I'm Baaaaack!

Yes, we got home from our little trip. Actually, we got home on Sunday already and it has taken me this long to get back into my routine! I could never be a REAL traveler! The wedding went well and we had a good time being with K.'s family. Even though the weather was hot, it didn't seem to effect me as badly as it usually does--hmmm, wonder why?

I will write more about the weekend later--just wanted to check in and let everyone know we are alive and well!

Why Me?

I know, I know, I'm awfully paranoid, but I think there is a conspiracy to make sure I can never completely enjoy myself. Case in point: we will be out of town this weekend for a family wedding and the weather is supposed to be in the 80s! Now, anyone who knows me knows that I find 68 to be the absolute tops in temperature for me to be comfortable. So, wedding, lots of people, possibly no air conditioning, warm temperatures, equals my not being nearly as happy as I could be if the temp didn't go above 64! Such is life. But, I'm sure a good time will be had by all--me included!

Hurricane

I feel so badly for the people of Florida having to deal with another hurricane so soon after the last. (I know, it hasn't reached them yet, but it is supposed to by the weekend.) I can't imagine how devastating weather disasters are--and can't help feeling so grateful for the lack there-of that we have. Granted, we have blizzards and massive amounts of snowfall and the occasional ice storm, but they seem so minor compared to tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc. I guess that is one of the reasons I have never really wanted to leave here and move to another part of the country: I don't know if I could cope elsewhere. But, I guess you learn to accept what you live with, in so many things.

Fashion Statement or Being Warm?

Looks as if the Ugg craze isn't going away for awhile and the question is: Do I get a knock-off pair and be warm this winter (and look absolutely ridiculous) or do I continue the way I have been for years (sneakers or, at most, hiking boots)? I'm still not old enough to totally not worry about how I look, but I really like to be comfortable, so I'm getting to the "hell with fashion" state of mind that comes with getting older and wiser. Maybe if I could afford a REAL pair of Uggs, then it would be cool to be in fashion. Have to think on this.

Gmail

Got my Gmail account today. Didn't think it would happen until they were done with beta testing, but I found the Gmail Swap web site, posted to it, and the rest (as they say) is history. And I only had to give the cat's name to be used as a screen name, for the invitation. I am so happy!

Sunday Meanderings

Not much on mind today--but then, is there ever? :) It is quite chilly outside and I am enjoying every minute of it. I can't wait till it is cold enough to put the furnace going again--I guess I'm just plain weird.

I really should run to the grocery store, but I can't decide what time would be best. The students are back in town and it will be a zoo out there. You would think admission into a university would imply a certain degree of intelligence, but most of these students couldn't be too bright because they don't know how to read! At least they don't know how to read street signs! Eventually, they figure out how to drive in this town and then we get snow--and it starts all over again. I wonder if they could pass a law to force them to take a driving test before allowing them to operate a motorized vehicle in the city limits? Although, that wouldn't help because we still have the idiots on their bicycles--even better are the imbeciles who ride bicycles in the winter! And all year we have the tourists who could use some instruction on driving and the rules of the road. Oh, well, I guess they will give a driver's license to just about anyone--after all, they gave one to me, didn't they?

Great News?

Just found out that the Krispy Kreme opened in Appleton. Bad, bad news--now all I can do is count the days till we get to go there again! I only wish I had ANY amount of will-power.

The Scream

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=4XFOS1HACXMN2CRBAELCFFA?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=570044&section=news

My favorite painting of all time has been stolen. And no, I didn't have anything to do with it! :) Click on the link above to read the story.

Windows SP2

Well, I forgot to turn off automatic update, and Windows SP2 was downloaded and installed on this computer. I had read that there were some problems with SP2, so I wasn't going to install it for a couple of weeks until some of the bugs were worked out, but it's too late now. I guess I could uninstall, but I'll just see how things go. I don't want to tempt the computer gods into doing bad things, but so far I haven't seen any real problems. Some things ARE different--I think getting mail and surfing the net are a bit slower, but with the firewall, pop-up blocker, and anti-virus going on, of course things will be slower. If I find it too slow, I'll just do some tweaking and turn off the firewall and/or anti-virus, etc. After all, the protection that Windows has now is just backup for me: I already have virus protection and a firewall. Oh, well, I'll just have to see how things go.

I have been using Mozilla Firefox as my web browser for a few weeks now and I really like it. It is as easy to use as Internet Explorer, but it has some neat features IE doesn't have. There have only been a few web sites I have had problems with, and they seem to be Microsoft related--go figure! :) Anyway, I think I'll keep using Firefox as my main browser and only use IE when I have to!

Going To The Fair

Yesterday, K. and I went to the fair. Wow, what an earth-shattering bit of news. Anyway, this was our annual trek, and all in all, not much different from other years. We did our walk-around as soon as we got there: went to most of the animal barns and saw nothing new. They did have a display for kids that was set up like a little farm, which was new and rather cute: if you were a grammar-school aged child! We didn't feel too badly when we saw their garden wasn't in much better shape than ours is--so much for trying to grow anything in the cold! I was very disappointed that there wasn't anything going on in the birthing tent--there were a couple of cows in the center ring, but they didn't appear to be in labor. They didn't even have any newborn chicks, just eggs in the incubator. What a bust. After seeing the animals, we made our way to our favorite food vendor to eat. Don't know what they did this year, but neither one of us was happy with the food--and it takes a lot for us to be unhappy eating! We finished our walk-through and decided what to get to bring home and that was that. All together we were there about three hours, which is normal. My biggest disappointments were, of course, food related: I really can't eat caramel apples right now, with the braces, so I didn't get any to bring home; the braces keep me from eating taffy, so I didn't get any of that; this year (and I have been waiting for a year for this!) they didn't have the apple dumplings, which were to die for! So, while the whole experience was not much different than other years, there was a factor that was rather unfulfilling. Of course, the best part of the day was that we got to spend it together, doing something together. Can't get any better than that.

Guilty Pleasures

My favorite guilty pleasure recently has been the Defamer blog. Although I don't know if everything written is completely true, I think the info is much closer to the truth than 90% of what you find in People magazine (for instance.) Very interesting reading--like it much more than what Rance's blog was. At least Defamer is straight-forward with information--Rance had too many name/circumstance/location changes to protect the guilty and it was too hard to figure out who was being talked about. I definitely like Defamer's "tell it like it is" style more. Check out the blog and find out if it could be YOUR new guilty pleasure!

WARNING: The site can be rather raunchy--both language and subject matter.

Ain't That The Truth!?

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain

If only some politicians took this advice!

Confused

Recently I watched a couple of Quentin Tarantino movies (the sanitized TV versions) and I just don't get it! Critics, as well as others, go on and on about how great his movies are and I fail to see what is so wonderful. Instead of using violence and bad language as devices to move the story along, he uses a (minimal) story to go from one violent act to another, all the while having the characters use language no one I know uses. To me, his movies are all about violence and language and very little in the way of plot or character development. I consider myself fairly intelligent and sophisticated enough for my life-style, but I JUST DON'T GET IT! Maybe I'm just getting too old and conservative to understand.

Time Goes On

It just doesn't seem possible that it is August already. I guess the time seems to go much faster now that I don't have kids to get ready for school. We did go out last week and bought most of the school supplies C.'s girls need. They seemed to be real happy with them. I think we will get them backpacks, too. I know they have backpacks already, but we thought we would get really good ones from LL Bean, so they will last for more than a year.

Anyway, C. was down here last week with the kids and stopped in to see us. Of course, the baby is just that: a baby, so he didn't do much more than eat and sleep. The two oldest ones seem to be so big and mature next to the babies. With both of them in school this year, at least C. will have a bit of a break during the day. Noelle, however, is just plain fun. Kids around a year old are just so fun to be around--if they aren't your own! She just was laughing and performing all of her "tricks" for us--after all, she had a new, captive audience! Such fun. I still don't know how C. manages with the FOUR kids--I do admire the fact she is managing and doesn't seem to be ready for the purple, padded room. I know for a fact I never could have handled having four kids--I guess that is why I never had four kids.

Haven't been doing too much out of the ordinary here. I've been doing a little bit of sewing--trying to get some of the already-started projects out of the way. We have a wedding to go to over Labor Day weekend and I was going to make something for that, but I decided I didn't need to bring any more new stuff into my sewing room. Hopefully, I will get some of my projects done this winter--thought I was going to get them done last winter, and didn't. Oh, well.

Time to get going. Will write more later.

Nothing Much

C. stopped over with the babies on Thursday--they were in town overnight. I got tired just watching her. How does she do it? One newborn and one 10 month old--happy it is her and not me! I do admire how well she seems to be handling things--I sure wouldn't be as good at it as she is.

K. and I went to Appleton on Friday and came home on Saturday. Just another one of our short trips. Even though they don't last long, the trips are enjoyable and they are a way to get out of town--if only for overnight! Probably won't be going again until September. Things will be less crowded then with the kids back in school, etc.

Nothing more to report. Will write again when something happens--whether it is interesting, or not!

Food

Just finished the book called Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Very good, very interesting, and I wish I had never read it! The things he says about the fast food industry and HOW the food gets from the field/pasture, etc. to our local restaurant is scary enough to make ME a vegetarian. Now, every time I go to eat something I don't prepare myself, I must turn off the part of my brain that remembers anything I read in the book. Quite a nightmare picture the man paints!

History

Quite a day here in our little city: President Bush came to town. Whether or not a person is a supporter of Mr. Bush, this was very exciting, truly an historical event. After all, it has been almost 100 years since a sitting president has visited "God's Country." I was most impressed with seeing Air Force One and all of the hoopla surrounding the whole deal. With over 10,000 people at the rally, I don't believe President Bush, or the Secret Service, press corps, or other "outsiders," will forget this part of the country very soon.

Talked to C. last night and she and the baby went home on Sunday. Sounds like she really has her hands full with two infants to deal with. Just so happy it is her and not me! :)

It's a Boy!

Found out this morning that C. had the baby. It was a boy--over 7 pounds, about 18 inches, and a lot of hair. Not sure on the name, yet. She sure will have her hands full when she gets home: two babies under the age of one. Good grief!

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Spiders

For the past few months I have been very busy trying to rid the basement of spiders. There seems to be a seasonal thing with the amount we have, but this year there is an overabundance. Not only do we have a lot of spiders, but they are growing awfully big. I swear, I heard a couple of them whispering "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty" at the bottom of the stairs the other night. Every time the cat goes downstairs, I'm afraid she will become a midnight snack for the giant crawly things. The spiders and I have had an understanding for quite awhile: they stay out of my space, and out of my sight, and they get to live. As soon as I see even one hairy leg, they are done. And I am very good at stating this fact every time I go downstairs: as I descend into the basement, I, very loudly, let it be know that I am coming, and I warn all spiders of this. I feel I give them enough time to get out of sight and if they aren't fast enough, then I guess it is survival of the fittest!

Now, killing the spiders is not that difficult of a job, usually. However, the ones we have now are much faster than in the past. (I hope this isn't another sign of my "old age!") Once I have managed to demolish the spider, then I am faced with a new problem: what to do with the carcass. I feel it is enough that I actually kill a crawly thing--I don't feel it is my job to throw the remains away. So, the basement usually is littered with dried-up spider corpses. One interesting thing I have observed about leaving the spiders is this: the remains seem to attract more spiders. I have always figured these are the relatives from the surrounding counties coming in for the wake and memorial service. They pay their respects to the immediate family, catch up on the news from other relatives and friends, and end the evening with a feast of flies and centipedes. (The wealthier families have wasps and beetles to offer.) Of course, this just means more spiders to kill, which means more wakes, which means more spiders,.....a never-ending battle. I lead such a full life.