don't want them to look abused even before I get my hands on them.

Today in Sam's Club I had to hold back from going off the deep end. There at the book table were several children going through all of the books willy-nilly. They were playing with the 'read-to-me' features and over-extending the 'pop-up' books. And I KNOW the books had to have that 'well read' look to them after the kids were done. The kids were at the table by themselves with no grown-up to be seen. It was obvious that this was where the parents dropped the kids off so that they could shop in peace.** While I encourage reading in kids--and books are the ONLY gifts our grandkids get from us at Christmas--I don't like it when parents use the 'for sale' books as babysitters in stores. At least at Barnes & Noble, they have a reading table--with books on it-- for kids to look at so that they don't have to be taking the ones off of shelves. I really wonder how much money stores lose because of 'damaged' books that can't be sold as new?

**I have seen parents allow their kids to play with stuffed animals and any toys with noise, etc, features, also. I can't imagine giving some of these toys as gifts after having tons of grubby, dirty, germy hands playing with them beforehand. {shudder}

To Whom It May Concern...

2011-09-01T18:51:00.000-04:00

I know you love your kids and I'm happy that you think they are the greatest--as you should--but not all of us feel the same. I don't need to hear that your kid just had its first haircut (with 100 pictures), learned to say "Hi" (with 20 minutes of audio), or spit his/her first carrots in your face (with an hour of video). YOU might find all things that your kid does are the funniest, smartest, most interesting, etc, but I don't. To you, your kids are cute, clever, beautiful, and geniuses, but to the rest of the world, they are quite annoying. If you continue to inundate Facebook, Twitter, and your blog with every 'accomplishment'--and believe me, pulling the dog's ears is something EVERY child does--I WILL unfollow you. And I expect you to do the same when I go overboard about my grandchildren. Thank you for your time and now I will turn you back to your regular schedule.

***Yes, I realize that I don't have to go through the pictures or watch the video, etc. And I don't. This is aimed at those people who can't see that others don't share their fascination with their kids and continue to shove them in our faces at every opportunity--and get mad at those of us who DON'T find their kids to be the greatest to ever be put on this earth.

In The News

2011-08-29T05:16:00.000-04:00

We've had a couple of strange news stories these last couple of weeks. One was strange/silly and the other was strange/horrifying.

The first story was from a week or so back. One afternoon, our lights 'blinked.' The power wasn't off long enough to affect anything other than the clock on our ancient microwave, but it blinked nonetheless. Within five minutes, the lights blinked again. This really had K and me puzzled. At first, we thought it was only our house--I do worry about our wiring, as it needs a total overhaul--but nothing more happened, so I forgot about the incident. Until the next day.

The headline on the front page of our paper read: "Errant Squirrel Blamed for Power Outage." Yes, a squirrel got into a substation and caused several thousand people to be without power for upwards of an hour. (We were lucky, but we are in an area that rarely loses power for some reason. I guess it's the way the grid is laid out.) The article didn't go into detail as to exactly WHAT the squirrel did to cause the power outage, but it did mention that the little rodent died. I guess justice was served.

A couple of days ago, the front page had this headline: "Man Dies in Chainsaw Accident." The article went on to say that it is assumed he slipped and fell and the chainsaw killed him by cutting his throat and chest. It also said he was wearing protective headgear and a face shield and that the chainsaw somehow slid under the shield and cut his throat. Police don't suspect foul play.

Now I am not saying that the police are wrong in this case, but how many cop-dramas would let THIS go by the wayside as 'no foul play suspected?' 'Law & Order' would not only make this a major case, but it probably would use at least TWO episodes to solve it. Strange, strange. I have never heard of anyone getting killed by a chainsaw--accidentally or otherwise--here before, so this is very unusual.

You have to understand just how prevalent chainsaw usage is here. At one time, we owned TWO of the things--one gas powered and one electric. Early on, we used to heat our house--well, as a supplement to the furnace--with a wood-fired stove. Many people still do. In an area of the country where firewood is very easy to get, it is a viable alternative to heating with any kind of fuel oil/gas/propane. During the summer, we would get a load of LOGS dumped into our yard and then K--along with anyone who wanted to help--would cut the logs, split the pieces, and pile the wood in preparation for the winter. And during all this time of cutting, splitting, and piling, K only hurt himself once. While he was cutting a log, the chainsaw 'bounced' on him and nicked his cheek. It wasn't a terrible injury, but it could have been much worse. However, he wasn't even close to death with this accident. AND he wasn't wearing any safety gear of any kind, so it must have been a very freaky accident that killed this man. Horrifying, indeed.

One of Those 'I Hope This Never Happens To Me' Posts

2011-08-27T18:46:00.000-04:00

I always read the obituaries online from my old home town. And it isn't because of the old cliche "You know you're really old when..." ;) The Oldest doesn't know all of the names of people I remember from when I was younger and there really isn't anyone left there that will let me know when someone dies. (Hell, I'm lucky if anyone in my family even lets me know if a relative dies, much less a friend's parent, etc.) So, every day one of my stops on the world wide web is the obits.

Today there was an obituary of a woman who I don't know. (The last name is familiar, so she is a relative of someone I went to school with.) She had lived a good, long life and was 81-years-old at the time she died. The thing that was different about this obit was WHERE she died. She was in the Bahamas on a FAMILY VACATION when she passed. OH. MY. G--!!!!

The death of a relative is extremely stressful, as we all know. Making all of the arrangements--whether the person had a 'pre-paid' plan or not--is exhausting. And this is when the person dies at home--or close to the home town. I cannot imagine WHAT this family went through to not only have 'Grandma' die, but they had to make arrangements to get her out of a foreign country and back home for the funeral. What a nightmare. 'Vacation in the Bahamas' is definitely going to be something this family never thinks about the same way ever again.

Lesson Learned

2011-08-24T00:08:00.000-04:00

One of the first things that you are told when you call tech support is, "Make sure all cables and cords are plugged in tightly." It is really surprising how often they loosen--and of course this causes all kinds of problems.

Way back when, there used to be TV repairmen who actually came to your house. One day, a friend of The Mother's had just gone into the living room to watch her 'stories' but was unable to because the TV wouldn't turn on. We were lucky to have a small TV store in our town and the repairman was able to get to her house within the hour. He walked into the living room, went to the TV, plugged it into the outlet, and turned it on. He then charged her $25. She was NOT amused--and called the store owner to complain. His answer: "We fixed your TV, didn't we?"

Yesterday, I got out of bed and headed to the Bunn to make my coffee. After I poured the water into the Bunn, I turned on the switch that starts the heating of the hot plate. The light blinked on and off once, and refused to do anything else. The coffee came out fine, but there was no heat to the hot plate AND the heating element didn't heat the water I had just poured in. (With a Bunn, the water is heated and stored in the coffee maker until you pour a potful of cold water into the machine--and then THAT water is heated after your coffee is made.) Great--ANOTHER Bunn bites the dust--and this one I only bought about three months ago. At least I could return it.

First thing I had to do after drinking my first cup of caffeine, was look for the register slip to make sure I could still return the Bunn. Sure enough, I had bought it on 26 May, so I was still in the time frame to return it--barely. Next I went into the basement to find the original box it came in. And it was gone. After all these years, K has decided to try and organize the basement and the first thing he did was get rid of all of the cardboard boxes that we had down there--and one of them was the Bunn box. I called the store where I had purchased the Bunn and they said it would be okay for me to return it in a paper bag. AND they said I would get a full refund, as it was less than 90 days since I purchased it. HOORAY! Now I knew what I would be doing after dinner.

I started to clean the Bunn to a certain extent. I rinsed and dried the carafe and started to move the Bunn so that I could empty out the water and the plug fell out of the outlet. Oops. Could this POSSIBLY be the source of the problem? I plugged it back into the wall, turned on the switch--the light came on!!!!--and listened to see if the water would start warming. Sure enough, after a few minutes I could actually feel the heated water through the sides of the coffee maker. I didn't need to take it back for a refund, after all.

Obviously, if I EVER have a problem with something electrical/technical ever again, I will check all cords and cables and make sure it is fully powered. Within the last two weeks, I have had TWO different instances where I thought something was broken and it just was a power issue. I couldn't do a thing with the printer one day and was SURE I needed to go and buy a new one. I fretted over this for most of the day and when I decided to move it to another room to try the power from another outlet, I noticed that it wasn't plugged into the power strip where it usually is. OF COURSE it wouldn't work without power!!!!! And a few days ago, I thought my NOOKcolor was completely bricked--possibly due to my turning it into a tablet--but NOOOOOOOOOO, it just needed to be charged. And still I didn't check the Bunn before I panicked. I'm really getting the feeling that I will NEVER learn this lesson.

Bits and Pieces

2011-08-22T03:08:00.001-04:00

A few days ago, I posted a police log about a woman who 'saw electricity traveling outside the wire.' While I think it is one of our whackos who reported this, Janet did question whether this actually could happen. So, I decided to ask K about this. After all, he DOES keep the machines going that make electricity, so he might know more than I do on the subject. He thinks this is questionable, but he shared some thoughts about it. First, he has walked around the power plant property extensively through the years. He has seen the power lines arc, but THAT is NOT a good thing and is usually connected to a problem. He also said that in the right conditions, you can 'hear' the electricity flowing through the wires. AND during the proper conditions, some people have said they can see a 'halo' or 'glow' around the power lines--but K has never experienced that. So, that is as close to an explanation as I can give for 'escaping electricity.'

**********

K went to open the door on the storage shed last week and when he did, a swarm of yellow jackets flew out. They had begun building a nest on the inside of the shed door and got it to the size of a large silver-dollar pancake. K didn't want to spray the nest with Raid because it was so close to our tomato garden, so he took a shovel and slammed it on the nest, causing it to fall to the ground. For many hours after that--actually for a few days--I watched 6-12 yellow jackets continue to figure out what happened to their home. If the queen would have been killed, I believe that would have been the end of it, but she was still around, being tended to, a day ago. I believe the nest is being rebuilt. Yuck. Anyway, I digress.

The day after the nest was knocked to the ground, I watched a chipmunk go to it. He ripped it apart and stuffed whatever was in it into its pouches. When he was done, there were just tiny little bits of grey 'paper' left on the ground. I never knew chipmunks would do something like this. I may start liking them after all. ;)

Our neighbor said that they had a huge paper wasp nest last summer and after the first frost, a half dozen blue jays ripped that one apart. They proceeded to eat everything that was inside. And THAT was surprising to me. So, am I the only one that didn't know this about our wildlife?

**********

I'm sure I have mentioned that I got a NOOKcolor a few months back. As it turned out, I had a lemon and had to get a replacement in July. Of course, I didn't know that it was a lemon until it completely crapped out and I got one that actually works right, but I'm pleased with my replacement. But, obviously, I'm not pleased enough, because I have now turned the NOOK into an Android tablet.

Almost from the beginning, the geeks have been working out a way to turn the NOOK into a full-on tablet. I started reading about this before I even got my NOOK and figured it was something I may do down the road at some time. When everything finally was working right and the geeks figured out a way to change the NOOK without changing anything on the inside--no hardware or software changes to the original machine--I knew it was time to see what the NOOK could do. Unfortunately, despite the fact that this was something pretty easy to do, there seemed to be a lot of information that had to be read and sorted through before I could attempt this transformation. And I dragged my heels, not wanting to spend the time necessary. Basically, one had to take an SD card, download some files, put the card in the NOOK, boot it up, and there you have a tablet! (Of course, there was a bit more to it. ;)) And all it cost was the price of an SD card and your time. Still, I couldn't bring myself to do this on my own.

A couple of months back, an enterprising young man realized that there were a lot of people like me and decided to cash in. He started doing all of the work involved in this transformation and selling the cards to people who didn't want to do the work themselves. Last week, I bought my card. And so far, I couldn't be much happier! The NOOK is now like a bigger version of my phone--without the ability to take pictures or make calls, of course--and I can put almost any app I want on it. I'm pretty pleased and hope everything keeps going well.

The thing that amazes me most about this is the cost. If someone wanted a 7" Android tablet, they could buy a refurbished NOOKcolor for $170 and a card to transform it into a tablet for $35. For a little over $200, a tablet could be had--much, much, much less than the $300-600 or more that full tablets are going for. A good deal all around.

**********

And so we get back to wildlife. Specifically, the cardinals that have been frequenting our window feeders.

I know this isn't the greatest picture, but it will have to do. As you can see, there are Mr and Mrs Cardinal eating out of the same feeder. Not only am I thrilled to have them at my window, but they are quite fascinating. Whenever the two of them are together, one feeds the other. Most of the time, it is the male that feeds the female. He will take the shell off of the seed and then give her the nutmeat. One day he did this for a couple of minutes. Adorable!

It would be great to get better pictures of these birds, but they are extremely skittish. And, for the most part, they like to come to the feeder at low-light times, like just at dawn or right before dusk. Those aren't times when you can get good pictures. I certainly hope they stick around for the winter--it will be nice to have their red coloring along with the blue of the jays during the long, white, winter months.

A Real Downer

2011-08-18T21:39:00.000-04:00

In advance, I want to apologize for this post. I am, by nature, a pessimist and this is more of a 'downer' post than I really want it to be. But, this blog is my way to vent and journal, so, you are warned.

Before and just after every election--presidential, mostly--I find myself fearing for this country. It doesn't matter who is elected, it always is the fear of the unknown--even if the guy is RE-elected. This last election scared me more than most--and it seems as if my fears were NOT unfounded. But, this ISN'T a gripe session about Barack--even though I dislike him even more than I did before he was elected POTUS. This is a gripe session and I have no idea WHO to aim it at--everyone in power seems to be at fault these days and with the crop of 'wannabes' that are trying to get into office next year, I am not optimistic that things will be any better in the next few years. For the most part, before this last presidential election, we were able to live our lives--and this is personally, not necessarily as a nation--pretty much in a 'business as usual' manner, no matter WHO was POTUS. Things have certainly changed in the last couple of years.

So, personally, the big changes in OUR lives are health care and retirement. With the state of the economy, K's retirement account is nowhere near what it was a few years ago--and this is with him adding to it with every paycheck. He has always talked about working for a few more years, but there always was the possibility of him just saying 'the hell with it' and coming home one day and say he's done. No, we wouldn't probably be able to live quite in the manner we have become accustomed to, but we would have done okay. Because of the way things are, he will HAVE to work at LEAST two more years, like it or not.

Right now, I haven't seen any huge changes in our health care, but we also haven't needed anything more than routine doctor visits or medications. However, it certainly seems as if there ARE big-time changes for those who have retired from the company. And that will be a (possible) disaster for me. I really don't think that my Enbrel will/would be covered under retirement benefits--and that scares me so much. Before the Enbrel, my psoriasis covered MUCH more than 10% of my body--I had it on my back, trunk, knees, elbows, scalp, fingernails, buttocks--and now I am ALMOST symptom-free. (Actually, I have some problems with my fingernails and a couple of smallish spots on my elbows and knees--and that's it.) After going off of a biologic medication, many people experience a resurgence of their psoriasis that is MUCH worse than anything they experienced prior to using the meds. Of course, this doesn't mean that EVERYONE has this happen, but I worry, nonetheless.

Another major worry I have for K and me is housing. Before this economic downturn, we had every intention to build a new house. As of right now, we can't see any way that could be possible. This leaves us with an old, old house with major problems--problems that we will NOT be able to deal with as we get older. So, we have to have things fixed--new siding, new windows, new roof, electrical, plumbing, etc. And those are just the things that HAVE to get done--we would LIKE to do something about the basement, but THAT is not an all-year problem, so it is way down the list of things needed. As we get older, a garage would be nice to have, but we've been without one THIS long, so we have to set priorities. Right now, we're just happy to have a roof over our heads--for as long as that roof STAYS over our heads and doesn't fall down. ;)

And all of my concerns for K and me pale in comparison to how I'm feeling about the future for our girls and their families.

The Youngest and her husband both work. They don't work at the lowest paying jobs, but they certainly aren't even in the middle-middle class, either. At the best, they are in the lower-middle class, but I don't know if they are doing that well. And they are barely keeping up, much less getting ahead. Every time things look like they are getting better, something else happens. Right now, they are facing the probability of having to get a new vehicle. In all actuality, they should be looking for a SECOND vehicle--they both work and their work sites are in completely different directions--as it would be much easier for each to have their own. But, that won't happen any time soon. They want to adopt a child, but THAT is equivalent to BUYING a baby and the money just isn't there. Both of them still have student loans to finish paying off, so they can't really think about trying to get a house or new place to live. (Frankly, I think they are overpaying for the place they are living right now, but that is just an opinion.) Still, they MIGHT be staying even, or not falling back too much. At least, I hope so.

And so, we get to The Oldest and her family. I know a lot of people don't have much sympathy for her and her husband--after all, they did nothing to permanently prevent having 7 kids--but the size of their family is a moot point. They have to take care of the family, no matter HOW big or small it is. And they just are not making it. Up to a couple of months ago, things weren't SO bad for them. Okay, they weren't making much--if any--progress toward getting ahead, but they aren't even breaking even these days. And I can't see any possible way for them to cut costs any further than they already have. She makes all of her own laundry detergent and cleaning products that she can. She never buys 'brand-name' ANYTHING and makes everything she can from scratch. They have no cable and just went to 'basic phone' with their landline. Other than underwear and socks, I don't know the last time she bought any brand new article of clothing for any of the kids--unless it cost less than $5 on sale. While I admire her ingenuity, it can't be easy to do all she does while trying to raise 7 kids AND homeschool at the same time. Plus, she does a couple of part-time jobs to bring in a little extra money--just so they can have the NECESSITIES, NOT the WANTS. And I worry.

My first thought for people who are under-employed is 'just go somewhere that jobs ARE available'--and I know a lot of people feel this way. This would be a solution for someone who is single--after all, there would be a lot of travel involved and that means money to travel to job interviews and looking at places to live, etc. NOT something that is readily available for either family. To go somewhere else for a job, they would have to have one GUARANTEED for them. AND moving expenses would be a great bonus. Neither family can just up and move on a whim--there is no money for them to do so. At this point, our girls are 'stuck' where they are.

At this point in time, K and I are discussing what we can do for the girls. The only solution we can come up with is to send them money. As K said, "It's either THAT or have them move into our house."--and that isn't a solution at all. But, this also means that his retirement is probably further off than even HE imagines it is. While I want to feel sorry for myself, I do have to be thankful that we have enough where we are able to help the girls--little as it is. {sigh}

Good Idea or Bad

2011-08-17T17:19:00.001-04:00

I certainly hope no one invites me to one of these parties. Maybe it's my age, but I really don't think I'd be too comfortable. So, what do you think? Good idea, or bad? Discuss.

Police Log

2011-08-17T17:10:00.001-04:00

--10:45 PM, subject dressed in black walking on road

We have the politically correct police, we have the 'guvmint' getting up in our faces, now we have 'colors you are not allowed to wear.' Do some people REALLY have so little in their lives that they have to call the cops about things like this? Good grief.

No Words...

2011-08-16T21:59:00.000-04:00

From notalwaysright.com:

Me: “Hello, this is ***** Healthcare line. What can I help you with?”
Caller: “Hi, I’m calling because my son just ate a bunch of ants.”
Me: “I’m sorry? Your son ate ants?”
Caller: “Yes! I was wondering if I need to take him to the hospital and see a doctor.”
Me: “Well, ma’am, I don’t think you need to worry. I don’t think the ants will make him sick, but I advise that he doesn’t eat any more of them.”
Caller: “Well, I gave him some ant killer to get rid of them.”
Caller’s friend: “Get him to the emergency room, now!”

Police Log

2011-08-13T14:33:00.002-04:00

--1:00 AM, caller reports she can see the electricity traveling on the outside of the wire; unfounded

Okay, is this something like 'I see dead people?' Or is this a phenomenon that actually can happen? As far as I'm concerned, I think this is a case of 'the crazies are BACK!' :D

Youthful Stupidity

2011-08-10T18:27:00.000-04:00

The late 60s-70s was a turbulent period of time in our nation's history--actually, in the WORLD, not just the US. During that time we saw protests of all kinds. Women's lib, civil rights, sexual revolution--an entire re-thinking of society came into being. Growing up and living in the UP kept us a bit isolated from the worst of the turbulence--Really, now, were the Finns going to riot against the Italians? Were the people of the UP going to march on the French-Canadians?--but we WERE aware of what was going on. The local universities had a semi-diverse population, so we did see some unrest, but not to the extent that the rest of the US did. And just like everywhere else, we had our locals who described themselves as 'anarchists'--and THEY turned out to describe themselves as that in order to disrupt our classes and waste time, more so than because of any ideological beliefs. Two of these 'different' thinkers were in my high school class. And these two are who this story is about.

I graduated from high school in 1972. The Vietnam War was raging and the country was still reeling from the riots of a couple of years earlier. Anti-war protests were still being held and 'Black Power' was still something that many feared. While things were 'quieting down' to a certain extent, there still was a sense of nervousness because we had no idea what could trigger an explosion again. (As it turned out, we were about to 'get out of Vietnam' and become more united as a nation as we watched the downfall of Richard Nixon.) But this was still in the future.

The school I graduated from is small. The ENTIRE enrollment in grades 7-12 was smaller than The Youngest's graduating class--by quite a lot. Our graduating class had less than 40 kids in it--and some of those were in the 'special education' classes, so we weren't REALLY 'classmates.' (This was many, many years before anyone even CONSIDERED 'mainstreaming.') One of the traditions with graduating classes was the 'class trip.' And with less than 40 kids, the options opened up considerably. Our class went to Chicago for several days--and that is where this story takes place.

To put it mildly, the UP is very much 'backwoods.' TV, the internet, newspapers, magazines, etc, etc, all have helped us move into the 'modern age,' but we pretty much live our lives in an 'outside looking in' sort of fashion. We ARE getting more diverse here, but race and ethnicity still aren't all that much of a factor. We pretty much are 'white-bread, middle-America,' even though we are changing--slowly. So, you can imagine how 'backward' we were in the day. Other than TV--which still was pretty much in its infancy (maybe adolescence)--and some 'underground' publications like 'Rolling Stone' magazine, the only other avenue that there was for ANY news about what was going on in the world were university students--and THEY didn't have all that much use for the 'locals'. But, there was enough interaction and news coming in if someone wanted to know--and our 'anarchists' trolled to find every piece of info they could. And they had some information that they were going to use in Chicago.

For the most part, every minute of our time in Chicago was mapped out for us. However, we were given an afternoon of 'free-time' to do whatever we wanted. Some of us went to a baseball game while others went shopping. And our two anarchists had other plans: They were going to find the Chicago headquarters of the Black Panther organization and go and visit. And that's just what they did. (This story was told to the rest of us at our 25th class reunion--NO ONE knew this had happened until then.)

So, here is the scene: Two 18-year-old kids from the UP of Michigan. They have NO concept of the world. They come from a part of the country--the UP--that has less of a population than a Chicago suburb, decide to present themselves to a BLACK (possibly terrorist) organization. (I'm even wondering if either of them had ever TALKED to anyone who was black, at this point in their lives.) And the only way these two could be WHITER is if they lived in Scandinavia. They make their way to the front door of the Black Panther building, walk up the stairs, ring the bell. When the door opens (by a person with a full-on Afro, wearing a dashiki, and carrying a gun), they introduce themselves and say they would like a tour. AND THEY ARE INVITED IN!!!! They are given a tour--complete with being shown their weaponry, etc. And from what they said at the reunion, they were treated quite nicely. I'm sure it was only because the members couldn't believe anyone could act as stupidly as these two did.

I don't want to label every Black Panther member as 'bad' or a 'terrorist,' but the reputation of the organization was NOT a good one. And from what was reported, they certainly didn't look kindly on 'whitey' at all. And two idiots--who should have known better--presented themselves to this organization on a platter. For all they knew, they could have been murdered and buried along with Jimmy Hoffa--and no one would have known! They went off on their own and never told anyone where they were going. They could have 'disappeared' and the entire thing could have remained a mystery for all time.

Ah, the stupidity of youth...

Good Drivers

2011-08-04T01:52:00.000-04:00

Way before there were driver ed classes, people were taught to drive by other drivers. Here in this part of the country, it wasn't a bad deal, as there are plenty of country roads--read that as 'not busy'--that can be used for driving practice. While I DID take driver ed in high school, I didn't get my license until after getting married--K kind of forced me into it. (Actually, he told me he wouldn't pay for the insurance on a car that wasn't used, so I got my license rather than letting the car sit.) I did most of my practice driving on the country roads and it worked out well. I remember The Mother practicing when I was very young, as she needed to drive when The Father went into the hospital for that year. And not too much before that, my paternal grandmother learned to drive. And that is the story...

My grandfather died before I was born and my grandmother remarried several years later. Her second husband taught her to drive. One day, The Mother was riding with Grandma through our little town. The Mother wasn't too comfortable riding with Grandma, as she wasn't the best driver. Rather than taking the highway back to The Parents' house, Grandma took the other 'main' road which had numerous stop signs on it. As Grandma drove straight through EVERY stop sign, The Mother saw her life pass before her eyes--she was SURE that she would never make it home alive. After the two of them finally made it to the house, The Mother asked Grandma why she didn't stop at the stop signs. Grandma answered, "[Her husband] said good drivers don't NEED to stop at stop signs."

And my grandmother drove for 20+ years after that--and never had an accident. I guess she WAS a good driver. :D

12 Years

2011-08-03T02:50:00.000-04:00

On Friday, I will celebrate 12 years since I had my last cigarette. And every year I buy myself an anniversary gift. But, this year I have no idea what I'm getting for myself. The whole idea behind this gift giving was to spend some of the money I saved by not smoking--and so far, I've never even come close to spending what I would have spent on cigarettes for the year. I have one rule when buying my gift: The item must be something I WANT and definitely don't need. And so far, almost all of the items have been electronics/tech gadgets. Over the years, I have gotten cell phones and PDAs, music players and TVs, and everything in between. And this year, I don't have anything in particular that I want. NEXT YEAR, I might be in the market for an Android tablet, but they're too new right now and I DO have the nookCOLOR, so I'm not looking for one of those yet. And it isn't as if there aren't things I WANT, but I DO have a price limit to what I want to spend--and the laptop that I REALLY want is far too expensive for me to get right now. So, I will wander through some stores and surf the interwebs and come up with something that will make me happy. If nothing comes to me, I'll probably get a new TV for the computer room--after all, hockey season isn't far off and there will be 82 games to watch. :D

Gassy

2011-08-02T02:06:00.000-04:00

In so many ways, I feel very, very old. I remember when ALL phones were hardwired and had cords, when computers were accessed through punchcards, and when TV stations actually went off the air at night. These are things that many, many people don't remember...

Something else that I remember are 'service stations.' At one point in time, The Father and his brother owned a 'service station'--a place where you would go and say 'fill 'er up' and get your gas tank filled, your windshield washed, your battery checked, and your oil checked. (They also 'fixed' cars--The Father was a very good mechanic.) The attendant would also walk around your vehicle and give it a 'once-over' look to make sure the tires were properly inflated and that nothing was about to fall off. A lot of high school students--read that as 'guys'--would have these jobs. While they were minimum-wage jobs, they filled the need before fast food restaurants became the normal place for high school students to work. And once self-service became the norm, these jobs became a thing of the past--and I mourn their passing.

I have never pumped my own gas. It isn't because I am lazy or stupid***, it just is because K has always done it. I never wanted to pump my own and as long as someone else will do it for me, I'm happy to let them. (Hey, when the wind is whipping at 40 MPH and the temp is -10, I appreciate not having to get out of my vehicle.) I realize that there probably will come a time when I will HAVE to learn how to pump gas, but I can wait. Over the years, there have been times when I needed gas in my vehicle and K wasn't around to fill it, but I always had the option of going to the full-service station that was down the street from us. Sadly, that place is now gone. One other station in town had full-service, but earlier this summer THAT was discontinued. And if you think THAT didn't create quite a stir around here, you are deluding yourself.

As I said, I've been lucky to have someone do this--in my opinion--very distasteful job for me all of these years. But, there are many who HAVE to rely on someone else to do this--and these are the ones who were hurt the most when this service was discontinued. Many handicapped and elderly people were quite distressed over the thought that they would have to find some way to fuel their vehicles, as too many of them were UNABLE to do it themselves. People in wheelchairs--besides making it inconvenient and time consuming--have problems reaching some gas pumps. Elderly people, especially with arthritis, can find it hard to remove gas caps. These were who relied on the last station in town to offer full-service. And they were NOT happy. Of course solutions were 'suggested'--'honk' when you get to the pump and 'someone' will come out to help you, or come into the station and ask for help, etc--but these really weren't good options. After about a month, the station relented and now has an attendant on hand one day a week, for certain hours, to pump gas for those who need the help. NOT the greatest solution, but it is better than nothing.

mental_floss did an entire story about 'pumping your own' and the states that don't allow this. Personally, I wish full-service stations were the norm in ALL states--I really think it would help with the unemployment rate. This could also be a way for some to learn a new skill, as so many guys learned how to do minor repairs and maintenance of vehicles when they were attendants. It's ALWAYS a good thing to learn something new. With all the talk about us becoming a 'service society,' it is strange that this is one 'service' that has gone by the wayside.

***If you go to read the mental_floss article, take some time and look over the comments that were left. I'm amazed at the *hate* some people have for those who live in Oregon and New Jersey, and for those states not allowing self-service. (As well as for those of us who never have, or don't want to, pump our own.) I also can't understand those who 'don't want ANYONE to touch their vehicles' and WON'T allow anyone else to fuel their cars. I guess they do all repairs themselves, too--and are completely self-sufficient in every aspect of their lives. ;) The things people get hot under the collar about...***

Like Glitter?

2011-07-30T05:49:00.000-04:00

The Youngest and her husband were here for a long weekend the beginning of July. Before they came here, they spent a day and a half with The Oldest and her family. After they left to come here, my 2-year-old granddaughter was talking about Auntie A and Uncle A to her mom. "Mom," she said. "I miss Auntie A--she is so pretty and she sparkles!" We still aren't sure what 'sparkles,' but it's nice to know she's loved. :D

Some Common Courtesy, Please

2011-07-29T00:51:00.000-04:00

There are some jobs that I really wouldn't want--for example, knife-thrower's assistant or Mafia hitman. But, those are jobs that SOMEONE has to do, just as the job of telemarketer--another one of those 'not for me' jobs. For the most part, I understand that telemarketers are trying to make a living, trying to pay their rent and feed their families. And I am okay with that. What I am NOT okay with is the attitude of too many of these people.

As I said, I don't want the job and I can imagine it is a very frustrating way to make a living, but I wish they would understand ME, as well. For the most part, I try to be as nice and courteous to the caller as I can. (I take issue, though, with the companies that call repeatedly, day after day after day. I don't need to be HARASSED.) As I said, I try to be courteous and friendly, while trying to get off of the phone as quickly as possible. And I usually can do all of this with a minimum of hassle. There are more times than I'd like to think, that I HAVE to be rude to these people or I would be on the phone with them all day long. Some telemarketers are like a dog with a bone, they just won't give it up! One thing that I will say is that I'm not interested and don't want to waste their time and then I'll say good by and hang up. I feel bad when I have to be rude, but there are times when it is just necessary.

I think what annoys me most are the times where the telemarketer is my BEST friend in the world until I make it clear that I am NOT buying from him/her. When s/he can just say good by and hang up, WHY get 'that tone of voice' and be rude to me? I wasn't rude in the first place and this is one of the reasons why telemarketers have such a bad reputation: They get all pissy when you let them know you are not falling for their sale's pitch. I want to tell them to suck it up and deal with the rejection--sorry to say, but this IS what you signed up for when you took the job. (I DO know that jobs are hard to come by, but it isn't a secret how people feel about telemarketers.) And while I know the majority of people ARE rude, please be happy that there are some, like me, that don't want to be.

A Little Obvious

2011-07-28T18:51:00.000-04:00

Living in this part of the country, I find I don't have nearly as many options as people in other parts of the US when it comes to purchasing items. While things are getting better, we REALLY are limited in what we can get in a brick-and-mortar store. We don't have the 'common' places that more urban areas have--for crying out loud, we JUST got a Walgreen's within the last couple of years! Our chain stores are limited and the mom-and-pop stores just don't always have the inventory where you can pop in and buy what you want. This is why the interwebs have been such a great addition to our lives--we can go online and order anything we can think of and have it shipped to our houses. HEAVENLY--except, of course, for the waiting for delivery. ;) But, I have gotten used to the fact that I have to be patient--at least for a few days--when I want something. It also means that UPS and FedEx have trucks that can navigate their own way to my house.

Today I got a package. When we were in St Paul, K decided that he needed to upgrade our GPS system and bought a new TomTom. While it has a bigger screen and free lifetime maps, I don't see much of a difference from the old one, but I'm not the one that uses it. With the gadget being bigger, we now face the problem of where to put it when it's in use. K used to just place the old one in one of the cup holders and things were okay--not so much with the new one, as it is just too big. K won't mount the GPS system on the dashboard or window, as he doesn't like 'marking up' the vehicle permanently. (And that makes it VERY difficult for me to turn my Envoy into a 'Wing-mobile,' but that is for another discussion.) So this, along with needing an in-house charger, brought me to the interwebs for a solution and shopping. I found what I wanted, placed the order, and waited until it was delivered today. Nothing earth-shattering to report, just that I got a package, which was left on my back porch. The thing that pretty much put me over the top about this whole thing is this: There was a label slapped onto the package--obviously put there by whoever delivered it. The label stated "Your package has been delivered." Excuse me!?!?!?!?!? I'm holding the package IN. MY. HANDS. And you have to put a label on it to tell me it has been delivered? Okay, I have, rarely, had a package put somewhere that wasn't obvious because of weather or such--they HAVE put packages in one of the vehicles or delivered them to the neighbor's if we weren't there to accept delivery--and a label has been put on the door telling where it was left, but I've not seen this. It just kind of seemed to be a waste of a label AND the deliverer's time.

What's In A Name?

2011-07-27T16:26:00.000-04:00

After all of the emotional excitement of finding out you're pregnant, one of the next steps is coming up with a name for the bundle of joy. Considering what passes for names these days, I don't think everyone spends as much time deciding on a name, as I did.

One of the main considerations in a name, for me, was that no matter HOW you arranged the initials, nothing embarrassing could be spelled. And this included all possible combinations of letters for a last name--this, if and when, my daughters would get married and change their names. I spent HOURS working this out.

The first step of the process with each potential name was the straight-forward initials--first, middle, last. Considering our last name starts with a 'K,' I didn't see too many problems. I could have named my daughter 'Annie Sue' and her initials would have spelled 'ASK,' which wasn't too bad. However, if she married someone with the last name of 'Smith,' THEN we'd have some trouble--the initials would, of course, spell 'ASS.' Every name I could think of went through this scrutiny. Also, I checked all combinations that would come up with a traditional monogram--where the last initial is in the middle and the first and last are on either side of it. This brought up an entire set of additional problems. To say this was a long process, is putting it mildly. (Thank goodness I had almost full-term pregnancies--it took the entire eight months to go through all combinations!)

When picking names for the girls, I also had other considerations. For my first, I wanted to give her a variation of my own first name. Using the middle name of 'Marie' is a bit of a tradition, so my first was getting that as HER middle name. (My great-grandmother's name was Marie, my grandmother's middle name was Marie, and The Mother's middle name is Marie. My first's middle name is Marie and my first granddaughter's middle name is, too. Five generations and, hopefully, it will continue.) This gave The Oldest the initials of CMK, same as mine. Try as I might, I couldn't come up with anything too embarrassing using those three letters--or any letter she could possibly marry into. As it turned out, she married someone with the last initial of 'H' the first time and 'G' the second time--nothing awkward there.

The second daughter's naming took a different turn than the first's. I wanted to give her a traditional Finnish name, but The Mother was horrified--said NO ONE would be able to pronounce it--and, like the obedient daughter I was at the time, changed my mind. I then decided to give her names of great-grandmothers--but I needed to decide WHICH of the four to use. (One of the great-grandmothers was named 'Josephine' and I wasn't naming MY kid THAT.) She wound up with my M-I-L's mother's first name and The Mother's mother's first as her middle name. THIS naming was a bit trickier, as the initials wound up being AEK. A traditional monogram--after marriage--for her could have spelled 'ACE' or 'ATE,' but nothing overly embarrassing. As it turned out, she didn't even have to change her initials, as she married someone with 'K' as his last initial.

I know we are 'the land of the free,' but there really are times when I don't think other countries have it so wrong with the naming of babies--some countries have an 'approved' list of baby names that you HAVE to choose from. This would really stop the crazy names and crazy spellings altogether. And I'm sure it would make things a whole lot easier for teachers.

***Believe me, I KNOW how OCD this sounds--but that's just the way I roll. :D***

Yes, Sir, I'll Have Another

2011-07-26T03:24:00.000-04:00

For some reason or another, I have always been fascinated with tattoos. When I was growing up, I didn't see many of them and pretty much the only people that had them were military members or hard core bikers. And I didn't spend much time around either group. But, I wanted a tattoo from a young age. As the years went on, my desire didn't go away, but I became a lot more cautious about getting one. What I wanted years earlier were now out of the question, so I thought for a long time as to what should be on my body forever. About nine years ago, I finally decided on my tattoo and I've never looked back.

I went to the tattoo shop, talked to the artist, discussed what I wanted, told her to do the design, and made an appointment. I got my first tattoo--and it was something that was of great significance to me. The design, to me, shows the connection that the Jewish and Christian faiths have--it is a very important spiritual symbol. This was placed on the upper part of my lower, left arm.

After getting my first tattoo, I thought I was done. Unfortunately, I was hooked. For years, I thought about the possibility of getting some more tats. Six years later, I decided to go back for another one--I knew what I wanted. This time, I decided on the symbol for infinity--also, for me, it means 'forever' and 'eternity.' I got this one near my right wrist.

A couple of months later, I went back and got tattoos number three and four. The third one was placed on the back of my right hand, up from my thumb. It signifies the ten year anniversary of the day I quit smoking. I had it put where I could see it if I ever decided to smoke another cigarette--I usually held the cigarette in my right hand, in the day. And tattoo number four was placed under the Star of David/cross tat. It, too, holds a spiritual significance for me: It is a Trinity knot, signifying the three-in-one, or the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Of all of my tattoos, the only one that isn't spiritual in nature is the third one:

And here is the last one that I got:

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about getting another tat. I would really like to get something to do with the Red Wings, but I won't get red ink--if a person is going to have a bad reaction to ink, it probably will be red. I'm kind of leaning toward something that involves the Greek letters alpha and omega--again, spiritual meaning--but it isn't as unique as some of my other tats. Whatever I get next, I don't think it will be too long before it is done.

Reality

2011-07-25T18:46:00.000-04:00

Every time I am channel-surfing and see the movie 'Jeremiah Johnson' playing, I stop and watch it. For some reason or another, it is one of my favorite movies. I have always like Robert Redford and he is the star, but I also like the story. In a few words: 'Jeremiah Johnson' is the story of a guy who decided to go west and become a Mountain Man. He wanted to live a life of solitude and trap, hunt, and fish. And because of circumstances, he got caught up in a 'war' with the Crow nation--and this helped him establish his reputation. It was a story of a man who wanted to be left alone and 'do his own thing,' but it didn't happen in that way. Despite the fact that there was a lot of killing in the movie--very little blood, however--it was kind of idyllic and beautiful in its own way. But what else would you expect from a Robert Redford movie?

A couple of months back, I FINALLY decided to investigate 'Jeremiah Johnson' a little further, after another viewing of the movie. I found out that there was a REAL person that this movie was based on and his name was John Johnson--and as in the case of most of the Mountain Men, he was very much different than the man portrayed in the movie. When I realized that there was a book written about John Johnson, I KNEW I had to read it.

The book 'Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson' is in a genre that I don't normally gravitate to. While I DO read some biographies, I don't know if I would necessarily read one of a 'western' character. But this book was completely fascinating--probably because it was a very truthful look at a period of US history that has been exaggerated so much over the years. This book was published in 1958 and I was amazed and surprised at how 'unvarnished' the truthfulness of the story was. We are so used to the days where the 'red men' were vilified as savages--as so many of the movies and TV shows of the 50s did--and today we are being brainwashed into believing that they did NOTHING wrong, whatsoever, to ANY 'white men.' This book showed the savagery that both groups of people brought down on each other. And this was accomplished in a way that was quite matter-of-fact--this was how living was then and the book showed it. There was no judging, no blame, and both the 'white men' and the 'red men' were shown to be savages, as well as kind and compassionate. The movie did, to a certain extent, have an even-handedness about it, but change was already coming and, while subtle, it was implied that the killing of Johnson's wife was pretty much justified. (He led a group of men through the sacred burial grounds of the Crow, even though he KNEW it was forbidden--so the Crow were justified in their revenge. In the book, it was just a group of young Crow who were on a rampage, who killed his wife. HE was justified in going after THEM for revenge.) Tiny, subtle difference, but very glaring when you examine the book and movie side-by-side.

Without going into the book much further, I must say that it was refreshing to read a book that really didn't have an agenda attached to it. This was a straight-forward history of what this country was like--although it was done in a non-dry way, as too many history books are. With the political correctness today, I really wonder if this book would be allowed to be published--OR if it would be protested because of the 'hatred' that the Native Americans had to endure in it. I really wish we could get more plain truth and less of the PC crap that we have to have today. For crying out loud, the word 'nigger' isn't allowed to be uttered in ANY context--in a news story or as a quote, even--because it isn't PC. In this book, some of the Native Americans were called 'red niggers' by the Mountain Men--and this isn't something you would be allowed to write today without a horrible backlash. I guess I'm just getting old, because I will have to say 'sometimes I wish for the good old days.' ;)

***John Johnson got his nickname of 'Liver-Eating Johnson' because he cut out the livers of the Crow he killed and ate them raw. (This was an insult to his enemies.) Cannibalism as a way to survive or insult another wasn't unknown at this time in history. This is something that I wonder how it would be handled in a book published today--would it be written as it actually was, or would it be white-washed? I DO wonder how much of what I read today has been 'sanitized for others' possible hurt feelings.'***

Cross THAT Off Of The List

2011-07-24T21:48:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many people actually have written 'bucket lists,' but I am one who HASN'T done so. Of course, as I get older, there are things I want to do before I die, but nothing so important that I need to actually MAKE it happen. I have seen Eric Clapton in concert, so that is one thing that's off of MY imaginary list. I still have 'see a Red Wings game in person,' and 'see my Baby Boy PLAY a game in person,' on my list, but other than that, not much else. I think most of my list would consist of 'things everyone should experience once in their life'--such as 'see the Mall of America' and 'go to Las Vegas for a couple of days.' THAT list would be much, much longer--but, STILL not anything earth shattering. One thing that everyone should experience at least once in their life, happened to me on Friday--and it didn't only happen ONCE, but TWICE! I met, talked to, and shook hands with TWO famous people! What fun! So now for the story.

As I mentioned a few months ago, Air Supply was going to be in concert less than an hour away from where we live. For the past few days, The Oldest has been so excited by this that I don't know if she slept at all. On Thursday evening, she made it to our house for a little shopping and relaxing before we had to get ready and go to the concert on Friday. I *almost* think she was too excited to miss her family and I had to calm her down a few times because she was a bit over the top in anticipation. (I didn't want her to get her hopes up TOO high and then have them dashed and squashed!) Completely in line with the way she lives her life, we managed to get to the concert and slide into our seats about thirty seconds after it started. And she was overwhelmed! Not only was this a concert featuring the FIRST band she ever LOVED--and still does, by the way--but it was the first concert she had ever been to! Everything HAD to go perfectly for her not to have her heart crushed, to say the least.

The concert was great. We sang along with ALL of the songs and The Oldest was GLOWING when Graham Russell stopped and waited for her to take his picture. (This was during the portion of the show where they came down into the audience and shook hands with the fans. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of the row and couldn't get to the guys.) For an hour and a half, my daughter was as happy as she has ever been.

When all was said and done, we asked one of the ushers if there was any chance of a 'meet and greet' with the band. She told us that they would be out in 20 minutes at the ticket office window and would sign autographs and talk with fans. About this time, I though The Oldest was going to BURST with happiness. As we stood in line, the anticipation for her just grew and grew. FINALLY, it was OUR time to say 'hi' to the guys. C went to Graham Russell, had him sign his name, and shook hands with him. She told him "Air Supply was the FIRST band I EVER loved--and you were my favorite!." While continuing to hold her hand, he put his other hand on top on hers, looked into her eyes, and asked, "Am I STILL your favorite?" (QUITE a showman. ;)) And she just melted. I shook hands with him, chit-chatted for a few seconds, and moved on to shake hands with Russell Hitchcock. He looked at the tattoo on the back of my hand, ran his finger over it, and looked at me questioningly. I told him it was my 10-year anniversary tat of not smoking. He then showed me HIS tat on the back of his hand and said, "This is for 5 years of...nothing." And he laughed. We then went on and compared and discussed our arm tattoos. To say it was surreal to be talking tattoos with a famous person, is putting it mildly. ;D But they were absolutely great, friendly, funny, and all-around nice. My daughter is STILL flying high from the experience.

While this was on the top-10 greatest days of all time list for my daughter--she HAS given birth 7 times, so I think THOSE days top this ;)--it also was one of MY favorite days ever. To see someone you love SO happy just makes the world seem like a good place--even if only for a short time.

***Afterwards, The Oldest commented on my conversation with Russell Hitchcock. She said, "What was THAT all about with the tattoos? You two talked like a couple of old Navy buddies!" :D**

A Political Post

2011-07-22T02:03:00.000-04:00

While this MAY come off as snarky, I don't think I mean it to be such. Well, not TOO much. ;)

I am not a fan of the Democratic Party. However, the Dems do something that the GOP can't--they can convince the electorate to vote a person into office that shouldn't be appointed dog catcher, better than anyone ever has. If the GOP could do this, Sarah Palin would be sitting in the White House right now. Now THAT'S something to think about. ;)

Obsessions and a Master Race

2011-07-21T16:01:00.000-04:00

I don't understand the obsession so many of my generation have for WWII. It was a war, it was history, but it WAS before our time--get over it! K is one of the obsessed. Whenever he is channel-surfing--ALL the time, by the way--if he comes to anything to do with WWII, he has to stop and watch it. It doesn't matter if it is a movie, mini-series, documentary, or propaganda film, he HAS to watch it because it deals with WWII. It completely baffles me.

Today I was dusting in the living room and caught a bit of the program--a WWII documentary--that K had on. It was all about the Nazis wanting to build a master race and the steps they went through to achieve their objective. Of course, the WAY the Nazis went about this was very, very horrifying, but it got me thinking: What if, at some point in time, humans decided to help evolution along and try to breed the best and the brightest that could be. If race and ethnicity had been taken out of the equation, would people have objected so much to trying to build a better race of humans? Is it possible that this could have been achieved, or would those that weren't 'good' enough rebel? Quite an intriguing thing to think about, right?

A Pet Peeve

2011-07-20T22:14:00.000-04:00

First, I have to say I never knew that air could be as hot and humid as it is here, outside of a sauna. I hadn't been out all day and saw my window bird feeders needed filling, so got my supplies together and proceeded to open the breakfast nook window to complete the chore. (That is why I have window feeders: I can fill them from inside the house.) Anyway, the air that came in when the window was opened was like nothing I ever have felt before! I really feel sorry for those people who HAVE to be out in weather like this--and now KNOW why deaths are being reported. So, back to my pet peeve.

If the summer temperatures around here are above normal--or even close to normal--we run three window air conditioners. Just because they are all installed doesn't mean we run them every day, but since coming back from our trip, they have rarely been turned off. Today for sure, they have been NEEDED and can't be considered a luxury. (Combining heat and humidity, it feels as if the temp is over 100*.) All day long, I have felt quite comfortable--neither too warm or too cool. I have been happy. But right now, K is exhibiting behavior that makes me go completely postal: He is on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket. AND he will not admit that he would like at least one of the a/c units turned off. The way I see it, if you are cold while a/c is ON, turn it OFF!!!! DO NOT wrap yourself in a blanket for warmth. And I'm just stubborn enough to not turn the a/c off because he won't ask me to. He can have fun paying that electric bill next month...

Yes, I am passive/aggressive.

Being a Non-Luddite

2011-07-19T18:30:00.001-04:00

Damn You Autocorrect! is one of those sites that can suck you in and cause you to waste far too much time. There have been times when I wondered if people just made things up for the humor, but I have to say, after spending time with the autocorrect feature on MY phone, that I believe most of them are real.

The Youngest and I text each other almost daily. While I would much rather talk to someone, she is more comfortable texting--probably so that she can have numerous conversations going on at once. The other day my autocorrect brought me a couple of chuckles. First, I was complaining about the weather--what else is new--and texted how "I'm not a happy camper!" Of course, my phone changed it and it became "I'm not a happy computer!" Then later in the conversation, she said something I found amusing, so I texted "Hahahahahahahahahaha." My phone corrected it to say "Guadalajara." THAT one I found laugh-out-loud funny.

Even though the autocorrect on my phone makes 'mistakes,' I am amazed at how intuitive it really is. Sometimes I think the phone could write my text messages without any input from me. The thing that I'm enjoying most about the texting feature on my phone is the program/app that I'm using for my keyboard. I'm using Swype and it is unbelievable! Gone are the days of 'hunt and peck' typing--all you need do is slide your finger across the letters and the word you want typed comes up almost magically. I never would have thought that this would work, but it does. When I first got my phone, AT&T blocked third-party apps, so I wasn't able to get Swype, but as soon as it was available, I downloaded it. Now I don't know what I would do without it. Technology STILL amazes me after all these years--and I'm definitely NOT a Luddite, as are far too many of my generation. It's great to embrace and learn new things.

*Yes, I'm back. Actually--other than the few days we were out of town--I have not been away, just too lazy to post. I will be writing about our recent trip within the next day or two, hopefully. I MUST get out of this non-posting rut that I'm in!*

A Little History Lesson

2011-07-04T21:23:00.001-04:00

Those of us here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan have had to endure the derision of the 'trolls'--those that live 'under the bridge' (the Mackinac Bridge)--in the Lower Peninsula, forever. For all of history, founded or not, we have felt that we have not been given our due and that the LP has all of the power and gets most of the considerations when it comes to money, etc. And while this may be an exaggeration, there is some truth to it. And this all goes back to the days when Michigan was FORCED to take the UP instead of getting the piece of land it REALLY wanted.

Back in the early 1800s, Michigan was not a state. When Michigan asked to become a state, things didn't work out that well because of a piece of land known as the Toledo Strip. Michigan wanted this land and Ohio said it owned it. Blah, blah, etc, etc--things happened, words were exchanged and there came a 'conflict' known as the Toledo War in 1835-36. It turned out to be a relatively bloodless war, but ended with the Toledo Strip being given to Ohio and the UP being given to Michigan. (You can read the entire story here.) Case closed, but Michigan wasn't happy. Everyone was completely convinced that Michigan came out the loser in this deal--and it seemed that way. After all, Toledo was a very important port on the Great Lakes and it was a 'gateway' city to the west. And the UP was nothing more than a wilderness, far, far away--inhabited by nothing more than trappers, fur traders, and Indians. Even though this deal paved the way for Michigan to become a state, it didn't improve the 'oh, woe is me' attitude. And really, who could blame.

As things turned out, Michigan--while not exactly a WINNER--didn't lose at all in this deal. Copper and iron were discovered here and it brought a great deal of money to the state. Despite the copper boom lapsing, eventually, iron ore is still being mined today. There also has been some gold, silver, and nickel mined here, as well. And the UP is most definitely a vacation destination for a lot of people--we have great beaches for swimming, lots of lakes for fishing/kayaking, etc, places to hike, hunting, snowmobile trails, campsites, ski hills, etc, etc, etc. All in all, Michigan DIDN'T get screwed, no matter WHAT the 'trolls' might think. Besides, if it wasn't for the 'great' Toledo War, would we have the Ohio/Michigan sport rivalries we have today? I think not.

LOL

2011-07-02T11:36:00.000-04:00

Just a couple of laughs for the long weekend:

Hope your weekend is great and fun!

Questions

2011-07-02T03:37:00.000-04:00

Why is it so wrong to accept the status quo? Why do we INSIST that things have to change? I know that 'change is inevitable,' but why can't we leave some things alone and be happy? As a species, we really are strange.

You Have GOT To Be Kidding

2011-07-01T12:05:00.003-04:00

There is a financial crisis in far too many governments--local, state, AND federal--and it seems as if the powers-that-be can't figure out why. Most of the 'common, little people' have a bit of a clue as to the reason: OVERSPENDING! And where is this money going to? Services, salaries, and just, plain redundancy, in many cases. While this story is NOT one of government excess, it does illustrate a problem that is seen far, far too often in this country.

Not too long ago, I told the story of a friend of mine, Pete, and the way he is dealing with his leukemia. As I said in the post, he was diagnosed with AML almost one year ago. He has spent a good deal of his time in various hospitals since getting this diagnosis--dare I say almost 50% of his days? It has been AT LEAST one-third of his time spent in the hospital and much more of this time sick, while being under DIRECT medical care for almost all of this past year. In that time he has been stuck with more needles than he could possibly count, been poked and prodded more times than the average person could be in several lifetimes, had more tests done, and had to give up more bodily fluids to medical personnel than a 500 pound man has in his entire system. You would think they couldn't ask for anything more--especially considering his blood-marrow transplant is going to happen sooner, rather than later. WRONG!!

Yesterday, Pete got a package from the hospital that he has spent so much of his time in this past year. In the package was a 'test kit,' asking him to swab the inside of his cheek so that they could test his HLA type. (HLA testing is what they do to find a bone marrow donor.) Once he did this, he was supposed to send this package back--Fed-Ex Priority Mail, nonetheless. After all of this time, after all of the testing he's gone through, the hospital neglected to test for his HLA type in anticipation of his transplant--something he was told many months ago is probably his ONLY chance for a full and (possibly) permanent remission/cure. So, instead of doing a cheek swab when they actually had him there in person, they SENT a kit to him--via priority mail--and want him to send it back to them--via priority mail. UNBELIEVABLE.

While, in the whole scheme of things, this is a drop in the bucket in terms of cost--I don't even WANT to know how much Pete and his wife are going to have to spend for his 'cure'--it is a redundant cost. If this country--not to mention our health care system--is run so inefficiently, is it a wonder we are going broke? Is it a wonder our health-care is so expensive? If we could only get some common-sense people to become 'powers-that-be,' could we get back to being the great country that we once were? Unfortunately, I don't know if even a change in those in power can help things along. After all, "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

PSA*

2011-06-30T13:36:00.000-04:00

*Public Service Announcement (for those who don't know) ;)

Every so often, I feel as if I haven't done enough with my life, so I take it upon myself to do something to rectify the situation. Today, I will pass on some knowledge that you may or may not already know. If you don't know this already, it may save you some time if your doctor ever prescribes a little something for that 'rash' you have.

One of the first things that a doctor will prescribe for psoriasis (for example) is a topical medication. They can possibly be effective and they are non-invasive, so topicals are a first choice. The term 'topical medication' seems to be very straight-forward and uncomplicated, right? WRONG! I have found that there are, basically, three TYPES of topicals that can be prescribed.

The first type of topical that I'm familiar with is the lotion. Now, when you think of lotions, you probably think of hand or body lotion--a creamy, free-flowing liquid that is quite a bit thicker than milk. A topical medicine that is called a lotion is usually thin as water and colorless. Lotions can be used rather easily on the scalp, but aren't usually used elsewhere on the body.

A cream is another form of topical meds. Creams usually come in a tube that resembles toothpaste. The advantage to creams are their being somewhat thicker and are usually quite easy to apply and absorb. Creams are usually white in color.

The third topical is an ointment. Ointments are what they sound like--they are petrolatum based and resemble Vaseline, both in color and texture. The advantage to ointments is that they are great for keeping the skin moisturized, but they are messy and don't absorb into the skin very well.

Many topicals come in more than one form--I have had certain meds in all three forms. And some work better in one form than in others. It takes a bit of experimentation to find what works best--and I had many, many years worth of using them to get to where I know one from another. I hope this little post helps someone at some time. ;)

(Sorry this is so lame, but I am trying to get back in the groove of blogging on a semi-regular basis. I certainly hope all of the topics I pick to write about aren't quite as boring. :D)

Stubbornness--I Has It

2011-06-29T18:19:00.000-04:00

If you look up the word 'stubborn' in a dictionary, you probably will find my picture. I really don''t know if it is because I'm Finn (the Finns I have known through my life are THE most stubborn people around); because of my family genetics (The Father is so stubborn that he didn't talk to his brother for over 20 years (long after he forgot exactly why he was mad at him--maybe)); or if it just comes with living here (you HAVE to be stubborn to continue to live where it is winter for much more of the time than it is summer). Whatever the reason, I am quite a stubborn person. And there is no more better example of my being stubborn than when it comes to books and movies.

Whenever I start reading a book or watching a movie, I feel compelled to finish it. I can probably count on one hand how many movies or books I haven't finished after starting them. I do know that I only watched about 10 minutes of 'Burn After Reading' before I had to turn it off and couldn't finish 'The Road' no matter how hard I tried. I'm sure there are others that I couldn't continue with, but they are few and far between--just stubbornness keeps me going. And I think I'm even more determined to finish a book that I start. 'Gulag Archipelago' is one book that I just couldn't get into--and I tried numerous times with it. I haven't given up, though--I still may read the entire thing one of these days. I guess I feel as if I don't want to completely waste the amount of time I have already put into a book or movie, so I keep plodding along--no matter how bad the thing might be.

The other day, I FINALLY finished a book that I had to force myself to read. And at well more than 700 pages, it really was a grind. My stubbornness was evident in this act, as the book was the final one in a series of six that began way back in 1980, the year the first book was published. I just couldn't let all of the time and effort go to waste by NOT reading the final book. I just hope that it really IS the last one, because I don't think I could do this again.

So, what exactly am I talking about? The book I just read is called 'The Land of Painted Caves' and it was written by Jean Auel. This was the last book of her 'Earth's Children' series, which began with 'The Clan of the Cave Bear' back in 1980. Many people only know this title because of the movie by the same name, which starred Daryl Hannah.

I really enjoyed 'The Clan of the Cave Bear.' Now, I don't know if it was because it was so very different, or if my age had something to do with it. (I really think it was a bit of both.) And because I enjoyed it so much, I couldn't wait for the second book. That book came only two years later and the third was published three years after that. As far as books go, they came pretty quickly. And considering the author is very much like JK Rowling (of 'Harry Potter' fame) and wouldn't write a book of reasonable length if she was paid to, that quick output is amazing. Book number four, however, took five years to be published and then we waited for 12 full years for number five. This last book took nine years to write. All in all, I have been following the main character for over thirty years. A long, long time. And I am more than happy to say good-by to her.

Each of the books in this series is quite a 'brick.' I don't believe any one of the books was less than 500 pages--and I can use a paragraph to explain the entire series. Ayla--the main character--is a 'modern' human (Cro-Magnon). She is orphaned and adopted by a Neanderthal woman. She learns to be a medicine woman from her adopted mother and brings 'women's lib' to the tribe--she cannot understand why she isn't allowed to hunt, for example. Of course, this doesn't sit too well with the male leaders, so she is pretty much drummed out of the tribe and has to leave her half-breed son behind for his own good. After she goes off by herself, she continues to improve her hunting skills and along the way learns to make fire using flint and pyrite. She sharpens her medicine woman skills and learns to domesticate animals. Horses are trained to haul stuff and accept riders. A cave lion and wolf become her substitute children. At one point, she heals a man who has been mauled by a lion and they fall in love. She goes off with him and joins his tribe, where she goes into training to be a spiritual leader and medicine woman. Eventually, it is Ayla who brings the concept of monogamy into the world. She also discovers how babies are made. Through her experimentation of hallucinogenic plants--which she has access to with her training to--it seems as if she 'sees' the future and gets a hint of the amount of people that will eventually inhabit the world, highways, and the way humanity will abuse the earth. And that pretty much sums up the series.

While there were quite a few interesting aspects of these books--there HAD to be or my stubbornness couldn't have compelled me to continue on--this last book could have been at least 350 pages shorter and it wouldn't have taken away from the storyline at all. The author is VERY descriptive--to the point of absurdity. And when she has described the exact same thing for the sixth time (plants, animals,) you want to poke your eyeballs out with a pointy stick! And this is what the first 500 pages of this book was like. One of the things that was completely absurd was the descriptions of the 'painted caves' that the title refers to. I understand describing in minute detail one or two of the (supposedly) French caves with pre-historic paintings in them, but to belabor this with descriptions of cave after cave after cave--and I have no idea HOW many there were--is unbelievably painful to read. As I said, I forced myself to get through this book and WON'T be re-reading this series again. And that's too bad, because it could have become one of my favorite series of all time. I'm just happy to move on.

So, do you finish books you start, even if they aren't interesting? Or do you quickly decide to move on if it isn't your 'cup of tea?' I'd be interested to hear how others are when it comes to books.

Who Can Hate Summer?

2011-06-27T15:28:00.000-04:00

There is a reason why I won't wear a swimsuit--and I have pictures:

Hope your week is good! :D

WHOA!

2011-06-18T00:20:00.000-04:00

I really don't want to know what kind of clientele you service if you have to put this sign in your window:

(via passiveaggressivenotes.com)

Not Always Right

2011-06-17T00:59:00.000-04:00

I found this story on the site Not Always Right--and it made me laugh. Hope you enjoy.

(I have albinism, so I have very pale skin, white hair, and red irises.)
Me: “Hi. What can I get for you?”
Customer: “Are…are you a vampire?”
Me: “Well, my dad is half-vampire.” *laughing*
Customer: “Please, don’t bite me.”
Me: “Ma’am, I’m not going to bite you.”
Customer: “Don’t put any blood in my food either. I don’t want to be a vampire.”
Me: “Ma’am, I’m not going to put blood in your food. I’m not a vampire. We serve regular food here.”
Customer: “Let me speak to your manager.”
(I go and get my manager, and fill him in on what’s going on.)
Customer, to my manager: “Is your vampire waitress going to bite me?”
Manager: “Only if you don’t tip her well.”
(The woman looks completely horrified, but finally ends up ordering and leaving me a 21% tip.)

How can people be so damn stupid?

A Follow-Up

2011-06-15T15:36:00.000-04:00

Following up the last post about the 2nd granddaughter: She still is being a Drama Queen. She walks around the house, clutching her lower belly and whimpering/groaning quietly whenever someone notices her. Her oldest sister--15 years old--just rolls her eyes. What a kid. ;)

This whole thing brings to mind another story. My oldest sister-in-law went into labor with her oldest. Because it wasn't time to go to the hospital, she went and sat at my in-law's house, to spend time with her mother--hopefully, to get a little sympathy. In typical fashion, my mother-in-law was very laid back about the entire thing and continued with what was on her agenda, which included setting her hair. My s-i-l sat at the kitchen table, groaning and moaning whenever she had a contraction, and said, "But you don't KNOW how much this hurts!!!!" My m-i-l just continued setting her hair and said nothing: SHE had given birth to five kids--the last of which were twins. :D

Fantasyland

2011-06-12T20:07:00.000-04:00

Our 2nd oldest granddaughter is quite a hoot. Her goal in life has always been to be a princess--and she still wants that at the age of 12. She has told her parents that she will never leave home--and after they are 'gone,' her older sister will take care of her. She is the Drama Queen of all times--EVERYTHING that happens to her is worse than anything that has ever happened to anyone else. She is a bit of a 'space cadet.' Her mother will send her to do a chore and five hours later, when The Oldest asks her if she's done, she answers, "With what?" She is the family 'Informer'--she knows everything that is going on and lets her mom know, too. Also, she is the 'Recorder.' I try to give gifts of equal value to each of the grandchildren and this grandchild makes sure of that--she remembers what everyone has received and lets it be known if the next gift to come into the house is of lesser OR greater value. I can count on her to remember things I have forgotten.

Today, The Oldest called to tell me that The 2nd got her period for the first time. In fine, Drama Queen fashion, she told her mother: "THIS is GROSS!!! NO ONE has EVER had ANYTHING so gross happen to them EVER!!!!"

The Oldest only has six girls to raise--she is going to have so much fun for the next 18 or so years. :D

Completely Self-Serving

2011-06-12T03:27:00.000-04:00

This post is completely, 100% self-serving. This is to pat myself on the back and make me feel good. So, here goes:

Earlier, I was at the grocery store and got into a conversation with a woman about the strawberries we were looking at. She looked very familiar to me--later, I realized I knew her from that very store where she used to work--and we talked more about where we were from, etc. As it turned out, she was from 'back home' and we were trying to figure out whether or not we ever had come into contact years ago. After exchanging names and hometowns, she mentioned that she had graduated in 1971. To that, I responded that I had graduated in 1972. "Really!?" she said. "I would have thought you were much, much younger than me!" Fireworks went off, rainbows appeared, the sun came out, butterflies flew about, flowers bloomed--right there in the grocery store! I came thisclose to doing cartwheels--and I don't know HOW to do cartwheels! Talk about an ego boost. I came home in a very good mood. ;)