SUE's VIEWS

OMG

2012-01-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

I just have to say this. Jimmy DiMora got all kinds of money and favors and even hookers and he can't even buy his wife a decent coat.
Look at the pictures. She is in something from Kmart and he looks like an Italian(no offense) Don.
She has to suffer through the embarassment of her husband's trial and even link arms with him and she has to do it in that coat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's a travesty. I'm just sayin'.

Farewell to Thee

2012-01-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

OMG, I can't believe that One Life to Live is going off the air on Friday. I watched the show since the first day it was on. I've talked about them on this very blog....the characters that is.
Vicki(Erika Slezak) and I had our babies at the same time...her real kids not her soap kids. I cried with them and laughed and got scared even.
Was it ever highbrow? Not on your life. It was fun escapism, harmless and engaging. I couldn't watch during the school year(before VCRs and Tivoing) but I always caught up on my breaks and over the summer. It wasn't hard to do.
Once I retired, I watched every day....ffing through the commercials. One Life has always been my favorite of them all.
They tackled social issues and talked about mammograms and DID. They had paternity test switches and family upheaval.
Oh, I have to reinvent my afternoons now. I know I'll find something engaging to do but I'll miss all my friends in Llanview, PA.

Really???

2012-01-10T06:47:00.000-08:00

I have a pet peeve at the stores now. Everyone who works there always says hello and how are you even if they just pass you by. Sometimes they even ask you if they can help you find something when you are just browsing.
I am kind of a shy person and I don't want to talk to a bunch of strangers. Maybe I'm just rude but I really dislike it. I just want to shop and be done with it. I'll chat with the person who checks me out no problemo, but not every employee in the store!
Well, guess what just happened to me? I was browsing through the Disney store on line and suddenly a box popped up and said that a Disney cast member would be happy to help me find what I was looking for. OMG!! I can't even browse on line now without being interrupted? My last vestige of peace and quiet while shopping!!
I'm surprised that it wasn't an animated icon, after all it was Disney. At least it wouldn't have been a little entertaining and not just annoying.
So, I guess I have to stop shopping..........................oh, sure. Like that's going to happen.

You Can Read This One

2011-12-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

Ha! I am really getting driven crazy by the television ads lately...or should I say again. I have one that I love to hate more than any other. It is for the Ohio Lottery and there is this OBNOXIOUS woman who says that the Ohio Lottery Show is Aaawesoomme(awesome). I wish I could record that voice and play it here for you. If you wanted to drive someone mad, it would be a cinch with that one sentence. Plus she is all smiles like she's really cool and all proud of herself.
If I met that woman on the street I would have to slap the crap out of her....only in my imagination of course. If I really met her I would probably be a big suck up because she was on TV and is a "celebrity." I'd probably tell her she did a great job or I love her commercial or wouldn't be able to speak. I get really nervous around celebrities.
My daughter used to work as an actress in a Medieval Faire when she was in college and I could barely speak to the other actors--especially the king or the queen or someone who put on a show by themselves. It must be some kind of self esteem issue. I'm just glad she never ended up in Hollywood-I would have been struck dumb!
On the other hand, I would love to meet the guy who is in the insurance ads who wreaks havoc wherever he goes. I love that guy! Did you see him as the Christmas tree? He always has on a suit and all those bandages on his head. It cracks me up. I loved him from the first--when he was the teenage girl who hit a car in the parking lot. What a riot. I'd hope I wouldn't be tongue tied with him. I feel like I already know him.
I've never done well with strangers. When my kids were little and we had to enter a room of people we kinda knew or didn't know at all, they always went first and then I only had to say I was their mother. It worked well for someone who is shy in new situations.
Most people who know me would think I am the opposite of shy. The key word here is "know". I am outgoing and friendly for the most part--unless I am unsure of my status and then I become shy.
I'm betting the Ohio Lottery babe is anything but shy. Maybe I should look her up...as long as I could suppress that slap instinct!

Don't Read This

2011-11-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

I am in a mood. I am feeling incredibly sorry for myself so I thought if I vent here I might feel a little better.
I recently lost a lot of money....and I don't know how. It was my grocery money too. When I couldn't find it I made myself physically sick and I think I have money loss hangover now. Add to that, it happened not once but twice.
Am I losing my mind? Is this early onset Alzheimer's? I can't even imagine what happened to it. I wish I could say I mindlessly spent it on something else but that's not the case. Nobody could pickpocket my purse and even if they had, wouldn't they take all the money in an envelope, not leave me some? Nobody broke into our house and again why would they take some and not all of my money?
Then that damn Mary Worth had to have her purse robbed and she had all the contents written down at home and called all the credit card companies within an hour. Even a stupid comic strip character had more sense than me. She's not even a real person!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have racked my brain and I come up with....well, nothing. I remember where I had the money. I remember counting it out to put in my grocery purse and then nothing. I'm blank.
Now you might say oh you have a lot on your mind but truly I don't.
And I can't seem to lose weight. I am getting fatter and fatter around the middle and I'm not pregnant. Yes, I'm positive. Too old and no uterus. I don't think I eat that much. I think I eat moderate portions. What the heck? I work out five days a week and I faithfully get weight at Weight Watchers and watch the scale go up every week. My pants are tight and I look utterly stupid. I want to look nice. I just saw the makeovers on Biggest Loser and I know they work like dogs but I try and I don't have masses of pounds to lose--just 20...or even 15. Why? Why? Why?
And my eyes are going to pot. I used to be able to work at the computer and do my crossword puzzle with no glasses but not now. It seemed to happen over night.
My mother in law always said that growing old is not for sissies. Well, I am...a big sissy I mean. I don't feel like I mind getting old just I hate getting stupid. I guess that's the whole thing that bothers me--I'M STUPID!
Now if you didn't follow my advice and you did read this don't make any comments or try and make me feel better. I guess I need to wallow in my misery a little longer but I'll get over it. Maybe Santa can bring me some brains.

Happy Birthday to Me

2011-11-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

OMG I am 62 years old. I could take early retirement....wait, I am retired. I can get an extra 15% off at Kohl's on Wednesdays. Which is weird because you have to be 60 and they just told me recently that I am qualified. Maybe I'm not 62 after all.
Sometimes I think I am a waste of space but I look back on 62 years and think I'm not so bad after all. I had a teaching career where I actually helped some kids...and they've told me so.
I raised two great kids who have good jobs and nice homes and best of all they like us! They want to hang out with us....well, not all the time but you know.
I have a good husband to whom I've been kind and mean and loving and snotty and provocative and standoffish and he still loves me and wants to hang out with me...all the time.
I can remember some horrible things I've done and some wonderful things I've done. I know I have really good friends and a couple of really good enemies.
I can remember being a child and a gawky adolescent and the memories don't make me shudder...well, maybe a little.
I have a few regrets but not anything I'd hang my head about. The bad choices I made were usually fixable.
I've had great highs and deep lows...and I hope most people don't know about them. The ones that do are my cherished friends and family who still want to hang out with me.
People tell me I'm funny. Well, I guess I am sometimes...but everybody is sometimes. I like to make people laugh. I think most of us do.
This blog has been ridiculed for not being deep enough but I don't write it to be profound. Some think I am lazy and ungrateful since I have no job and don't do some kind of volunteer work. I tried to be a volunteer. It just didn't work out. I have opinions and I share them. If I see something is wrong and I think I know how it could work out better, I say so. I found out that is not a trait appreciated in a volunteer.
I have my routine and my own little way of doing things and it is a happy life.
I guess I don
t mind being 62 so much after all.

One Thing Leads to Another

2011-10-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

I've always said that once you do one thing to fix up your house it leads to another. You know, a fresh coat of paint makes the doorknobs look crummy or once you've put up wallpaper it is screaming for a border. Well, I never will hang wallpaper again as long as I live but you get the idea.
I discovered recently that house fixing is not the only thing that leads from one thing to another. Did you ever go on iTunes? Well, it happens there too. First you see a song you like or remember then that leads to another one and another one and another one. Those $1.29s add up! Fast! I am learning to be very discerning but it is hard, my friends. Actually I got one song for only 69 cents! It was Gerry and the Pacemakers. Some of you don't even know who that is and apparently not many people do as that is the cheapest song I have!
I remember going to see their movie, Ferry Cross the Mercy, and the movie theater actually stopped the movie until the girls stopped screaming. It was a really dumb movie as far as I can remember. They were just copying the Beatles...or the Monkees.
Anyway, see how one thing leads to another? I always liked the Monkees but when I think of them it brings up memories of my kids when they were little. They love the Monkees on Nickelodeon and they used to play the music and pretend they were the guys and it was really really cute and funny.
My kids were always creative players. It might have been them and it might have been some of their playmates. One of our neighbors used to show up at my door in the summer wearing a little wool hat and mittens and meowing like a kitty. Pretty creative, no?
Trying to create a creative costume for Halloween is...well, trying. My DH is going as a lumber jack. I had the great idea of doing a couples costume and going as a tree. Well, I racked my brain to think of some way to look like a tree and it was sounding more and more complicated and aren't couples costumes a little trite? So, I am going as nothing. I have a Happy Halloween tee shirt and one of those crazy looking little headbands. Done and done!
So, as I said one thing does lead to another and we have finally led to the end.
Happy Halloween!!!

Oh, John, We Hardly Knew Ye

2011-10-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

John Kasich is really making me angry with all his talk of how public employees are ripping off their fellow Ohioans. As far as I am concerned, the only public employee who is ripping off the Ohioans is John Kasich.
I am a retired teacher. I paid toward my retirement and my employer matched it. A lot of workers have that. I paid for my health insurance the entire time also. So do all my fellow teachers, retired and working. We are not the enemy.
Kasich is able to skew things so that public employees seem to be better off than the middle class. John boy, we ARE the middle class.
Without us, you wouldn't have public services to offer. You would have to educate your children, fight your own fires and protect your family yourself. Let's just take educating your kids. First, you have to stay home so you can't have a job unless it is at night when the kids are sleeping and who will protect them then?
You have to be able to think on your feet and develop a curriculum for your kids and choose the books they read. You also have to teach them social skills so you would have to get together with some other kids at some point or another. If your kid gets sick during lesson time, you have to stop and care for him or her while the other kids just wait.
Now, there are people out there that home school their children but they are supported by the Dept. of Education in Ohio so that they don't have to develop lesson plans or curriculum. I admire those people and hope the best for their kids but to me there is nothing like an education with a diverse group of children your own age.
Teachers work hard. Are there some who work the system? Probably, but I don't know any of them. When I worked, I worked hard and dedicated most of my time and a lot of my own money educating kids. So did my colleagues. We kept studying ways to help kids learn better. We tried adventurous ideas to help kids get along and learn to work in a group. We taught kids to respect others and recognize their strengths and the strengths of others.
And now our Governor says I am a cheater and so are my colleagues. How dare you sit in Columbus and judge what we do? Come to Cleveland and teach--you wouldn't last an hour. Try fighting a fire or arresting someone or nursing someone back to health...you would fail miserably.
It seems the governor skews the rhetoric in this direction so you all won't notice that he is taking away our legal right to collective bargaining. No more give and take about class size or how many ambulances for EMTs or how many patients a nurse should serve.
If we lose that right, then you are next...that's right Ohio, you are next.
If people had known that Kasich was going to go this route before the election, I wonder if he would have won? I know my vote didn't put him there. I hope yours didn't either.

This is For the Birds

2011-10-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

Did you know that crows are as smart as a young child? Well, they are. I learned that on some science channel yesterday. Pretty interesting but also a little creepy.
Years ago, when we were in Disney World, there was a sign at a restaurant we were in that said not to feed the birds. I joked that there were so many of them, that one day we'd come here and the crows would be in the chairs and we would be begging from them. Eerily correct now that I know how smart they are.
And they learn...fast. So what's to stop them from taking over? That movie, The Birds, always creeped me out but now it is a real horror story.
Crows' major concern right now is the acquisition of food but they learn to respect the feelings of other crows and notice how other crows interact with their peers. Geez, some people don't even do that.
So I don't know about you but I'm practicing my crowing! Better to be safe than sorry.

Sorry, Charlie

2011-10-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

There's a man who stands at the corner of 306 and Mentor Ave. who holds a tiny Ron Paul 2012 sign.
Sorry, buddy. Ron Paul is not going to be the President. I know you think he will change everything that is wrong, but he won't. Neither will President Obama. No one man can fix what ails us and we have to wake up and realize that.
The entire Congress of the United States needs to step up. They need to get off their overpaid butts and get something done. What ever happened to compromise? Like I say I want 20 million and you say no, two million and we haggle and discuss and end up somewhere in the middle?
Now it's so bad that the young people of this country who need jobs are revolting against the establishment. They have every right to protest and if they can facilitate change, more power to them. However they seem to have no leaders. They need their own George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and their comrades to lead the fight.
You can't have a successful revolution without charismatic leaders. Personally, I thought Obama was it. I was wrong. Does that mean I'm going to vote for Ron Paul or Mitt Romney? Not on your life. If Mr. Obama is smart (and I'm sure he is) he will step up and be the leader and invite other strong advocates of "Main Street" rights to join him. Wouldn't that be thrilling? If a President could really make some changes without the interference and the lassitude of his fellow leaders?
Too bad we can't recall all the Senators and Congressmen. They could come home and teach school or be a firefighter and try to make ends meet and fight for their right to negotiate their contracts. They wouldn't last a day!

Just Sayin'

2011-10-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend our DD was home for a visit and on Saturday we watched the OU/Texas game as she is an OU Sooner. Boomer Sooner!! Whatever the heck that means.
Anyway, the Sooners are a great team. I have a bone to pick with them though. Their colors are crimson and CREAM. Really, boys? Are you football players or interior designers? Whatever happened to good old red and white?? You know, Red and white! Fight! Fight! Crimson and cream! Dream? Dream? Self-esteem? Self-esteem? Not exactly Rah rah, is it now?
Texas is no better. They have burnt orange. Really? I know you got that name out of the box of 64 crayons we all know and love. And according to DD, they don't even have a second color. Burnt Orange! Fight! Fight! Not so much.
In my day you were two colors and they were plain--like green and white for old Shore Jr. High. Or blue and gold for Euclid High school and Kent State University. I even had a white fake fur top and a green skirt in eighth grade. I know, I know. What a fashion statement. That top was like a burlap sack on too. What was I thinking? Well, in my defense, I was only thirteen years old.
In high school and college we could get a big yellow mum with a blue ribbon to wear to the big game. Oh, how I loved those corsages. I think they are out of style now.
Football is not my favorite sport but it is rough and tumble. So if your school has a color like burnt orange, it's time to start a petition to change the name of the color....like to orange or brown...and not to crimson and cream either!

Deer Me!

2011-10-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

Not unlike many people in our part of Ohio, we have deer--alot of deer. They are in the wooded area behind our house and they desperately look for food anywhere they can get it, i.e. my backyard. At first it was exciting to see deer going past the house way back there in the woods but lately it is getting out of hand.
The first sign was when my neighbor told me that he saw a deer with it's front hooves on our tree/bush by the side of the house so it could pull down the branches and eat the leaves. Then a friend told me she saw some deer coming out of our backyard and out toward our street on New Year's Eve like they had been at a party at our house!!
Pretty soon, the little fawns came too close to the house and ate things on people's patios. The moms put a stop to that but not for long because now they all come and eat our flowers and our ground cover in the woods and our bushes and anything they can lay their lips on.
Our wooded back yard is bare as a bone--all the pretty and natural ground cover has been eliminated.
I haven't had a flower bloom in two summers.
So get deer repellent you say? Now, why didn't I think of that.....wait, I did. I got these little bags that a friend used in her garden and swore by. Our deer ate them too. Must have been cannibal deer....or vampire deer.
I tried the spray too and it would kinda work for a couple days and then it was useless and I would forget to get out there all the time.
Oh, I don't blame the deer. They are losing their natural habitat and are desperate for food. I get it. I just stopped buying any plant that isn't an evergreen. They don't seem to like those...........yet.
The deer are getting bolder too. I went back in the backyard to get a couple of chairs and there were two deer laying in my backyard like they owned the place. You should have seen the look the older one gave me.

Then one early evening I got home from the gym and nearly jumped out of my skin. There was a deer right by my garage. You know how they can stand so still so at first I didn't even notice it. But then it made a small movement and I screamed. Oh, yes, screamed. The damn thing didn't even flinch until I got the garage door going and the noise finally scared it away. It was so close to the house you would have thought it was our pet!
So I always tell DH(and anyone else who will listen, frankly) that I'm waiting for the day a deer knocks on my door and says,"Hey, lady. What you got in there to eat?"

Out and About

2011-09-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Well, the whole world has gone mad....at least the driving population of my town has. Yesterday, I had someone pull right in front of me! I wasn't a car length from the drive she was in and out she comes!!
Three guesses....she was on the phone. I don't think she even saw me. I would have beeped her but my new Soul has the timidest sounding horn. When we were going to Myrtle Beach a man almost hit our car on the highway when he was changing lanes(smack dab into where we were) so DH beeped him--I'd say he layed on the horn and the tiny beep beep that came out of the car was hilarious. I didn't laugh at the time because he almost hit us but thinking back on it...well, it cracks me up every time. DH probably wishes we had a horn like a semi.
I usually don't get upset when someone does something stupid on the road. I'm not really in any hurry these days and I can wait for them to right the wrong and continue on my merry way but yesterday was the living end!
I have a new iphone and I love playing on it but NOT IN THE CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The iphone is a fascinating tool. It has a great camera and I can download all these free apps and I can shop at itunes. That itunes could be a sticky wicket. You know how one thing leads to another? I thought that only applied to house repairs but apparently it applies to itunes also. Once I get started it is hard to stop. If anyone wants to buy me a gift--an itunes gift card will suit me fine. It is so fun to go through all that music. My first five downloads reflect my eclectic taste in tunes--CeeLo Green's Forget about You, Sharon, Lois and Bram's A-You're Adorable, Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely, The Beatles DayTripper and Linkin Park's In the End(affectionately known at our house as the scrub brush song).
Our gym moved to a new location in a strip mall. Which is all good. More room and nicer amenities. Pull right up to the door. Yesterday, I neglected to lock my car and quickly went back to do so. When I opened the door I almost clocked two guys walking by. Where did they come from? Everybody apologized and no harm was done but geez, don't they know the rules? Pull up to the store you want and go in. Right? Who walks the sidewalk at a strip mall? Well, these two guys did.
SO, that is me out and about. Some days I think I should just stay in!

Siriusly, Folks

2011-09-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

I am listening to 60's on 6 on my new Sirius radio. I am loving it. It plays a lot of repeats--like how many times can you listen to Henry(or should I say 'Enery?) the Eighth before you get tired of it? But the fun thing is it reminds me of my old radio station that played the same songs over and over and everyone loved it. The great thing about 60's on 6 is that once in a while they throw in a song that I haven't heard for 45 years and I can sing along like I just heard it yesterday.
Just think of all the songs that are stuffed into your brain. Our songs were short and to the point. Not many lyrics and an easy melody to learn. Songs that made me think I could sing! Now I still like the music of today but there is something about the nostalgia factor.
Some of the songs from back in the day have hardly any lyrics--like Suzy Q--the song my DH thinks is great and I hate. We have a lively discussion about it every time I change the channel if it comes on.
I really don't like any song I know with my name in it...like A Boy Named Sue or Susan. I always wanted a cute song to be about me like Windy or Stormy or Barbara Ann, even.
I could go on and on about songs with my name in them but I will spare you that tirade.
All these songs bring back memories of my sis and I, school events and young loves, and terrible dates.
It's wonderful even when they play Suzy Q!!

OMG!

2011-09-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in such a long time because I thought I couldn't access it. Thanks to my dear daughter, I am back.
I am in the same spot as the "shoemaker's child" as I am a Systems Administrator's wife with no computer of my own. I have a sub but it doesn't have my favorites so I thought I couldn't get here. I tried by going to Sue's Views but it just showed me my last post.
I have had so many things to say and now I can't really remember them. Oh, well. Here goes.
What's with the commercials where food attacks the person? One guy gets smacked by a corn dog, one guy catches on fire from breakfast and another guy gets punched in the face by ice cream. Really? That's the way we represent food problems now? I've had enough of fighting food.
How about Lady Gaga dressed up as a guy at the MTV awards? We really didn't recognize her for a full five minutes. We came in late on the awards show so we didn't know she was playing her alter ego. It made me think of when I spent a Halloween as Gus...my alter ego. He had a black eye and mouthed off to my principal. It was kinda fun so I get why she did it . Better than being carried in in an egg.
And Jennifer Hudson, stop getting so skinny! You look beautiful but with each new commercial you are thinner and leaner and longer. I've been on Weight Watchers for a year and I've lost 9 lbs. And I don't look leaner or thinner or longer---only one year older.
I need some food to smack me in the face!
Oh well, glad to be back and hope to get here much more often.

Lucky

2011-05-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

I am the luckiest mom in the world as far as I'm concerned. My kids are all grown up and they still choose to hang around me and DH. We had such a fun weekend together.
The whole weekend was capped off by Mother's day and a special gift. Two whole meals made by my family and I didn't have to do a thing. German apple pancake for breakfast and salmon packets on the grill for dinner. Mmmmmm. Champagne and strawberries with custard for dessert. How lucky could I be?
Gifts,too. Let's just say my kids know what I like.
It seems a little funny to call my grown children "kids" but I still see their little children faces when I look at them and I have to shake myself and remind myself that they are grown with jobs and responsibilities that they handle just fine on their own, thank you very much.
God blessed me the day he sent us our children and I thank him every day...except the days they tease me too much(until I blush!). As they say, they tease because they love!
Thanks, kids for a wonderful day and a wonderful life being your mom.

Good By, Osama

2011-05-02T08:08:00.001-07:00

Good riddance to bad rubbish!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go , Navy Seals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, Happy Day 2

2011-04-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

Oh boy! The pics of my faves have arrived. Check em out

That's the dress wrapped in tulle.

Here is the ugly hat cousin!

This is the blue outfit--just ignore that other chick.

LOVE THEM!! Love the Internet for getting these out there so fast.

Oh, Happy Day

2011-04-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

I just watched the wedding of the century(so far)! It was really beautiful. The bride and groom seemed nervous but happy. Especially him. I think he had sweaty palms. She looked radiant. Oh, and she got his name right.
Now, that that's out of the way....what a dress! Grace Kelly much? I couldn't believe how much that dress reminded me of the Princess of Monaco's. There were rumors that the bride designed it herself and if she did she got a heavy dose of inspiration from the first one.
In the Cinderella story, there are the ugly stepsisters. In this story, there were the cousins wearing ugly hats. Did you check our Fergie's kids? Yikes! The one hat looked like a giant stiff bow that started at the top of the girl's head! It was UG-LEE! I never even looked at their faces or their dresses.
Most of the hats were intriguing which is why I never looked at any of the dresses except a couple stand outs. The woman in the BRIGHT BRIGHT royal blue outfit caught my eye and the lady whose dress was wrapped with black tulle and had some kind of bow thing on the shoulder were the stand outs for me.
Those two crazy kids should have made friends with more American celebrities. The poor Beckham's were shown on camera about a thousand times. He sure is handsome and she sure doesn't smile often. I know she's pregnant so I didn't even bother to check out her dress.
A lot of the hats looked like dinner plates or frizbees. I wonder how that style got started? The Queen had a normal looking hat on and wore bright yellow so she could be spotted. I heard she always does that. I was hoping she would wear pink.
Another surprise were the mother of the bride and Camilla both in "almost white" ensembles. I know they were really gray or beige but they sure looked white on camera. I thought that wasn't allowed so you wouldn't show up the bride(as if they could).
All week I heard how William would honor his mother at the wedding. I must have missed it. I wondered why on Earth he would do that as this was a wedding not a memorial...but the TV reports kept insisting and like I said, I didn't see it.
Prince Charles looks as old as his mother!! She must be taking some youth potion that none of us knows about. PC had a cane and I thought it was part of his uniform but it looked like he really needed it. Old polo injury, perhaps?
Did you see that Harry is getting a bald spot just like his brother? What a strong gene that one must be. Harry seemed to be having a pretty good time and it looked like he was trying to jolly his brother up a bit.
When the couple left the church, they were holding hands the old fashioned way(by that I mean like Henry the 8th or even further back) but his knuckles were white and so were hers. I think they were just holding each other up.
I loved how the bride said "Wow" when she saw the crowd waiting for the kiss. It was brief and it was repeated but still brief. One commentator said he lost money on that. They were even betting on the length of the kiss over there. Those crazy Brits.
One thing for sure, the Brits are very on time. Their schedule for the day went along without a hitch. But where was the parade? I wanted a parade with all those soldiers dressed in the cool uniforms. It seemed like there was going to be a parade but nope.
Nobody wishes those two kids more luck than I. They live in a fishbowl and have to carve some sort of family life out in spite of it. God bless them!

Believe Me

2011-04-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

I always thought that Donald Trump was a character. You know, with the hair and everything. I never thought he was certifiable!
He thinks he is going to run for President and so far, his strategy has been to question Obama's birth certificate and has embraced the idea that he wasn't born in the USA. Now that the President has released the entire document, the Donald will be mollified when it is examined by experts to make sure it is not a forgery. How stupid does he think the President and his team are? Why would they forge a document that is under such scrutiny? The whole situation is laughable.
Then I heard his strategy for lowering the price of gasoline. He is gonna look 'em straight in the eye and say "Listen here, buddy" or some such thing and of course, the Arab princes and the oil barons and the foreign oil magnates are going to be really worried and lower the prices in case the Donald says, "You're fired."
How naive can this guy be? Doesn't he have millions or even billions of dollars? He thinks he can intimidate those who supply the oil and they'll just cave? I can see them laughing their asses off while they ignore his wishes.
Mr. Trump has given us many hours of enjoyable television lately. I loved it when Joan Rivers was on Celebrity Apprentice. I love that NeNe lady dissing Star Jones at every turn. That is something he does well. Keep entertaining us, Donald. You're good at it and I'm sure it has helped to line your coffers.
Stay out of the political arena...it's no place for amateurs.

Spring has Sprung 3

2011-04-24T05:25:00.000-07:00

Well, she's back! No, not me. The robin! She just isn't giving up. She built that nest there and she's going to stay there by hook or by crook. We saw her yesterday. The nest still looks measly but there she was staring at us with a cocky attitude. Yep, I said a cocky attitude. If she could talk she would have been saying "What you looking at?"
So we will see. I will take pics if I can today.......if her highness will allow it that is.

Spring has Sprung 2

2011-04-23T05:53:00.001-07:00

Oh, I was right all along. It rained and was crummy here all day yesterday and when Iwnet to show my Daughter and DH the nest, it was all wrecked. I don't think an animal could get to it so it had to have just fallen apart in the rain. I thought it was a futile attempt and It turns out I am smarter than a robin! Yay me!!
Poor Mrs. Robin and poor me! Now no babies to watch. Sad.

Spring Has Sprung

2011-04-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

Even though the weather would never suppoet the idea, Spring is here in lovely Mentor, OH. How do I know this? A robin has built a nest at the back of my garage and it has been fascinating to watch. My garage is attached to the house and when I sit on my family room couch I can see it. One day, not so long ago, I noticed a robin holding a piece of paper towel or napkin or maybe even tissue paper and it was struggling to take it up to the lamp that is next to the back door of the garage.
I thought that bird was pretty dumb considering the paper was bigger than it was and it kept dropping it about a million times and didn't seem to get the idea that the action was futile. It finally flew away, the paper got blown away by the wind and I thought nothing more of it.
A couple days later, I had to laugh as there was a long piece of some kind of dry plant hanging from that lamp and I thought to myself that the robin was a dodo and had realized the space was just too small and left for an easier location to build its nest. Every day for about a week, I would glance out and that one lone "string" was hanging from the lamp and I just had to chuckle to myself about how dumb that bird was.(although not the stupidest bird in the world, that award goes to a cardinal from my childhood).
The last two days I have been really busy. I was out to lunch with friends for like three hours and I am finally able to do some housework so I didn't look out the window for a couple of days.
Yesterday, Lo and Behold, there's a nest on the lamp. The bird is there all the time staring at me. I owe it a huge apology. It is the most clever bird in the outdoors.(The indoor award go's to my Sis' bird who is ever so smart)
It's pretty secure looking too. I would love to take a picture but I don't know where the camera is and my phone takes lousy pics. I will ask DH to take one tomorrow and I will post and when the baby birds arrive I will post again. That bird is probably the mother bird of all time. She stuck to it until she made a home for her babies. I think it's a her. She is looking a bit chubby so I'm guessing she is filling up with eggs. I don't know much about a robin's mating habits and I never saw a pregnant robin before so I"m just guessing. All I can say is that compared to the robin in the above picture, my robin is a lot more shall we say rotund..
So stay tuned and see what happens to Mrs. Robin. I just can hardly wait.

Jeepers Creepers

2011-04-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

You know who really gives me the creeps? Lady Gaga? Not really Marilyn Manson? Nope. Freddy Kruger? Not so much. The scariest of them all award goes to THE OLSON TWINS!!!
You remember them, don't you? If you have a child around my kids' ages you probably watched them every week ad nauseum when they were little tykes. And they were cute. Tiny and cute.
Now, they are still tiny. Frighteningly tiny. And not so cute. One ounce above death weight is not the least bit cute. Jutting cheekbones just don't look very appealing. However their brain power doesn't seem diminished by their lack of sustenance.
They have a clothing line and now they have an eyewear line which is apparently brand new. They started off as moguls way back when as little girls they started making little movies that went direct to DVD or whatever was the recording device back then. Now, they are rich, tiny, skinny, and rich.
I don't know why but that scares me to death. What if one of them decides to follow in The Donald's path and runs for President one day? How creepy would that be? I bet you are getting goosebumps right about now, aren't you? And not from excitement.
I wish that being skinny and rich was not the new standard. Just think if one of them is President they might make the whole nation go on a diet--a real one. We'd all be walking around starving but we would look great........as long as we had the official Presidential eyewear!

Fare Thee Well

2011-04-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Ohmygosh, my soaps are cancelled. I can hardly believe it's true. I watched both All My Children and One Life to Live since the first day they were on. Really. I watched the conniving Erica Kane go from a snotty teenager who gave her mother nothing but grief to a grandma who still connives but she claims it's always for the good of her family.
Family is important on the soaps. They have big expansive families so you really have to watch who you date. Right, Erica? She dated her own brother for a while there. Any new arrival could be related to you in some way. Need a new leading man? Bring in Erica's son who she thought she aborted.(I know I know).
Things getting boring in Llanview? Just give poor old Vicki another personality or two or three. And if she hasn't enough personalities let her poor daughter suffer from the same condition and the possibilities are endless!
One Life to Live has always been my favorite truth be told. I guess it doesn't matter any more since AMC is going away by September. It is being replaced by something called The Chew. REALLY? That's the name you came up with??? But, I digress. OLTL has Vicki Lord who is played by Erika Slezak. Her father Walter was in one of my most favorite movies, People Will Talk. He plays Cary Grant's sidekick. Erika and I were on maternity leave at the same time back in the day. Both times.
And right here, I lost half my post. I don't know how and I'm pretty sure I can't rewrite it with the same spark as I had yesterday. I was on a tear and related to you all about Vicki Lord and her husband and ex and her kids and her best friend/worst enemy, Dorian Lord.(her step mother)
Let it suffice to say that it was witty and well written, not unlike soaps at their best.
Good bye, Erica. Good bye, Vicki. I will miss your ups and downs, loves and losses, and your general turmoil. It's been a great run.

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

2011-04-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

According to People magazine, Jennifer Lopez is the most beautiful woman in the world. I think she is beautiful and talented and seems like a really nice girl when she is on American Idol. She has a lovely face, a smokin' hot body and she's a mom. And have you seen those hair ads she's been doing? WOW! I was happy to hear she was chosen.
But today, the flack has begun. People on the Internet(real people not the magazine) are saying she is not beautiful. That she's been chosen because she is on American Idol. Some say she's been on People's list too many times. Someone even said "meh" about her.
You know, I'd love to see these naysayers. I bet they are average like most of us. They really outdo most of us in judgmentalness. I know that isn't a real word but I just made it up as it fits the anti-Jens. Hmm. I just made up that word too. You know, as an average person, I enjoy looking at beautiful people of both sexes but I would never feel I could judge who is the most beautiful.
I think back to that old song, The Most Beautiful Girl In the World written by Rogers and Hart. The gist of the song is that the most beautiful girl in the world is the one you love and who makes you see the world as a wonderful place. Who can argue with that? And who can judge that? I saw Jimmy Durante sing it to Martha Raye in Jumbo. Look them up if you don't know them and you'll see that I'm right. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I don't know what criteria People magazine uses for choosing the most beautiful...I'm thinking they are somewhat objective but so what if they aren't. So maybe JLo is on American Idol and has a new album coming out but so what? She's still beautiful and I think we should all just relax and enjoy the view.

Well...that's a Deep Subject

2011-04-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I am making progress. I can actually breathe a little without screaming in pain. I can reach things at eye level and waist level. I can bend down very very carefully if I do a giant plie--very slowly. I can fold laundry and put it in the dryer or the washer. I can get it out if I am really careful.
I can't dig in my freezer yet so DH has to be the housewife. He's doing pretty well but needs some more practice which I'm pretty sure he'll be getting in the coming days. As he says, one step at a time. Husbands were not made to be housewives. I have to say I never got those stay at home dads. I'll bet the DW spend a lot of time cleaning up what the stay at home dad forgot to do. Just saying.
I still can't sleep laying down. I might roll over onto my rib and that would be really bad. I still can't laugh very much because it hurts. Also can't make any fast moves.
I have to give up exercising for 4 weeks. I'm sure I will be completely out of shape by then! It is driving me crazy that I can't go. To be honest, I was getting a little tired of the routine but now that I can't go that's all I want to do! Crazy, huh?
I tried taking a short walk over the weekend and well, you can just forget it. It hurt! No kidding, just a little walk down to the end of the street and back. I guess you don't realize how much your bones all work together to keep you going. I need to consult Dr. Oz about that. I've been seeing a lot more of him as I have seen a lot more television in general. Yesterday, the TW crew was working on the cable box outside of my house and I missed about 53 minutes of All My Children and I was pissed! I know I can watch it on line any time I want but I wanted to watch it then and there.
Since our soaps seem to be doomed to cancellation, I don't want to miss any of them if I don't have to. I made an exception for vacation because that's how I roll. TV and vacation don't mix unless your watching the weather channel in my humble opinion.
Well, at least I can type and read although I haven't held up a book yet. Not sure how that would go. I have to tell my kids I really need that I pad or a Nook or something. They aren't so heavy as a book.
I can also do my crossword puzzle every day so my brain doesn't completely atrophy.
Oh, and I can drive....a little. I drove to the doctor and my sister's yesterday(both about 6 minutes away) and last night I was exhausted and a little sore too. So today I will stay home so I can go out a little tomorrow. I'm no dummy!
Well, that's my current situation. I still stand by my advice: Just Don't do it!!

Just Dont Do It

2011-04-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

Don't break your rib. Don't crack your rib. Don't bruise your rib. I did one of those( the crack) and let me tell you the pain is unbelievable. It happened Tuesday in one of those you won't believe this situations. Really, I was washing my hair and that's all you're getting. Just trust me, it really hurts....a lot.
Breathing hurts. Coughing really hurts and in the bathroom, well, you don't even want to know.
Don't laugh either. Don't reach for anything or bend down or reach up. Don't get up from your chair....oh, wait you have to, Ouch!
Don't lay down. Sleep sitting up in the same chair.
Go to the emergency room. Take the drugs even if they have side effects. Side effects go away but not the pain. Drugs just take the edge off.
Be prepared to fall asleep often. It's the drugs. It can't be helped.
Don't drive. Don't try to exercise in any way.
Don't ask how long it will last. You probably don't want to know.
Take showers and let the water hit you where it hurts most. That is temporary relief.
I know I sound like a big baby and maybe I am. Some people have intense chronic pain and I have a new respect for them, believe me. Especially if their drugs work as "well" as mine do.
Just take my advice, won't you. It is really good advice!

Tsunamis, Earthquakes and Other Things

2011-03-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

God bless those poor people in Japan....and New Zealand. I know I'm a little late on the New Zealand thing but I'm sure all is not back to normal.
Isn't it creepy to think how fast something like that can happen? Without warning?
I'm one of those people who likes things to stay the same and familiar. That makes events like this twice as scary for me. You can't anticipate a natural disaster like that and it might effect you directly or just the people in the next town or even the next street.
Hopefully, in times like this we all behave at our best. Not counting looters. Although, in Japan today it didn't look like anyone had any time for looting. They were too busy running for their lives.
We focus a lot on bad behaviors. On the news, they talk about bullying and terrorism and despots. People generally treat one another pretty poorly if you listen to them. So it cheered me to see that the whole world's attention was grabbed by a video of a baby who laughed its head off over his dad tearing up paper. The kid even made it on television.
I was glad to know that the best of us still attracted as much attention as the worst of us. They should run it on Jumbotrons in Japan in a few days to help people smile--at least a little.

Some Free Advice

2011-03-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

Mike Huckabee, why don't you spend your time thinking of ways to create jobs rather than take potshots at Natalie Portman and her unborn child? What she chooses to do is none of your business. You're a politician--help fix the economy, lower taxes, fix Social Security. That should really keep you too busy to do sound bites about celebrities.
Rush Limbaugh, leave Mrs. Obama alone. She isn't fat. She is encouraging people(especially the young) to live a healthy lifestyle. You are no slim pickin's yourself. Don't talk about someone who probably weighs less than you do. Oh yes, and if she eats something she "shouldn't" every once in a while....it's none of your business...or mine, for that matter.
You people in the crowd that verbally attacked some citizens who might or might not be Muslims. Did you ever hear of freedom of religion? It's why the Pilgrims came here in the first place. Oh, I know you have a right to express your views because of freedom of speech but to families and children, I mean, little children. What is the matter with you? Freedom of speech doesn't mean you have the right to verbally assault someone until they are frightened. Stay home and tend to your own children.
You people who picket soldier's funerals. Did you ever hear of kindness? How about respect? How about mind your own business? I know the Supreme Court supported you. They are wrong. Do you remember how you felt when someone close to you died? These kids die horrible deaths for the likes of you and me.
Oh, yes and did you ever hear that God is Love???? Not just love for you but for everyone. I learned that in Sunday School when I was five years old. Stay home and read up on God's love.
If any of you aforementioned folks read this blog, I know advice is cheap and you will never take mine because I'm a nobody. But really, it's time to stop all this and look into yourselves and try and find peace of mind so that you and your neighbors or your First Lady or your movie stars can too.

One Thing Leads to Another

2011-02-21T08:31:00.000-08:00

We painted our bathroom and we ended up swapping out handles, door knobs, shower head and hinges because once you do one of those things the other things look......well, used. I used to think that painting was easy-peesy but it does kind of snowball.
Take our kitchen for example. I wanted to paint but I also wanted a new backsplash. I didn't want to paint where the backsplash would go but it turned out I had to because you could see a tiny slash of the old color between the appliances and we couldn't have that. Then as I removed the painters' tape from one of the wall cabinet, it seemed loose. OHMYGOSH, the whole cabinet was coming apart and all my dishes were in there! Painting and backsplashing stopped and emptying the cabinet became the number one priority. Good thing we noticed it or one day we may have had a catastrophe!
Catastrophe averted and my DH thinks he can fix the cabinet. Anyway, while we scrutinized the cabinet we thought the hardware doesn't suit our new kitchen and we need new handles all over our kitchen. So now I have to find something that suits it and me.
And you know, you think you are so clean. If you move your stove and your fridge, I bet you'll change your mind. Even behind my hutch, it was pretty dusty and cobwebby and I thought I cleaned behind there at least....every six months or so. HAHA! You better believe I'll be getting back behind there once a week now that I saw it.
Anyway, if you have a painting project in mind(especially a kitchen) I have some advice for you. Be ready to clean up sticky, greasy messes and have a mop and broom on hand. Don't be shocked by what you see just clean it up and be done with it. A painting project doesn't mean just paint. Don't let those experts on HGTV fool you. They must have a team of lackeys that do the clean up before they come to paint. If you don't have a team of lackeys then you have to do it yourself.
Oh, and don't forget to tape. Tape is your friend. Tape keeps the paint off the woodwork and the ceiling and anything else you don't want paint on. If you forget to tape, you have to stop painting and do it right then or you will be scraping off paint years down the road and you will be cursing your self. If you don't believe me, read my blog on nail polish remover. That is something that is handy to have around also...before painting or even taping to get the old stuff off the woodwork you previously didn't tape.
Actually, when it comes to a painting project, painting is the easiest and fastest part of the job. So be prepared for any eventuality......your cabinets could be secretly falling apart too!

SAG

2011-02-18T05:11:00.000-08:00

SAG are my initials and I am doing my darnedest to live up to them. You see, I am sagging everywhere. The first thing that started to sag was my butt. It is so saggy now it has disappeared. Did you see Lady Gaga in the black ...um....outfit at the Grammys? It molded over her but and I wish I had that but I would wear it on the inside of my pants not the outside.
Beside my saggy butt, my boobs are saggy too. I know there are all kinds of jokes about sagging boobs and even greeting cards but to tell the truth I didn't notice it much until my son's birthday. His girl took a pic of our family and my boobs are almost at my waist! When did that happen? It sure sneaked up on me. I feel like I need one of those iron bras like the divas in the opera wear(and Bugs Bunny for that matter) to hold 'em up where they belong. Obviously, my present bra just isn't doin' it.
My face sags now too. I know one can get a facelift nowadays. I hate pain though. I could probably get Botox but that just scares me. See, I am allergic to bees....and I hate snakes. So if it's bee venom or snake venom, I just think I would be injected and probably become horribly disfigured instead of uplifted.
My mouth turns down and my jowls jiggle just a little. It is a little frustrating.
Well, sagging is not the worse thing that can happen to you. Actually, it is probably nothing to even mention. But if you read this, you know me. I had to mention it. Especially when I thought of the Initials thing. Come on, it was inevitable that I would write about it!
So the next time you see me you won't be shocked or surprised if I am saggy. Just don't call me SAG!

Su.s.an

2011-02-14T06:02:00.000-08:00

Well, it is official. I am an oldie. Really, an oldie. I just watched the Grammies and half of the time I didn't know what they were singing about or who they were or if they were even singing at all. The group that won the album of the year I never even heard of and their performance was all strobe lights and guys riding bikes and someone screaming into a bullhorn while a couple girls played violins and another beat a drum. I couldn't get passed the strobes. Now I know why they say they can cause epileptic fits. I almost had one and I don't even have epilepsy.
The young women hardly had any clothes on. Not in a pretty or scanty kind of way--the costumes looked like ugly bathing suits gone wild to me. Lady Gaga even had some weird prosthetics on her head and her shoulder. She changed clothes at least once but when she got her award she was wearing something that looked like a Lego snap on suit. It was heavy plastic molded over her body....even the butt cheeks. To tell the truth, since I have no butt, I was a little jealous of that part. The boobs had hooks on them?????????
Not that the folks representing my generation did much better. Barbra Streisand sang like a timorous mouse and Kris Kristofferson looked downright feeble.
Bob Dylan performed and you could barely understand a word he said and he had a bunch of kids for back up which he needed....badly. Mick Jagger pranced around the stage singing YO yo yo. All I could think was that even though he has a lot of youthful energy if he took his clothes off he'd look like Mr. Burns on The Simpsons!
I loved Eminem. I can't help myself. He reminds me of my kids at school back in the day. Even when he raps about terrible things, I can't help myself... I just love him. Frankly, I never understand a word he raps but that's ok. I'm sure he could care less.
I loved Will.i.am wearing his red leather gloves. I want them. Oh and now I am a fan of B.O.B. Apparently I can't get enough of those names with periods. I am now going by Su.s.an as you saw above. It's pronounced Su- Ess- Ann. If you run into me, feel free to use my new moniker. It is the only thing new about me because as I stated earlier, I am an oldie. And you'll recognize me by my disappearing butt.

Tea For Two

2011-02-06T06:25:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready to serve my Book Club a lovely "low" tea. Did you know that a high tea really means an entire meal with an entree and everything? Well, I didn't know until I started looking for recipes that would work for me and my group.
There will be little sandwiches with cucumber or tuna or shrimp salad or cream cheese. There will be scones with jam and lemon curd with Devonshire cream. We are serving tiny little cupcakes and shortbread dipped in dark chocolate.
Doesn't that all sound yummy? Add in some mixed nuts and some Valentine candy and you have the whole menu. I have 6 different kinds of tea also.
It is the second anniversary of our Book Club so we are pulling out the stops(so to speak)!

The only real problem is the weather. It is supposed to snow like crazy and some of the women might not feel like driving. Then it will be a tiny group--possibly even tea for two. I'm hoping everyone will be brave and show up--otherwise my DH will be taking finger sandwiches to work for lunch!! Won't he love that?

Magic Elixir

2011-02-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been painting my bathroom and I was so shocked to see how much paint I had gotten on my woodwork in the past. It was downright embarrassing. So I looked up on the Internet how to remove paint from wood and they suggested a product which made me gag and get a little light headed.
I toyed with the idea of painting the woodwork but then I thought I'd try something in the least noticeable spot and guess what, I found the answer to my problem.
I used nail polish remover and it took that latex paint off in no time--even stuff that had been there for years! It did take some of the sheen off the woodwork but nothing a little orange oil couldn't fix and they look practically brand new.
So I love nail polish remover. I used it to get old paint off the door knobs too and it worked like a champ.
Who'd have thought the answer to my problem would be right in the cupboard?
Oh, nail polish remover, thanks for being you. I love you now more than ever. I just wish you could see what you have done.

Reason Number 5,000 to Hate the Dentist

2011-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

I am a strong and healthy woman. I work out. I eat well. I got some upper respiratory thing a few weeks back and was laid out but good but I have gotten better, went back to working out and felt my strength returning. I even made a comment to that effect on Friday.
So today I headed to the dentist for my 6 month check-up and ended up waiting in the outer office for just a little while. The lady sitting across from me sneezed twice and I said,"Bless you."
End of story, right?
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!
An hour later, I felt a tickle in my nose and started sneezing uncontrollably. My daughter said she thought I wasn't feeling well. I have been sneezing and my nose is running and I've gone through a half a box of tissues. I AM SICK! AGAIN!! NO FAIR!!! Take Back your cold, Lady!!!!!! I don't want it.

So today, I'm calling off from working out, I'm in bed and under the covers. I'm hoping this is just an allergy attack. It will be gone tomorrow, right? It better be or I'm tracking down the lady in the dentist's office.

Still Sinking

2011-01-20T15:34:00.001-08:00

Well, it looks beautiful..................but it leaked all over my cabinet on the interior. Good thing I caught it or a lot of damage could have been done.
They are coming back tomorrow and he said don't use the sink.
DUH!

That Sinking Feeling

2011-01-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

I am getting a new sink today for my kitchen. I bet you are thinking you must be excited but you'd be wrong. Instead I'm just worried that something else will go wrong.
Something else, you ask?
Yes, it took us forever to order the sink and faucet and the detailing(that means they come out and assess the job in case you didn't know). The guy who was setting it all up seemed to be not as smart as a fourth grader if you get my drift.
Then the detailer never called so I called the store and they apologized and had him call the next day. He came and checked it out, said it could be done and the store would call me.
Well, they didn't. So I called them and the guy just said to come in and pay and we'd be fine. That seemed a little iffy to me and when I talked to the installer he said he needed paper work, some hook up lines and silicone and they would charge me at the store.
So last night, my husband went to pay after I spent a half hour on the phone with the store figuring things out because we already paid for the sink and faucet--just needed to pay for the install. So they charged us twice. Really. Twice. They credited the first charge and made a new transaction.
SO last night I checked out to make sure I had enough money in the account in case the credit didn't go through first which of course it didn't. I just knew it!!
SO today the installer called me and told me that he is on his way to the store and then he'd be over. That was an hour ago. Unless he lives really far from the store, I'm starting to get nervous. I'm sweating. It's 20 degrees outside and I'm sweating.
If my beautiful sink doesn't get in today I am going to be one angry blogger. I may even reveal the name of the store so they better get on the ball.
I'll let you know what happens.

Seeing Red

2011-01-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

The Red Carpet that is! I always get the biggest kick out of the glam gowns and I love to let my inner designing diva escape for just a little while and pick my best and worst. Here they are:
I loved the way Claire Danes looked. Her dress was a beautiful color and she looked like a million bucks in the most understated way.

Olivia Wilde looked beautiful too. I love her gown and the simplicity of her hair. I didn't know who she was until yesterday. Sorry, I don't watch House.

I thought Emma Stone looked beautiful. She looked a lot like Claire Danes. Maybe they're sisters and don't know it! I still don't know what she was in but this isn't a movie critique after all!

I thought JLo looked wonderful. This picture doesn't do the dress justice. She is just such a pretty woman and apparently Alec Baldwin thought so too. Doesn't he still think he looks like he did in the eighties?? I think he was majorly flirting with her...like she would go for him.

Some people loved this dress--mostly men. I thought she looked like an overdressed hula girl...or an underdressed lamp shade. Hate the fringe! At least it seemed like she was sober this year.

I'd love to meet the stylist who talked Julianne Moore into this piece of crap. It is awful in every way.

I saved the best til last. Oh, I just love her. She is so out there and she looks so ridiculous and doesn't her pose just say "go ahead and criticize me, I don't care"? Of course she looks crazy..she married Tim Burton after all, what do you expect?
That wraps up my best and worst for this year's Golden Globes. Oh and Foreign Press? Dump that Ricky Gervais. He is one mean spirited man and needs to be gone.

Lost Identity

2011-01-14T07:24:00.000-08:00

I have been a Scorpio all my life........until yesterday!
What do they mean there's another zodiac sign? I have all the personality traits of a Scorpio and now they claim I am a Libra. Say what? I have to trade in my fiery personality for one that is even-keeled?
Well, ok.
I like the thought that things will be more even and I will keep the peace rather than stir up the pot. I can be gentler and less opinionated. Sounds like a plan especially since I am older now.
Sexiness was one of the traits of Scorpio and believe you me, I am way beyond sexy these days. Oh, not to the max but to the minimum. Especially this week when I have been sick and probably blew my nose about a gazillion times in the last five days. Not to mention, the coughing and the whining. Not very sexy, believe you me.
This is what I found out about Libras

Desires popularity check
Loves art yes
Neat mostly
Dresses up for the occasion only when forced
Slight perfectionist not really
Narcissistic of course aren't we all at least a little?
Charitable Yes
Bossy at times Oh, yes indeedy
Plans ahead I try
Attention to detail I try
Loves public service Well, I was a teacher for 34 years. I think that counts.
Well, I guess I am a Libra and all this time I thought I was a Scorpio.

So ....What's your sign?

Dear Mr. President

2011-01-13T06:57:00.000-08:00

I know you are a busy man but you should always write your own speeches. Last night in Tucson, you were amazing, inspiring and the man I remembered from your campaign.
I know the stress of being President must be enormous(I've noticed the white hairs) but YOU are the reason people voted for you. You have vision, intelligence and kindness. You respect the youngest members of our community and want them to have a better life than we have.
Hold on to those thoughts ...and carry on. And never forget the applause that followed your words.

Watch the Birdie

2011-01-07T06:44:00.000-08:00

Famed scientist and genius biology expert, Kirk Cameron doesn't know why all those birds fell out of the sky. So no one can answer the question of what happened.
What? Kirk Cameron is not a scientist? He's a former teenage television star? Oh my gosh, and I thought all hope was lost. I mean if he couldn't explain it, who could? After all, didn't he make those Left Behind movies? Surely, that seals his expertise on birds.
Me! I can explain it. It is an unusual natural occurrence that happens once in a blue moon. Is it foretelling? Heck if I know. Is it the Apocalypse...probably not. Will it be the start of a ppandemic? I sure hope not. Is it a little sad and a little scary. You betcha! That's not much of an explanation either.
If Kirk can't explain it and I can't do it either, who is left?
We obviously don't trust real scientists. If they knew they probably wouldn't tell us. The government can't help either. We already know they never tell the whole truth.
Wait.......................................I know.

Let's ask Alan Thicke!

The Heatles

2011-01-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

Oh really, LeBron? Next you'll be telling us you are more popular than God and that got John Lennon into a ton of trouble and there weren't the plethora of right wing Christians there are now.
You better watch your back.
On the other hand, it's kind of funny. If you think that you're that great check out the album with you and your other Heatles.....I mean, come on.

Here It Comes!

2010-12-31T04:51:00.000-08:00

Watch out, everyone. 2011 is on its way here. No ducking. No hiding. It's a New Year and it promises.....well, everything. It's not the sure thing that 2010 is now. It's an unknown, a variable, a new beginning and a chance to change.
I would like a few changes in my life. For one thing, I would like nobody I know to have cancer ever again.
I would like to find more ways to help children. Did I ever tell you about the voice in church that said, "Save the Children" ? Now may be the time.
I would like to live in peace...in every way. From my relationships to war in the world--I'd like it gone,gone,gone.
I would like to live the healthy life style that we started in 2010. In spite of all my blogs about wine and wineries, we do live in a healthy way.
I hope my children will find happiness and fulfillment even more so than this year.
I hope DH and I get a chance to travel somewhere we haven't been before.
I would like to be more organized than I am and I would like to finish some projects that I started in 2010.

So that's a pretty tall order, 2011. You better get started...let's say in about 16 hours and 23 minutes(if my math is correct)!

She's Gone

2010-12-30T12:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had to go to the vet's to say goodbye to my little cat, Moose. She had exploratory surgery and they found a cancerous mass and it appeared to have gone into her lymph nodes. I couldn't let her suffer through a surgery and a life on drugs with no promise that she would ever be well. It seemed cruel.
I cried buckets for that little thing. I sobbed over the phone to my best friend to make some arrangements for a party we had to attend the same day. I sobbed as I asked the vet when we could come and say goodbye. I cried uncontrollably when we were driving to the vet's.
The Doc brought her into us and she looked like her old self. She was on pain meds and was wrapped in a blanket that kept her warm and protected the stitches from her surgery. She lay pretty still while I petted her and my daughter took her picture.....then, dogs in the waiting room barked a little and she was ready to take off and jump down from the table. I could restrain her but just only. I cried through that too.
Then the vet came in with three syringes and I bawled and said I couldn't stay to watch her go. I don't know how anyone does it. Vet or owner. But thank God they do so our little companions don't have to suffer.
She's gone now and I feel a little guilty that I didn't stay with her to the bitter end but I loved that kitty like crazy and she had a wonderful life.
She was crazy curious when she was little and ate a needle and thread once and pooped it out with no problems in a couple of days. We didn't even know it happened until it, uh, exited.
She used to climb up on the bathtub rim and watch me take a bath. When she came home from being spayed she bitched up a storm in almost English for two days but in the end she only remembered three words: yes, no and MomMom......really, ask anybody in my family.
She loved watching for DH to come home from work and settled herself in her special spot around 5:30 until he got home. She sat in my lap for hours and she got brushed almost every morning of her life. She loved her treats and her games. She would tap your leg to get your attention or bat the newspaper if you were reading it when she wanted attention or more likely a treat.
She stayed hidden away from company but she was in our faces almost all the time. We loved her dearly and miss her so much already.
Bye, Moose. Hold a good spot in Heaven for us, won't you?

A Cat Named Moose

2010-12-27T08:15:00.000-08:00

When I first saw her she was so tiny she fit in the palm of my hand. She tiptoed from my hand up to my shoulder and tucked her little head into my neck and she's been mine ever since.
She grew fat(sort of) and complacent(most of the time) and she loved to sit on our laps and she called me MomMom.....I swear.
She was afraid of everything. In her whole life she was never outdoors for more than 5 minutes.She hid in our closet when company came over. Some people didn't believe she even existed.
She love my DH and played with a plastic stick with him for hours. She loved her treats and could call for me three rooms away at 7 am if she wanted one or two or three.
She has been my affectionate companion for more than eleven years.
My little girl is sick......really sick. She isn't eating or using the litter box. She won't hardly come out of the closet and her little backbone is sticking out. It all happened in less than two weeks.
We are taking her to the vet today and we will probably be saying goodbye to our little Moose..whose name she grew into over time!
Oh my little friend, you will be sorely missed.

Merry Christmas to All!

2010-12-24T06:27:00.000-08:00

Today is Christmas Eve and it is 9 am and I have already begun to make food for our Smorgasbord tonight.
I'm not complaining because Christmas Eve is my favorite night of the year....and not because of the presents!
Everybody is home. We have a small family(only 7 of us) but it is still hard to get everyone together for every event. We all have a ton of food from shrimp to Swedish meatballs and all kinds of appetizers. We only have a little dessert because we are always to full for it!!
We start the evening with a toast with Bailey's(Mmmmmmm) and then we dive in to everything. We open gifts one at a time. Everybody watches you and the giver waits with anticipation and everybody oohs and aahs with you. When the kids were little it probably killed them to wait but they learned and it has become our habit. My dad did it when we were kids too. We learned that it is just as much fun to watch someone else open a gift as opening your own.
My dad made a great Santa. He could really drag it out and make it all the more fun. Now my sis is usually the Santa and she is so good at it we gave her a children's book entitled Santa Auntie.
We are always at my sis' house and her house is warm and cozy and full of candle light and soft lights. It smells like Christmas in there.
I hope your Christmas Eve is as happy as ours.
And tomorrow as well.
And all the days of your life.
Here's to the Swedes and the fine tradition of the Smorgasbord and Christmas on Christmas Eve!

Christmas-tized

2010-12-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

There are so many hypnotic and beautiful things to see in Disneyworld at Christmas I just can't describe them. We were at the Osborn Spectacular of Lights in Hollywood Studios and my nephew said it was the
best, most bad-ass place ever...he was right.
We travelled around the world and saw spectacular fireworks with fire on the water and photographs on the continents of the world in the center of the lake in Epcot.
We saw Cinderella's castle which looked like(as my brother in law said) a mix of diamonds and icicles...he was right.
We went Soaring and went to find Nemo. We've done it before but we can't get enough of it. Some of the more brave of us did Mission to Mars and Tower of Terror while my sis and I hit the shops.
It was CHRISTMAS everywhere including the snow on Main Street and at the light show.
We saw THREE parades. Yes, three. One was at Universal but I have to mention it because it was a MACY'S Christmas parade just like in the movie, Miracle on 34th Street and every Thanksgiving day morning of my life.
It was wonderful and if you don't believe me, just check out these pics.

Food Cults

2010-12-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

I read yesterday in the news that some foods have a cult following. Among them were The McRib, the Shamrock Shake, and Sweet Potato Fries from a fast food place that I can't remember. Lettuce does not have a cult following...no big surprise there, huh?
Reading that made me wonder if there was a food I was jonesing after so badly that I would join a cult for it. Even watching my weight, I still eat a fun thing now and then. I could not think of one thing that I crave so badly that I could join a cult about it.
Apparently there are websites to help cultists find the object of the culinary desire. Some of them are not easily found I guess so they post the addresses of the restaurants(and I use that term loosely) so you could drive there and get one....or two.
Don't get me wrong. There are lots of foods that aren't good for me that I love--like fries from our local sports bar and cheesecake--but I don't have to worry, they are available all the time. There is a particular shake at holiday time that makes me drool but this year I've passed(so far ;D).
I was thinking of starting a lettuce cult but then I thought that nobody else would join and what fun is a cult of one??

Well, Duh!

2010-11-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

As you know I am an avid watcher of ABC daytime soaps. I have watched them since I was a teen and we have a real love/hate relationship going...as in sometimes I love them and sometimes I hate them.
Recently, they just make me laugh. This one girl was trotting around undercover in these 6" heels and she had to hurry to get away so she climbed out on the hotel balcony and jumped. It was on the first floor so no big deal, right? Yoohoo, Greenlee, You are wearing spike heels. Guess what? She fell. Guess what, sprained her ankle. Really? She couldn't have figured that out and taken off the damn shoes??
Michael Nouri is on board at AMC and he is laughable too. He is a giant of a guy and they are trying to pair him up with Erica Kane who is about as big as a second. I saw her on Rachel Ray once and she made that little girl look like a giant so you can imagine the coupling of Erica and Caleb(ie Michael Nouri) SO he doesn't have to do anything to look silly-I just laugh at the sight of them together..every day...every time they are together.
On One Life to Live, the twin girls are having babies and neither of them knows for sure who the father is. The one twin might be expecting the baby of her sister's fiance. So anyway, this other character, Marty, finds out that the one twin is lying about the paternity of her kid so since she was pregnant by possible father #2 and lost that baby, she is now out to get Natalie. Well, no duh. Oh yes, and her son just got carted off to prison for ten years. Now why she should be bitter is beyond me!!!(just kidding)
We also got a new resident bad guy....the dad from Dawson's Creek.....I know, I laughed out loud too. Wasn't Dawson's dad like perfect? Well, now he's perfectly bad. He is so funny. He is like a roller coaster ride, up and down, jovial and full of violence and you never know what you're going to get. Or he could be all those things in the space of a minute. I laugh every time he is on screen.
So I bet you're thinking I am having a whale of a time watching right now. You'd be right about that.

Time is Relative

2010-11-13T09:48:00.000-08:00

This past week went by in a flurry of activity. Monday I had lunch with friends, Tuesday my annual mammogram, Wednesday book club, Thursday Dr. appointment and Friday lunch and shopping with sis.
I could hardly remember my schedule! I had to write down reminders for the appts.
This coming week is going to be pretty quiet. Going out with sis on Thursday and going to my niece's school on Friday for Grandfriends day.
But as I wonder how fast the week went, I have to say WHAT HAPPENED TO OCTOBER?????
It was here and gone in a flash. Time is supposed to be a constant but it seems to me that someone cranked it up during the last month. Time seems to ebb and flow rather than tick on as the clocks in my house would have you believe. Speaking of those clocks, no two of them say the same time. They are always close but not the same. I try to sync them but someone has to be resetting them when I'm not here...probably Old Father Time. He doesn't seem to have very much to do these days as you hardly ever hear about him.
November is flashing by too. In less than a couple of weeks it will be Thanksgiving and then the slippery slope to Christmas. There is more than a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas, isn't there??? Sometimes it doesn't seem like it.
As screwed up as I am about time, the stores around here are worse. They have their Christmas decorations up. Some had them before Halloween. Maybe they are giving people time to shop....you know, a little at a time. I know times are tough but ramping up the timeline isn't going to fix that.
One radio station is even playing All Christmas music ALL the time already. It started Monday! What are they, nuts? If you listened to that all the time, you'd go stark raving mad before you could even unwrap your presents!
Remember when you were a kid how it seemed like Christmas would never get here? Or the summer stretched out in sultry, sunny days forever? What happened to that feeling? I don't think modern kids even get that feeling anymore.
They say time is on your side. Well, I hope it's true because it seems like time is "slipping into the future"!

Cheese Souffle

2010-11-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

Cheese souffle was my favorite meal growing up. It is a mix of cheddar cheese sauce and whipped up egg whites. I hadn't made one in years but I was determined to make it for my birthday on Saturday. You can't really buy it anywhere and I don't know of a restaurant around here that has it.
It isn't easy but it isn't hard either. Just messy and time consuming.
I got the great idea to make the cheese sauce ahead of time and that turned out to be a great idea. I needed eight egg whites but I lost count so I might have used ten. It seemed a little airier than usual.
My biggest problem came because I wanted to increase the recipe by a third. OMG, I could hardly remember the math to convert it. I had paper and pencil and I think I even tried to pull my hair out at one point. I finally remembered how to convert 1/3 of something measured in fourths. I had to rack my brain though.
It was yummy! It took longer to cook than I thought and it got a little overdone on top but it was still yummy.
A lot of people thought I was nuts to make my own birthday dinner but not me. I wanted to do it. I wanted my sis to remember having it as a kid and my kids to eat something that I loved as a child. DH and my bro in law are good sports and will try anything once!
We took a picture of it when it was done but I haven't downloaded it into the computer yet so I will try to find a pic of one to share on the Internet. Be right back!

That's close enough. Mmmmm, cheesey! Try making something from your childhood for your birthday dinner. It makes you feel all warm inside.

Happy Birthday to Me

2010-11-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will be 61 years young. I feel better than I have in my whole life even with the little aches and pains that plague us all as we age.
I have a happy family and a DH. I told my husband we are like cheese and sour cream. They are in the same family, are totally different from each other but they go together well! That's us in a nutshell.
I have a sister with whom I am close and we like to do a lot of the same things. We have fun shopping and eating at our favorite tea room. And believe me, we can shop anywhere! Once we spent hours in Lowes--really!
I have good friends too. Some of them are long time friends and some are newer friends. Some live near me and some are far away and I barely get to see them. But we keep in touch thanks to email.
I don't even look too bad. Oh, I am getting wrinkles and jowls but my eyes and bright and my smile is genuine. I don't even look that bad in my driver's license picture. When the guy took it he told me he would take it again if I wanted. I would have done it too if he had a camera that made me look 20 years younger and 20 pounds thinner!! So I just kept the first one because with my luck the second one would have been worse than the first!
Some people bemoan their age but I am trying to embrace it. I hope I have a little more wisdom and a little more understanding and tolerance since I am older. I try to, I really do.
As I sit here typing this, my heart is beating steadily, I have a healthy breakfast in my stomach and I am about to go out with my sis and tomorrow I will make cheese souffle for my family and we will drink raspberry champagne and eat cake.

What more could a girl ask for?

Moving On

2010-11-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

There has been a gigantic moving van parked on the street across from my house for two days now. Yesterday, I saw it arrive and I saw it slow down to a stop. I saw a guy driving it. Then nothing....all day. Nobody returned to it or opened it let alone pack it up. Finally at about three o'clock someone put one of those little glow in the dark triangles behind the truck.
It sat there all night.
Today, it is open. There is nothing in it yet and it's almost 2:30. There are like two boxes. Nobody's front door is open and nobody is carrying things out of their garage. There's no ramp down to get into the back of the truck.
I don't know who's moving. I am guessing the people across the street because that house has been moved in and out of about 5 or 6 times in the last twenty years. But I'm just guessing. There hasn't been any activity to make me suspect I'm right.
Now if I was moving I sure wouldn't want the moving van sitting in front of my house for two days without making any progress.
Hey, I just thought of this. What if the family is gone and the movers are just hanging out in the house for a little vacay?? Now that would be funny. Oh well, I'm sure they will be travelling on their way soon.
Speaking of traveling, did you see the film of the lady in some really old film with a cell phone? She is a suspected time traveler. Now you know, if I was in charge of the time travel team, the first person I would send out would be an old lady! You know how accurate they are and they always call you "dearie."
Taking my tongue out of my cheek, I have to say I want to believe it. I want to think that my grand kids can call me on their cells after I am gone and just talk to me like I am now. How cool would that be? Or even great grand kids? You could get to know them even though you are really dead. I'm liking this idea more and more.
I don't really think you can time travel and I'm pretty sure that cell phones won't work through the time portal and by the time there is time travel, the cell phone will be as outdated as that recent film clip of the time traveler!

PS If you haven't seen the time traveler, just look on Youtube, I'm sure it's there.

I'm So Spooked

2010-10-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

I hate Halloween with a passion....ever since I was a kid. Even with candy.
In third grade,the sleeves on my princess costume itched. One year my mother made me be the knave of hearts. She even gave me one of her homemade date and nut tarts to carry. I tore it into bits during the Halloween parade and never told her I didn't eat it. I just threw the pieces on the playground.
As a grown up I never fared much better. I am not too creative in the costume dept. Just ask my kids or DH. I've been a cat a lot. One year I was a bag of garbage....oh, yes, I really was.
My only cool costume was a giraffe mask I got at the San Diego zoo. It was really life like and I painted brown patches on a gold sweat suit. I put black gloves on my hands. I was so cool but unfortunately, I scared my little students half to death in the mask so I had to walk around the whole day with that heavy sweat suit on and no mask. I looked pretty dumb.
We don't get many trick or treaters in our neighborhood so we hardly ever stay home. Usually we go out to dinner. This year, my daughter will be home and she loves Halloween and passing out treats so I have them. I had to buy something I don't care for so I wouldn't eat the whole bag like the whole bag of Smarties I ate a couple of weeks ago. 60 rolls! Yikes!
I don't like scary things. Even old Bela Lugosi movies terrify me and I've never seen any scary movie in recent years because I know the special effects are so good I'd last about 20 seconds! I don't even like to talk about them so I'll shut up now.
In case you aren't like me, have a Happy Halloween, stay out of trouble, and if your princess outfit itches, I feel your pain!

BOO!

Rainy Days and Mondays

2010-10-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

It is pouring outside. Literally pouring. It is gloomy and ugly and I should be so depressed but I'm happy. You know why? Because the rain stopped the digging on my street and the jackhammer too! YAY! It is really noisy and I'm probably the only one who cares because most of my neighbors are at work. They miss it. It starts daily at 9 and pounds until 5--every day--for the last two weeks.
I don't know what in the heck they are digging about. I've seen trucks from every utility and the hole is square and DEEP! You wouldn't want to fall in it, believe me. It is right in my neighbor's side yard too. It must be making them crazy--getting their lawn all dug up I mean. Over the weekend the workers "fix" it and it looks like a T Rex went through their yard.
A rainy day like this is a great day to read a book but I just finished the last one I had last night. Too bad, guess I'll just stick to old movies and soaps!
Monday is a day when I like to get errands done. Luckily, I headed out early and beat the rain home. I just went to the grocery store,nothing thrilling.
Monday is the day I do laundry...well, I should say one of the days. Since we work out every day, the laundry piles up faster than a speeding bullet. I can just keep up during the week, but over the weekend, I just let it go and wait until Monday, Laundry day.
Anyway, it's raining it's pouring, the old man is..............wait, that's it I'll take a little nap. See ya!

This and That

2010-10-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

I used to write my blog all the time when I didn't have a theme for the day. Someone criticized me about it so I stopped doing it. Well, I'm back!

First, never never make a right hand turn from the left lane across two lanes of traffic. I've seen it twice this week and it is scary and DUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On one of my soaps the director's name is Phideaux Xavier. Now if you know any French you would figure out that PHI-is like FI and DEAUX is like DO. Put them together and you have Fido....like the dog. Here is some sage advice. Don't name your kid after a dog--at least not one called Fido...or Spot....or RinTinTin.

Working out is good for you and sometimes even a lot of fun, but boy it sure stacks up the laundry.

Mary Worth is at it again in the comics. She is helping a young woman choose her wedding dress and the friend with them is VERY critical( and probably jealous). It's just like Say Yes to the Dress. Whoever writes MW needs to get a new story line. This one is much better on television.

I am so sick of the political ads I could puke. I have been tuning in to TMC a lot lately just to avoid them.
Although I do get a kick out of the one where they make the candidate look like a Russian Czar! It is hilarious.

I have discovered I talk to myself out loud when I am home alone. Like my brain isn't going full speed ahead all the time..I have to chat myself up too.

I can get in trouble anywhere. I am very good at it. I don't mean to get in trouble but if I am honest or truthful or disagree, I am in hot water and usually get blamed for the whole problem. I don't know how to stop it unless I just stay home and talk to myself while watching old movies or soaps with Phideaux.

An Open Letter to Clothing Manufacturers

2010-10-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

Dear sirs and madams,

I am a 61 year old woman. I am not fat and I am not thin. I have more bulk in the middle than I would like. Some of my friends have more hips than they did or a bigger tush. In other words, we aren't what we used to be.
On the other hand, we aren't our mothers either. Matchy-matchy elastic waist pants and floral tops or animal print tops are not for us--well, at least not most of us. I don't want to wear what my mom wore at sixty.
I was part of the generation that stopped wearing girdles and wore pantyhose instead. We gave up our skirts and blouses for jeans and tops. We made pants suitable for office attire. We burned our bras for heaven sake!
And now, you plan on dressing us like our moms who stayed home and took care of things and hardly ever worked outside the home! Well, I won't do it and I know my friends won't either.
Now, on the other hand, I don't want to dress like my 22 year old niece either. The "retro" look is something I already wore--when my body looked like I wanted it to. I don't want to wear jeans that are "low rise". I've got no hips to hold them up and I have a muffin top no matter what kind of jeans I wear. I don't want to wear what they call "mom" jeans either.
I don't want to live the rest of my life in sports clothing either. Or sweats. Surely you can think of some other alternatives. Oh, and that stretch fabric that clings to all our lumps and bumps? You can lose that too.
Now maybe if I had a lot of money, there are clothes out there that are perfect for me. But I am on a fixed income and I want to travel and enjoy myself. I seldom have to get dressed up. I just want to look up to date and casually chic. Is that so much to ask?
I know I'm probably a candidate for What Not to Wear but I don't want to wear jackets and camis or chiffon tops or heels for that matter. I'd fall off the heels...I have a hard enough time walking in the shoes I have!
Getting dressed every day is a chore instead of a pleasure. Shopping which used to be my favorite sport is now depressing. Can't someone out there in the clothing business try a little harder.
Put away the polyester matching pants and tops and give us some nice looking, comfortable clothes to wear.

Wonderful WINO

2010-10-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was so beautiful that we decided to go for a long drive and see the fall color. We saw some lovely sights but the two big rainstorms we had earlier in the week kind of emptied a lot of trees so that took away some of the beauty.
It is so nice to take a day off and not do chores or errands. We did go to our WW meeting but we skipped our usual hike. By 1pm we were off and running. We took a route down to Amish country near us and then we stopped in Burton for some lunch--the best chili I ever had out and about, not that I order it very often. It was the perfect day for it.
We then continued north and ended up in our favorite wine area. We tried to go to one of our favorites but they were out of the kind of wine we like. So we ventured out and ended up at Spring Hill winery which is fast becoming our favorite.
We sat out there last Sunday in the sun on a 75degree day and we sat outside for a while yesterday. They had big outdoor heaters and we sat right under one but after a while it was just too cold so we moved indoors. It was packed with people and our server did some finagling to get us seats. We sat in two big leather chairs and drank wine and ate the most delicious steak sandwich I ever had. They grilled it outdoors and it had a wine reduction sauce on it that was to die for!
There was a band and people were dancing up a storm. I felt like I was in a dream as we never do this kind of stuff anymore. For us to be out on a Saturday night after dark----well, it hardly ever happens!
It was so loud you couldn't really talk but the music was good and the wine was our favorite and we even had pumpkin spice cheesecake.
The crowd was an interesting mix of people. The couples by us were all about our age and we talked with them a little about our wine choices. Some of the dancing couples really caught our eye--a dad and his daughter were really great together. He was way older than us and she was probably in her fifties so it was really fun to see. Then there was a lady in zebra capris and bright pink heels and a zebra top who looked to be about 70 years old. Someone needs to nicely tell her to purchase a new going out wardrobe! She looked so silly I never even looked at her partner.
Actually, now that I think about it, nobody over the age of 4 should wear zebra print capris and some discerning tots may disagree with me and say, nobody should wear them!!!

The whole day was fun in every way. We should take the day off more often.

Pants Woes Again

2010-10-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Now my sis and I went to try on jeans today and boyohboy, it was a harrowing experience. One size is just too large by a skosh and the next size down is so tight you have a giant muffin top--in my case, more like a loaf of bread. Even if those stretch out, they are sure to be too tight in the waist.
And while browsing through the ten thousand pairs we saw, I had to keep hoisting up my jeans from the other day--you know the ones that fit like a glove. I would really like to go out in public and not have my jean's crotch be halfway to my knees every twenty minutes.
Now I ask you, is that to much to ask? I am not asking for a perfect fit or a pair of jeans that makes my body look 20 years younger. Honest!
I know somebody out there is saying, just wear a belt , dummy. Well, I don't like belts. They show through your top and it looks stupid. Plus it bunches up the jeans in all the wrong places. So, no belt.
Some of you are going, duh, elastic top jeans. Did you ever try a pair of those on????? Like wearing a diaper unless it's jeggings. Even then the top elastic turns over and is uncomfortable.
I have an answer for everything you can think of.....so stop it!
I know I will find the jeans that fit sometime soon. But if you see me in public hitching up my jeans, at least you'll know why.

10-10-10

2010-10-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to write that down.....it won't happen again in my lifetime!

Imagine

2010-10-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

If he were alive, John Lennon would be 70 years old. I can't believe it. He is still locked in my brain as a long-haired, granny glasses wearing young dad caring for his son.
I saw an artist's rendering that aged his picture to what he would look like today. He had short hair and wrinkles and I thought--nope probably not. I just can't imagine(sorry about the pun here) John with short hair and wrinkles. Even Yoko Ono doesn't look that wrinkled and still has a remnant of her old style so why wouldn't he? That artist wasn't very imaginative(sorry there I go again).
I don't know much about John Lennon to tell the truth. He was the married Beatle so I never developed a crush on him--I went for George-the quiet Beatle. I thought John was the most radical Beatle. I thought he was the most sensitive and artistic Beatle.
I've heard him say some pretty outrageous stuff in interviews but heck, he was just a kid with worldwide fame and an audience that was eager to hear anything he had to say.
The magazine cover of him and Yoko in bed was shocking at the time. Now it just appears to be artistic to me.
He believed in peace and getting along with others and kindness and selflessness and got murdered for it.
That is awfully sad to me.
Loved his music. Especially Imagine and Woman...but I didn't need to see that imagining of him being old. He is forever young to me.

OBX

2010-10-07T07:39:00.000-07:00

I followed a car home a couple of days ago on my way home from my workout. The driver skidded his tires, roared his engines, had loud loud music going and revved up at the stoplight. So naturally I thought the OBX sign on his car stood for obnoxious. He rabbitjumped every time a light turned green and I thought he was aptly signed. We got tot he part of the route where the speed limit is just 25 and I couldn't wait to see what ole OBX would do.
Son of a gun, the kid tricked me. He slowed right down to the speed limit which gave me a chance to pull up close enough to read that sign. It was one of those oval ones from places you visit--this one was for the Outerbanks!!! OOOOOOHHHHHH--so that's what it stands for. I should have known. OBX-Get it?
Anyway, since then I've seen plenty of drivers that should have that sign--the obnoxious one I mean. You know who you are. You cut people off or drive too fast on a surface street. You are the guy who turns right from the left hand lane in front of two other lanes of traffic. Whoops--did you never hear of turning around and coming back?
Or the person who crosses over the double yellow line to turn left into the shopping area near me--who is then in the oncoming traffic lane for turning left going the opposite way. You wouldn't believe how many of those drivers there are. If you drive up toward them, they always act like you are the one in the wrong!! What driver's manual ever instructs you to cross over the double yellow line into oncoming traffic to make a left hand turn? The OBX one, I guess.

Fare Thee Well

2010-10-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

I just found out that my favorite museum is closing. It is the Liberace museum in Las Vegas. I am serious. I just loved it there. It was so funny and fun and I laughed so much. I've hardly been to any museum where I laughed at all!
Liberace embraced what he was and flaunted it for all the world to see. It was probably a gimmick but it was a great one and didn't detract from his undeniable talent.
When I was young, I thought Liberace was a hack and a joke. One trip to the museum as an adult and I was a fan.
Don't worry too much. The collection is going on tour and if you are lucky, it will show up in your town. Don't miss it!

Buying Pants

2010-10-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

You want to know the biggest giantest pain in the a** that we have been experiencing lately? You guessed it--buying pants. Both DH and I are getting heartily sick and tired of it.
First, we are never the same size from one brand to another. Then, we have--um...let us say rise issues. Then sometimes we find a pant that fits and by the time we wear it two or three times it no longer fits--the pants stretch out or something. Especially those skinny jeans(and really, every jean I have purchased lately) that fit like a glove for the first day and then I spend the rest of the time I wear them yanking them up to my "natural" waist--you know, the one that has replaced your real waist....or maybe that is our fake waist. I'm just not sure anymore.
DH has a different problem. He buys a pair and they fit great and then he goes to get another color and the same size, same store, same brand, supposedly, just a different color doesn't fit. He now owns two pair of pants that fit. He has had a weight loss and all his others are too baggy--think clown pants.
We probably shouldn't go pant shopping together because we just feed into each other's frustration. By the time we are done we are cursing every pant producer on the planet. Our frustration can feed into other areas of shopping like for shirts or shoes. Thank goodness his size 14's require online shopping. I don't know if we could bear it if we had to go to a store.
Anyway, I am wearing a new pair of pants right now. They fit great! But just wait until tomorrow and we'll see.

Are You Kidding Me?

2010-09-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

There is a big push to improve education in the United States. The most recent idea is to get rid of tenure. Now, if you have tenure, you can't be fired unless you are a pervert or something. I had tenure and so did most of my colleagues. Did it make us work less hard? No, it did not.
Now, I know there are teachers who just skate by and don't work hard or try hard or like kids much. Those people should never get tenure. That is the fault of their supervisors who don't give honest reviews of their work. Maybe they are afraid to but my guess is they are just being polite.
Being polite can get you into situations you don't want to be in--trust me, I've been there. You may have too. You can't be polite when you are critiquing a bad teacher. A bad review might inspire a uninspired teacher to get on the ball.
Anyway, tenure isn't the problem anyway.
To me, the trouble is we don't respect childhood. Historically speaking, we hardly ever have...think Child Labor. We as a society(and ours is not the only one) want kids to grow up fast and be mature and carry their load as soon as possible. We want kids to dress up like adults and act like one. We want kids to study hard and learn even if they are only five and ALL research shows that children up to the age of 9 learn best through PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you hear that people??? I said PLAY.
Remember play? It's that thing you did when you went outside and ran around and tagged your friends or tossed a ball around. It's when you pretended to be a lion or a cowboy or Tarzan or Robin Hood or Barbie. It's when you rode your bike and skated. It's when you read a book that wasn't assigned or played a board game or your grandma taught you cards.
You can play in school and children will learn. I know because I used to do it. You can hide learning in play. A kid can learn the alphabet in the sandbox as well as in a workbook. Kids can learn to read and everything while engaged in activities they think are play.
Remember what you liked best in school?? Bet it wasn't reading group or workbook. I'll bet it was gym or art or music--those things that most resembled play. That's because you learned by playing. Yes,you did.
If you were lucky, your teachers recognized that and tried to make school fun.
School is not fun anymore. I listen to my friends who are still teaching and all I hear about are scores on tests and scripted reading programs and everyone being expected to be on the same page in math on the same day. Doesn't sound much like fun, does it?
Kids are getting in more trouble in school too. Guess what I think? They are showing us that they aren't ready for the roles being thrust upon them. They are not ready to be little adults....and they shouldn't be. They are children--even that sullen thirteen year old slouched in the last row of English class. Children who need to be nurtured and respected and taught by all of us adults, not just the teachers in their lives.
All you experts who are trying to fix the education problem need to recognize the needs of kids to be respected and understood for who and what they are.
They need to learn how to make good choices, how to decide what is right or wrong if it seems like it could be both, how to express themselves verbally and in the written word. These are the kids that are supposed to man up and pay our Social Security one day. They may not want to and who could blame them?? As I see it, we haven't done them many favors.

The Plan

2010-09-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

I have a plan. It can create jobs and save our economy. What is it, you ask? Just send for my brochure. It is multi-paged. It will solve everything.
What do you mean, tell you about it?? It is the plan. The one I have. The one the incumbent doesn't have....or the President...or any other candidate.
Hmmm...just a general overview?? Well, just go to my website and request a copy of the plan. It will be sent to you in....a while. Yes, that's it..in a while. OH wait, it might be on back order. It does have my picture on the front....kissing a baby and shaking hands with a senior citizen. It is red, white and blue.
Oh, you mean the content?? Like am I about to open a gigantic corporation that will supply thousands of jobs and security for families? Well, no. Am I going to spend money to initiate training programs for those out of work? Or start a huge national project that will require tens of thousands of workers? Well, no.
I am just going to have a plan. I told you that at the beginning. Weren't you listening??
What do you mean it doesn't sound like much of a plan?? I worked hard on it! Just ask my employees who wrote it............ I mean, advised me on it. Just ask my publicist. Just don't ask my spouse,who asks too many questions already.
Out with the old and in with the new. Except, just between you and me, the new is pretty much the same as the old. That is part of the plan too.

OMG!!!

2010-09-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

I just followed the same car for three miles down Mentor Ave. and the guy looked up at the street 4 times. Yep, I said only four times. He was GPSing or texting or looking at a map or reading a Kindle like the bus driver I heard about on the news. I didn't dare pass him even though he was going 10 miles under the speed limit because he never looked to see if he was in his lane. Not one time. Sometimes he was and sometimes he wasn't. Good thing that street is pretty straight as an arrow.
When he did look up it was to see if there was a car in front of him that had stopped. Fortunately, there wasn't.
I wanted to jump out of my car and say DRIVE YOUR CAR, YOU LUNATIC!!! Of course, I didn't. As soon as my right hand turn lane showed up I just heaved a sigh of relief that he hadn't hit the curb, me, another car or whatever.
You know they had a very serious campaign about Don't Drink and Drive. I think we need a new one--Keep Your Eyes on the Road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just Can't Help Myself

2010-09-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

If you asked my children they would say I have a weird sense of humor. I prefer to think of it as wacky. Sometimes the strangest things strike me funny and I have a good laugh over it.
For instance, a couple of days ago, I saw a bumper sticker that said "Bruce Willis and/or Arnold Schwarzenegger for President. I couldn't stop laughing. How about that? Co-presidents. Or Bruce could be our first shaved-head, pierced ear Prez. Think about it--that's pretty funny.
Then I saw a woman walking her little dog in our neighborhood. Tiny little dog. She was carrying a BIG trash bag presumably to pick up her dog's "gifts" that it left on our neighbors' lawns. The bag was about 4 times the size of the dog. She must have had big expectations of that little pooch.
The same day, a local county commissioner was arrested for corruption and I watched as he was put into a police car and was driven off--while giving the camera the middle finger salute. He must have thought it was the international sign for "I'm innocent." They showed it on the news about twenty times and I laughed my head off the entire time.
Yesterday, as I was driving to the gym, I almost got hit by a car that decided to change lanes--right into me. I narrowly avoided being hit and I felt like I was going to cry for a second but instead I just started laughing. I could start laughing right now just thinking about it. It's probably mild hysteria but it's still funny.
I could give you some other examples--like Bruce Dern getting dragged behind a horse in the movie, The Cowboys but I think you get the idea.

Anyway, I read recently that laughing is good for you and it helps burn calories. So the next time something strikes you funny, go ahead and laugh, even if everyone else thinks you're weird. You'll have the last laugh because you will be svelte from burning all those calories.
You should see how skinny I am now! Not like these old pics!!

PS Now I am laughing as I write this...Only in Hollywood could Roddy McDowell grow up to be Peter Lawford and that little 10 year old vixen, Elizabeth Taylor grow up to be June Lockhart. Just watch The White Cliffs Of Dover and you'll see it for yourself!!

Susan at Susan G.

2010-09-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I never thought I would do something like this but I walked in the 5K race for Susan G. Komen. DH and my daughter came with me and we were pretty psyched about doing it. It would be our longest walk so far. We go every weekend and hike about a mile and a half each day but this was totally different.
I have never seen so many people hovering around the same space in my life. 20,000 is the estimate of the participants and there were watchers also.
Cheerleading groups cheered us on as well as Romona Robinson from Channel3 news. She was on a platform at the beginning of the race looking gorgeous. We looked pretty good too considering we had spent almost an hour in line to get our shirts and numbers. I was something like 14, 298. That's how many people had signed up by the time we did.
There was food and all kinds of hand outs but we had no time for that because the race began just as we got our shirts on and our pinneys pinned on. Away we went, slow as turtles. I laughed and said we sure didn't need to train for this--at this rate it will take us until noon(it was 9:30 at the time)!! How wrong I was for as we travelled along we hit our stride looked for openings and wove our way through the crowd. We were strong, we were fierce. We made it in one hour and one minute which for three and a half miles is not that bad for us. It's about 3 miles per hour. So we were pretty proud.
We got a free banana and water when we got back to the Wolstein Center and suddenly, we all felt really tired and just wanted to sit down. We had to walk another several blocks back to our car to get home. DH and my daughter both had naps as soon as they could.
I was gloating to myself about how I was the strongest as I didn't nap and then at 8:30 PM I was out like a light--for the night. I woke up briefly at around 11 PM because my kids came home from the rain delayed ball game and they weren't exactly quiet as we would usually be up. I said hi to them and went straight to bed and never woke up until 8 AM the next day. So much for gloating!
So, take that, breast cancer. Hope we beat you. We'll keep walking until we do!

The Joys of Fitness II

2010-09-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you have been waiting with baited breath to find out how my foot is faring. Well, it is better but not because I went to the doctor. I didn't go--I was my own doc. I have injured my foot enough times to know that he would wrap it and send me home and tell me to ice it and rest it(yeah, right, it's like my foot I have to walk on it). SO I took a day off from Curves, rested and iced it and wrapped it very subtly and continued to live my life. My sis didn't notice that I was limping or anything because I was that much better than when I last typed.
Today I did my subtle wrap and decided to wear sandals( I know, I know) and it was fine all day. I guess it was not so subtle though because the first thing my BF said to me was what did you do to your foot. I had to laugh. She noticed it right away. Subtle as a heart attack.
Beleive me, I am not miraculously cured, but I am better and good enough for the Susan G. Koman walk on Saturday morning. I'm just glad it's not uphill.

Oh Me Oh My

2010-09-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

What are those people on TLC trying to prove with having 19 kids and counting? Their latest child is plagued with health problems and family has to wash their hands just to be in her presence and the second youngest(who is just a baby herself) was told in the promo I saw not to touch the "baby."
Now I know these people have the right to have as many children as they want but I would think by now that they would say enough is enough. Didn't they ever see that old show?? Eight is enough. I should say so and they were all the picture of health.
If my nineteenth child had spent that much time in the hospital and still had the potential for things to go wrong internally, I think I would be done. No matter what the old Hubby says or what my religion says or what anybody says.
Plus I would like to know when this woman who has nineteen children finds the time to even have sex! She should be exhausted. So should he for that matter. These people are just nuts!

Is it because they are on television? Do they feel they have to keep spitting out the kids to keep their show? I don't know the motivation but listen up, Duggar family, it's time to stop.
PS Don't click there you won't get more pics

The Joys of Fitness

2010-09-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

The fresh breeze is blowing. The woods is deep and cool. The views are spectacular. The strength of my legs amazes me. Then, what is this??? What's wrong with my foot? It really hurts. Wait, I can hardly step on it. What do you mean we still have to walk another half mile? What do you mean it's all uphill? And steep?
I didn't twist it--at least not today. It hurt a little if I wiggled it back and forth but this is ridiculous. I know when I go to the doctor he will say to stay off of it. I can't stay off of it. It's my foot--it's how I get around. I have to do chores and errands and cook and work out.
Why is it that every time I get close to a fitness level that I desire something like this happens? If I had a dime for every injury that stopped my fitness routine--well, I wouldn't be rich but I would have a pile of money. Sometimes I think there is a cosmic plan to keep me flabby and out of shape.
I'm scheduled to walk in the Susan G. Koman Run/Walk this Saturday and I am going to be there no matter what. That's how dedicated I am to my own fitness and to the cause of breast cancer research. I might be in a walking cast but if I am I will still be there--I just won't win(wink wink like I had a chance to win under the best of circumstances)!

Just Say No

2010-09-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

I should never take any caffeine. I just get the weirdest feeling from it. Like ten thousand bugs are biting me and crawling all over me and it is so itchy, I cannot stand it.
So at the ripe old age of sixty you would think I completely avoid it, right? Wrong. Sometimes I cave and yesterday was one of those days. We went to Subway to get lunch after our walk and I just was in the mood for something besides water and one glass of soda couldn't hurt, right? Wrong!
The funny thing is I always forget the symptoms. At first I thought some kind of bug got in my hair during our walk in the woods. Then I thought maybe I got into poison ivy or some other kind of itch-producing plant. And then I make the fatal mistake of starting to scratch the itch. Since it really doesn't exist that is a futile undertaking and I am always sorry when it finally dawns on me that there is no bug bite or rash from a plant-I had soda with lunch!! It is nine pm and now I know I will have to knock myself out in order to sleep. Four Tylenol later I finally fell asleep around 2 AM.
I had crazy dreams and woke up about seven hundred times but at least I didn't have to get up and watch late late late night television. House Hunters International repeats can get a little boring especially if you already saw them.
I don't fall off the wagon often so I guess that's why I forget the symptoms. I even have a little left this morning or else I have developed fleas overnight. Wait---I just checked, no fleas so it's just a caffeine hangover and I'll fell better tomorrow. Can't wait!

Trapped Within

2010-09-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

Because we are having a massive heat wave I have chosen to stay indoors today. I did go work out this morning first but since then it's been home sweet home. Let me tell you self-imposed exile is not all it's cracked up to be!

First, you feel compelled to work. I cleaned my bathroom from top to bottom, walls, shower curtain woodwork, all the fixtures--I mean the works. I even scrubbed the floor on my hands and knees!
Of course after that I deserved a treat which came in the form of big salty pretzels and fizzy water. So half good and half bad. I then felt really guilty and so I took a shower and worked a little more but not so I got sweated up again--just laundry.
Then I felt like I deserved another reward and I read the book I am currently into. It is a historical fiction(my fave lately) and is about the same king and queen I've read about before. Edward and Elizabeth of England. She was a commoner and they got married in secret. It's pretty good stuff.
Then I felt guilty that I hadn't written here in a while so I tried to come up with a topic and it took until now to decide to write about my day.
So there you are. My day in a nutshell.
I sure spend a lot of time feeling guilty and a lot of time doing laundry! That's the life..at least when you are trapped indoors.

Emmys 2010

2010-08-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

I thought I watch a lot of television but last night's Emmys proved me wrong. I kept saying to DH-"who's that?" He didn't know either. That, however, doesn't keep me from having my opinion on how they were dressed! Half of them are skinny as broomsticks and look slightly ill if you ask me. You can't starve yourself that much and still look good in person. Maybe on camera you can pull it off but not in the glaring California sun.
Susan Sarandon and Glenn Close, if you want to have your picture taken at an awards show, don't stand by your daughter who looks ravishing and YOUNG!! You have to keep up the allusion that you are young or you won't get any more jobs except as somebody's gramma. You are both wonderful and talented so take my advice.

Speaking of Grammas, Betty White went classic in the everybody's gramma's dress that she wore to their wedding.
To the web sites that tell me that John Hamm's girlfirend is ( l.) and the only other person in the picture is him, I think I can figure that out for myself. Oh, and John, don't give the thumbs up--not very "Don Draper" of you.

I think the most beautiful of all last night was Claire Danes. She looked wonderful and was in a wonderful movie that explains some things about autism. Simply elegant are the words that come to mind. The only person who came close was the little girl from Mad Men.

Lea Michele from Glee looked lovely too.

Mariska Hargity was channeling her mom--the very curvy Jayne Mansfield, don't you think? Pretty Vavavavoom.

January Jones looked out of it and her dress fit her persona quite well? What was she thinking? Oh, wait , from the look of her last night(she went from staring vapidly into the ozone to a big crazy grin if someone spoke to her) she wasn't thinking at all.

But, by far, the weirdest look of the night went to that girl from The Office. You'll see what I mean. What can one even say about this get up??
Once again I had a most enjoyable time playing fashion police. Thanks, Emmys!

Frogger

2010-08-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

Since I seem to be on a roll with frogs, I just found out that there is a frog that is the size of a pea. No kidding! Scientists just discovered its existence recently. I don't know if it is poisonous or what good it does for the environment but how cute is that?? The size of a pea!
It seems like a cross between two fairy tales gone wild--the princess and the pea who turned into a frog! I like it! It may be a new classic.
Anyway, scientists discovered them because they made "harsh, rasping noises" at sundown. The scientist and I quote"made them" jump onto a white cloth to study them. I just wondered how you make a frog do what you want. I would have loved to be there. Did they say," Jump,frog,jump"?? Or "Get onto the white cloth or else"? or "Pretty please with a fly on top"? They probably really just prodded or poked them but I just got that mental picture and it made me laugh.
I saw a picture of one of the frogs by a penny but I didn't copy it to post here because it just looks like a little blob on the side of the penny. I found a better pic but remember this little guy is only 10.6mm in size.

Now that that's done, maybe we can get on to the problem of global warming or animal extinction.

Move Over, Miss Piggy

2010-08-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

I just love Kermit the(read that as thee)Frog. I loved when he interviewed the fairy tale characters to find out the"news" as it was happening and everything would get completely mucked up. I loved when he sang to us about it not easy being green. I loved when he rode a bike in the Muppet Movie. I loved it that he wanted to have a show on Broadway just like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. He even pulled off a credible Bob Cratchett.
Kermit was cute and cuddly and grew to be a famous...uh.....amphibian. He is so famous now that his original self is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Oh, you thought he was already there didn't you? Well, that was a different incarnation of the famous frog. This is the one that Jim Henson made from the coat his mom threw in the trash and has eyes made out of pingpong balls. Apparently, he showed up on the very short and short-lived show, Sam and Friends, one of Henson's earliest creations. He had to step it up when he joined the cast of Sesame Street so the original Kermit got dumped in the nearest closet until now.
He isn't the spring-like green we mostly remember but kind of a washed out olive green but his heart is still on his sleeve and his message rings true, It's not easy to be green but if you stick to it, you'll find your rainbow connection.

Uniformly Speaking

2010-08-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

My friend told me that she and her fellow teachers are being trained in a new program that treats every child the same and teaches them in the same manner.....because all kids are the same...............well, no they're not.
She also told me the state "scores" of the schools in her district and lo! and behold! the school that was doing the best is a magnet school that chooses its students and the worse one is located in the poorest section of town. Hmmmmm. Are we detecting a pattern here???
First, we tell kids they are unique and should be proud of what they are. Then we teach them all in the same technique. What if you were one of those kids who didn't get it right away? Would you be proud of who you were? Why are we setting up six and seven year olds to doubt their self-worth? If you are six and can't write a paragraph, there is probably nothing wrong with you that a year or so's growth wouldn't fix.
Not every kid born on the same day, walks on the same day or says Mama on the same day as all the other kids born on that day. How scary it would be if they did--we'd have little automatons! But pack them off to school at five or six and they all better learn the sound of the letter M on the day the teacher presents it. And at the end of the school year they all have to know exactly the same material.
And to top it all off, they have to prove it on one or two tests administered by nervous staff. Why is the staff nervous? Because they are being held accountable for the results. No one takes into consideration that a child may feel ill, that there was a big blowup at home before they left for school or that maybe they didn't get breakfast and possibly no dinner the night before. I read recently that just a 2% loss of body water can effect your ability to do simple tasks and think clearly. How do we know if these kids are even hydrated?
And yet, the whole blame falls on the teachers if the kids don't do stellar work on these state mandated tests.
I knew a little boy who took a week's worth of kindergarten tests and did miserably. So miserably that the first grade teacher thought she'd be lucky if she could even teach him the beginning skills of reading.
That kid had started reading at age 4 and in kindergarten could read books intended for first and second graders. I'm not saying this kid was a genius but he was bright and clever. Bright enough to sense the urgency in his teacher's voice when she talked about the importance of doing well on the kindergarten tests. He was so worried about his performance that he didn't sleep at all the first three nights of the test. The fourth night he finally fell asleep around 1 am and that is the one test he did quite well on. Did the teacher know this--why, no. A five year old isn't going to complain about insomnia to the teacher he loves and adores. Did the first grade teacher know it? Why, no, because she had no way of knowing. Mom told her....Mom told her the whole story and the teacher decided to move the kid to a different reading group and he took off and had a wonderful experience through the rest of grade school---except the week of the standardized test.
Mom was able to teach him a few coping tricks but he never did sleep well before a big test forever after.
Now if a teacher who loves a kid doesn't know this, how in the world would the state government know it or the computer that graded the standardized test know it?
When it comes to the very young, kindergartners and first graders, I say, let those kids be kids. Don't frighten or intimidate them with big tests whose results can even effect how much money the state gives their school. Test how well they read in second grade or better yet, third grade.
Sure, give them a general knowledge test in seventh grade and test them junior year to make sure they are ready to go to college or into the workplace. Those are appropriate tests and necessary tests.
State governments need to recognize that kids are all unique and learn in different ways and teachers are hard working, creative people who can teach to their needs.
We need a giant wake up call to help our kids to become the unique indiviuals they are.

New Kid in Town

2010-08-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

Before I say anything else I want to tell you that I didn't look to see what this new and I quote"idiot proof" symbol means. I mean it's idiot proof and I'm no idiot that's for sure. Well, some may disagree with that but I digress.

I think it is the universal sign for "Wow!! You have a fat ass."

Now that I typed that I am going back to read the article and see if I'm right. I'll be right back.

Well, I was wrong. I am writing in a new font now so you know I really did leave and come back to this entry.. but still I am not an idiot as 46% of the drivers who saw this symbol couldn't figure it out either. So there are either a lot of idiots or this symbol isn't what it is cracked up to be.

It is the international sign for low tire pressure. Now you see it don't you?? No, well, me either. Anyway if you see this sign on your dashboard you are in deep doo-doo. So beware. And don't flash the sign to anyone with a fat ass, just in case.

It's Official

2010-08-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

I am officially SICK AND TIRED of the meltdown guy. (Notice how I just had a mini meltdown of my own?) That's because I can't stand looking at that guy's self satisfied smug expression for one more day.
And now, Entertainment Tonight wants to know who I think should play him in the movie Matt Damon or Philip Seymour Hoffman? You know who I think it should be? NOBODY! This guy does not deserve any movie deal or book deal or any kind of deal.
His boring and probably petty life would not make a good show and one meltdown does not a movie make. I hear that the passengers were real jerks to him for 20 years but if that many people are jerks to you maybe you need to take a look at yourself--I'm just sayin'.
Drinking beer while sliding down the escape hatch seems like juvenile to me and ranting over the intercom was just plain stupid.
In this economic hard time, I'm pretty sure that someone would love that job with pretty good pay and benefits. I bet there will be a line around the block if his job opens up. Oh, who am I kidding, when his job opens up.
So now he's been famous for fifteen minutes....or one hundred and fifty hours or fifteen days..to me it seems like forever and I am forever sick of seeing or hearing about him!

P.S. I don't even know his name nor do I care to But I'll google search a picture of him just for the heck of it and post it here.

Speed Racer

2010-08-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

There is a new law that a police officer can give you a ticket if he thinks you are speeding even if he has no radar. The thinking is that the officer has been trained at the police academy on how to recognize a speeding vehicle.
Well, I never went to the police academy but I can tell you a few hints so you can detect that you are speeding before the cop does. With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, here goes.
1. If everyone you pass is a blur, you might be speeding.
2. If you are in a pack of cars and pass everyone and they soon become a tiny dots in the distance, you might be speeding.
3. If you feel like you are on a roller coaster, you might be speeding.
4. If your gas pedal is touching the floor, you might be speeding.
5. If everyone you pass gives you the finger, you might be speeding.
6. If you think everyone else is incredibly slow, say, like turtles, you might be speeding.
7. If you are singing at the top of your longs to your favorite song, you might be speeding.
8. If your spouse is clinging to the armrest, you might be speeding.
9. If your kids say "Wheeeeeee" every time you turn a corner, you might be speeding.
10. If the policeman turns on his red light and steps on it after you go by, you probably are speeding!

Stay in Line

2010-08-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

We have construction going on all over our highways. You might too. One of the signs that is prominently displayed when lanes narrow is "Stay in Lane." The first time I ever saw it I thought it said stay in line. It is probably because I said that about five billion times in my lifetime. I taught kindergarten and had to move those little ones down the hall and out on field trips. Stay in line became my mantra. Didn't want to lose anyone and I never did!
I also unpacked the diswasher five billion times. I know that is an exaggeration but if you are in charge of the chores to maintain your household you know what I mean. I try to change it up every now and then by taking out the silverware first and the glassware last and the next time take out the glassware first and then the plates. It still is a dumb and repetitive chore.
I am positive that I have done five billion loads of laundry and every time I finish the last load, someone tosses another dirty article of clothing into the hamper and it starts all over again!! If you do the laundry for your family you know that is true.
Some things have to done over and over. I guess that's why we enjoy something that only happens once in a while. Like fairs and concerts or going out to dinner. So I am setting myself a goal to go out to dinner five billion times. It should work out fine as long as I stay in line!

Nothing Like It

2010-08-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

We went for another walk today in Chapin Forest and boy it was a doozy. I am glad it is cooler today so the sweating wasn't so bad. We got a little mixed up and took the long way but it was beautiful and so green!
There seemed to be way more uphill than down but I made it. Next time I am wearing my hiking shoes and not my walking shoes! I tripped over a tree limb but that wasn't the fault of the shoes just my own neglect. (As in neglecting to look down at where the path was headed!)
I am kind of a klutz but I am getting stronger so at least I didn't land on my face or anything like that. That would just be me--go for a walk and break your nose! But it didn't happen and I am so proud of myself.
The views from the path were beautiful as it goes close to a valley and a former quarry. I can't wait to see it as the leaves change color. Don't worry, I'm not in a big hurry for summer to end--I'm just sayin'.
I sometimes wish we had done all this hiking with our kids but we'll just take them now and then since they both have busy schedules and one of them doesn't even live here!

So now we have earned the wine trip we are taking this afternoon and we will give our arms a little workout as well as the workout we already gave our legs!! Get it?? Lifting the wine glasses??.....OK, I know it was weak but it's all I got!

Boy, Oh, Boy

2010-08-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

This morning we were treated to a delightful film about Tarzan's son. I bet you think his name is Boy. That is what Tarzan named him when he found him but you would be so wrong.
His name is Bomba....or Jack....or Korack, depending on who you ask. I have a hunch that Jane named him Jack.
Anyway, Boy...er, Bomba learned a lot from his father about swinging on vines and fighting bad guys. He even learned the lesson about walking with a cute girl and a monkey, always hold hands with the monkey!
He wrestled with the bad guy in the water but we didn't see if he could summon up animals with a Tarzan yell.
Cheetah was around too. As a matter of fact I think Cheetah is still around but I haven't heard for sure lately. At the end, Boy..oh, sorry, Bomba went off into the jungle after saving the day all alone but as the people he saved rode away in their boat, Cheetah joined him up in the tree and I think they held hands again. As you can see from the pics below they had a long history together.

We had the most fun watching the little bit of the movie that we did, it was a great start to hopefully a great day!

Wonderful WINO West

2010-08-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have only two words to say to you ...Mon Ami. Go there. It is beautiful. It has great wine. It has good food. They have Happy Hour. It's not far from Cleveland--only a little over an hour. Really, you should go there.

The Flip Side

2010-07-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

For those of you who may be thinking that DH and I are just big drinkers now, I have photos of our day today that will wipe that thought from your mind.
We went to Penitentiary Glen near our home and had a good mile and 3/4 walk.
Being the kind of quiet people we are, there wasn't much talking between us plus the first half was all uphill(although not steep) so a lot of effort went into just breathing. On the way down, our quietness was rewarded because we saw a baby deer as I would say or a fawn as DH would say. He is much more technical than I. We saw its mother too although she didn't seem to want a photo taken like her baby did.
You should have seen that little thing! It was teetering between mortal fear and curiosity just like any other little kid I ever met. Luckily, it didn't bolt until after its "photo shoot."

OOPS This is Chapin Forest, not Penitentary Glen! Sorry about that.

Wonderful WINO

2010-07-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

I can't stop thinking about and talking about our wine tasting so I am just going to put pics today. I think I can figure it out. Hold on a minute.

There you go!

Wine Tasting

2010-07-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Wine tasting is not for sissies. I am here to tell you that those tiny sips can do you in faster than a speeding bullet. Especially if you get an owner pouring who is so proud of his wine that he can't stop telling you to "try this one."

We spent two days tasting and one night recovering but it was well worth it. The wines were yummy, we have some new favorite wines and wineries and we just had plain old fun! Now who can complain about that?
Thanks to all the friendly vintners. They are exceptionally kind and forthcoming when you are their only customers. The beauty surrounding us was unreal even though the temps were in the nineties! (Thank goodness for a Lake Erie cool breeze!)
We brought some wine home for enjoying at a later date. Maybe we'll share with you, you never know.

Photo Op

2010-07-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

We had to take a new picture today because I got sick of the old one and DH even agreed to be in it. We took it because I finally learned how to download the pics from my camera to my computer. I need a special chip which I got for Mother's Day--I know, how romantic right? But it was what I wanted.
We looked at the tall ships today and I took some pics there so when we got home we got right to it.
After they got downloaded, I put a new pic here and on my Facebook page and they aren't even the same picture! YAY me!!

PS That is not us in the hats!!

Complete One Eighty

2010-07-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

OK OK I know I said LeBron had every right to leave the Cavs.....but, really, I never thought he would. Dan Gilbert wrote a scathing letter about LeBron's leaving and it is well written although very very angry and disappointed.
You know what? Even before I read that letter...oh, sometime around 9:30 last night I did my complete one eighty. I agree with Dan. The kid should've stayed here in his home territory. He is a child of Northeast Ohio and that should mean something to him. I liked what Dan said.
He assures us there is a championship coming to Cleveland and that LeBron took the Cleveland curse with them. Hear that, Indians and Browns?? You can be great teams again too. The curse has been lifted. You will hit more homeruns and make great plays in the field. You football guys haven't even started so you are really in luck. Your whole season will be blessed.
Thanks to LeBron for taking the curse with him. Oh, and by the way, that was the most disgusting use of television time in the history of mankind, LeBron. Just so you know.
The King is dead (at least in Cleveland)......long live the new King whoever he turns out to be.

Baited Breath

2010-07-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

I live in Cleveland and for the past few weeks everyone has been speculating on what LeBron is going to do. Will he stay? Will he go? Miami or New York? Chicago or Cleveland?
He is finally going to make an announcement tonight on ESPN and let us all in on the big secret.
People have bets going and some are doing their darnedest to show LeBron how much he means to Cleveland by having rallies of support all over the place.
You know what I think? The kid should do what he wants.
I don't think he has to stay true to his local roots. If he wants to take a chance and open himself up to ridicule and scorn, then he should. If he wants to move to NYC and have the paparazzi follow him everywhere and report his every move, be my guest. If he wants to go to Chicago and try to be the next Michael Jordan, that's all right too.
We seem to forget that we get all emotional about this but for King James it is a business decision. I'm sure it is a difficult one. He might even be a little emotional about it. But he gets to choose. It's his business and not ours.
So I'm not waiting with baited breath for his decision. Whatever he decides, it's ok by me. Like LeBron cares what I think.......or what you think........or what any of us mere mortals think. He gets to choose all by himself.
OK so maybe not all by himself...I'm sure he has a team of advisers and an entourage who all will have input. But in the end, there is only one who can decide. Good Luck, LeBron....no matter where you are you will always be the hometown boy who made good.

Staying Connected

2010-07-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

Today I got a message on Facebook that DH and my friend's youngest daughter are friends on Facebook now. I don't know why I find this so funny but I do in the cutest funny kind of way. Now DH will know all about E and what she is doing. She will know nothing about him because he never posts! He hardly ever reads it at all.
Communication is so easy now. You used to have to make a phone call or send a card or a letter. Now you can just zip off an email when you think of it or put a random comment on Twitter or Facebook and you and all your friends and all their friends know it.
Even so sometimes it is difficult to communicate. Smiley faces and LOL's and :) and :P don't always cut it when you are trying to tell a friend something. Just reading something can be interpreted incorrectly if you aren't careful.
Does that mean I am picking up the phone or writing letters these days? Heck,no! LOL

Unforgettable--That's What I'm Not

2010-07-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

I just had a conversation with a lady yesterday at the place where I work out. We talked about getting injuries we have no idea where they came from--mostly black and blue marks, but it went on for quite some time and we laughed together even.
Today she came in and looked right at me and had no clue she had ever seen me before in her life. I'm sure glad I didn't send her a big Hello! I did smile tentatively at her in case she recognized me but nope, no response.
Now this doesn't really surprise me because you see sometimes I get invisible. It happens mostly at the mall where people have a tendency to step on my foot. Apparently, I was invisible through our whole conversation.

What really gets me is why don't the people you wish wouldn't remember you, do?

You know if somebody you just met sees you do something really stupid. Or if you say the wrong thing you hope other people in the room just won't remember the next time you see them? Or what about somebody who is really annoying and you wish you never met them? Those people always remember me and fondly. Oh, brother.

Not that I want to be pals with that woman at the gym. Nobody there is really pals(Unless you come with a buddy like I do). We carry on conversations that are superficial at best. Like today we talked about food at the baseball game. I told them how my daughter's friend got hit by a sandwich when we went early in the season and the wind was blowing like we were in a blizzard.

It just would have been nice if she would have said hello. It's no fun being invisible. People step on your foot all the time!

Who's the Fattest in the Land?

2010-06-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

Not here in Ohio by gum! We lost our spot at number 13 this year.
Wanna know why? Have we all gone on a diet as a state? Is there a government stipend if we lose 5% of our body fat? Are we nutritious eaters after getting the shock of being #13?
Heck, no! Other states just pigged out more than we did. We are still not slackers in the pig-out department, don't you worry. We still snarf down our peirogies and ribs and fast food just as furiously as before.
We are not the models of a healthy lifestyle.

Silly DH and I, what did we go and join Weight Watchers for? Everyone is getting fatter than us with no effort on our part. I think I'll tell him I want to quit....and then go get me some fries!

Just kidding!

What's the Point?

2010-06-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

DH and I joined Weight Watchers yesterday. It is a good program for weight loss. I know –been there done that. Need to do it again so that I can be healthy as possible.

I wanted to join with my DH so badly. Now he will “get it.”

You know how the nondieting spouse doesn’t really get it? They can be supportive or they can be a saboteur(I know a husband who brought his wife who was dieting a hot fudge sundae as a “Surprise”)….’cause they just don’t get it.

DH is not too thrilled about going to meetings as he is the only male there but I’m pretty sure that he will lose weight consistently and become the darling of the group. And I’ll be Darling’s wife who is losing also but nobody cares.

I don’t mind about that…..I’d make a terrible darling of the group.

I don’t mind that I get 20 points and he gets 35!!!!!! That is almost double. NO FAIR!

He got eight points just for being a man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to prepare most of that food and watch him consume it. I’ll probably lose weight just from being stressed out over how much he can eat…..and he’ll eat it in front of me.

I guess I’m in the market for blinders and a nose plug!!!

Loose Lips Sink Ships

2010-06-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Oh,General McCrystal. Didn't you learn in military training that you don't dis the Chief?

Even I know that and I have never been any where near the military.

Did you accidentally get drunk with your staff and that reporter. Or was that reporter so wily that he caught you off guard?

I bet you hate that volcano worse than anyone who was stuck in a stinky airport because of it. I bet you wish you were in Iceland right about now. I bet you are sorry you shot your mouth off.

But a little part of me bets that a little part of you is relieved to be out of Afghanistan.

Breakfast of Champions

2010-06-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

When my kids were growing up, I always tried to present them with an excellent diet. I am pretty sure I did well most of the time although their favorite food was McDonald's chicken nuggets. YUK!!!

We ate meals together as a family and I presented a variety of foods.

My best invention though was the breakfast of champions.

Oh, you might think it was oatmeal with fresh berries or eggs with a good protein and plenty of juice. You'd be so wrong.

For a breakfast of champions, you need a giant glass of milk and leftover birthday or wedding cake. It all started as a joke but it stuck and we eat it to this day. Only occasionally, mind you. Not even after every birthday anymore since we don't always have a cake. We go to less weddings too.

So now BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS has become iconic in our family. Try it--I guarantee you'll like it.

OMG!

2010-06-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

There is the right time and the wrong time to say OMG!

The right time is when your life seems to be spinning out of control and you don't know if you can cope.

The right time is when you are so, so happy that you could just burst.

The right time is when you are texting a friend and don't want to waste characters. Ditto for Twitter.

The right time is when you see something you just cannot believe--like the ugliest hat in the world or your ex standing in the same room as you.

The right time is when you are sharing someone else's joy-like they got engaged or are having a baby.

The wrong time is when you are just home from the hospital and your spouse is in the other room. DON"T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm just sayin'.

Things are Tough All Over

2010-06-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

The princess of Sweden was finally wed to the man of her dreams....her personal trainer. WHAT????????????????? I know the dating scene is difficult but the only guy she could get to date her was a guy who came to her house on a regular basis to help her stay fit? She couldn't even meet an eligible prince??? What kind of royal world is it anyway?? I know there are probably slim pickings what with democracy and all, but Match.com really dropped the ball here. They could have a special page for royalty.

For that matter, they could have a secret page for celebrities. Left to their own devices, most of them do a mucked up job of picking a lover or spouse. Match.com could solve those problems with their handy bios.

Royalty and Hollywood stars wouldn't have to make up anything about themselves--ok well, maybe they lie if they say plastic surgery or botox free but who cares if they're beautiful, right?

Royalty can be butt ugly--well, that was true in the past(mmmm, can you say Richard the Third?) but nowadays they probably have to be beautiful too which is probably why the Swedish princess hired the personal trainer in the first place.

So if a beautiful, royal, heiress has trouble finding a beau what about these nice girls who sign up for Match.com? What kind of chance do they have?

Oh, by the way, no offense to Match.com but that is the only dating site I'm really aware of. They have to blame their television ads.