Of Cars and Other Things

I have no back up lights on my car. It's been for a long time too. I just try not to back up much. That means pulling through to the next space in a parking lot which means I always have to walk further. Get new ones you say?? Believe me, I tried. My regular mechanic who has fixed everything else can't figure out the problem. I would take it to the dealer but they ripped me off for 100 bucks to change a fuse! I thought it would behoove them(from a business standpoint) to just tell me the problem and to go home and fix it myself(or DH). So I refuse to go back to them EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I get a kick out of most of those vanity license plates that people make up but I love it when a random one pops up that is just from the state. There was a time that people were getting COW and I wished I had that one. I saw one the other day at the grocery store and it said DOP and the driver drove like a dope!! It made me laugh out loud.

Sometimes people ask what car I would want if I could have any car in the world and I have to say I have it right now--my Beetle is my baby and I love her. I dreamed of owning one since I was 16 years old.

I read an article somewhere about the decade's worst cars and that tiny little "smart car" topped the list of the worst. Hard to handle, bumpy ride, causes motion sickness, has no pick up, but for some reason they are all over Europe! Well, they ride bikes a lot there maybe a little motion sickness doesn't bother them because at least they don't have to pedal. I rode a bike in Europe once and believe me it wasn't easy. Didn't drive in any major areas though--I just didn't have the skill.

They say you never forget how to ride a bike but I dare to disagree. You can and you might--I did. The only bike I'm ever getting on again is a stationary bike!

I think people make a lot of tiny mistakes every day while driving. Some would disagree with that but I am talking about little things like cutting too close or forgetting your blinker or going 30 in a 25 zone. I know I do and I bet you do too. That DOP sure did!

RIP JM

James Mitchell passed away last week. You may not know who he is but if you are an All My Children fan you will remember him as Palmer Cortland. Palmer came to Pine Valley and was a ruthless, controlling big business tycoon with a beautiful and frail daughter, Nina. He manipulated her and as the years went by, he manipulated many people. He did morph into a father figure for Erica Kane and even later, a softie with a heart full of love for the most inappropriate woman in town, Opal.
I saw James Mitchell at our local mall in the eighties and I told him that a day without Palmer was like a day without sunshine( I know, I know, corny as all get out). Oddly enough, it hasn't been sunny one day here since his passing.
James was around for a long time. He was a dancer and played the part of Curly in the dance sequence in OKLAHOMA, the movie. He was strong and elegant. He made your heart go pitty-pat. I didn't realize it was him until that fateful day in our mall when he came to town.
I read online that he was a really sweet man. I'm glad. I will miss him and Palmer too.

Dance,Ballerina, Dance

I watch All My Children every day and have since the first day it was ever on. Well, almost. I had to work for thirty years and most of those did not include the DVR capabilities we have now. But I was a teacher and I could catch up in the summers.

I never watch in real time anymore or why would I have a DVR, right??

Well, AMC has its ups and downs as entertainment. Sometimes the stories are great and sometimes they are only soso. Some people never change(Erica) and some people change so often you can't keep up(Jake Martin).

Right now, AMC is okay but most people feel it has gone entirely downhill. I hate to hear all the criticism since the show is an icon. Let's face it--it's a soap...it's supposed to be fraught with things that could never happen and people who are beautiful and never go for more than a week without a new love interest. So don't complain when it gets soapy.

This week, I saw the two soapiest things!! First the young wife of Adam Chandler does a semi strip tease dance(after all it is afternoon tv) and gives him a heart attack! Then good old Tad(who has been around for a loooong time) goes home with Liza(his high school sweetie who has recently returned as a new actress) and she starts to do a strip tease dance for him and he cracks up laughing!!!!!!! Thank goodness, Tad didn't have a heart attack! He has gone from a young boy( a different actor) to a teenage cad(they even called him Tad the Cad) to a middle aged man with silver hair.

Things must be really desperate for the ladies of Pine Valley if they all have to become exotic dancers for their love interests. Dear God, I hope and pray Erica Kane doesn't start dancing for her current love, Ryan.

Then I would have to stop watching!

Oh, Those Commercials V

I am just loving that cute little cartoon dancer who makes the salsa. She is pretty and sweet looking and dressed to kill--literally. Her skirt is a slicer as are her hand held fans. Most women used those fans to flirt behind, she uses them to cut and dice. I love it! Each time I notice something new. At the end all the vegetables are artfully sculpted to look like flowers. I never fast forward through that one.
I also am fascinated by the items that make sad faces and smiley faces in the ads for...ohmygosh, I don't even know. I have been so busy looking at the faces! I love the shopping bag smile the best. The handle makes the eyes(the knots) and the smile(the loop). I love the wallet that looks sad too. They are all really clever and apparently(at least for me) very distracting.
In this day and age, it is so easy to fast forward through commercials they have to be pretty special or pretty terrible to grab my attention in any way.
I never really get tired of the little gekko either. He is a really appealing little fellow.
I wonder if the people in the outdoor bathtubs have had sex yet. I'm guessing not. As I have said before, it's the Jerry Seinfeld syndrome. George in the pool, remember??
I have to say as much as I love the holidays I am so glad that the Christmas commercials are over. They start too early and repeat too much. At first I am like the shopping bag but after a while I'm the wallet!

This and That

Oh, Jay Leno, you are being such a creep. Let Conan and Jimmy have the late night tv spots and retire to do something else. It's time. It's evident that nobody really cares for you at 10pm. What makes you think they will at 11:35??
I used to like Jay on the Tonight show...a lot. At ten, I thought the show was stilted and embarrassing. Things that seemed funny just before you fall asleep somehow end up not funny at all before the news.
Think about it, Jay. Let the younger guys have their moment.
All the kids on my Soap, All My Children are being recast. They will either grow older or just be a different kid. I hate that! The kids all seem to be the most sensible of any of the characters on a soap. I hate when they tinker around with them. AMC is moving to California and that's why the change but I still don't like it.
Also,Erica has a new lover--a younger man and I forgot how much I hate it when she preens and postures for a new love. She is looking very silly and not because of the age difference. Grow up, Erica...take a page from the kids on your show.
James Franco just left his spot on General Hospital and all in all it was a creepy, scary story line. The only problem was not much happened until the last day. I know the soaps drag things out but this was ridiculous which made Franco, the character, seem ridiculous too.
I have been trying Clif bars for breakfast. I got sick of making eggs and everything else I like is sweet so I thought I'd try something that is healthy even though it's a little sweet. They are not bad. I might try another flavor.
Yesterday, I met my walking buddy for the first time in 2010. It was good to be back in the old routine. Hopefully, today I can get my Wii to work as yesterday was a dismal failure. I just am not tech savvy but I'm working on it.
DH has his birthday this weekend so the kids will be here and that will be so fun. We already have our plan in place and are rarin' to go! Part of the plan includes getting new license plates for the car. Jealous?????????????????????

WHEEE!

I got a wii fit for Christmas and then I got a bronchial infection which knocked me out for a good week or so.

I wanted that wii fit so badly. I hate just walking alone and my walking buddy can only go three times a week. I didn't want to have to drive to the YMCA either so the wii fit seemed like the perfect answer.

The day after Christmas I got right on and worked out for forty minutes and intended to keep it up. Then I got sick--really legitimately sick and couldn't get on for a long time and do you know that darn little thing keeps track of how long it is between workouts???????

I couldn't believe my eyes when it told me I hadn't been on for so many days and that DH is having his birthday real soon and did I think of planning a surprise party for him??Say, what?? No I have no surprise party plans, thank you, you nosy little thing.

The wii fit has yoga and balancing games, aerobic workouts and strengthening workouts. It is fun and they are all short so you can mix it up so it doesn't get boring. I got it to work today with no problem except I couldn't remember how to get the sound. Have to ask DH about that.

I do pretty well at yoga poses I did at the YMCA class and terrible on the ones I never tried before. I do the aerobic basic run and I did ok but not as good as before the bronchitis. I still am having a little trouble with the breathing thing.

Working out has to be fun or I just won't do it. Thanks goodness for wii and thank goodness it is going to yell at me if I haven't done my workout. It will keep me motivated, bless it's little plastic heart!

Captain Underpants

Let me start this entry with a disclaimer. I, by no means, find terrorism funny in any way shape or form. I detest the idea that anyone would casually kill as many people as they possibly can just by doing something like entering a busy marketplace or boarding a plane.
That said, what was up with the guy who tried to blow up the plane on Christmas day??? How stupid was he?? How brainwashed would you have to be to agree to put explosives in YOUR UNDERPANTS????????????????????????????????????????? Personally, I don't think there is enough brainwash in the world to convince me to do that.
Did he never think something might go awry? What about his.....um, family jewels?? I know that the person who wears a bomb plans to die and go to heaven with the virgins but what if the plan falls through?
Which it did. Thank goodness.
After the horror of the whole thing, this has been what stayed on my mind though. Never, ever let anyone put anything in your underpants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a dummy.